How to Grow an Inc. 5000 Law Practice in Ten Easy Steps

Angela McIlveenAttorney and CEOMcIlveen Family Law Firm

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN….

BOY MEETS GIRL

10 “Easy” Steps to Grow Your Firm

Live Celebrate Life

Develop Develop a Meeting Cadence for Problem Solving

Systematize Systematize by Creating Processes and Procedures

Grow Grow Leadership Skills in Yourself and Team

Hire Hire Great People

Track Track Everything and Act on it

Gain Gain Buy-in by Planning with Your Team and Sharing Goals

PlanPlan Yearly and Quarterly Goals that Align with Firm’s Mission, Vision, and Values

Create Create the Firm’s Mission, Vision, and Values

Know Know Your Why

“To the person

who does not

know where he

wants to go there

is no favorable

wind.”

— Seneca

Quarterly Goals

Annual Strategic Plan and Budget

5 year vision

Write a business plan and update it frequently

Goals: Clear, Understood by All, Measurable

OKR – Objective and Key Results

• Company has 3-5 OKR Annual and Quarterly OKRs

•Departments have 3-5 OKRs that align with Company’s quarterly OKRs

• Every employee has 3-5 OKRs each quarter that align with Department Quarterly OKRs

Check in regularly during quarter

Autopsy results at end of quarter

GAIN BUY-IN FROM TEAM –EXECUTE PLAN

TRACK EVERYTHING (MOSTLY) AND ACT ON IT

“Trust but verify.”

- Ronald Regan

KPIs

Leading

■ Website traffic

■ Calls (MQL and SQL)

■ % Consults Scheduled

(#Scheduled/#SQL)

■ % Consults Confirmed

(#confirmed/#scheduled)

■ Work in Progress (WIP)

■ Billed hours (Leading for HR)

■ Employee happiness (NPS)

Lagging■ Accounts Receivable

■ # Cases Retained

■ Retention % by Attorney (#retained/#consults)

■ Leverage (#hours billed/#hours available)

■ P&L – Profitability

■ Collection % Rate ($ collected/$ billed)

■ Employee Turnover %

■ Client happiness (NPS)

WORK IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT

Level 5: Pinnacle (Respect)– people follow you because of who you are and what you represent

Level 4: People Development (Reproduction) – people follow you because of what you have done for them

Level 3: Production (Results) – people follow you because of what you have done for the company

Level 2: Permission (Relationships) –people follow you because they want to

Level 1: Position (Rights)– people follow you because they have to

■Policies – Why we do what we do

–Processes – What we do (big

picture)

■Procedures – How we do it

–Work instructions (detailed

steps)

Systems

Marketing

Sales

OperationsAccounts

Receivable

Accounts Payable

CEO

Marketing

Attract Clients

Referral

Sales

Sell

Qualify

Schedule

Confirm

Retain

Human Resources

Hire

Hiring

Onboarding/Training

Fire

Termination

Manage

Performance

Operations

Deliver Service

Onboarding

Closing

IT Finance

Accounts Receivable

Accounts Payable

Budget

Payroll

Executive Assistant

Develop a Meeting Rhythm to Solve Problems

2-3 day Annual Meeting (Executive Team and Employees)

½ - 1 day Quarterly Meeting (Executive Team and Employees)

90 Minute Weekly Meeting

5 Minute Morning Huddle

CELEBRATE LIFE

Connect

■ Angela McIlveen

– Linkedin.com/in/angelamcilveen

– Twitter.com/angela_mcilveen

– angela@mcilveenfamilylaw.com

Read

■ 5 Levels of Leadership - John Maxwell

■ Daring Greatly - Brene Brown

■ Rising Strong - Brene Brown

■ Start with Why – Simon Sinek

■ Scaling up – Verne Harnish

■ Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! – Greg Crabtree

■ The Checklist Manifesto – Atul Gawande

■ Rocket Fuel – Gino Wickman

Program will resume at 4 pm in Ballroom EF