LMA'ers will be tweeting at #LMA during sessions of the upcoming 23rd LMA annual meeting at Gaylord Conference Center on the Potomac. Therefore, LMA has asked speakers to share some of their materials with those who will be following these tweets. Good idea! And so ...
On Wednesday morning, April 1, Bill Fiora (of Nixon Peabody), Ken Sawka (of Outward Insights), and I (Ann Lee Gibson Consulting) will lead a three-hour scenario planning workshop for senior legal marketers.
Below is a summary of four possible futures we have developed for participants' use during the session. Working in small groups, they will identify core and contingent strategies for success under different scenarios, identify early warnings to recognize when scenarios are "coming true," and challenge their own and others' assumptions and strategies.
Each of the following scenarios describes a possible future for the legal industry intersecting somewhere between two dimensions: (1) timing of economic recovery (early 2010 vs. 2011-12) and (2) legal services delivery models (aggregated vs. disaggregated). The scenarios are summarized below.
Note to workshop participants: You will receive and work with scenarios that are much more detailed than the following summaries.
Scenario #1 -- The Great Pretenders describes a world where economic recovery begins in early 2010, the earliest anyone now hopes for. Global M&A activity, one of the earliest indicators of the recovery, surges as market-leading companies and those with large cash reserves acquire competitors and suppliers weakened by the recession. The strong are eating the weak and getting even stronger.
In this world, law firm leaders feel they have made it through the tough times and look forward to life as they once knew it. The recession was tough, but it encouraged necessary discipline and weeded out the weak. 2010 promises to produce the most law firm mergers and acquisitions ever recorded.
Scenario #2 -- Shattered! describes a legal industry dramatically altered by a perfect storm of events that created a PR nightmare for BigLaw. In this possible future, the recession’s impacts on the legal industry pale in comparison to other events that also grabbed the public’s attention. Inside BigLaw, the survivors of the 2008-09 layoffs still suffer from depression and guilt. In 2009, a runaway bestseller and a summer HBO TV series set the stage for a Wall Street BigLaw disaster fueled by debauchery and hubris. One of America’s most respected law firms has been brought very low, rocking New York society and BigLaw to its core. Law firms may never be the same.
As a result, the legal industry is reversing its bigger-is-better trend. Dozens of start-up law firms, prospering mid-sized and regional firms, mega-networks of telecommuting lawyers, and new legal vendors leap into the breach. It’s possible the growing economic recovery will allow BigLaw to repair its embattled reputation and rule again, but one thing everybody understands is that for the first time in a long time BigLaw has many serious competitors.
Scenario #3 -- The Big Chill is a future where the hoped-for 2010 recovery has not appeared and does not seem imminent. All governments and economists now agree the recovery will not appear until 2011 or later. Federal stimulus plans have dramatically slowed home foreclosures, but failed to thaw banks’ lending practices. The only bright spot in the corporate legal services market comes from the huge corporate M&A deals being struck in pharma, transportation, real estate, and energy at enormous fire-sale prices.
Corporate legal clients have much smaller legal budgets, but still face an overwhelming burden of legal issues, including bankruptcy, financing, litigation, and regulatory changes. In response, all firms survive by cutting costs to the bone and learn to compete on price. The largest companies discover they have no energy to deal with scores of smaller firms. The exchange of large amounts of commodity work for law firms and the BigLaw promise of safety for corporations becomes the two-ingredient glue that keeps big companies with big law firms. It is a painful time, particularly for legal vendors. Competition becomes cut-throat, pitting firm against firm—and in a surprising twist, some firms against some clients.
Scenario #4 -- Davids vs. Goliaths sees corporate legal clients having a radically different response to the continuing economic deep freeze. In a world already full of risk, they see little extra risk in moving from one law firm to another. All relationships are up for grabs. Some clients cancel their convergence programs, turning to procurement agents or consultants to deliver the best combination of price and expertise on each matter.
The legal industry is rapidly disaggregating. The fiction that big firms could develop and benefit from economies of scale is now seen for the naked emperor it always was. In BigLaw, some of the biggest rainmakers decide they’d rather not share their pie, and form their own boutique firms. In fact, new firms of all kinds are sprouting up all over. Technology vendors reorganize to provide turnkey services and compete directly with firms. Many law firms outsource everything but their most core legal services. Clients are buying legal services directly from India and China. The only certainty is that this is a time for pragmatists, not purists. Everyone who hopes to survive this era is now brutally scrutinizing their beliefs, styles, processes, and goals.
Showing posts with label Bill Fiora. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Fiora. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
CI Pro Interview with Bill Fiora of Nixon Peabody
This is the first in a series of interviews I’m conducting with CI pros who work in law firms. My goal is to understand better their backgrounds, skills, reporting structures, contributions, and outlooks.
Name: Bill Fiora
Title: Manager of Competitive Intelligence
Firm: Nixon Peabody LLP
Since: October 2007
Profile: LinkedIn
Q: What’s your job description at Nixon Peabody?
A: My job here is to help the firm spot new growth and business development opportunities, in terms of geographies, client industries and within existing client relationships.
Q: Who are your typical CI clients at the firm?
A: My clients are the firm’s management committee. My assignments don’t come from individual partners.
Q: How did Nixon Peabody recruit you?
A: I could see that the function was very well positioned in terms of my having an impact on strategic issues and being able to focus on analysis, rather than on information collection.
Q: How is the intelligence function organized at your firm and to whom do you report?
A: I report into the Market Intelligence function, which at Nixon Peabody includes competitive intelligence, market research, and industry teams. I report directly to the Director of Market Intelligence, and she reports to the firm’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Q: What are some common key intelligence topics you’re asked to address?
A: Essentially, I try to figure out where our key client industries are going, what their areas of growth are, and where our firm might consider being in the next three to five years, both in the US and abroad.
Q: What experience or training has prepared you most for the CI work you’re doing now?
A: I’ve been working in CI so long it’s hard to say. My first intelligence job was with the CIA, where I worked for six and a half years. Then for ten years I was a CI consultant, helping companies establish and improve their CI capabilities. Through all that I’ve been able to see or learn quite a few best practices, traps, and key success factors.
Q: What’s your formal educational background?
A: I majored in government and history as an undergraduate and have a master’s degree in international affairs.
Q: What formal CI training have you had?
A: Very little, actually. The last formal CI training I had was when I was working for the federal government. Since then I’ve been delivering more training than I’ve been taking.
Q: What’s been your involvement in the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP)?
A: I joined SCIP in 1995. Since 2003, I’ve been a member of SCIP’s national board, first as a member-at-large and the last two years as SCIP’s treasurer. I’ve also served on the steering committee for a local Boston chapter. I’ve written articles for SCIP’s publications and presented at most of SCIP’s annual conferences and at chapter meetings on topics like analysis and dissemination. The dissemination aspect of CI is something I care a lot about, making sure CI deliverables are relevant, succinct, and forward-looking, not just summations of what’s already been published.
Q: Where do you look for professional inspiration and mentors?
A: These days, most of my mentors aren’t in the CI field, but do strategy work in corporations or specialize in information delivery methods, visualization, and writing techniques. I’m spending less time these days learning how to get information and more time learning how to present information in ways that will have an impact on decision-makers. They include visual designers, professional writers, psychologists, and people like Edward Tufte. I also study how consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, Deloitte, and leading business publications present information and analysis visually.
Q: What aptitudes do you think are necessary in a good CI professional?
A: You’ve got to have an insatiable curiosity and be comfortable with ambiguity. You must also be able to write very well, which is probably the most underappreciated skill in business.
Q: How would you describe the future of CI in the legal industry?
A: I think CI definitely has a bright future in the legal industry as law firms get larger, competition intensifies, and our clients' global business issues become even more complex. This has already happened in the larger accounting and consulting firms, which established sophisticated CI functions when their industry went through similar changes. Right now, CI is a hot topic in law firms, but only those firms that approach CI in a serious manner and position it as a strategic function will see a competitive advantage. In time, those firms that try to do CI halfway or on the cheap eventually will go back to business as usual.
Name: Bill Fiora
Title: Manager of Competitive Intelligence
Firm: Nixon Peabody LLP
Since: October 2007
Profile: LinkedIn
Q: What’s your job description at Nixon Peabody?
A: My job here is to help the firm spot new growth and business development opportunities, in terms of geographies, client industries and within existing client relationships.
Q: Who are your typical CI clients at the firm?
A: My clients are the firm’s management committee. My assignments don’t come from individual partners.
Q: How did Nixon Peabody recruit you?
A: I could see that the function was very well positioned in terms of my having an impact on strategic issues and being able to focus on analysis, rather than on information collection.
Q: How is the intelligence function organized at your firm and to whom do you report?
A: I report into the Market Intelligence function, which at Nixon Peabody includes competitive intelligence, market research, and industry teams. I report directly to the Director of Market Intelligence, and she reports to the firm’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Q: What are some common key intelligence topics you’re asked to address?
A: Essentially, I try to figure out where our key client industries are going, what their areas of growth are, and where our firm might consider being in the next three to five years, both in the US and abroad.
Q: What experience or training has prepared you most for the CI work you’re doing now?
A: I’ve been working in CI so long it’s hard to say. My first intelligence job was with the CIA, where I worked for six and a half years. Then for ten years I was a CI consultant, helping companies establish and improve their CI capabilities. Through all that I’ve been able to see or learn quite a few best practices, traps, and key success factors.
Q: What’s your formal educational background?
A: I majored in government and history as an undergraduate and have a master’s degree in international affairs.
Q: What formal CI training have you had?
A: Very little, actually. The last formal CI training I had was when I was working for the federal government. Since then I’ve been delivering more training than I’ve been taking.
Q: What’s been your involvement in the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP)?
A: I joined SCIP in 1995. Since 2003, I’ve been a member of SCIP’s national board, first as a member-at-large and the last two years as SCIP’s treasurer. I’ve also served on the steering committee for a local Boston chapter. I’ve written articles for SCIP’s publications and presented at most of SCIP’s annual conferences and at chapter meetings on topics like analysis and dissemination. The dissemination aspect of CI is something I care a lot about, making sure CI deliverables are relevant, succinct, and forward-looking, not just summations of what’s already been published.
Q: Where do you look for professional inspiration and mentors?
A: These days, most of my mentors aren’t in the CI field, but do strategy work in corporations or specialize in information delivery methods, visualization, and writing techniques. I’m spending less time these days learning how to get information and more time learning how to present information in ways that will have an impact on decision-makers. They include visual designers, professional writers, psychologists, and people like Edward Tufte. I also study how consulting firms like McKinsey, BCG, Deloitte, and leading business publications present information and analysis visually.
Q: What aptitudes do you think are necessary in a good CI professional?
A: You’ve got to have an insatiable curiosity and be comfortable with ambiguity. You must also be able to write very well, which is probably the most underappreciated skill in business.
Q: How would you describe the future of CI in the legal industry?
A: I think CI definitely has a bright future in the legal industry as law firms get larger, competition intensifies, and our clients' global business issues become even more complex. This has already happened in the larger accounting and consulting firms, which established sophisticated CI functions when their industry went through similar changes. Right now, CI is a hot topic in law firms, but only those firms that approach CI in a serious manner and position it as a strategic function will see a competitive advantage. In time, those firms that try to do CI halfway or on the cheap eventually will go back to business as usual.
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