There was once a famous football coach from my state by the name of Paul W. Bryant. You probably would know him better if I referred to him as “Bear” Bryant. After his 3rd or 4th national championship, a national sports reporter asked him how he had done so well as a coach at Alabama. His response was simple. Bear Bryant replied that he had simply been blessed to have surrounded himself with good coaches and he stood back and watched what they did.
That is exactly the way I feel, and I am sure it is the way our first Chair, Jim O’Hagan feels about this organization. Jim and I had a little idea and then stood back and watched some really talented lawyers find more talented lawyers and before we knew what happened, we had the “real deal” in a network of independent law firms.
This talented group had some pretty simple goals:
- Every firm that is a member of USLAW should be the best that we could find. We would narrow the list of prospects to 2-3 firms in each area and then pick the best of those firms for inclusion into USLAW.
- Our organization would be built upon practice groups. We would search our entire network for the best lawyers to serve as a steering committee to direct each practice group.
- We didn’t want lawyers to tell lawyers what subjects were important at seminars. Our clients know where there problem areas are. Thus, we searched for the most knowledgeable risk managers and general counsel who worked for our best clients in each practice group and asked that they serve as Client Advisors to tell us what they wanted their lawyers (and perhaps themselves) educated about.
- We wanted our clients and our lawyer members to come to seminars and when they returned to their home towns and reflected on that seminar, they would think that they had attended the best seminar that they had ever seen.
- We wanted our clients and our lawyers to become a part of an on-going family and to feel comfortable when we got together.
As a movie said one time: “If you build it they will come.” We built it and they came. But just because our lawyers and clients came to our seminar last year, doesn’t mean that we are certain they will come next year. After every meeting, our lawyers and our clients are asked to fill out a confidential survey response. We will listen. We will improve. We will accept nothing but the best as our goal for USLAW.
We hope that you enjoy our first electronic newsletter. We also hope that you will give us feedback on what you like and how you suggest we can improve this newsletter.
Come go with us. Welcome to USLAW!!
Charles F. Carr
Chair, USLAW NETWORK, Inc.
