Out with the Old, In with the New: How the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) Will Revolutionize Law Firms

Law firms are not cutting it anymore. Consumers of legal services are saying it. I manage a law firm, and I’m saying it.  The 2017 Report on the State of the Legal Market released by Georgetown Law’s Center for the Study of the Legal Profession and Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute found that there has been 10 years of stagnation in the legal industry. Clients are now demanding change, which requires redesign of approaches to client service, pricing, processes and management. While some law firms have implemented process improvement based upon such methodologies as Lean Six Sigma or otherwise, EOS®, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, provides a framework for small and mid-size law firms to better serve their clients, particularly entrepreneurial and start-up clients who may also be utilizing EOS®.

Traverse Legal has implemented EOS, the Entrepreneurial Operating System.  It is how successful businesses run, and we we have seen it work with our clients.  We have committed to EOS and with it a renewed focus on accountable people, a vision with real core values, and SMART goals driven and supported by data.  The result – streamlined processes, proven methods to efficiently deliver legal services and traction for both our growing firm and our clients’ businesses. 

EOS®, the Entrepreneurial Operating System, is a complete set of simple concepts and practical tools used by growth-oriented businesses. Leadership teams implement EOS for systematic and permanent improvement in operations. Following Gino Wickman’s book, Traction, EOS® is providing our law firm leadership team with guidance to define, or refine, your core values, core focus, long term goals, marketing strategy, 1-year plan and weekly routines to accomplish measurable goals. We believe we are one of, if the not the first, mid-size law firm starting to implement EOS in order to better serve clients, existing and prospective alike, that are demanding more from their legal counsel. Based upon EOS, that model focuses on vision, people, data, issues, process and traction. The result, happier lawyers in a more profitable law firm.

The time has come for the old law firm model, epitomized by churn and burn, to be replaced with a new one. Traditional law firms, led by partners hanging on for retirement, must stop paying lip service to “alternative fee arrangements” in order to remain relevant. New law firms and legal service alternatives are displacing, and will continue to displace, the traditional law firm. New business models and more efficient processes for delivering legal services that reflect new market dynamics will ultimately prevail for one reason – the client demands it. Could EOS® save the legal industry?  Either way, it is helping our firm continue to lead and stay true to our mantra: Changing the Way Law is Practiced.

brianhall


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