Is “Innovation” a Bad Word in Law Firms?

• Author: James Côté
• Date: November 15, 2019

The legal profession could be improved a bit. Ok, it could be improved a lot. One might say it could use more “innovation.” Yet it seems like the harder one pushes for innovation, the harder others push back.

Despite acknowledgement that the nature of legal services will take time to change it feels we continually need, as Jae Um puts it, “a call for patience (and some perspective).” After the 2008 crash people mused, is this The End of Lawyers? Many saw 2008 as a call to action, driven by fear over the long-term relevancy of lawyers. Somewhat ironically, this has led to short-term cries for “Innovation, now!”

It feels like the term “innovation”, with its connotations of newness and technology, is becoming its own impediment. I understand that “innovation” sounds better sounds better from a marketing perspective (“strategy” sounds like something you should be doing anyway). But I think we’re now seeing the term “innovation” start to hinder progress on the problems faced by the legal community. Heavily influenced by David Maister, here are four ways the term “innovation” is making it harder to achieve the goals that originally brought people under its banner.

It’s not really about “innovation”

Improving current ways of delivering legal services is not predominately an “educational” issue in the sense that lawyers need to be “enlightened” to the ways of innovation. Most people, even lawyers, could easily describe several activities that would make them better at their job. We must ask why they don’t already do these things.

If someone already accepts a goal, preaching benefits doesn’t add anything. Making a firm more productive or better at client service is similar to people’s desire to give up smoking and lose weight. Many people know and want the goal, they believe it is worth the effort, they know what to do – but, like all human beings, they are very bad at incurring short-term discomfort to achieve a long-term goal. As Maister explains, “what many firms have yet to learn is that the issue of improving client service is overwhelmingly a managerial one. They, and their professionals, know what good service is, but how do they make it happen?”

Making things happen is a challenge – regardless of if it is considered “innovative” or not. If you can make some sort of lasting change – however small – then you can make another and another, and so on. This necessity to make things happen is why Everett Rogers advises change agents to “solve client’s problems instead of advancing your own agenda.” Eventually, you can steer the momentum to where you want it to go. This approach is more effective and sustainable in the long-term pushing and steering a vehicle on your own.

It deemphasizes strategy

Innovation is a tactic through which to further a firm’s strategy. The objectives of every firm are basically the same: client satisfaction, skill building, productivity, and getting better business. As Maister puts it: if you’re making...