We're only days into January, and many attorneys are about to write their most important memo of the year. For many of us, it's self-evaluation time. We closed last year with two key takeaways from Lean Adviser: 1) plan before you execute; and 2) be user-friendly. Now we get to the substance — how to use those takeaways and the main concepts of lean law to crush your comp memo.

You may argue for a living and you may be good at it, but this isn't the time or place for that. Remember, those who will read your memo are also lawyers and they can argue back. Plus, there's a third voice in this conversation — your personal profitability stats. So don't argue for anything. Instead, create an impression that will lead to an outcome. Think of it as presenting a report and a plan, just as you would when preparing to represent a client using lean law methods.  

Like any presentation, the goal is to present real facts, in an interesting way, as a story. In this case the story is about you. The commonly used Q&A format may not lend itself to story-telling, but that's OK, we have a "lean hack" for that. Instead of trying to work the questions, work the entire form. Unless it explicitly says no add-ins, you can create new sections to make it work for you.