Lawyers are often creatures of habit. We tend to apply conventional approaches to strategic planning that can actually limit our potential for real growth and impact. As a FocalPoint coach based in Maple Grove, MN, I’ve discovered that embracing unconventional strategic wisdom unlocks transformational results for attorneys.
In this article, I’ll share three out-of-the-box strategic planning techniques that enable lawyers to envision bolder futures for their firms and make them reality in less time. By opening your mind to fresh strategic perspectives, you gain an expansive view of what’s possible.
Rethink Your Business Model
Traditional law firm business models center on billable hours. This leads many lawyers to believe things like “more hours equal more revenue” or “raising rates is my only growth lever.” However, the billable hour model has inherent limits. There are only so many hours lawyers can work, and only so high they can raise rates before turning off clients.
To spur exponential growth, re-imagine your entire business model. Ask yourself:
- How could I serve clients in new ways they value most?
- What complementary services could I offer beyond legal work to solve client challenges?
- How could I leverage systems and technology to deliver excellence more efficiently?
- Can I package guidance into products that help more people at lower cost?
- Could strategic partnerships expand my capabilities and client base?
Refocusing your law practice around delivering maximum value, versus maximum hours billed, is a game changer. When you align services with client needs instead of antiquated traditions, you open new strategic vistas.
Assess External Forces First
Lawyers typically start strategy by analyzing internal operations. But excess internal focus breeds insular thinking.
Begin strategic planning by surveying external forces shaping the legal market, including:
- Client demand shifts
- Economic trends
- Technology changes
- Competitor moves
- Societal changes
- Legal industry innovation
This external-first assessment reveals threats to mitigate and opportunities to capture that internal-only lens can miss.
Here are examples of illuminating strategic questions that expand your external awareness:
- How could AI automation impact my practice – positively and negatively?
- What emerging legal roles like legal engineers could alter the talent landscape?
- How could legal deregulation shift client expectations and access?
- What disruptive legal startups should be on my radar?
- How could shifting generational values around topics like social impact reshape law?
You can’t control external disruption. But by determining strategic implications early, you gain time to adapt wisely.
Imagine Wildly Different Futures
Traditional strategic planning often extrapolates linearly from current trends. This restricts imagination.
Instead, mentally “futurecast” by visioning at least four wildly different hypothetical futures for your firm:
1. The ideal future: If anything were possible, what would your “blue sky” scenario be?
2. The doomsday future: If you failed to adapt and the worst case happened, what would that look like?
3. The conservative linear future: If current trends simply continued, where would you logically end up?
4. The disruptive future: If unforeseen industry disruption struck, how could it potentially upend your firm?
This “scenario planning” stretches strategic thinking. Choosing strategies robust enough to work in multiple futures also boosts resilience. While lawyers often discount uncertainty, creatively embracing many unknowns can unlock opportunities.
To build a truly strategic plan as a Maple Grove lawyer, dare to break free of status quo thinking and standard practices. Keep cultivating your valuable skills of analyzing issues from multiple angles and imagining every possible outcome. If the common legal strategic wisdom isn’t delivering results fast enough for you, I’m here to help explore bold new visions. My name is Adam Thompson, let’s have a conversation about how to make an unconventional plan for your extraordinary future.
