"This is the way" - The paradox of transformation in the legal industry

"This is the way," a phrase used with insistence by the new character of Mandalorian, Disney + series that renews the repertoire of Stars Wars. The main character uses the phrase as a resource that allows him to constantly remember his creed and stay aligned with his purpose and at the same time make it clear that community work is the way.

It was inevitable for me not to extrapolate this phrase to our legal services industry and to make an analogy with many comments I hear from leaders when I addressed discussions on innovation, evolution, transformation of legal services and the role of lawyers in the management of change.

Much of the conversations I hold with actors who should be real agents of change bring with them doubts as to how capable we are in the legal services industry of making changes and making them constant, giving them that continuity in time. The pressure for the limited time of legal teams, the coexistence with the permanent fire, the inescapable aversion to the use of technologies, the perception that additional activities such as the registration of data on platforms or the development of shared knowledge centres are of low value, seem to be elements that force us to maintain the status quo and avoid radical changes in the ways in which we perform our profession. This is even more evident in corporate environments and legal management, where the lawyer has tasks that go beyond mere professional exercise.

Therefore, the phrase "Command" seems to make sense, it seems that over and over again the legal teams make this phrase their own and tend to return to their origins by saying, "This is the way." A concept that keeps us attached to the comfort areas and that, although we predict innovation or interest to change, the truth is that we always return to our creed, throwing to the ground the efforts that deserve change.

But we have hope. "Command" realizes throughout the first season of this series that that rule that prevented him from showing his face to others and that required him to have his armor helmet of Beskar always put, had to be flexibly, as it was eventually transformed into a real limitation to achieve his goal. Also, "Command" used his peers to often overcome the adversities, as his community supported him on the way.

I think lawyers live something similar, although we see the need for change, we usually stick to the rule of saying "this is the way." This look restricts our ability to see us as true agents of change. "Command" discovered that changing his rules was not to betray his purpose and that changing allowed him to better connect with his environment and different needs. We lawyers have that opportunity, but we must break down prejudices and not fall into this paradox of transformation, where we express want to change, but we do not take the steps required to open up to that possibility. That, we must also do it in community, not just one person to achieve the goal, we must all really support the proposed end and support ourselves in achieving success. A lot of wisdom can be extracted from Mandalorian and his henchmen, surely we lawyers can aspire to it.

Andrés Jara, CEO Alster.law