Clients are increasingly watching to see whether firms are talking about value or if they are actually delivering it. Innovation occurs when you create a new way of thinking about or doing something that adds value. Relatedly, continuous improvement involves closely and perpetually examining an organization's products, services and processes with the goal of making them better from the client's perspective. A middle market firm with leadership that champions a culture committed to innovation and continuous improvement is, therefore, one that will create and deliver maximum client value, time and again.

Operational Excellence as a Value Proposition for a Middle Market Law Firm

A worthy focus then becomes envisioning, designing, implementing and constantly improving new ways to deliver services and results that are valuable in the eyes of our clients. Jordan Furlong, in "Law Is a Buyer's Market: Building A Client-First Law Firm," aptly remarks that law firms historically have "never known a time when the intellectual labour of lawyers was not the sole and sufficient means of production." Of course, that traditional knowledge construct has virtually nothing to do with operational excellence.