One of the greatest risks to law firm performance is misalignment between firm strategy and practice group priorities. Each practice has its own markets, clients, and culture. Left unchecked, those differences can fragment the firm, creating silos that erode collaboration and client value.
The Value of Aligned Firm and Practice Strategies
The two key steps in the strategy process must be aligned and coordinated.
First, the strategy creation process needs to include data, input, and engagement with practices to help practice leaders see their fingerprints on the strategy.
Second, the strategy must come to life through the practices. The practice and Partners need to see how contributing to strategic direction helps them individually, their clients, their practice, and ultimately the firm.
Strategy Creation
| Opportunities Created from Alignment | Risks Created from Misalignment |
| Involving practices builds buy-in | Lack of guidance from firm leaders produces sub-optimal practice strategies with a high degree of variation |
| A collaborative strategy creation process provides leaders with important Practice-specific context to create better strategies | Results in too many priorities (sum of all unique Practice priorities) – and some may compete or contradict |
| Helps define the inputs and elements of strategy that are important to the firm, serving as the basis for strategic goals | Limits the points of accountability and puts pressure exclusively on practices |
| Creates consistency in “how we think about strategy” | Without clear and consistent messaging for clients, practices will create their own versions and confuse clients |
Execution and Management
| Opportunities from Alignment | Risks from Misalignment |
| Helps individuals prioritize their time and maximize their impact | Creates duplicate work and requests for resources
· Different technology platforms for similar use cases across multiple practices · Requests for hiring resources that could be shared · Recreation of templates, procedures, programs, etc. |
| Creates aligned goals, metrics, and drives a culture of shared accountability | Confusing or misinformed workforce and staffing strategies – you can’t get who you need and you don’t understand why |
| With similar and/or connected goals, practices are more incentivized to work together | Underutilized and siloed talent |
| Allows individuals to focus on what they are good at and want to do, because they know their role in the firm/practice’s plans | Inconsistent training and technical skill development and standards, leading to inconsistent client experiences |
| Drives role clarity of who does what and how those roles contribute to the firm/practice strategy | Difficult to evaluate and compare performance due to variety of goals and expectations |
| Gives practice leaders something to create their strategy from | Unanswered client questions, incorrect answers, and missed client opportunities |
The First 5 Steps in Building Alignment
-
Involve Practice Leadership in Firm Strategy Creation
Firm leaders should hear directly from Practices about what matters to them and share drafts and updates with Practices before finalizing strategies. -
Translate Firm Goals into Practice Plans
Firm-level strategy must be cascaded into practice-level objectives with measurable outcomes. -
Create Shared Accountability
Practices should be evaluated not only on local performance but also on their contribution to firm-wide goals. -
Enable with Data and Discipline
Practice managers should provide the tools, reporting, and operational rigor needed to keep practices on track. -
Secure Partner Buy-In
Alignment is both cultural and structural. Partners must see how firm strategy supports their own success.
Why This Matters Now
Clients increasingly expect firms to act as unified businesses, not collections of practices. Alignment ensures that the firm presents a cohesive strategy to the market and delivers integrated solutions to clients.
Takeaway: Strategy fails when it stays on paper. True alignment requires translation, accountability, and leadership at the firm and practice levels.
By Jay Russell
Make Bold Moves
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