If you are interested in knowing whether you are a dragon person or some other animal from the Chinese zodiac check out http://bit.ly/wTyOiw I am apparently a Rooster.

It will be motivational to a few of you to believe the outcome of facing up to the pain of change might be success – as Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar would say – ‘there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fame and fortune…’

My old Dad used to say that if a thing was worth having it was not easily gained. Many of you asked for a level playing field to practice your law without unfair competition from the unregulated; well, we may in the Year of the Dragon see the levelling of the playing field in relation to Will writing but it will come with the need to raise our own performance – the sting in the tail. We will need to address the longstanding complaints of consumer bodies about the quality of service delivery by solicitors generally and your own firm in particular.

How do we lawyers assess our quality of service? Do we actively seek feedback from clients, customers, referrers, contacts, friends well anyone really? It takes strength of character and resilience to ask for feedback and then to take the brickbats as well as the accolades. Ask an actor! But unlike them we cannot ignore our reviews.

For those of you willing to face up to the pain in order to gain a competitive advantage think about how you will help your COLP demonstrate that the feedback received in a particular case is justified or not. If the feedback is negative do you have the creativity and the resourcefulness to change the way you deliver your service in order to make it the most desirable and effective of any available? Have you got a plan? Would you like some help reviewing the processes and procedures to make then able to withstand that whirling dragon’s tail? If so, give me a ring or drop me an e-mail.

Gung hay fat choy! Happy ‘Year of the Dragon’