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July 28, 2021

Must-read for every professional lawyer – True Professionalism by David Maister

The education of a legal professional is never over. Lawyers always need to upgrade their skills and learn new things to be trusted advisers for their clients. But are there books that will help lawyers do this? We say – yes! Today our team will tell you more about an incredibly valuable book for every legal professional – “True Professionalism” by David Maister.

Law firms are forever trying to get their people to act like professionals—to do the right things, to communicate with clients in a proper way, to stay effective, etc. Though their various incentives may create employee compliance, these don’t often encourage excellence.

In this book, David Maister reveals the concept of «true professionalism» to people and organizations whose profession is to solve customer problems. The book considered three constituent parts of «true professionalism» – attitude to the case, relations with employees, and relations with clients. In addition to dealing with many cases from practice, the book provides methodologies to assess and enhance professionalism.

True professionalism is an extremely easy-to-read book in which David Maister covers the main issues of managing a professional service firm. For those who run such firms, this book is an invaluable resource.

About David Maister

Until his retirement in 2009, David Maister was widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading authorities on the management of professional service firms (such as law, accounting, and consulting firms, and companies providing engineering, advertising, and executive search services). For three decades he advised the top firms in these professions, around the world, covering all strategic and managerial issues (information from http://about.davidmaister.com/)

Some quotes

1. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

2. Professional is not a label you give yourself – it’s a description you hope others will apply to you.

3. Stop teaching students that they are the best and the brightest.

4. The noble path does win but only if you are prepared to make the investment over a long period of time.

5. Focus on being the best you can be at what you want to do.

6. Success comes from doing what you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy it, how can it be called success?

7. What is important is what inspires persistence and determination- in other words, what you care about.

8. What you do with your billable time determines your current income but what you do with your non-billable time determines your future.

9. Before a leader can be accepted, let alone succeed, autonomous professionals must agree to be influenced by that person.

10. Your task as a leader is to help others to succeed, not to strive only for your own success. If I don’t trust your motives, nothing else will matter –because my primary concern is your integrity.

Our team recommends you to read this amazing book in your spare time to build a more profitable and successful legal practice. If you have already read it, please, share your experience and thoughts with us!

Buy the book

You can purchase this book on Amazon here