Achieving Legal Goals and Objectives as an Attorney

Setting objectives and goals is a simple concept, but hard to do. It is a commitment to achieve specific results. Far easier is the option of "I'll do the best I can" or "We'll keep our options open" or "We'll do whatever is possible in our market." Unfortunately that strategy usually results in little attainment, a great deal of frustration, and much wasted energy and resources.
 

Salespeople, whom most people normally think of as goal oriented, often have no clear objective. Many sales managers and salespeople have considerable difficulty articulating and committing to specific targets. No wonder that attorneys, whose training and experience normally have less to do with overt goal orientation, have so much difficulty focusing their energies.

Many people use the terms "objectives" and "goals" interchangeably, but they should not. Goals are statements of intended direction. Objectives are time-specific quantifiable targets to hit. Setting both goals and objectives is crucial to establishing the planning process.

Law firms and individual attorneys must engage in soul searching occasionally to articulate objectives and goals. A good part of the difficulty is that attorneys, due to their training, find it difficult to visualize the future without substantive evidence. Setting objectives and goals is important because the establishment of these is really a statement of what is desired to achieve. That statement should be the guiding force for all efforts to succeed.

Many lawyers work very hard, are very capable, but lack any central direction. As a result, they waste time and energy pursuing activities and clients that were inconsistent with their personal and financial objectives.

Today, those objectives have less to do with money and more to do with personal and professional satisfaction. Financial rewards, although important, are usually secondary. Coincidentally, those that have attained the highest levels of professional development, either by focusing on a narrow well-defined practice area or concentrating on the special needs of a client group, have been rewarded materially. It is certainly not an original revelation to suggest that if seeking professional excellence is primary, the money will come in due time.

It is prelude to success, no matter how defined, that clear objectives and goals be set, so that energies and resources will be focused rather than used, bit by bit, with no direction. No matter whether considering a newsletter, value billing, cross-selling, or any other subject, approaching the issue with a clear objective in mind will ensure a greater chance of success.