By Gene Commander
Gene Commander Inc.
Law Week Colorado currently features the inaugural State of the Law Firm Survey, and Gene Commander Inc. is honored to co-sponsor this important survey. It targets attorneys working in Colorado firms with two or more lawyers and contains 38 questions to learn about lawyers’ experience in private practice. Responses are anonymous. Please take a few minutes to respond while it’s at your fingertips.
It’s no secret that law firms across Colorado – and the nation – are facing talent challenges. This potential crisis demands that firm leaders in Colorado adopt smart growth business strategies that confront shifting demographic, economic and workplace trends.
The year 2030 will be a critical milestone for Colorado law firms. By then, members of Gen Z will be filling firms’ senior associate and junior partner ranks, millennials will be assuming leadership and ownership roles, Gen X members will be in the prime earning years of their careers and most Baby Boomers will have at least one foot out the door. Law firms’ mix of clients will look quite different, too.
Looking ahead to 2030, what are the best smart growth strategies for Colorado firms to invest in? And where, specifically, are the state’s firms falling short in the workplace?
While there is national-level data that highlights the law firm talent conundrum within the largest firms in the country, data on Colorado firms is sparse. This survey is designed to illuminate the status and well-being of talent in our local firms.
When the survey closes, Law Week Colorado will report on the results in detail and inform the legal community of notable findings. In addition, Gene Commander Inc. will use the responses to help design law firm business strategies that are grounded in a detailed understanding of the talent concerns within Colorado firms. We will provide insights and recommendations in Law Week Colorado, identifying how survey results point to smart growth business strategies that future-focused law firm leaders can implement between now and 2030 to secure sustainable financial and professional prosperity.
This State of the Law Firm Survey is designed for the roughly 5,000 Colorado attorneys working in the state’s small firms employing two to 10 lawyers, the 2,800 in midsize firms employing 11 to 50 lawyers and the 4,000 in larger Denver-area firms, as tabulated by the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel’s most recent annual report. We look forward to co-sponsoring a future survey that will focus on the needs of the state’s approximately 5,500 solo practitioners.
Gene Commander Inc. thanks Law Week Colorado for its interest in reporting on the business of law and to all of you who have shown interest in this work.
Please take a few minutes now to complete the survey, and please encourage your colleagues to fill out and circulate the survey among their peers. Strong survey completion rates will lead to robust new guidance for Colorado law firm leaders seeking solutions to today’s challenges.
– Gene Commander has more than 40 years of experience in the legal industry while practicing construction law with small, midsize, regional and national firms. He formerly served as managing shareholder in the Denver office of Polsinelli PC, an Am Law 100 national firm. Gene is now an executive business counselor for the legal and construction industries, with a special focus on business growth strategies for Colorado law firms. He can be reached at [email protected].