Note: The bulk of the information in this lesson is in the text below. The video is a companion tear-down of other typical law firm missions, including what works about them, where they fall short, and how I would revise them to be more effective. It would be helpful to read the material below before watching the video.

So if your mission is there to help you decide both (1) what you are trying to accomplish and also (2) what you aren't trying to do, then some clarity and inspiration seems essential. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be a lot of legal teams' strong suit.

Let me first say that not all lawyer mission statements are terrible, but a lot of them are definitely on that spectrum. Take this gem (and yes, this was listed under the heading "Mission" on this firms website):

At Partner & Partner, we practice civil dispute resolution, representing clients in a variety of litigation matters. Our cases often involve insurance coverage, professional malpractice, product liability, drug and medical device claims, environmental coverage and defense, employment law, construction defects, trucking and transportation, and complex commercial disputes.

I mean, if the question is "what (mostly) do you do" then this is an okay answer, although even there it is equivocal ("our cases often involve..."). It certainly doesn't move the needle on the inspiration meter. What's worse, it doesn't really tell me who this firm is for; it centers the work far more than the client.

Let's try another:

We pride ourselves on being able to provide a wide variety of legal services for our business and individual clients, while having the expertise to handle various issues on their behalf. Our attorneys assist clients in issues ranging from estate planning to litigation. We have many business clients for whom we also handle estate and retirement planning needs. Because a number of our lawyers have tax or accounting backgrounds, we can provide business and tax advice. Our other primary practice areas include employment, real estate, and construction.

Are you still awake?

Again, this firm's website listed this as their mission. I won't dissect all of the flaws here, but note that it is focused almost entirely on the lawyers, not the clients or the kinds of problems they need help solving.

We'll hit on some ways to improve statements like these in the next few lessons, but let me offer a few diagnoses on why so many legal team mission statements wind up like this:

(1) Management by committee. Especially for mid-sized firms with multiple partners, there can be a feeling (often valid) that one of the partners will feel left out if their particular area of expertise isn't mentioned.

(2) A Lawyer-centric point of view. Doctors spend even more time in school than lawyers do. They use sophisticated tools and provide expert analysis. But patients don't go to doctors to learn about the doctor's training and experience and the weird lumpy thing they helped some other patient with a few years ago. Patients go to doctors because they want to feel better. A good doctor mission statement will convey that the doctor cares about helping people feel better. A lawyer mission statement should too.

(3) Too much head, not enough heart. A mission should be something you feel in your bones, not something that you have to think through rationally. I get that we lawyers are trained to be rational humans, but getting out of your headspace and finding some emotion will provide the punch your mission statement needs.

Want one more tool to help you see what not to do? Check out this mission statement generator (it is meant to be humorous) to integrate crowdsourced informatics for the pinnacle of reliably user-centered paradigms.

Okay, enough background. Ready to learn a general-purpose tool for finding your organization's purpose? Carry on to the next lesson.

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Example 2: Typical Lawyer Mission Statements

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