The Indispensable Tool: Creativity

COLUMN > Innovation in Law

BY JORDAN L. COUCH

My mother-in-law says that the work of designing a good home is never done. The same is true of an innovative law firm. With nearly 80 percent of civil legal needs for lower-to-middle income individuals going unmet¹1 https://businesslawtoday.org/2020/03/civil-needs-unmet-latent-demand-legal-services/. and individual consumer spending on legal services declining over the years,²2 www.legalevolution.org/2022/01/eight-updated-graphics-on-the-us-legal-services-market-285/. resting on your laurels is not an option for firms that want to thrive long-term. But how do we continue to improve our practice? Continuous improvement relies on the ongoing development of new ideas, a process that requires creativity. Lawyers and law firm leaders, therefore, would be wise to embrace creativity and practice it in their daily lives.

Below we’ll delve into why creativity is crucial for lawyers and how it can enhance your firm’s performance. We’ll also discuss the importance of avoiding burnout as you continually generate fresh ideas.

The Importance of Creativity in Law

So, why should lawyers bother with creativity when they have a mountain of case files to tackle and clients to represent? Further, why worry about creativity when you’re doing just fine in your firm? The answer lies in the changing landscape of the legal profession.

First and most obviously, the legal world is constantly evolving. New laws, regulations, and technologies consistently disrupt the status quo. Lawyers who can think creatively are better equipped to adapt to these changes and find better solutions for their clients.

Second, clients today are looking for more than just legal information; they want creative problem-solvers. Creativity allows lawyers to look beyond legal texts and find unique, tailor-made solutions that better serve their clients’ needs. Although AI can generate a basic will, it’s in creative problem-solving that a lawyer’s skills are most valuable. It’s what our former WSBA Executive Director Paula Littlewood called “practicing at the top of your license.”

Finally, creativity is a competitive advantage. Firms that encourage and harness creativity have a competitive edge. According to a 2014 study commissioned by Adobe, companies that foster creativity achieve greater revenue growth than their peers.³3 https://intranet.americansforthearts.org/by-program/reports-and-data/legislation-policy/naappd/the-creative-dividend-how-creativity-impacts-business-results. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents whose companies encourage creativity saw their 2013 revenues increase by 10 percent or more compared to 2012. In contrast, only 20 percent of less-creative companies performed similarly. What’s more, creative companies enjoyed more than one and a half times greater market share than their competitors.⁴4 55563.en.creative-dividends.pdf. Creative lawyers are more likely to come up with innovative strategies, marketing campaigns, and business development ideas, giving their firms an edge in a competitive marketplace.

How to Practice Creativity

How can you nurture your creative side as a lawyer constrained by the rules of professional conduct and the limitations of our legal system? Fortunately, there are some simple things you can do to help boost creativity in your practice.

Diverse Experiences: Creativity often thrives when exposed to diverse experiences. Attend workshops, seminars, and conferences outside your usual legal circles. These encounters can spark new ideas and perspectives. If you can’t leave your space to attend an event, shake up your day by putting on a creative pair of socks. Don’t have creative socks? Grab a sharpie and write “creative” on the side of your most boring pair of socks, then put those on. Seattle author Scott Berkun gave me that tip. According to Berkun, science has demonstrated that even such a silly, simple act can boost creativity.

Collaboration: Two heads are better than one, right? Collaborate with colleagues from different legal specialties. Cross-pollinating ideas from different areas of law can lead to fresh insights and creative solutions. Try to avoid groupthink. Whenever I ask a group an important question, I make each individual write down their answer before anyone answers out loud. This avoids a regression to the mean based on who speaks first.

Mindfulness and Relaxation: Creativity often strikes when you least expect it. Engage in mindfulness practices or hobbies that relax you. A calm mind is more likely to generate creative ideas. I have a ritual after conferences. When the flight takes off, I put on some relaxing music and get out a notebook and pen. Inevitably, before we’ve hit cruising altitude, my mind has had a chance to recover from the chaos of a good conference and ideas begin exploding. For a two-day conference, it’s not uncommon for me to have three pages of good ideas in under an hour when I’m given a chance to relax on a flight home.

Read Widely: Don’t restrict your reading to legal texts alone. Explore literature, science, art, and more. Great ideas often emerge when you connect seemingly unrelated concepts. I mentioned Scott Berkun earlier. If you’re really ready to embrace creativity, the next book you pick up should be his The Dance of the Possible. It is short, engaging, and chock full of great recommendations. Many of the recommendations in this article come from that book.

Brainstorming Sessions: Regularly hold brainstorming sessions within your firm. Encourage open discussions, where everyone’s ideas are welcomed and explored. No idea is too wild during these sessions. We sometimes do a practice we call “11-star services,” where we ask what it would take to get a six-star review from our clients (on a scale of one to five). Then how about seven stars? And on until we get to 11. One of my favorite suggestions was to buy up a hospital practice so that our clients can all have in-home care for free.

Creativity in the legal profession is not a paradox; it’s a necessity.

Implementing Creativity in Your Firm

Practicing creativity individually is just the beginning. To truly make an impact in your law firm, you need to implement creative thinking at the organizational level.

Create a Culture of Innovation. Foster an environment where creativity is encouraged and rewarded. Recognize and celebrate innovative ideas and successful outcomes. One of Palace Law’s core values is “Be Creative” and we praise our team members for living up to that.

Hire Diverse Teams. Ensure that your teams are diverse in terms of background, experience, and expertise. It is widely studied and confirmed that diverse teams generate more creative ideas and are more successful at resolving problems.

Encourage Calculated Risk-Taking. This is really hard for lawyers for understandable reasons. We have people’s lives and livelihoods entrusted to us and that is a heavy responsibility. Lawyers are culturally more risk averse than other professionals. But fear of failure might be holding you back. There are lots of ways you can ethically take risks. Set up a procedure for risk-taking in your firm that involves informed client consent and supervision. Not every creative idea will pan out, and it has to be OK to try things that sometimes fail.

Avoiding Burnout

While cultivating creativity is essential, it’s equally important to avoid burnout as you continually generate new ideas. You can’t think of everything, and idea overwhelm is very real. On a basic level, maintain a healthy work-life balance. Overworking can stifle creativity. Take breaks, let your brain rest and reset.

Don’t try to do everything yourself. Delegate tasks to others and trust your colleagues to handle them efficiently. This frees up mental space for creative thinking. It also ensures you have extra capacity to implement your best creative ideas.

Remember you won’t be able to do it all. Avoid setting unrealistic expectations for yourself and your firm. Once you start practicing creativity you may find yourself flooded with ideas to improve your firm. Don’t try to do everything. I like to triage my ideas using what is called an effort/impact analysis. Assign a score to each idea: Is it high or low effort? Is it high or low impact? Your low effort, high impact ideas should be done first. They are easy wins. Your high effort, high impact ideas are going to take a while. Plan to only work on one of those at a time. Your low effort, low impact ideas are space fillers. Do them when you have a free minute. And your high effort, low impact ideas can probably just go to the trash. Even if you like them a lot, they will drag you down.

Conclusion

Creativity in the legal profession is not a paradox; it’s a necessity. By practicing and implementing creativity within your firm, you can gain a competitive edge, better serve your clients, and adapt to the ever-changing legal landscape. At Palace Law one of our core values is “forget the status quo.” We commit to asking what can be done instead of what is done. Remember, creativity is a journey, not a destination. Take care of yourself, nurture your creative spirit, and watch your firm thrive in ways you never imagined. So, go ahead, unleash your inner legal innovator, put on your creative socks, and see where your creativity takes you!

NOTES    

1. https://businesslawtoday.org/2020/03/civil-needs-unmet-latent-demand-legal-services/.

2. www.legalevolution.org/2022/01/eight-updated-graphics-on-the-us-legal-services-market-285/.

3. https://intranet.americansforthearts.org/by-program/reports-and-data/legislation-policy/naappd/the-creative-dividend-how-creativity-impacts-business-results.

4. 55563.en.creative-dividends.pdf.