One of the most successful disability lawyers in the country shared a secret to his success. When he was starting his firm, he set a vision for his firm, namely, that he wanted to have a nationwide disability law firm. The vision for the nationwide disability law firm would consist of more than 100 employees and the client base would extend from coast to coast.
There was just one problem. The law firm only consisted of this lawyer and his secretary and he had no idea how to turn his vision into a reality. What should the lawyer do first? This lawyer created a vision for his firm’s future that might have seemed unrealistic, but that is what it takes to turn the dream into a reality.
It's 30 years later, and what happened with this lawyer’s vision? The lawyer runs a thriving nationwide disability law firm with over 100 employees and picks and chooses only the best cases. Simply put, this would not have been possible without the lawyer’s vision. Greatness begins with a plan.
The Road Map of Your Law Firm’s Future
Most lawyers give little thought of where they want to be in the future. As Cameron Herold points out, “There is no point in making plans for the future if you don’t know what the future looks like.” Having a vision for your law firm’s next 3 years is essential to your success. The vivid vision is a script that maps out where you want to go. 3 years is the magic number.
“This is not the time to think about how you will get there, only that you will get there. Aim high.”
You need to clearly articulate the big, hairy, audacious goals (“BHAG” is a phrase coined by Jim Collins) for your law firm. Be precise; vague won’t work. Every sentence in your Vivid Vision is a goal.
Remember, “[a]part from you, no one in your company knows with any certainty what it is you intend to make of the company you lead.” Cameron Herold, “Vivid Vision”.
How to Create Your Law Firm’s Vivid Vision
As the owner of your law firm, it’s your job to describe the vision for your law firm. Look out over the next 3 year and describe the details of every area of your law firm and keep listing your goals until you have none left. Try to keep vivid vision to 4 pages and keep in mind, everyone is going to see this document. Describe your firm’s culture and what your employees and the media are saying about you.
“When creating the vivid vision, don’t worry about how it is going to happen, only that it’s going to happen.”
The focus is on where you want to be in 3 years regardless of where you are now. Do not go beyond 3 years. If you create a vision that is too far into the future, the goals will seem unrealistic and too far off. Your goals should be bold and inspiring, but also realistic so your team members can help make them happen. Your big, hairy, audacious goal (“BHAG”) may require that you stretch your mind to a point that others think you’re crazy.
The Vivid Vision of John H. Fisher, P.C.
This is where our law firm is going to look like in the near future. The following is what our law firm will look like, feel like and act like by March 13, 2026.
Our Law Firm’s Name: The New York Injury & Malpractice Law Firm, P.C. (Powered by John H. Fisher, P.C.)
Our Core Values: Our core values are the code of conduct that we live by, namely:
- Our practice is limited to catastrophic injury cases.
- We do not accept cases that have questionable merit.
- We are brutally honest with our clients.
- We never agree to confidential settlements.
Our Purpose: Our purpose is the north star that governs every decision we make, namely, “Stopping Medical Injustice”.
Why we do what we do is clear: our goal is to have a profound impact on the lives of severely disabled persons. Success is based upon the impact that we have upon the lives of severely disabled persons.
Our Mission: 1,000 referral partners by October 19, 2026. A referral partner is a lawyer or paralegal who refers at least 1 case to our law firm in the previous 5 years.
New Practice Areas: We have new practice areas for truck wrecks and construction accidents.
Our Brand: We are a trial law firm. We do not try to settle cases, but rather to win every case at trial. We cannot provide maximum compensation for our clients through settlements. We love challenging and complex cases involving catastrophic injuries.
Our Code of Conduct: Every team member is equal. We do not tolerate egos and we have zero tolerance for dishonesty. We are brutally honest with each other.
Our Partners: We have 1,000 referral partners, e.g., lawyers who refer cases to us.
Google Reviews: Our firm has more 5-star Google reviews (in excess of 1,000) than any law firm in New York State.
Our YouTube Channel: We add new videos to our YouTube channel and website, www.ProtectingPatientRights.com every. We have over 25,000 subscribers to our YouTube channel (www.Lawyer-Alert.com).
Planning: We have daily huddles, monthly accountability meetings and quarterly strategic planning meetings.
Our Practice Areas: Catastrophic medical malpractice, construction accidents and truck wrecks involving death, brain damage, paralysis, loss of limb or blindness.
Operations: We are a small law firm by design. Our goal is to have low overhead and high profit.
Our Second-in-Command runs the day-to-day operations of the firm and turns our Vivid Vision into a reality. My only direct report is our Second-in-Command. Our paralegals and secretaries are experts in client intake and onboarding, case management and deposition scheduling.
I have a weekly check-ins on Fridays at 3 p.m. with our Second-in-Command to discuss operations and marketing campaigns, find out what’s working and what’s not working. Our non-medical malpractice case inventory continues growing.
Our trial lawyers handle the depositions and case management and I handle the trials.
Our People: We have an intake specialist/legal secretary, 2 litigation paralegals, an onboarding specialist for new clients, an accountability manager, 2 trial lawyers and our second-in-command (a/k/a, our Chief Operating Officer).
Our Dream Manager Program: We set aside $ from every settlement into our firm’s Dream Manager Program to help finance the personal dreams of our team members.
Our Culture: We only with true believers, namely, those who are passionate about the rights of the disabled. We do not work with people who need a job or a paycheck. Our team members love working here and are passionately committed to the cause of our clients.
We hire amazing people and let them do their thing. I do not micro-manage the work of our team members.
Our Client Communication: We over communicate with our clients and referral partners. Too much communication is better than too little.
We have automated systems to communicate with clients, including:
- A sequence of emails following the initial intake phone call and client surveys.
- A sequence of email updates about the status of their potential case.
- A sequence of email updates about the status of their lawsuit.
- A sequence of email follow-up with former clients.
We practice brutal honesty with our clients, vendor and each other.
Our Systems: Our firm’s systems and policies for everything we do are set forth in www.Fisherpedia.com and is updated weekly with new policies, best legal forms and video tutorials.
Our Brand: We specialize in birth injury in medical malpractice litigation and are known nationwide for birth injury.
Finances: We generate at least 50% of our firm’s revenue from non-medical malpractice cases and have a minimum net income of $2 M/year. Our firm has no debt.
Marketing: My books, The Power of a System and The Law Firm of Your Dreams, and our monthly print newsletters, are the backbone of our marketing with our referral partners. My books have helped me create a personal brand. My books are part of the curriculum at every law school in New York State.
I wrote the definitive book about medical malpractice law, “The Malpractice Book” and the book is used to generate lawyer referrals (who realize how challenging this area of law is).
My book, “Win Today”, generates requests for speaking engagements from national lawyer organizations.
Our referral partners refer new cases on a daily basis and we over communicate with them. We invite our referral partners to our annual client appreciation parties and stay top of mind with our monthly print newsletter.
Our firm’s full time digital marketer attracts new leads for truck wrecks and construction accidents. We target labor unions in New York for leads of construction accident cases.
Our websites, www.ProtectingPatientRights.com, www.TrucksWreck.com and www.ConstructionFalls.com, generate new leads of medical malpractice, truck wrecks and construction accidents. Our website for lawyers, www.UltimateInjuryLaw.com, is an ongoing source for lawyer referrals.
Our Programs & Board of Advisors: We run the best mastermind for lawyers in the country. (www.MastermindExperience.com). Our team members are invited to every mastermind. The masterminds are a great opportunity to collaborate, brainstorm and meet amazing lawyers from across the country.
Our Case Inventory: 40-50 active lawsuits.
Our Case Criteria: A new case must have catastrophic injuries, and meet the following criteria: death, brain damage, paralysis, loss of limb or blindness. We only accept cases for litigation that have a minimum settlement value of $750,000.
Community Projects: We sponsor the creation of a well in Africa through the organization, Charity Water.
We sponsor rescue dogs of the week in the daily newspaper to promote adoption of dogs and cats that do not have a family.
We sponsor backpacks for kids to make sure students in our local schools have school supplies at the beginning of the school year.
Operation Manual for John Fisher: I work when I want to and focus only on my Unique Ability (e.g., strategic planning for our law firm, masterminding, writing books and trial practice).
I hate working with negative people. I spend time with people who are positive and I disassociate with the negative people in my life.
I dislike interruptions and distractions (unless it is an emergency). I need quiet time for uninterrupted work. Even momentary interruptions make productive work difficult for me.
All outside communications with me (e.g., phone calls from clients or defense counsel) should be scheduled between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. and the purpose of the call should be identified in advance. I do not accept sales calls unless I approve them in advance.
My Personal Life: I love travel, my faith, fitness, health and self-improvement. I do them as often as I want.
Our Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (“BHAG”): A SELF MANAGING LAW FIRM. Our law firm runs without me for 6 months and I live 6 months out of the year in Florida.
Share Your Vivid Vision with Your Team Members
Share your vivid vision with everyone in your law firm. Begin by handing out a physical copy of the vivid vision and ask your team members for their thoughts and to circle any thoughts or phrases that excite or inspire them.
“The best way to ensure that dreams become a reality is to take the vision from our mind and share it with people.”
The most people you share your Vivid Vision with, the more that the Vivid Vision will come true.
Share Your Vivid Vision with the World
Sharing your Vivid Vision helps everyone understand your law firm’s direction. This is one by email blasts, a post on your website, print newsletters and press conferences. As Cameron Herold emphasizes, “It’s imperative that you always try to remind people of what that future looks like.”
“What ends up happening is these outside parties play a role in your vision, as they contribute and conspire to make it come true.”
Share the video of your Vivid Vision on your website and YouTube channel. The media, both professional and social, is another source to leverage in sharing your vivid vision.
By sharing your Vivid Vision with your friends and followers, they will know where you’re going and want to help get you there. This will be indispensable to your success. And “[e]veryone you do business with—everyone who touches or is touched by your business—will feel the same passion about the future you’re building toward that you do.” Cameron Herold, “Vivid Vision”
Our Challenge for You
So, here’s the challenge for you. Set aside a couple of hours and write the Vivid Vision for your law firm. Share the Vivid Vision with your team members and let them add and subtract from it. And once it’s finished, share your Vivid Vision with the world and let them help turn your vision into a reality.
If you create your Vivid Vision and share it with me (jfisherlawyer@gmail.com), I will send you signed copies of my books, The Power of a System and The Law Firm of Your Dreams. I don’t think you will do this, and I want you to prove me wrong.
Let’s work together to build the law firm of your dreams.
Image by ErikaWittlieb from Pixabay
