Blog Posts: JW Fundamentals

JW Way Fundamental #7: Honor your commitments. "Do what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it. If a commitment can’t be fulfilled, tell others early and agree on a new commitment."I vividly remember my first day of law school. All the 1Ls were gathered in an auditorium listening to professors talk about what was in store for us. W...

JW Way Fundamental #6: Be passionate about the client experience "Make each client interaction memorable for its warmth, thoughtfulness, and helpfulness. Create wow experiences, Be obsessive about response time and keeping clients informed.”While delivering outstanding legal advice is the cornerstone of what we do, a close second, and often overlooked i...

JW Way # 16. Don't be a jerk- always take the high road. Maintain professionalism at all times. Keep emotions under control. Advocating forcefully for the interests of our clients does not require bullying, condescension, foul language, or temper tantrums. This applies to co-workers, opposing counsel, and vendors. Be a "mensch." As I sat down to write about this f...

By Leslie Rakestraw #7 Honor Commitments. Do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re going to do it. If a commitment can’t be fulfilled, notify others early and agree upon a new commitment to be honored. I chose this principle because my life used to be completely out of balance on this. Of course I showed up for depositions, court h...

Listening is more than simply "not speaking." Give others your undivided attention.  Set aside your own judgments and preconceived notions. Listen with focus. Most importantly, listen to understand.  Since we are entering into the swing of holiday parties and are all sure to engage in conversations with acquaintances new and old, I thought it was a wonde...

Think about the cost of pleadings and depositions. Avoid unnecessary hand deliveries, overnight mail, etc. and only authorize work and expenses that have a demonstrable benefit to the client. So Jaburg Wilk has a unique cultural, as do all businesses. But the difference is that we have captured the essence of our firm in The JW Way. These are the foundation of our...

JW Way #17 - Be relentless about continuous improvement. Be a “lifetime learner.”  Continually invest in your own education, both formally and informally.  Never stop improving your legal, technical and personal skills.  Excellence is a journey, not a destination. This fundamental encourages us to become better at our jobs, better in our...

JW Way #14 – Respect the need to balance professional independence and firm consistency. While we’ve all developed our own ways to be successful, it’s also important for us to maintain firm consistency in many areas, and to follow firm policies for the best interests of the organization as a whole. Applying generalized descriptions to any one group of individ...

JW Way #12 - Practice blameless problem solving. Blame has no place in our firm. Fix errors by focusing on solutions, not assessing blame.  Learn from mistakes and use that knowledge to improve our processes.  Without mistakes, there is no learning. I believe maturity (intellectual and emotional) is key to successfully practicing blameless problem solving. But...

Ego is defined a number of ways by psychologists, but in general terms, ego is an individuals sense of self-esteem or self-importance. However, being egotistical is generally considered negative, while having a high level of self-esteem is considered positive. What is the difference? An egotistical person derives his or her self-worth from external factors (feedba...