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That play is called the “Music City Miracle.” For those not well-versed in U.S. football history, the Tennessee Titans pulled off one of the biggest come-from-behind victories in NFL history in January 2000, running a touchdown with mere seconds on the clock en route to what remains the franchise's only Super Bowl appearance since moving to Nashville.

Teresa Walker, chief operating officer at Nashville-based law firm Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, remembers that day well. And what she remembers perhaps best is that the team's star quarterback, running back, coach and owner all weren't on the field, leaving the “miracle” to be performed by players that fans would have never expected.

“All sorts of people had to come together to make that Music City Miracle happen,” Walker said. “I think that's what we have to do in law firms, realize the number and different types of skillsets to be brought together to create innovative solutions.”

That emphasis on team-building was the main point behind the “Leading Lawyers Without a License” session at 2018 Summit on Law and Innovation at Vanderbilt Law School. And, according to panelists, in an environment where partners are the ultimate decision makers, the most innovative law firms have diversity in decision making and combine legal knowledge with operational and technological efficiency.

Camille Reynolds, senior director of knowledge and innovation delivery at Fenwick & West, said that the firm organizes what are called SWAT Teams, pulling in people from across different operations and practice groups as much as possible to solve firm-wide problems. “We can always solve problems better with a diversity of expertise,” she explained.

Reynolds herself doesn't have a law degree, which she views as an asset. “I don't march into partners' offices and say, 'Let me fix your practice.' That doesn't work,” she explained. Instead, she said that she has relied on listening skills and has taken the time to sit next to mid-level associates—so much so that she now gets calls frequently because of the familiarity.

“Having those kinds of conversations, they realize that I can't do an option grant, but I can help do it more efficiently,” Reynolds added.

Kathleen Pearson, chief human resources officer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman Pearson, echoed those thoughts, relaying the story of Pillsbury recently moving its global operations center to Nashville. The first step, she said, was a sit down with the firm's partners, where she “made sure they understood that we're here to solve their problems. It doesn't matter where we sit in the world, whether it's in Nashville or New York.”

From there, she felt it was crucially important that the first question she asked is one that many non-lawyers may find intimidating: What are we doing wrong? That “made sure they understood we wanted to hear those frustrations,” Pearsons said. “We treated our partners like our clients, and it created that empathy and trust.”

Empathy and trust were a common refrain; thinking back to the Music City Miracle, what would have happened if Frank Wycheck didn't trust Kevin Dyson enough to throw a lateral? Similarly, Walker said that trusted operations advisers hear so much on a daily basis about people's frustrations that “you can feel like you came out with a PhD when you didn't go to school to be a psychiatrist.”

But listening can go a long way, Reynolds added. “Those of us who aren't living in six-minute increments have the luxury of swinging by someone's office and just letting them vent.”

Just as occurs between attorneys and clients, internal relationships are the currency that allows operations to function at full capacity. And in a world where change management is a necessary piece of any operations or technology project, being able to properly work within those cross-functional teams is a necessary skill.

“We're dealing with people that are highly autonomous,” Walker said. “We're dealing with people that do not take direction well, so we influence instead of direct.”