Well, you're right.  It does require quit a feat of mental gymnastics to picture comedian Chris Rock at home in the practice of law.  But he uses a technique that most law firms could profit by using.

In his world, one where the successful comedian's stock in trade is new ideas - emphasis on "NEW" - he has found a means to give new jokes and routines a test run or two before betting his career on them.  Take a look at Harvard Business Journal's Peter Sims' discussion of Rock's creative process.

Many law firms reject opportunities to launch profitable innovation because they perceive there is too great a risk.....or that they must entirely throw out the old before bringing in the new.  How might a firm try something new at an off-off-off Broadway venue before betting the farm on it?  Well, how about one client at a time?  You might even tell this client it is an experiment and recruit them to advocate for your attempts at service improvement by pledging to give you honest - perhaps even painful - feedback.  You'll be surprised how many corporate clients see innovation as a good thing!

The truth is, much innovation in law firms occurs this way.  Some lawyer or practice group slips under the radar with a concept so weird it would NEVER be approved, if approval was sought.  Over time, this idea takes root.  Someone notices a sizable blip in profits.  An inquiry is made.  Ah HA!  Suddenly that weird little idea becomes "the way we do things around here."

I'll admit that it's hard, indeed, to get focused on business innovation when every management conversation seems to be about downsizing.  But consider for a moment that some of the best ideas - and most exciting businesses - came out of hard times.

Both Apple and Microsoft were founded in the 1970's. . . in the middle of a big economic downturn.  In the early 90's, when the dot coms took a dangerous dive, little Palm computing jump started an entire industry within a matter of months when they made the revolutionary switch from software maker to hardware company in the race to "pen computing."

My favorite story of the week concerns Champagne.  Apparently it was the Brits, as early as 1675, who accepted and enjoyed the bubbles in their effervecent vino at the same time that Dom Perignon, the merry French monk from Hautvillers, was struggling to remove the blasted things.

Perhaps there's a step in one of your processes that, once skipped, would produce something even more desireable than you've got now?

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. If you're downsizing staff and cutting back on things, you probably ought to open your mind to the possibility that the changes you're making actually eliminate the erroneously assumed limits you'd been placing on things all along.

Technology, of course, comes immediately to mind.  Which jobs have you been protecting out of concern for the health and happiness of your people?  Might now be the time to automate some human processes and add a little health and happiness to your firm's bottom line?

Don't be afraid to entertain new ideas just because money is getting tight.  Use the advent of tightening purse strings to eliminate the assumptions that have prevented innovation in the past.

Was it IBM who taught a generation of sales people to "eliminate the excuses?" 

  Spending too much time watching the stock market and not enough time getting on with it?  If you've been wondering what - if anything - you should be doing in your law practice to respond smartly to the currently slippery state of the global economy, click here and take a look at a brilliant (she said modestly!) roundtable discussion recently facilited by my friend, Dennis Kennedy.  You're sure to find some creative inspiration.

You don’t have to look far for opportunities to apply creativity in a law practice. If you’re itching to put your risk-taking abilities to the test and try on something totally different, start by focusing on one of these 8 pressure points. You know they are already creaking at the seams. Why not charge them up with a totally
new approach before they totally collapse?

Don’t wait. . . .innovate!!
Your desk. Just look at it! If you’re like 99 and 44/100ths of the legal profession, you have either piles of files or carefully filed piles all over your office. Do you long sentimentally for the forgotten color of your carpeting as you wade each morning through the shallows of your office? How do you even keep track
of what’s going on at your desk, let alone in your client’s business? Isn’t there some other way. . . .some elegantly simple solution to this catastrophe? Who might you involve in helping to re-invent it?

(sigh) that e-mailbox. How many hours do you spend each day scrolling through the detritus in order to find any messages that really matter? How many aerobic points to you rack up each week through the mere act of sighing repeatedly about that pile of . . . . um . . . spam that has become your inbox? This is not an unsolvable puzzle. But it’s going to take some real smarts to outfox it – the kind of smarts you bring to the table.

Client communications. How can you ensure that your clients feel they have timely and ample access to you while, at the same time, staying in control of your own life? What new mechanism can you put into place that will carve out some peace. . . as well as peace of mind for you? Explore every assumption ‘til you hit on the one(s) that no longer apply!

Collections. Well, actually. . . . maybe this area isn’t so much crying out for innovation as it is for improvement. Develop a rational process and STICK TO IT with no exceptions!! Eureka, there’s an innovation: Consistency!

Meetings. With clients. With your partners. With the lawyers you supervise. Your assistant. Admit it: they are a catastrophe. A mind- and money-suck in every day. No one arrives on time. The people who show up are the wrong ones. There’s tons of talking but nothing is ever really accomplished. There has to be another way, right? Figure it out. Or, better yet, hold a meeting to figure it out. ☺ Your last!

Fees. Beyond the Billable Hour: An Anthology of Alternative Billing Methods. Win-Win Billing Strategies: Alternatives that Satisfy your Clients and You. It seems as if someone has already innovated in this area,
doesn’t it? (His name was Richard C. Reed and he wrote the book(s).) Well, if he truly had. . . successfully innovated . . . would you still be using the same old 1-hour = 1-price routine? Take the problem apart and start from scratch. For you, there must be a more right answer.

Support Staff. Perhaps we’re still thinking wa-a-a-ay too far inside the box on this one. What sort of support are we talking about? Who does what? How much of that is necessary and how much is just traditional? Is it necessarily a staff responsibility? Must he/she be physically in your office? Must *you* be physically in your office? Who says you have to have support staff at all? Oh. Yeah. That same guy who said you have to charge for your work by the hour. I see.

Business Development. Chances are, you’re over thinking this one. Nearly everyone does. Stop assuming that the best answer to the question “How can I get more work?” is the most complex one. It’s simple. Just find people who pay lawyers to do the kind of work you want to do. Better yet, (and more innovative!) find something people would LOVE to pay a lawyer to do, but they just didn’t know that lawyers did “that”. Now you’ve really got something: A lock on the market!