Unconventional Business Models With Conventional Success for Law Firms

Hands down 🙌, one of the best parts of starting or owning your own law firm is the ability to create a novel business model that addresses a profound gap in the market, and marries your passion to your legal talent.  Below, I highlight three recent examples of lawyers whose unconventional business models caught my attention.

1. The MIT Review recently profiled Toronto, Ontario lawyer Madaline Zannes, describing her as holding the job title of the future – metaverse lawyer.  Zannes, whose firm focuses on IP, business and real estate law operates a seven-level metaverse office, where she conducts private consultations with clients, takes questions from walk-in prospects and holds conferences. To stand out, Zannes hired a custom metaverse builder to create a unique space —with breakout rooms, presentation stages, offices to rent, an art gallery, and a rooftop bar. And while the pandemic has acclimated all of us to remote meetings, Zannes views the metaverse as a more engaging and immersive experience for clients.  The metaverse has also afforded Zannes an opportunity to network with other lawyers; she recently helped form the Metaverse Bar Association, which will compile a registry of verified licensed lawyers who work in Web3.  

2. Sometimes, clients just need a lawyer to figure out whether they need a lawyer.  That was one of Michigan attorney Erica Payne’s observations prompting her to form Taproot Legal, a one-of-a-kind law firm with a legal coaching service that helps people understand and  identify legal options and create a plan to execute that honors their values and lifestyle. Taproot also connects clients to long-term services in and outside the legal field. Payne  hopes that Taproot will narrow the access to justice gap and make legal services available to those who might otherwise fall through the cracks. Source: Upper Michigan Today

3. Florida employment law attorney and LinkedIn phenom (80k followers) Jonathan Pollard has owned his own law firm for over a decade, but now he’s on a mission:  to file and pursue 100 plaintiff-side employment cases involving discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment or assault, defamation.  Pollard is motivated to attain justice for employees, but equally important to rectify the market failure that results from plaintiffs’ lawyers accepting lowball offers for cases worth ten times as much. Pollard’s blueprint for this business model is detailed here, and he’s been posting the first tranche of lawsuit complaints on LinkedIn.  

Buried in the relentless grind of law practice, many lawyers forget that our law degrees empower us to tackle big problems that matter.  Pollard’s quest inspires each of us to be the change.