Law Practice Today

Lawyers love credentials that symbolize professional recognition and accomplishment. Part of the reason is that credentials are evidence of effort and success, and the lawyer personality has a strong inclination toward both. Another reason is purely practical. It’s estimated by the American Bar Foundation that there are more than one million practicing lawyers in this country. Differentiating yourself in that kind of crowded market is a major challenge, and specialized credentials can theoretically be a useful tool to make a lawyer stand out.

Marketing Designations

A number of organizations try to help lawyers establish special credentials by means of various “peer rankings” that purport to evaluate a lawyer’s skill and ethics. Some have been around for years, more have sprung up just recently – and all are increasingly controversial. That controversy came to a head in 2006, when the New Jersey State Bar Committee on Attorney Advertising issued its Opinion 39, prohibiting attorneys from participating in one such peer review survey which identified those lawyers selected as “super.” The matter was later put on hold and under review, but the bar committee’s reasoning was clear: that specialized peer review designations have “the potential to lead an unwary consumer to believe that the lawyers so described are, by virtue of this manufactured title, superior to their colleagues who practice in the same areas of law, thus creating “an unjustified expectation” about results.

This seems a questionable argument at best. Most clients see lawyers as competent. Thus, the phrase, “I’m a good lawyer,” no longer holds the same cache as before. Truth be told, clients can’t tell the difference among lawyers – once you have the law degree and the license from the State, you are considered to be as competent as the next lawyer. H elping lawyers differentiate themselves to those who need their services is not misleading prospects, it is helping prospects identify what they want and need. It is one thing to regulate for truth and fairness in promotional statements, and to ensure that hyperbole does not create false expectations. It is another thing to say that lawyers cannot make a truthful statement about their credentials.

Specialized Credentials

The point sharpens considerably when the credentials in question reflect formal courses of study, and not marketing-oriented evaluations. These credentials can include advanced degrees in law or business, or specialized certifications by state bar associations. Having the initials of specialized degrees or certifications after your name can look impressive, but are they really significant?

An interviewer recently asked me if, as a lawyer who holds an M.B.A., I would recommend that other lawyers follow the same path. My answer was, “Not really,” which surprised him. However, except in unusual circumstances (as when a corporation would want a general counsel with a strong business background to participate in operations management), an advanced business degree really confers no unusual benefits or advantages to most lawyers. This is particularly true today, when such degrees cost much more in tuition and fees. In fact, my M.B.A. degree has been more useful to me in my coaching career than it was when I was a lawyer or corporate manager – not because of any greater insight that it gives me, but because the lawyers I coach see the degree as greater validation of my credentials.

What about the certification in legal specialties that state bar associations increasingly offer? Under the rules of professional conduct, lawyers cannot ethically call themselves “specialists” in any discipline unless they have passed the exam for a recognized specialization program. Such certification programs undeniably make money for the bar associations because the lawyer’s bar dues go up – a specialist pays extra to maintain the designation. Specialists and their clients do benefit in some way from the more intensive training, but this really is just a matter of degree from the typical MCLE requirements. Good lawyers already spend a lot of their time in furthering their education, generally more than the 25 hours in three years required by many Bar associations. The specialist designation just takes the principle further.

Strategic Counselor

The bottom line question is whether a specialist’s credential is really worth it. As a market differentiator, perhaps so. But I believe it’s questionable for a lawyer to think he or she can charge more simply because of holding the specialist credential. A specialist designation does not automatically mean higher rates. Fees, and thus revenue, is ultimately a matter of the value that the client perceives he or she receives from a lawyer’s skill, responsiveness, experience, reputation and results. In the law, as in any business, pricing is thus arbitrary. The seller calculates cost, sets profit targets, gauges market demand, and then decides on the price. If you believe that a specialist’s designation can enhance your market demand, then you can charge a rate higher than you charged before the certification.

Still, the best model for our profession, and the best path to personal satisfaction in your practice, is to get paid for the real value and expertise you bring to the client. My conversations with many lawyers and clients suggest that the "strategic lawyer" is what the majority of clients are increasingly looking for; and this kind of lawyer is not easy to find. The strategic lawyer is the valued general counselor, the type of lawyer that used to be the standard of the legal profession. Such lawyers provide the best services at the least cost to benefit the clients they serve. They work at the overall development of their professional skills. The more hours you put into developing your skills as a counselor, the more focused you’ll be and the more you’re going to learn. The more you learn, the more valuable you will be to your firm, and your clients. That, and not a string of initials after your name, really provides the best professional credential.