You’ve likely heard the loosely translated definition of insanity, ‘doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results’. Well I can certainly point to a lot of insanity in the legal industry right now. We are seeing an unprecedented disruption in the legal industry, and disruption is here to stay and in fact will only increase. Heenan was the first and there are likely others to follow. Lawyers at firms at all levels, shapes and sizes are experiencing more turbulence than we’ve ever seen before.
There are so many things wrong with the typical law firm business model. Starting with the billable hour, compensation models, lack of talent development, partners not pushing work down to associates, too many committees, not fully leveraging the skills and experience of your C-level professionals (you know, the ones who went to school to learn how to run a business), like you went to school to learn how to become a lawyer? Yes, I know I’m being a little harsh. But this is crazy. Your clients know it. Some of your junior lawyers know it. And your management knows it. This is not the time to wait to see what the other guys do. It’s time to do things differently and break out of the pack. If you don’t you’re not only foolish, you could be insane.
