Below is my article from the July/August 2008 Issue of the American Bar Association's Law Practice magazine.
Global Rainmaking Tips: Pointers on Developing Clients Abroad
Many lawyers in North America take a U.S.-centric view of current events, armour in malaysia, Low price armour, economics, business trends, armour pills, Buy armour pills, client needs and even business development strategies in part because the United States was the key financial center of the world economy for so many years. As the writer Ana Nin said, We don't see things as they are; we see things as we are. However, just as the economy has increasingly globalized, so do lawyers need to globalize their perspectives.
For starters, to court international clients and prospects, you need to understand global business from their perspective, buy armour without prescription. Many non-U.S, generic armour online. Generic armour, news outlets like the BBC and the Economist do a better job of reporting on global business developments than American news sources do. You can also stay abreast of international legal trends by joining groups like the International Bar Association and the ABA Section of International Law, armour online without a prescription, Armour for order, reading their publications and list serve posts, and attending their conferences and teleclasses.
You must also know enough about the principles of non-common law legal systems (such as civil law and shariah), order armour no prescription, Armour alternative, and various areas of the law, to be able to spot relevant issues, cheap armour online. Armour uk, This task can seem overwhelming. Buy armour without prescription, However, the goal is not to become an expert in a variety of fields or legal systems the goal is to be able to spot legal issues, and then when needed call in specialists, such as foreign counsel. Of course, purchase armour no rx, Armour buy, the more you work on matters with international aspects, the more real-life insight you will gain into foreign legal issues.
Lastly, buy no rx armour, Free armour, having a general interest in other cultures really enhances global rainmaking. Prospective clients can sense whether a lawyer is genuinely interested in them and their culture or is just trying to get the economic benefit of their new business.
Use Cross-Cultural Acumen to Customize
Whether it's North American lawyers going global or non-North American lawyers entering U.S, armour order. Armour pharmacy online, and Canadian markets, I notice one blunder time and time again: lawyers' failure to adapt their native country's client development techniques to a particular foreign market, armour. Cheap armour from uk, In contrast, lawyers who succeed at global rainmaking continuously hone their cross-cultural client development skills.
Successful global rainmakers know how to communicate best with their prospective clients, order generic armour, Buy armour from india, and they make their efforts culturally appropriate. Often they instinctively adapt their communication style, buy armour without prescription. For example, armour from canada, Armour online sale, they might adjust their pace, pitch and inflection; the words they choose; or how forthrightly they speak, canadian armour. Armour internet, They might also adjust their body language, level of formality and the like.
They also tap into their clients cultural values, armour non prescription. Cheap armour pharmacy, For example, recently I worked with a firm whose lawyers were cultivating Chinese clients, armour us. Armour vendors, We tweaked the firm's traditional client gift (packages of golf balls with the firm logo) by repackaging the balls in groups of eight, considered a lucky number in China, armour online cheap, Armour online sales, and steering clear of white balls because to many Chinese that color symbolizes death.
Advance research into cultural norms really helps, and thanks to the Internet, armour without rx, Find armour without prescription, such research has become easy and painless. Buy armour without prescription, Simply typing in a search like business customs in [name of country] brings many results. Books about foreign business customs abound, overnight armour, one of my favorites being the often humorous Dos and Taboos of Body Language Around the World by Roger Axtell. As this book mentions, seemingly innocuous hand gestures (such as the okay symbol popular in the States) can be highly offensive in other cultures (in this case, Brazil).
While in the process of rainmaking, lawyers should scrutinize their efforts and adapt them if necessary. I helped one frustrated managing partner on this very issue. Despite having a well-connected partner from a particular Latin-American country, the firm failed to attract clients there. It became clear that the managing partners' hard-charging style and unrealistic expectations about rainmaking time frame was working against the firm, buy armour without prescription. So to adjust the firm's approach, we combined the managing partners strategic insights with the Latin-American partners' relationship-focused rainmaking style.
It is true that globalization has diluted cultural values. However, to the extent that lawyers can still tap into culture-specific values, they will have an advantage over others who do not.
Cultivate Patience
American direct communication style and desire for fast progress causes many cross-cultural blunders. Often U.S. lawyers ask for business too quickly and never even realize their gaffe. The potential client will just never hire the lawyer and be too polite to explain why.
Buy armour without prescription, Cross-cultural snafus frequently result from differences in values. In many foreign cultures, long-term relationships are a prerequisite to being hired. In China, for example, foreign lawyers must grapple with guanxi, a tradition that prizes relationships and the obligations of mutual assistance arising from them. Similarly, in many Arab and Latin-American countries, U.S. lawyers must expend considerable time and effort developing close personal relationships and important connections in their target business communities.
Conversely, lawyers from relationship-based cultures must ramp up their directness and assertiveness when cultivating American clients. Recently I worked with a Latin-American firm on boosting its client development in the States, buy armour without prescription. The firm's gracious, indirect communication style had proven ineffective in the fast-paced U.S. market. However, it was able to improve its U.S. rainmaking by learning to promote the firm and the individual attorneys more directly and assertively and to do so in all forms of communication, including marketing materials, the firm's Web site and in-person communication.
All lawyers who've succeeded in developing clients across cultures at some point realized they had to step outside their comfort zone and take the long-term view to develop business abroad. Global rainmaking requires tailoring your client development strategies to each client's cultural perspective. This takes time, effort and ingenuity, but the global rewards can be extraordinary.
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Buy malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) without prescription, Please join me in New York this Saturday, August 9 at 8:30 am at the ABA Annual Convention for a session on this topic. I'll be speaking and also moderating a panel of international lawyers who have worked around the world: Cecilia Ibarra of Fulbright & Jaworski, Kim Reed (on leave from Hogan & Hartson), Brad Richards with Haynes & Boone and Michael Whitener of VistaLaw. The speakers will share practical suggestions for effectively communicating legal and other business information across cultures, buying malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) online. Buy malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) us. Buy malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) generic. Malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) professional. Buy cheap malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) internet. Buy cheapest malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine). Malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) medication. Compare malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) prices online. Order discount malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) online. Order malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) overnight delivery. Drug malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) online purchase. Malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) cheap. Buy generic malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) online. Buy cheapest malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) on line. Cheap malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) in canada. Order malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) in canada. Real malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) without prescription. Cheap malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) without prescription. Buy cheap malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine). Find malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) on internet. Sale malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine). Cheap malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine). Malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) purchase. Buy malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) online without prescription. Buy malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) from us. Purchase malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) online. Malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) cheap price. Order malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) from canada. Buy discount malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) online. Malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) no rx. Find no rx malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine). Online malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine). Cheapest malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) prices. Best price malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine). Cheapest malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine). Compare malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) prices. Purchase malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) overnight delivery. Malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) from india. Malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine) no online prescription. Find malegra fxt (sildenafil + fluoxetine).
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