ASSIGNMENT- PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Draft a professional and business development action plan for yourself. Your PDP should cover the time period between the end of this semester and 3-5 years in theFUTURE .
There is no "one size fits all." Your plan will vary depending on the form of law practice (solo, government, in house, firm, etc.) and the substantive area of law practice in which you want to practice 3-5 years from now, and the many other factors discussed in class. If you have not yet decided what type of practice you want to have 3-5 years from now, your plan may be one that sets out a plan for your career as you gather the information to make that decision.
Required elements
Your PDP must include the following six elements:
1. a professional (not personal) mission Statement
Questions to Consider When Creating a mission Statement
A-Who is your ideal client?
B-What are your financial goals for your practice?
C-What will you or your firm be known for?
D-What services will you provide your clients?
E-What will your role be in the practice?
F-Where do you practice?
G-When will you need more space, different systems, more staff, more attorneys?
H-Why are you practicing law?
J-Why will your clients hire you rather than your competition?
L-What will the culture of your practice be?
M-What are your beliefs and values and how will they affect your practice?
Mission statement; It illustrates how the firm intends to achieve its vision and how it goes about the practice of law every day. It answers the question why clients will hire you to represent them.
Purpose
The three keys to a mission statement are purpose, business and values.
Purpose
What is the firm's core purpose? Your response to this question should be a concrete one, and it is truly the foundation of your whole practice, and especially your management and marketing plans. Spend some time thinking about why your firm was created, what need it seeks to fill. Why are you practicing law? What do you hope to accomplish? What are you committed to providing to your clients?
The purpose section of the mission statement should also provide some information about the firm's basic management philosophy and ‘in-house' style - does the firm want to be a small, boutique law firm, a large business, a family atmosphere, corporate atmosphere, etc.
Business
Your mission statement should also address the business of the firm - the firm's clients, practice areas and services provided. Keep in mind that if your firm has multiple practice areas, it might make sense to keep your overall firm mission statement more general and craft separate mission statements for the different practice areas.
Do you have or do you want to develop a niche practice? Who are the beneficiaries of your work? Who is your ideal client? What are their demographics? What are their problems or needs? What services do you provide to address those needs?
Values
The values expressed in your mission statement emphasize what you are aiming for, what the firm's core priorities are - does the firm emphasize responsiveness over completeness? Do you emphasize alternative dispute resolution over litigation? Do you emphasize compassion versus aggression? What is most important to the firm, and how do you want to be known?
2. a description of your practice (think of these first two as your home web page); give information for your client about my firm and myself to let them know me.
3. your plans for substantive knowledge development: -
A-Knowledge: Think about the primary substantive area(s) of your intended practice (ex., family law or corporate law). How will you learn the substantive law to excel in this area? How will you stay current going forward?
B-Knowledge: Given your intended practice area, are there any other rules, for example procedural rules or agency rules that you will need to learn and if so, how will you learn those rules and stay current?
C-Knowledge: Sometimes, lawyers need substantive knowledge in areas outside the law. For example, if you intend to work with a particular industry, you may need to gain knowledge about that industry and the key players. Will this apply to your practice and if so, how will you gain the knowledge you need?
4. your plans for skills development:-
A-Practice specific skills: Given the type of practice (litigation, transactional, regulatory), what skills do you need to develop and how will you seek opportunities to do so. How will you track your progress?
B-Professional skills: There are many other professional skills needed for effective lawyering. Which skills do you need to work on and how will you do so both during and after law school?
5. a client development plan; and Clients can be demanding and will sometimes have expectations that will be unreasonable. Unmet expectations, even if they are totally unreasonable, are a recipe for unhappy clients. Setting and controlling client expectations is one of the best things you can do to ensure that you have a happy and satisfied client at each stage and the conclusion of a matter. Follow these resolutions to better set and control your clients' expectations:
A-I will carefully explain how the matter will proceed:While you may have handled a particular type of matter hundreds of times before, remember that your client is going through it for the first time. Make sure the client understands the process and steps that will occur as the matter proceeds.
B-I will avoid legal jargon when explaining things to my clients: Don't use legal jargon when explaining things to clients as it may confuse them.
C-I will give the client a realistic indication of how long the matter will take: Clients will want their matter resolved as quickly as possible. Give them a true indication of how long the matter will take, and highlight any issues that might arise and delay a resolution of the matter.
D-I will provide the client with a full picture of all costs and disbursements: Clients don't want to spend money on legal fees and they will want to keep fees as low as possible. If you quote a range of fees they will remember the lower number. Give your clients a clear explanation of all fees and disbursements that they will or might incur. Be honest here - don't quote a lower cost to please them. In the litigation context you should include a warning that they could be responsible for paying the fees of the opposing party.
G-I will clearly explain to the client all possible outcomes or results: Clients always want a positive outcome to their matter. Unfortunately, not every client will get what they want. Make sure your clients have a clear appreciation of all possible outcomes, including negative or unpleasant ones.
E-I will answer all my clients' questions to their satisfaction: Carefully listen to and address any questions your clients ask. Do the questions indicate that they don't understand something or that there could be another relevant issue you need to give advice on? Confirm the above information and advice in writing: In a personal meeting or phone call, unsophisticated and stressed clients who have worries and financial concerns may struggle to listen and understand what you are telling them. To avoid any possible confusion, confirm important discussions and advice in writing.
F-I will immediately highlight for clients any unexpected changes that arise: Unexpected things can happen through the course of handling any matter. If something happens that will change the process, timing, costs or outcome of a matter, make sure the client is immediately made aware of the change and why it happened. Confirm this advice in writing.
Billing client Methods:
Look for it at the internet.
5 Things avoid billing to client:
A- Food because it's apart of travel expenses.
B- Air condition
C- The invoice less expert, avoid annoying client.
D- Charges for calculation charges.
E- The transient associate and case clerk.
6. a financial plan.The financial plan should tell you the estimated cost and income opportunities if you decide to embark in that direction
A- CASH FLOW.
B- Budgeting: The budget should include the projected revenues and expenses.
c-ways to get money from client:-
1-Billing quickly.
2- create timeline.
3-meet face to face.
Your PDP must be actionable. Attached to or embedded within the plan should be a timetable with at least two planned actions you intend to do (realistically) within 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 180 days, and 1 year after taking license of lawyer. In other words, you should list two actions to complete within 30 days of taking the license, two actions to complete within 60 days of taking the licensee, etc.
Format and Length
• Your PDP must be typed. The plan must be 12-15 pages, double spaced, 12 point font, 1.25 inch margins (or the default Microsoft Word margins).
• The cover page and table of contents, which we encourage you to include, does NOT count as part of the 12-15 pages.
• You may include graphics, figures or tables in your PDP. However, they should make a substantial, substantive contribution to the content if you intend them to count as part of the 12-15 pages. Stock images, cartoons, and tables with much "white space" will not count as part of the 12-15 page requirement. << very important content and first page does not include.
• Appendices are permissible but will not count as part of the 12-15 pages.
• You may format your PDP however you wish, subject to the requirements above. We do not care about reasonable deviations from the formatting requirements (e.g., headings with a font that is larger than 12 point). Use your judgment in determining whether your plan meets the length requirement of 12-15 pages.
• Please carefully proofread your PDP before submitting it. A PDP with significant typographical errors, grammatical errors, or poor formatting will automatically be marked down by at least 20% of the points available. We expect you to complete your PDP sufficiently early that you have time to proofread it and correct formatting, typographical, grammatical, and other problems that can give the reader a negative impression of you.
Additional Guidance Regarding the Content of Your PDP
The following are some thoughts and examples that you may want to consider as you draft your PDP.