July 20, 2020
by Jay Hull.
Three friends and I started building our new firm over the last few months. My co-founders and partners are Margaret Cicchetti, Kim Sully, and Michael Callier. I suppose we could have picked a better time to start, in light of the current state of the economy, but that isn’t going to stop us.
Why did we start Pivot Legal Solutions? What are we trying to accomplish?
We have a theory – to us, it looks like a big theory, with lots of smaller theories and ideas underneath. We want to test our theory. And our big theory matters a great deal to us. It’s personal.
Members of our team have lived in the rough-and-tumble world of big law firms, corporate legal departments, an innovation team at a big law firm, law firm IT departments, firm-wide staff leadership roles, and legal tech startups. We have been clients and lawyers for clients. We have sent bills and received bills. We have drafted and negotiated contracts and wished and worked for a better way. We have made mistakes affecting others, and we have been affected by the mistakes of others. We have been asked to adopt new legal technology tools, and we have been the ones proposing adoption of new tools. We have disappointed ourselves and others (and we have also been disappointed by others) over the pervasive absence of the values and commitments that we believe will make a lasting difference in the legal services context.
In other words, we have personally confronted the challenges that led us to our big theory. The predominant commitments, values, and priorities evident in the legal services context are not resulting in the type of change or the pace of change that we know is possible.
We are not the only ones who hold this theory, of course. We’re glad we are not alone in promoting these ideas. On the other hand, some people, perhaps many people, will think our theory is hopelessly naïve; that doesn’t bother us. To borrow a phrase from the richest person in the world (at the moment), “we are willing to be misunderstood for long periods of time.” That’s because of our experience-based confidence in our vision, values, and commitments.
What’s our big theory? Our theory is that the following statements are true and important – as true and important for the legal context as they are for other contexts. And these principles are no less true for being simple and familiar.
This is true and important: “The single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organizational health. Yet it is ignored by most leaders even though it is simple, free, and available to anyone who wants it…The health of an organization provides the context for strategy, finance, marketing, technology, and everything else that happens within it, which is why it is the single greatest factor determining an organization’s success. More than talent. More than knowledge. More than innovation…A good way to recognize health is to look for the signs that indicate an organization has it. These include minimal politics and confusion, high degrees of morale and productivity, and very low turnover among good employees.” P. Lencioni, The Advantage.
So what? We want to serve people and organizations in a way that fully accomplishes their immediate objectives, such as designing and implementing a better CLM or Matter Management system, or improving a process, or breaking down barriers to improved working relationships between outside counsel and in-house counsel, or finding a less-expensive solution, and also supports the long-term goals of positive leadership, change management, a culture of innovation, and organizational health. We’ll know we are making progress if (in addition to accomplishing the specific goals of a project) we see over time reduced levels of internal politics and confusion, better morale and productivity, and higher levels of engagement on the teams we’re serving.
This is true and important: “The leader must own everything in his or her world. There is no one else to blame. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win. The best leaders don’t just take responsibility for their job, they take Extreme Ownership of everything that impacts their mission.” Willink and Babin, Extreme Ownership.
So what? This kind of extreme ownership is really hard to achieve. But we will do our best to avoid blame-shifting (on our team and among the members of the teams we serve). We will encourage the people we serve not to blame the technology, or outside counsel, or the client’s corporate legal department, or the ALSP, or the compensation structure, or the risk-averse character of lawyers, or the Rules of Professional Responsibility, or anyone or anything else. Instead, let’s look at the entire bundle of contributors to a legal context and find a way to take the best of all of them to improve the system as a whole.
We reject the notion that the relationship between in-house counsel and outside counsel is a zero-sum game. Not that there is anything wrong with letting off steam, but we believe that the rancor, heated rhetoric and blaming, typically dispensed from a distance via social media, is not helpful for solving real-world problems that confront professionals in legal contexts who are simply trying to do the right thing right now. What we need instead is up-close-and-personal conversations about how to do better.
This is true and important: “The greatest waste in America is failure to use the abilities of people.” W. Edwards Deming. Yes, that Deming.
And this is true and important: “I define a leader as anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.” Brené Brown, Dare to Lead.
So what? Do we really need to say much about this one? Lean Six Sigma principles focus on eliminating waste in processes. That’s essential, and we can help with that. But in the legal context, we simply don’t pay enough attention to the waste of the talent, energy, engagement, and drive of the people we work with throughout the organization. Is there a more cost-effective way to improve the productivity and results of a team than to tap into more of the great storehouse of ability and potential in each person?
This is true and important: “How do you bring people around and help them flourish in your environment? It’s not by being a dictator. It’s not by telling them what the hell to do. It’s making sure that they feel valued by being in the room with you. Listen. Pay attention. This is what great managers do.” Bill Campbell, in The Trillion Dollar Coach.
So what? We want to help the people we serve to adopt and develop the characteristics that make great managers and leaders: listening, paying attention, being open to great ideas regardless of the rank, title, or seniority of the person with the idea. Remember, this guidance comes to us from Bill Campbell, who coached Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt, among other strong leaders – he was not exactly a pushover. Yet this is his judgment about what great leadership requires.
And finally, for now, this is true and important: “The only authority deserving one’s allegiance is that which is freely given by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader.” R. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership.
So what? The legal function is inherently a service and support function – we help and teach and advise and warn and implement and encourage and cajole and defend, in order to help a client accomplish the client’s lawful objectives.
Pivot Legal Solutions is a second-level support function – we exist to serve and support the people who serve and support recipients of legal services. Not just lawyers; not just law firms; not just corporate legal departments. Choosing between focusing on law firms and corporate legal departments is, for us, a false binary. Michael and I have both worked in big law firms and in corporate legal departments; we didn’t change our core values when we moved between law firms, in-house roles, and back again to law firms.
So, what is our big theory? Our big theory is that those of us who deliver legal support and service can do a lot better by breaking down artificial barriers and immersing our hands-on, technical expertise in problem-solving for clients with principles of positive leadership, extreme ownership of problems, change leadership, and organizational health.
Our theory is that proposed solutions not supported by these values will not survive for the longer-term because they will be crushed by the pressure of inertia and the weight of billable hour goals to achieve, and budget constraints to meet, and deadlines to meet, and outdated habits and mindsets.
Our big theory is that all of the principles quoted above are right and – more than just being right – they are essential for helping individuals, teams, and organizations thrive in the new environment for legal services. People and organizations that don’t embrace these principles will be left behind in the new operating environment.
Treating people and tackling problems in a way that conforms to our values will not only be more fun and rewarding for us, it will yield much better outcomes for those we are privileged to serve. It’s only a theory, but it’s our theory and we’re sticking to it! For us, now is the time for those working in legal contexts to pivot to a new way of working together to solve big problems.
If are interested in exploring these ideas and developing new ways of working together, let me know: jay@pivotlegalsolutions.com.