At Lawyerist, we believe that every law firm should articulate its core values clearly. Our values are the traits, qualities, and beliefs that help us work together. We use values to guide decisions. Recently, we evaluated our core values to see if they accurately reflected our team’s approach. We tweaked a few things.
Over the coming weeks, we will break down each of our core values. We want to be transparent about who we are as a company. We also hope this will inspire law firms to do the same!
First up: Experiment Like a Lobster!
Experiment Like a Lobster.
We experiment—we question, test, analyze, learn, adapt, improve, and push ourselves for outsized impacts through relentless incrementalism. We practice what we teach.
We Challenge Ourselves
Now, you’re probably wondering, do lobsters experiment?
We can confidently state that Team Lawyerist experiments every day. We challenge ourselves to be innovative. As a result, we’re always looking for a better way. This sometimes means we finish a project and we’ll be delighted with the result. Then, the next week, we’ll ask, “where can it be better?”
We live by the idea of “relentless incrementalism.” Relentless means someone is determined to do something and refuses to give up. It means constant. Incrementalism means we’re making small improvements and always asking how this could be 1% better.
We Question the “Why” Behind Everything
We are a very strategic team. This means we ask “why” a lot. Questioning our work or the way we approach our work helps us understand what we are trying to achieve. It helps us know if we are on the right path. Before we embark on a new project, we stop and ask ourselves why we’re doing it and what we hope to accomplish.
We also look for ways to do more with less. When we stop to ask ourselves why it also gives us time to think about the process. Could we do this differently? Can we make the process easier? Is the result worth the effort? (Are you starting to see a theme?)
“But I like Routine”
We’ve had team members in the past who thrived with routines. They enjoyed coming to work and executing. For the most part, they loved certainty.
We love the routine-people! They are a great asset for many teams. Unfortunately, we’ve found that these people struggle on our team. They sometimes get frustrated with our need for change and experimentation. They don’t understand why we want to try new technology tools. If we look for ways to improve their work, they feel like we don’t appreciate them.
One reason core values are so important is they help companies determine who isn’t a good fit for the team. We’ve learned that our need for constant improvement means routine-driven people might be miserable on our team. All in all, that’s super valuable information.
We Practice What We Teach
Lawyerist offers business coaching and consulting to small law firms. We help lawyers create innovative law firms. It starts with their strategic plan. Then, we help lawyers implement the changes necessary to achieve their goals. It sounds simple, but it’s not always easy.
We ask law firms to adopt our “Experiment Like a Lobster” approach to their business, too. Our team encourages lawyers to innovate and rethink their “how” and their “why.” In Lab, we teach them that making small, incremental changes to their business often leads to big results. We ask them to try new things—to experiment—and see what happens. If they don’t get the desired outcome, they have data to use to iterate and improve in the future. This also applies to their law firm values.
We ask lawyers in Lawyerist Lab to explain the “why” behind their decisions. What do they expect will happen? They measure the results. Then, we’ll help them make data-driven decisions. We help lawyers act intentionally.
If you’re ready to Experiment Like a Lobster, then you’ve found your people!
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Last updated August 30th, 2023
