Practicing Law May Not Be Good for Families, But Law Firm Owners Can Do Something About It

No one ever said being a lawyer was easy. Having the weight of your clients’ most pressing problems on your shoulders is a hefty responsibility. Want to know what’s harder? Having your clients’ well-being and that of your team resting there as well. Especially these days.

Given the recent pandemic, there have been a lot of changes in the workforce. The legal profession is no exception, which left a lot of law firm owners scratching their heads. From having to pivot to working remotely to creating workplaces that offer life-work balance to employees post-pandemic without compromising room for advancement and dream-chasing after employees saw the upside of remote work, many law firm owners have had to envision ways to move with the times. On top of that, law firm owners need to accomplish all this while remaining profitable. It’s a tall order.

But it’s possible. Possible, I should say, for anyone willing like I have been to take on yet a new role: that of radically disruptive leader.

Radically disruptive leaders want to change their industry, for me, the legal industry, as a whole. In my case, I’ve known for a long time the law firm model of yesteryear doesn’t always work, especially for those raising children while working. It’s why seven years ago, I founded a fully remote law firm. This was virtually (excuse the pun) unheard of at the time.

Whether you’re a mom or a dad, or a divorced single parent like I was, it’s tough to balance the demands of law firm life in its old, rigid form without leaders who understand that the best and most productive employees aren’t the ones who sacrifice their personal lives to work around the clock. In reality, it’s the exact opposite: the employees who are happiest, especially happy at home, typically are the most successful at work.

So how do you become a radically disruptive leader who bucks the status quo? For starters, you have to embrace your goals (for me, creating a unicorn law firm where there’s life-work balance) and the responsibilities that come with it. Then you have to act on them. Here’s how.?

Figure out what it takes to become a radically disruptive leader.?

Radically disruptive leadership fuels my soul, probably because this mindset comes from the core. It comes from emotional intelligence, innovation, and a capacity for deep personal care. Unfortunately, not everyone is capable of this or tuned into their potential for it. Therefore, to be a radically disruptive leader, it’s also necessary to surround yourself with like-minded teammates, those who are already radically disruptive leaders or show a propensity to be one.

As a leadership team, we’ve been digging deep into our firm’s accountability chart. We’re continually evaluating our core functions as a law firm and getting honest with ourselves about our zones of genius and those things we suck at. The answer? Don’t do stuff we suck at.?

In a nutshell, radically disruptive leadership takes the following: courage, persistence, innovation, relentless pursuit of self-improvement and education, dedication to a radically different “normal,” personal accountability, authentic care, emotional intelligence, bold decisions, radically candid conversations, a willingness to pivot, comfort with endless experimentation, nimbleness, dogged pursuit of care culture, actually deeply caring about individuals, an unrelenting desire to be self-introspective, and fully embracing the reality that a radically disruptive leader will always eat last.

Realize radically disruptive leadership is not for the faint of heart.?

Radically disruptive leadership is not for the faint of heart. Radically disruptive leaders do not step back when times get busy or difficult. Instead, a radically disruptive leader leans in when things get tough. Radically disruptive leaders protect their teams. Radically disruptive leaders care deeply about those they lead. There’s no weekend or vacation time off from actually caring.?

We’re building and nurturing a radically unique law firm, a unicorn firm. A firm where we listen closely to one another and lift each other up through training, education, and leadership development. We have huge strides to make in these areas, but we keep going. Progress fuels us.

Know yourself and trust your gut.

I’ve accepted that one of my highest value activities as a visionary is laughing, crying, and brainstorming creative, innovative, emotionally intelligent solutions with my team members. Developing future leaders to do the same is my next highest value activity.?

We’re innovating at the very core of our leadership team. To lead at our law firm, one must be steadfast in their pursuit of innovative and emotionally intelligent leadership development and education.

Teach others in your organization to become radically disruptive leaders, too.?

Developing leaders is the key to a successful business. We’re working on this now, specifically how to grow and train leaders. This is the secret sauce of any healthy business.?

We have lots of work to do on developing this mission but are laying the foundation for robust, ongoing leadership development. Maximizing our team is my highest goal as an owner.?

Leadership, real leadership, where the entire team feels safe and supported and where conflict gets resolved from a healthy, growth mindset, is the missing ingredient in so many law firms. Instead, owners talk about only profits, efficiency, and productivity, but they rarely talk about developing leaders inside their organization.

My goal is to focus more energy on developing leaders than we do on profit margin. Humans are way more interesting than profits. My motto? Develop the people and the profits will come.?

Assess and acknowledge your current environment.?

The demands on employees in law firms are crazy. Fortunately, in theory, the solution from an employer perspective isn’t: balance employees’ workload, make employees’ home lives a priority, and recognize family comes first.

Reaching these goals means first helping employees understand their needs versus the needs of their jobs. This is where it gets tricky and, in my estimation, where plans fail because priorities become confusing. Let me explain.

As lawyers, we should always be meeting our clients where they are. So, for example, if you’re a lawyer working at night, you should check with your clients if they’re comfortable receiving emails from you during non-traditional work hours. That can be disconcerting to some and a way to ratchet up the stress, which, as lawyers, we don’t want to do, particularly to the people we’re trying to help. ?

In the same vein, if you’re a lawyer working at night, you need to also check with your colleagues if they’re comfortable getting emails at night. Many may not be. In a remote-style law firm, employees often work at different times. The point is employees come first. But, and this is a big but, during work time, the clients’ needs come first. So to accommodate everyone’s needs, clients and colleagues, it becomes critical to meet clients and colleagues where they are. Again, this is situational and specific to a law firm’s environment and culture.?

This is where it becomes necessary to examine and, if necessary, build a new team culture. Now, about my goal of building a successful remote law firm as there has never been before, to make law practice good for lawyers and their families? After years of trial and error, I’ve realized our legal matters can’t be insulated, meaning there can’t be one person in the know on a case. Instead, every detail surrounding it has to be transparent so that someone can jump in if need be.

Letting go, so to speak, often makes lawyers nervous because they don’t want others inserting themselves into their work. It’s honorable that lawyers see themselves as the protectors of their clients. However, it’s this very characteristic that inevitably makes it harder to let go and let others in. And it’s precisely a team mentality that’s needed to break the traditional law firm mold.?

Everyone on a team should be able to step in at a moment’s notice. This requires systems and standards of care (for fellow lawyers and clients) to be in place. Here’s the crux of it: While attorneys are at work, clients are the priority. While attorneys aren’t working, they and their families are the priority.?

In other words, while a particular lawyer on the team is at work, at a time that works for them, that lawyer is prioritizing the client and meeting the client’s needs where that client is. And when a particular lawyer isn’t at work, law firm owners, other team members, and, by default, clients must respect and honor that time, too. ?

Final thoughts …

Being a lawyer is an honor and a privilege. Maximizing people around me is my greatest joy and superpower, whether that be our big family of six young adults, our EBFLG team of 56 plus people, or our amazing clients and their families. Radically disruptive leadership lives at my core. If it lives at yours, come join us.?

If you're interested in learning more about Elise Buie Family Law Group and the possibility of joining our team, please check out our current job openings.

Elise Buie, Esq. is a Seattle-based family and divorce lawyer and founder of the Elise Buie Family Law Group. A champion for maintaining civility throughout the divorce process, Elise advocates for her clients and the best interests of their children, helping them move forward with dignity and from a position of strength.