Strategic Innovation as an Emerging Firm Function

Firms making up Big Law have heard the “i” word and are responding.

Innovation is on the lips of chairpersons everywhere; innovation committees are cropping up; innovation chiefs and partners are proliferating; and strategic plans are being amended to include the “i” word. “We must innovate,” is the command of the hour, of the month, of the year. When the firm declares innovation as a goal and begins looking around for who and how to proceed, how do you go about innovating when the boss tells you to do it?

Strategic Innovation as an Emerging Firm Function looks at the ways in which innovation and strategy can be incorporated into a law firm, as a function, rather than a concept. Some firms respond by adding roles to the c-suite. Others create whole departments. Others still task individuals with the process as part of their everyday duties. What is clear is innovation is becoming a function – as tangible and present as marketing, as sales, as any of the other key roles that make up a law firm.