Monday Mentors with Houston Litigator Shannon Quadros

Shannon Quadros of Kilmer Crosby & Quadros joins us on today's show. He talks business development, diversity in law firms, adding value to clients, and the Exorcism of Emily Rose!

COVID-19 update

• Past hurricanes in Houston had already pushed them to have the capacity to go completely remote/cloud
• How they deliver services has certainly changed
  • Clients have to adjust to not seeing them in person
  • Signatures by docusign
  • Attending hearings on Zoom
    • But turn the client's video off!
• Houston legal community has been impressive and have adapted well
  • legal system is essential and has to keep functioning to preserve the democracy
  • Opposing counsel who is typically hard-line and tough are showing more flexibility
• Would prefer to move minor hearings to Zoom/phone to avoid the cattle call docket and the hours it takes for ultimately a 10 minute hearing
  • will be more efficient and save the client money
  • Better for the PR of the profession

His practice/firm

• Construction/real estate attorney
  • 80% litigation
  • 20% transactions
• Two partners who do commercial bankruptcy with small and mid-size companies
• Other partner is corporate/business attorney
• Bankruptcy
  • Throughout 2019 there was an expectation that brick/mortar retail would be a bankruptcy , and then COVID accelerated it
  • Oil/gas was already seeing issues from a lack of demand
  • End of summer is where it will likely show up
• What value are we delivering? Key question that COVID has highlighted.
  • Are we adding value to clients? Can tech/AI deliver for less cost to the client?

Advice to lawyers

• Start business development early/often
  • Your classmates will be the biggest source of referrals, so stay in touch with them!
  • Your colleagues or even opposing counsel will eventually be in-house and potential clients
  • Develop an expertise and deliver a CLE (use your local bar or Inn of Court)
  • Have a long-term mentality; putting in effort now toward business development will pay off eight and ten years from now
  • Take the lead on a bar sub-committee
  • The day after you get a job you should start networking like you need a job; you won't be in the same job for life
  • Everyone should be able to say what you do; it's how you develop your reputation/brand
    • Be specific. It may feel limiting, but in fact you will get more referrals by making sure people know you are the "X" lawyer
    • Most referrals will come from other lawyers
    • Judge Keith Ellison: in response to those who say they want to do "complex commercial litigation" he says "who will do the simple commercial litigation?"

When hiring associates

• Likes to see people who didn't go K-Law School and has a bit of life/work experience outside of school; some business experience is helpful
• Likes people who have worked with a judge
• Needs hustle and someone who can take a case and run with it relatively quickly
• If they do what I want them to do, they won't need me after a few years because they will be able to manage a practice on their own

Diversity and Race in the legal profession

• Diversity is not getting better in the legal profession in Texas
• Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the country, and if the profession doesn't reflect the community, how can we deliver the best services to clients? So it is an economic necessity as well
• People live different experience, and if those aren't at the table we can't ethically serve our clients
• People of color and women are not represented in equity ownership
  • law firms aren't fostering their success and longevity
• Study
  • Criticism of writing for people with names that sound like a person of color was harsher than those with an Anglo-sounding name
• People of color get treated differently for bad reasons; the law is supposed to be blind
  • perhaps now there is more of an acknowledgment of a problem which is an important first step

Rapid Fire Questions

• Name one trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: timeliness
• Key Habit: networking
• Favorite app/productivity tool: Evernote
• Favorite social distancing: evening walks
• Favorite legal movie: Legally Blonde? Nah...The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Thanks again to Shannon Quadros for coming on the show!