Ultimately, a boutique law firm operates like a small business, meaning that a founding partner must embrace dual roles: a skilled attorney and a savvy business owner with a team-oriented approach. Our firm’s success stems from collective effort; if you’re aiming to elevate your small business, you’ll need to juggle various responsibilities and harness team-wide collaboration. At Wigdor LLP, we emphasize collaboration both in legal practice and beyond. Below are four practical strategies we use to nurture a team-first atmosphere — essential for anyone wanting to manage a law firm effectively as a business.

1. Host events outside the office

Stepping away from the office frequently leads to fresh, innovative ideas. Casual, off-site settings enable our team to unwind, resulting in more creative thinking. They also promote stronger relationships and smoother collaboration when returning to work. When colleagues understand each other beyond their professional roles, they operate more effectively in critical situations.

During a welcome lunch at a Mykonos-inspired restaurant, one of our senior associates collaborated with the marketing team to devise a compelling quote about the impact of a new law, which they successfully pitched to a law journal — all sparked by a lively discussion about recent reality TV events. Additionally, we diversify teams during our annual summer tennis competition to even out skill levels, finding that teamwork on the court translates to easier collaboration in the office.

2. Make team-building events do double duty

We quickly recognize when an activity can have multiple benefits. Continuing legal education (CLE) is a necessity in our profession, so I urge our attorneys to attend these sessions in groups and ensure we host at least five annually to facilitate group learning. These sessions are always held during lunch, as a free meal is an offer few refuse.

We prioritize maximizing the return on effort, so we repurpose the material from our attorneys’ hard work. An hour-long meeting might begin as a team-building exercise but evolves into several blog posts, thought leadership articles for national business outlets, and social media content, all of which enhance our firm’s online presence and position our staff as industry experts.

3. Ensure each case is a team effort

At Wigdor, each case includes at least one partner, one associate, and one paralegal, encouraging joint problem-solving and new perspectives. While some attorneys prefer to maintain full control and shy away from team collaboration, our firm thrives on collective deliberation. In both law firms and small businesses, the more minds involved, the better the solutions.

Paralegals and associates are in the trenches with partners, actively participating in the case from beginning to end. We further promote collaboration by hosting monthly status meetings so attorneys have insight into what other teams are working on, igniting ideas to benefit their own litigation. We have high expectations for everyone on the team and reward hard work. We challenge younger legal minds to participate more, from oral arguments to authoring legal news pieces. We could not do the work we do without the full team participating.

One of our recent associate hires joined Wigdor specifically looking for the opposite experience of their previous firm, which was fully remote, not collaborative and felt very isolating. The associate wanted an environment where they could roll up their sleeves in person, working on big cases and learning from a more synergetic team. Since joining, they have had a full case load and multiple opportunities to join precedent-setting matters, which is something that would perhaps be reserved for partners at other firms. This model of cross-level collaboration, where diversity of thought is valued, is a powerful tool for any small business leader who wants to develop a confident, engaged team.

4. Encourage young leaders to discover their strengths

One of my favorite things to do is to help early leaders lean into their unique skills. The key is to get them talking (taking them to a one-on-one lunch usually works) until you discover their affinities and then nurture those skills into expertise. When a senior associate mentioned their partiality for deposing witnesses, I recognized that their interrogative acumen and evaluative listening skills would make them the ideal person to lead the paralegal interview and hiring process — and we’ve built our strongest paralegal team to date.

When it comes to paralegals, we hire them for two-year engagements to ensure they get full exposure to the legal process and better prepare them for law school. Once at the firm, they always have a seat at the table, literally. When we head to court for a trial, a seat at the plaintiff’s table is always reserved for the paralegal who has assisted on the case. They often spend months researching the matter — sometimes even helping to draft statements used in a briefing — and get to see their work used in action at a hearing. Offering hands-on opportunities to junior members, whether it’s a paralegal at a law firm or a first-time manager at a brick-and-mortar store, makes them feel valued and allows them to see how their hard work contributes to the team’s success.

It may be my name on the door, but my firm would never prosper if I tried to do it all on my own. Prioritizing team building is the best way to improve employee happiness and encourage collaboration, and collaboration is critical when it comes to small businesses. Whether it’s a scavenger hunt in Grand Central Terminal or structuring a cross-functional case team, developing those scenarios that foster collaboration will set your small business up for growth.