Is your law firm  REALLY committed to what is on your firm website?

Years ago when I was still practicing law our firm claimed to be most committed to our clients, our lawyers and our staff. I thought the claim was only true if we were continuing to increase our profits per partner (PPP) I received far fewer memos about serving our clients and helping our lawyers and staff achieve their goals than the memos I received on PPP.

Many law firms talk about the commitment to their people and clients, but few actually walk the walk. Just suppose your firm was REALLY committed to:

  • Recruiting lawyers and staff based in part on their emotional intelligence
  • The highest quality training and development for lawyers and staff
  • Opportunity to succeed in the firm based solely on the quality of one’s performance not just on the number of billable hours
  • Promoting an entrepreneurial spirit
  • Mutual respect of all firm personnel
  • A focused effort to increase the diversity of backgrounds and perspectives of firm lawyers and staff
  • Providing the highest level of service and responsiveness to clients, and consistently exceeding their expectations
  • Monitoring and adapting to the changing demands of clients, markets and lawyers
  • Availability of the highest quality resources to support service to firm clients
  • Integration of technology to add value to clients and enable firm lawyers and staff to work more effectively and efficiently
  • Innovative use of social media to connect with clients

Then just suppose your lawyers and staff were encouraged to work together to achieve the commitments described above. How do you think your firm would do compared to your competitors?