How does your garden grow?

Gardens and law firms take measured work to produce a harvest

2025 April

Spring is here! The promise of flowers, fruits, and new plantings in my garden has made me very excited. Gardening has taught me so many life lessons, skills for running a law practice, as well as helping with mental health and wellbeing. In fact, gardening is very much like running a law practice, working up cases, and taking them all the way to trial.

It’s April and my garden is starting to show signs of life. It didn’t happen overnight and running a law practice and working up cases is no different. The fruit trees I planted three to five years ago are all starting to break out of dormancy. We all have cases that are that old and are now about to go to trial. Citrus, peaches, and apple trees are blooming and giving a gorgeous aroma. The garlic and onions planted last fall show signs of growth above the soil, which tells me they have deep roots underneath. Tulips, daffodils, and other flowers are just about to bloom. The tomato seeds planted in February have been transplanted into larger pots, waiting to go out into the garden in the next month or so. The compost pile has been added to and turned many times and is now almost ready to go out into the garden to add more nutrients to the soil. Fertilizers have been added and will be added again in the months to come so they all have the nutrients they need to grow and be healthy. Just like the discovery phase and the work we’ve put in over the past six months (or years) on our cases are now starting to show their benefits. So many other seeds – cucumbers, corn, melons and more are eagerly awaiting warmth so they too can be planted and harvested.

Maybe you wanted to start your own firm? The best time to plant a tree was either 20 years ago or today. Firms and practices do not grow overnight. It takes time, planning, care, and thought. So, start now.

Write out a business plan and set goals. I still have my handwritten goals/business plan from July 16, 2009. I set out one-month, three-month, six-month, one-year and three-year goals. Write yours out too and go back and revisit them every six months to a year. Pivot, change, start again. Just keep moving forward. You can do it! Decide if you are going to work from home or have an office (pro-tip: if you have office space, have it close to home). Purchase a website domain and spend a little bit of money having someone design it with you. Zoom and Teams have made remote work, depositions, and court appearances so easy that they can be done from anywhere. Get good quality business cards and get out and network. Have coffee or lunch with other lawyers who have started their own firms. Obtain a business phone number, email accounts, set up an online server with Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive or some other provider. Trees take years before they bear regular and delicious fruit. Start your law firm tree today – tomorrow comes faster than you realize.

Whether you have your own practice, or work at a firm, the best way to grow as a lawyer is to stay active in CAALA. Education, networking events, CAALA Vegas, and our amazing sponsors and vendors have all the information you need to be a phenomenal attorney and run a successful practice. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Put a post on the list-serve. Walk up to a new person at the next event and strike up a conversation. You can do it!

Just like a garden, we all have multiple cases, which come in all different shapes and sizes. Some cases will yield large results and others will help to pay the bills and keep the lights on or pay rent for one month. Each client and each case need to be given love and attention, so they yield the right amount for their respective case.

Each case is also like a garden. You must nurture it from its young seedling days, helping to build the case and make it grow. Gather all your evidence and give thought and planning (discovery and trial plan). Provide good fertilizer and compost by finding good witnesses, having good treatment doctors and providers, and following through on discovery. Then, as the case progresses, just like the garden, there will likely be stresses, pests, and diseases (discovery battles, contentious depositions, I can’t believe my client/witness said that!, difficult experts, opposing counsel, even the judge) which all take time, patience, research and an ability to problem-solve and persevere.

Compromise. Some seeds and plants need to be pulled and thinned back early. Others go all the way to the end of the season. Cases are no different. Some need to be settled and harvested early. Others need to be taken all the way to trial. But you can’t get to trial and have an amazing harvest (verdict) without having put in all the work and love over the prior year(s).

Our firms and cases are just like our gardens. To enjoy the bounty of a good harvest it takes time, thought, planning, nurturing along from start to finish, and a lot of love. Get out there and do it!