BUSINESS
CAREERS
Team building
Law firms learn benefits of teamwork
LUIS MILLAN
Nicole Garton-Jones learned the hard way about the vir-
tues of team-building. After successfully enticing women
seeking the elusive balance between work and life to work at
the innovative virtual estates and family law firm she founded
five years ago, the 37-year old Vancouver lawyer inadver-
tently committed a faux pas commonly made in Canadian
legal circles.
Learning about management on the go, Garton-Jones
concentrated her efforts on overseeing a nascent law firm
growing serendipitously and omitted to pay enough attention
to fostering the growth of a strong team. The firm she
founded paid the price.
“In the past when I didn’t have management systems in
place and wasn’t regularly touching base with people, we
grew apart,” admitted Garton-Jones, the managing partner of
Heritage Law, a paperless law firm that by and large operates
remotely, with staff and fellow lawyers communicating
mostly by phone and e-mail. “I noticed that trust and confi-
dence eroded. Building a team and maintaining a culture
given the fact that we’re all over the place, I will tell you, is a
challenge.”
It’s proving to be just as daunting for traditional law firms.
A solid business case can be—and has been—made on the
merits of building a well coordinated set of team players.
Cohesive teams provide a competitive advantage, assert legal
consultants, as it engenders better decision-making, fosters
more productivity, creates a healthier work environment and
improves staff retention.
YURI ARCURS / DREAMSTIME.COMS
YURI ARCURS / DREAMSTIME.COM
