A Message to New North Carolina Lawyers

The following article was published by the NC Bar Association in The Advocate earlier this month.  If you know any newly-licensed lawyers in North Carolina, I encourage you to share it with them:

Welcome to the YLD

by Matt Cordell, Division Director

Welcome to the Young Lawyers Division, which is affectionately known as the “YLD”! If you are younger than 36 or in your first three years in the practice of law in North Carolina (regardless of your age), you have been inducted automatically into the YLD effective upon joining the North Carolina Bar Association. Make no mistake—despite the fact that admission did not require much effort on your part, YLD membership is something from which you should derive great pride. (Second-career lawyers tend to be eager to call themselves members of the Young Lawyers Division—a feeling you will understand one day if you do not already—but this is not the sort of pride to which I refer.) You have joined the ranks of a dynamic, transformative organization that will ask for your talent and enthusiasm and, in return, give you meaningful experiences, skills, and relationships. The YLD has a tremendous legacy of developing effective young lawyers and serving our communities in powerful ways. In this special issue of The Advocate, we hope to show you how the YLD makes a difference in the world and can make a difference in your career.

The Young Lawyers Division Yields Lasting Dividends
The YLD is the largest division of the NCBA, with 6,500 members. It is also widely acknowledged that the YLD is the most active service arm of the NCBA. It is the source of many of the NCBA’s service initiatives, and has provided an enthusiastic workforce to carry out virtually all of the Association’s service projects—service to our members, our neighbors, and our communities. The YLD’s heritage of service dates back to its founding in 1954 and is the first goal expressed in its mission statement:

To promote the general welfare of the public, advance the professional education and welfare of young lawyers, involve young lawyers in the activities of the NCBA, promote fellowship among all members of the bar, and advance the standards of both the legal profession and the administration of justice. 

On our strong backs rest the responsibility and opportunity to carry out the vital work of the profession for the public good. The YLD has risen to the challenge in many ways, and most of its 21 committees are oriented toward service. From Murphy to Manteo, YLD members are effecting positive change across our state.

The YLD is where the future leaders of the NCBA, the State, and the nation gain valuable leadership experience. This is evident from a brief summary of the accomplishments of the prior YLD chairs:

• Six prior YLD chairs have become presidents of this Association.
• One became president of the ABA.
• Nine became NCBA Section chairs.
• Seven chaired NCBA committees.
• Two became president of the State Bar.
• Two more took the helm of Legal Aid.
• A significant number went on to hold public office.

To underscore the point, note that these accomplishments reflect only the Division Chairperson—one person each year. Scores of other YLD officers and committee chairs honed leadership skills in the YLD that enabled them to accomplish great things later in life.

The YLD is Important for Your Legal Development

Legal publications and the editorial pages of newspapers have recently made common knowledge something we in the profession have known for some time: many law schools do not fully prepare students for the practice of law. As a new lawyer, you need practical experience and opportunities to develop leadership and other skills. These can be acquired in countless ways through the YLD’s many committees. You can watch more experienced lawyers counsel clients, and practice doing so yourself, through Wills for Heroes clinics or Project Grace clinics. You can develop your public speaking skills through any number of committees and events. You also can sharpen your writing by joining for the Newsletter Committee. Take advantage of opportunities to hone a host of additional skills—advocacy, event planning, speaking, or drafting—while making a difference in your community. The YLD is where newly-minted lawyers acquire the skills and experience to lead their communities, organizations, the legal profession, and society.  

This brings me to another significant benefit of YLD involvement: relationships. I have made many great friends through the YLD, and continue to encounter exceptional people each time I participate in a YLD event. If you have not discovered it already, you will learn that relationships matter tremendously in your professional life, just as they do in your personal life. The YLD is a great way to meet the very best young lawyers in the state—young lawyers who are motivated, committed, and service-oriented…and fun to be around. Basically, if you want to make friends with the leaders of the future, it is easy to do. Sign up for a YLD committee or service project. You will be surrounding yourself with some of the best young minds and hearts in this great state. But, as LeVar Burton used to say on Reading Rainbow, “you don’t have to take my word for it.” Give it a try. If you don’t make friends with lots of other bright, friendly, committed young lawyers, we’ll refund your membership fee. (Your first year of NCBA dues have already been waived!)  

Matt Cordell practices in the areas of banking, corporate, and privacy law with Ward and Smith, P.A., and serves as a YLD Division Director. This bar year marks his eighth year as an active member of the YLD. He looks forward to meeting each of you at a YLD event soon.

Advice for Young Lawyers on Email Ethics

Can a lawyer copy another lawyer's client on an email message?  I addressed this question in a column published by the North Carolina Bar Association in The Advocate (the official publication of the Association's now 5,241 young lawyers) on June 28, 2013:

Ask Atticus (An Advice Column for Young Lawyers)

When Sending an E-Mail Message to Opposing Counsel, May I Copy An Opposing Party?

By Matthew A. Cordell

Dear Atticus,

I am negotiating the terms of an agreement on behalf of a client, and the other party’s lawyer routinely copies her client and mine on her e-mail messages. Is this permitted? May I use the “Reply All” function to copy her client on my responses? 

Regards, 

Conflicted in Charlotte

You can read my response here: http://younglawyers.ncbar.org/media/29407140/yldjune2013.pdf#sthash.37d6Dg3t.dpuf

What Do Small Businesses Want From Their Banks?

Recent survey results indicate that community banks, long proud of their high customer satisfaction rates, may be losing the edge on larger institutions.  However, there appear to be opportunities for banks of all sizes to significantly improve customer satisfaction.

An Aite Group study entitled ‘Community Banks: Maximizing the Small Business Opportunity’ indicated one-third of community banks' (defined as less than $5 billion in assets) small business customers (defined as less than $10 million in revenue) were "extremely satisfied" with their bank. (2011)  Only 17% of the biggest four banks' small business customers gave the same response--a significant difference.  However, "super regional" banks (<$50B) had the exact same percentage of "extremely satisfied" customers as community banks, indicating super regional banks are doing as well as community banks in pleasing small business customers. 

Greenwich Associates has published results of a survey of small- and mid-sized companies entitled ‘Businesses Seek the Human Touch from Their Banks’ indicating the importance of relationship managers to community banks.  Seventy percent of small businesses and 84% of mid-sized companies interact with their banks most frequently via the Internet. However, both small- and mid-sized businesses cite their relationship manager as the most important point of contact with their bank--more important than online banking by a wide margin.  The importance of relationship managers has increased among both categories of customers since a similar survey was conducted in 2009.  Greenwich has explained it as follows: “Before the start of the crisis, it was easy for companies to put their bank relationships on auto-pilot, with direct interactions initiated by companies mainly in connection with important events like loan applications, and with banks reaching out mainly in connection with new product sales. Today, companies need help solving broader business problems, and our data shows that they have stepped up interactions with bank relationship managers as part of that effort.”  However, only a third of small businesses, and a minority of mid-sized businesses, report their banks have provided needed advice on how to manage cash flow.

The results of the J.D Power & Associates 2013 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study shows that overall customer satisfaction with banks has improved significantly in the past year, though the gains are largely attributable to improvements made by big banks.

Customer satisfaction in 2013...has increased by 10 index points from 2012. The largest increase in satisfaction is in the big banks segment, which has improved in 2013 by 16 points from 2012.... While as a group big banks have historically trailed smaller banks in satisfying customers by a fair margin, the satisfaction gap between big banks vs. midsize...and regional...banks has narrowed year over year.

Another survey by J.D Power & Associates, the U.S. Small Business Banking Satisfaction Study, finds that while overall satisfaction among small business customers has increased, the level of satisfaction continues to trail that among consumers.  One bright spot is the fact that strong relationships with a primary point of contact can make a big difference:

[S]atisfaction is much higher among small business banking customers who have an account manager who they perceive "completely" understands their business than among those with an account manager who they perceive only "partially" or does "not at all" understand their business.... Among customers who have an account manager who "completely" understands their business, 47% say they "definitely will" continue to use that bank and 53% say they "definitely will not" switch banks. In comparison, among customers who say their account manager does not "completely" understand their business or who are not assigned an account manager, 19% say they "definitely will" remain with the same bank and 25% "definitely will not" switch.

Bank of America commissioned a small business survey, conducted by Braun Research in 2013, which found that only 40% of small business owners see their bankers as a source of financial advice.  Accountants, other owners, family, and financial advisors were more likely to be sought for financial advice than bankers.  (Bankers beat lawyers by just 4%, which is striking given that lawyers typically charge for such advice and bankers typically provide it for no additional fee.)  

Photo credit: Office Now / Foter.com / CC BY

The basic lesson is this: One key way in which banks of all sizes can distinguish themselves from their competitors is to add value by providing their small business customers access to the (often considerable) business experience of individual commercial bankers.  This can be as simple as encouraging borrowers to use their banker as a sounding board for the borrower's business ideas or as robust as helping a borrower plan for efficient cash flow.

Of course, bankers must be careful not to hold themselves out as business consultants or provide any assurances to borrowers, as this can result in lender liability. (But that's another post!)  








Credit: My interest in this topic was piqued by Serge Milman, the Principal Partner of San Francisco, CA based SFO Consultants which provides consulting services to financial institutions.  He has commented on this topic in his blog Optirate.