Abraham Lincoln wrote that “The leading rule for the lawyer is diligence.” He continued: “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today. Never let your correspondence fall behind. Whatever piece of business you have in hand, before stopping, do all the labor pertaining to it which can then be done.” This is one of the most important practical standards by which to judge a good lawyer. A diligent work ethic is absolutely necessary to be a successful lawyer. If you hire a lawyer who is not diligent, you are likely to pay a far greater amount of attorneys fees, as it takes him or her ten times as many hours to accomplish the very same task that it takes the diligent lawyer to accomplish in one tenth of the time.
There are many ways we could describe this Core Value: energy, aggressiveness, zealous advocacy, high standards, dispatch, enthusiasm, combativeness, strength, conscientiousness, promptness, hard work, application, care, sharpness, industriousness, rigor, meticulousness, tenacity, dedication, tirelessness, indefatigability, doggedness. However you describe it, this is the value that we aspire to underlie all our work. This is the spirit in which we pursue our aims and goals for clients. It is a matter of pride and reputation. Any tool, method, or system that helps us to get a task done before the opposing party does is precisely the tool, method, or system that we intend to employ.
As a matter of professional responsibility, it is of course true that lawyers have a duty to their clients to be zealous advocates. Speed and efficiency matter when serving clients with legal services and issues in the law. Qui prior est tempore potior est jure. “He who is first in time has the strongest claim in law.” But we also believe in something far more than that. Diligence is a unique kind of commitment and it is a unique kind of competence. Working hard, in and of itself, is not enough. To be truly diligent is to be intelligent enough to work well. Avoiding procrastination does not simply mean not avoiding work. It also means avoiding doing any job in four hours that can be done in one. It means not allowing delay, lack of familiarity, and inefficient elapses of time to cause any goal to take longer than it should.
Every busy law firm has to learn time and calendar management. Everyone who works in a law office has to learn how to manage client expectations so that the client understands that his or her case is on a reasonable timeline by which legal objectives will be done, without their necessarily being finished tomorrow or next week. But everyone who works in a diligent law office also learns and understands how to keep client cases moving forward with energy. There is a value to momentum. And, there is a momentum to getting any legal case completed. Unless waiting or delay is a mutually agreed upon tactic or a strategy of prudence (which it is not in the vast majority of cases), then every client should be given the opportunity to receive service and assistance with due speed and attention. Dr. Johnson said that “What we ever hope to do with ease, we must first learn to do with diligence.” Living by this rule is our law firm’s first Core Value.