The legal industry is built to chew us up and spit us out.
It’s built on billables, making more money for the sake of more money. It wants lawyers to strive for perfectionism while pretending it is itself perfect. It keeps lawyers exhausted, working themselves to the bone until they finally collapse, burned out trying to prove themselves.
Enough is enough.
There’s a difference between doing what you think you’re supposed to do and doing what you’re designed and destined to do. And the gap between those two things? That’s where the blind spot lives. I know that gap, because I’ve lived it.
We ALL have Blind Spots
I’ve worked with hundreds of lawyers over the last 30 years, and I’ve met thousands more, and this I know for a fact:
I’ve never met a lawyer who didn’t have a blind spot.
Those who avoided it saw weakness as a personal moral failing. But 99.87% of the time? The things that held them back were outside of their control, they just didn’t know how to handle it. Most law firm owners skip structured self-assessments like SWOTs. Avoiding them creates blind spots and leaves money on the table.
The question isn’t whether you have a blind spot … it’s knowing one could exist, and then ignoring that fact.
Those who focus on what’s in their control move forward. And those who are unwilling to let go of what’s not? They stay stuck, depressed, anxious, afraid, detached … going through the motions in court, at work, and at home.
If you’re tired of pretending you know everything, and tired of ignoring the nagging feeling that your cases, clients, and compensation could be so much better, it’s time to come back down to earth.
I built a multimillion dollar law firm … and then I walked away
In late 1999, early 2000, I started working on the weekends at a relatively new, small and struggling firm. In a matter of months, I’d completely taken over daily operations and the litigation management. And then I built that tiny firm into a multimillion dollar boutique firm.
He paid me pennies on the dollar, promising equity when I got barred. So I worked harder: 100, 120 hour weeks, trying to prove I was worthy.
I graduated law school in May 2009. Passed the bar in July. Got sworn-in that October. And then he dodged every attempt at a sit-down to discuss next steps.
That’s when I realized the actual blind spot:
- I held all the power; if I left, the firm would crumble. He knew that.
- I had a deep, innate need to prove I was worthy of love and respect. He knew that, too.
- If I built it once, I could build it again. He didn’t believe I would.
The thing standing in my way … the actual blind spot? It was me. I convinced myself that my dream was his dream. He knew that, and he exploited it. And when I realized it, I knew we’d both underestimated me.
Leaving a successful firm is hard enough, but building another with your blood, sweat, and tears means looking directly at your blind spots and doing something about them.
But to build a Joyful and Thriving™ firm – a successful firm built to support you and the people you love and the quality of life you want – you have to get clear about three things:
- Why you’re doing what you’re doing (and the impact you actually want to have)
- Who you are when you show up to work (and then go home at night)
- Where you want your career to go (and the values you want to be known for)
That kind of clarity gave me the confidence to reset my expectations about what a life in the law could look like and to build a firm that fit my life and my goals. It’s what will help you do the same.
When you actually do the (capital w) Work
Tackling those blind spots head on meant protecting my peace, my heart, and my reputation. Those are things no one can take from you.
One of my favorite lawyer-clients came to me in mid-2023; he’d owned his firm for about five years and had plateaued. He was marketing everywhere, feeling fractured, not seeing the ROI he wanted. He knew he needed help but didn’t know where to start.
Once we dug into his processes, the problem was clear: he was the bottleneck.
We did an audit … of energy, time, money, desires, decision-making, goals, resources … and then we got laser-focused. We clarified where he should show up in his marketing, what clients he actually loved working with, what he needed to charge, and what work truly lit him up. Then we strategically and carefully let go of the rest.
The positive shift in his income and his success was a lot easier than he expected, and his firm is still growing today. Each year he texts me with “met my stretch,” we celebrate.
Strategies for YOUR success and satisfaction
There are three things worth doing on a consistent basis to have the success and satisfaction you want as a law firm owner:
- Regularly mapping out your internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
- Using your own data to see the patterns in the clients, cases, and compensation you’re attracting … and changing your goals to get what you want
- Identifying your unique superpowers, and then continually integrating those into every aspect of your firm, no matter how unconventional or wacky they might seem
Many of us went into the law to change the world. We still can; I know we can. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve helped make it happen.
But change starts with deciding that the blind spots you know exist are worth looking at.
Chances are, you you’ve felt that nagging feeling. You’ve had the thought that something could be so much better than the firm you’ve got now. And the thing I’ve seen stop even the most driven law firm owners from taking that next step, has nothing to do with skill, strategy, or how hard you’re willing to work. It’s worth a conversation.
When you’re ready, I’m here: sheilawilkinson.com/lawyers
👋🏽 Hi, I’m🌞 Sheila! I’ve spent 25+ years building and running law firms. I’ve mentored hundreds of lawyers, spoken to thousands more up on CLE stages, and I know what it really takes to run a successful, ethical, regulated business without burning out. I help lawyers and other licensed professionals make smarter decisions, set boundaries that stick, and build practices that actually work for them (not the other way around). 🔗Let’s create a practice and a life you actually want.
#JoyfulAndThrivingLawyer #DoItYourWay ⚖️
