Our Team Approach

Leadership Development Is Important

Every team member at CPLS, P.A. receives ongoing professional training and leadership development.  By distributing leadership responsibility throughout the Firm, the traditional hierarchy and formal authority is replaced with organizational bandwidth which draws on the collective intelligence of all the team members.  Creating this type of environment involved relinquishing authority and ownership by the Firm’s founder with the goal for everyone to act like they “own the firm” and be motivated to come up with innovations and take lead in creating value for the Firm. By honing everyone’s leadership skills on a continuous basis and sharing obligations with people operating in diverse functions throughout the Firm, every team member and the Firm overall evolves according to the stages depicted below.

A Teaching Law Firm

Promoting from Within the Firm

CPLS’s culture of promoting from within the firm has helped build a strong foundation of empowerment.  Every team member, whether an attorney or a staff member, begins their career by rotating through the various departments at CPLS, P.A..  Doing this, provides everyone with a solid understanding and appreciation for the Firm’s various systems and processes. We believe that often times our employees are the best available candidates to fill open positions as they are familiar with the firms operations, culture, and goals and have already proven to be a successful fit with the Firm.  It further provides cost benefits as CPLS, P.A. has reduced costs of recruiting, interviewing and on-boarding new employees.  Newly promoted team members assist in training their replacements ensuring that new team members receive the most effective training and assistance.  Offering career advancement has motivated the Firm’s team members to continue their own constant and never ending improvement, a philosophy integral to the success of CPLS, P.A.

CPLS, P.A. Law Clerk Clinic

The Firm has developed a branded clinic for first and second year law students from local law schools.  Through this program, CPLS, P.A. hosts host five of the brightest students per year who  commit to the CPLS clinic for two to three years while in law school.  During this time, the students  gain exposure to the various departments of the Firm and will work on approximately 5 to 10 cases.  The clinic  offers extensive and rigorous practical training for students interested in practicing law.

Circular Paradigm of Organizational Management

CPLS, P.A. is truly unique in its organizational approach in that it has implemented a circular paradigm of management and organization as opposed to the traditional form of “top-down” management and organization.  Our entire organization is comprised of teams that are grouped by function as well as by practice management (see Figures below).  Members of the team meet once a week to discuss the current cases, review each other’s work and review and discuss current changes in their respective areas of law.  Everyone is encouraged to actively participate and engage in critical thinking of their team, firm and community issues and concerns and to exchange information, ideas, and solutions for each and every case.  By doing this, solutions are generated by means of increased information flow which enables every team member to make independent decisions and share in the lessons they learn from their innovative efforts.  The team method of organization has fostered a culture of discussion and collaborative brainstorming and problem solving.

Subsequent to the functional and practice management team meeting, one member from each team is selected to attend the Firm’s weekly collaboration meeting.  The representatives from each team raise their respective team’s issues and concerns and the collaboration team collectively brainstorms to find the best possible solutions.  The matters are then resolved by a vote of the majority of the representatives or if a consensus cannot be reached the matter is tabled for the following week’s meetings. 

This circular method of organization through teams has provided tremendous value to CPLS as it has synergized the entire firm and greatly reduced the number of issues it faces.  The Firm’s diversity has greatly contributed to the team structure’s success by enabling it to engage the wisest possible range of life experiences and views.  The team structure has created decisive and quick decision-making which enables the Firm to stay proactive, perform in an environment of continuing change and development, and sustain its competitive edge.  It provides all members accountability and ownership and strengthens their own and the Firm’s continued learning, growth, and development.   Being part of a team has proven empowering for all members and encourages everyone to be a leader, regardless of their position in the Firm, which in turn has strengthened the team leadership and the overall organizational leadership.  Collaborating in teams has enabled us to respond to client needs promptly and efficiently and  has given us the potential to change ourselves, change our community, and change our profession for the better.  The collaborative environment at CPLS, P.A., where compassionate self-leaders with completely different talents and interests are joined together to build something they could not do so alone, is the foundation of our legal representation.