59 ā Malorie Peacock ā Discover Your “Why”: Committing to Organizational Health
In this Trial Lawyer Nation podcast, Michael sits down with his law partner Malorie Peacock. They discuss their recent ādeep diveā 2-day management retreat, the organizational health of your law firm, Zoom jury trials, and implications of the shut down on future business.
The episode begins with a review of their firmās recent 2-day management retreat, which was a ādeep diveā into their firmās core values, focus, and goals based off the book āThe Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Businessā by Patrick Lencioni. The retreat starts off with a seemingly simple question: Why does our law firm exist? Michael admits he was worried everyone would think the idea was āhokey,ā but Malorie insists she was surprised at how complex the question really was. Michael, Malorie, and the rest of their management team spent significant time reflecting on this and decided their firmās purpose is to āprovide a āSpecial Forcesā level of representation to people who are hurt.ā Michael recognizes this as an extremely high aspirational standard (which is why he hesitated at first to share) and sees this as their goal for the firm.
After deciding the firmās purpose, their team was tasked with choosing the firmās core values. Both Michael and Malorie emphasize the importance of choosing values you will embrace and commit to. As an example, Michael highlights the common PI lawyer core value of safety. He asks, āWhat do you do when you get a 5 million dollar offer without a safety change, or 1 million dollars with a safety change?ā If the firmās core value is safety, they should take the lower offer. Malorie echoes this sentiment and adds that PI lawyers face a lot of backlash from society, so they tend to overcompensate by expressing an unrealistic emphasis on safety over getting justice for their clients. The key is choosing values that truly represent your firm and its goals.
On the note of goal setting, Michael explains the importance of choosing one large goal and sticking to it. Citing Gary W. Kellerās book āThe One Thing,āĀ Michael reflects on past experiences of having lots of great ideas, but something would always come up and they would be forgotten. By choosing the one area which adds the most ābangā to your law firm, you can truly focus on that area and strive towards your goal every day. This strategy requires buy-in and personal work from every attorney at your firm, but when achieved is very effective.
Michael and Malorie then reflect on the implications of states re-opening and how it affects their ability to conduct legal work remotely. Malorie has already had opposing counsel insist on doing things in person again, but worries about what sheāll do down the line if the court forces her high-risk client to have an in-person deposition. Michael shares these concerns, stating āeventually Iāll be ordered to do something Iām not comfortable doing.ā
As they switch to the topic of Zoom jury trials, Michael is quick to share his hesitance towards the idea. His concerns include a lack of nonverbal communication, distractions, a loss of group dynamics, and the inability to obtain a representative jury pool by excluding citizens without adequate internet or access to childcare. He does add that online focus groups have shown the numbers arenāt very different from in-person jury trials, but he would like to see more research before committing to one. Malorie also notes an interesting difference between an in-person trial and a virtual trial. In a virtual trial you have to sit in the same place for the entirety of the case, which means you canāt have witnesses act things out, do demonstrations, or have multiple ways of showing people information. This makes it more difficult to keep the attention of the jury. Michael and Malorie end this discussion by agreeing if this goes on for years, they will eventually have to adapt. And Michael ends by agreeing to try a jury trial case via Zoom with a podcast fan, an offer youāll have to tune in to hear all of the details.
They finish off this episode with a conversation about future business implications because of this shut down. Malorie has noticed more people on the roads recently and only anticipates a 3-4 month lull in new cases, but believes it will pick back up quickly. Michael agrees and adds that people are getting stir crazy, and driving more recklessly than before, stating āgear up and get ready.ā With that being said, Michael and Malorie encourage scrutiny when deciding what cases to invest in right now. Malorie believes small insurance companies may be less willing to pay out claims, and Michael is being very cautious with cases involving a risk retention group or a self-insured company. Many are currently teetering on insolvency and may not be able to pay out claims.
This podcast also covers answering legal questions for friends, āZoom fatigue,ā time management, return-to-office prep, and more.