The beginning of NextGenLPM and the end of LegalBizDev
NextGenLPM has acquired the rights to LegalBizDev’s intellectual property, including the company’s proprietary processes to help lawyers change behavior, and increase client satisfaction and profitability. NextGenLPM is now offering LegalBizDev’s most successful legal project management (LPM) products and services.
NextGenLPM was founded by Tim Batdorf, LegalBizDev’s CEO for the last several years. Tim worked closely with me to develop the concept of the Online LPM Library which his company will offer. It is, in our opinion, the single most valuable resource now on the market for firms that are truly serious about implementing LPM. Tim also independently developed the Master Certified LPM Coach program which teaches LPM staff our proprietary coaching process to increase the effectiveness of internal coaches.
Tim and I have been planning this transition for years. I turned 73 this year, and the pandemic has not helped my mood one bit. (So far, my family and I have escaped Covid, but we sure are tired of staying home.) So I decided this was a good time to (almost) retire, to give me more time with my five year grandson and more freedom for other things, including writing about politics. (In the past, when I wrote about politics, I often had to tone down my opinions to assure I did not offend a single potential client in our highly partisan world.) I will also work as a Senior Advisor to Tim’s new company, because I want to keep a seat at the table as law firms figure out how to change LPM to adapt to their needs in the post-Covid economy.
NextGenLPM will offer improved versions of our most successful products, developed and delivered by people who worked in the trenches at LegalBizDev. The new company also has the same commitment to helping each lawyer implement the action items that are most likely to produce immediate and practical results for their practice, their personality, and their schedule.
There is one important difference: Tim is several decades younger than I, and has the new ideas, energy and enthusiasm that will be required to adapt our approach to the challenges law firms will face over the next few years. LegalBizDev literally wrote the books that helped start the LPM movement. Tim is uniquely positioned to build on this foundation and develop new tools and approaches as LPM continues to evolve in its “next generation.”
In my opinion, law firms will change more in the next ten years than they have in the 35 years since I started my company. No one knows how exactly, but almost everyone agrees that clients will demand lower prices and greater efficiency. Thus the key to the business development of the future will depend more on prices and efficiency, and less on traditional relationships. Firms that fail to apply LPM effectively may become less profitable or even go out of business.
Although LegalBizDev has ceased operations, this web page will remain available through December 31, 2020.
Thanks very much for reading this blog and for buying our products and services over the last several decades. If you have any questions at all about how to increase client satisfaction and firm profitability, please don’t hesitate to contact Tim ([email protected], 800-49-TRAIN) or me.
Jim Hassett
Founder, LegalBizDev
Senior Advisor, NextGenLPM
[email protected]
August 2020
A Tribute to Jim Hassett on Retirement
A few years ago, when I first began working for LegalBizDev and was still relatively new to legal project management, Jim Hassett and I attended the P3 conference in Chicago. Attending that conference was a real eye-opener. Various attendees – law firm executives, managing partners, lawyers, and LPM staff –approached Jim as if he were a Rockstar and said things like: “I read your blog all the time!” or “You’ve changed the way I practice law!” That is when I realized LPM was here-to-stay, and that Jim’s approach to legal project management was truly unique and extraordinary.
What Jim brings to legal project management is a collaborative mindset and an unfailing generosity. That is why the Legal Project Management Quick Reference Guide has over three dozen authors and 180 tools and templates. Jim has applied his “polish” to so many writings, transforming them from good to great, and he always gives credit to others.
In his approach to LPM and to life, Jim is 100% committed to action and is not particularly interested in theory or anything that smacks of being overcomplicated or impractical.
At the same time, Jim is an innovator. Not only does he have great ideas, but he has the moxie to fight for his ideas to ensure they receive a fair trial. To his credit, Jim also listens to other people and defers to their ideas, when appropriate. Jim is committed to the best ideas – to whatever gets the job done.
When we asked past and present employees and colleagues to describe Jim, we received these words: determination, integrity, generous, supportive, encouraging, innovative, fantastic mentor, lucky to know him, trustworthy, loyal, open-minded, best boss I’ve ever had, curious, respectfully assertive, inspiring, thorough, thoughtful, engaging, great writer, I’m a better person after having worked for him.
Of course, Jim does not know this tribute is being published. If we had asked, he would have declined. (Sometimes, it is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.) In our internal discussions, we weighed the pros and cons of offering this tribute and realized that, given his New England disposition, Jim would be equally embarrassed and honored by it. We considered that a “win-win” and decided to run with it.
Anyone who makes a living as a result of LPM or who has benefitted by using LPM tactics and techniques (in other words, anyone who is reading this blog) owes Jim Hassett a tremendous debt of gratitude for his tireless efforts towards improving the practice of law and increasing value and client satisfaction through legal project management.
If you want to send Jim your well wishes, please contact him at [email protected].
From all of us: “Thank you, Jim Hassett, and Happy Trails!”
And finally, as Jim would always say: “Onward!”
Tim Batdorf
Former CEO, LegalBizDev
Founder & CEO, NextGenLPM
[email protected]
August 2020