Justin Ergler and Keith Maziarek are two members of LVN’s Council of Luminaries. They shared their thoughts on how the idea of the Council came to be and what value the Council brings to LVN’s members and the business of law community as a whole. While the Council of Luminaries brings a unique approach to the overall objectives of LVN, its strengths lie in the ability to look at overall industry trends, apply the experience and wisdom of the Council, and provide insights to the members of LVN through its blog posts and other educational offerings.
------------------------------------------------------------
When the idea of the Legal Value Network became a reality, it was clear that there were a number of veteran thought leaders who were very excited about what LVN could become. Keith Maziarek believed that these leaders in the profession, those who were consistently asked to write or speak about the profession, would be better for LVN to leverage as a group, rather than as individuals. Maziarek knew that the value in having these great minds weighing in from time to time on current events in the industry would be a great benefit for LVN members.
LVN launched just weeks before the world found itself engulfed in the uncertainty of a global pandemic. What better way for the Council of Luminaries to deploy than to take on a total disruption of the legal industry? The Council began weekly meetings to share their experiences and what actions they were taking to navigate the crisis. Law firm members immediately began to meet and produce blog posts from these meetings to share with the rest of the LVN members. The client-side members of the Council launched their own meetings to address their experiences and actions and began sharing their ideas on how to handle the changes the pandemic brought to the industry.
While the pandemic was a launching pad for the Council, the discussions and blog posts expanded beyond this individual crisis. Justin Ergler noted that the client-side members of the Council of Luminaries were made up of top minds from top clients. While normally Ergler would resist having group discussion that went down a rabbit hole, that was not the case with the Council. Sharing stories ranging from pandemic reactions to how to address issues like matter coding was exactly what the members of the Council found most valuable. It allowed the Council to bounce issues off of one another and understand what were the real issues facing the industry and how could those ideas and issues be shared with the LVN community?
The Council typically meets as either client-side or law firm groups. However, there are some topics which bring the two groups together to address a common issue. Ergler mentioned that these joint meetings are perfect for identifying trends and facilitating community among the diverse members of the Council of Luminaries. He states that the point of the Council of Luminaries is to be the first stop along the way to explore issues and problems facing the industry and to validate possible solutions to bring to the LVN community through blog posts, the LVN Labs, the upcoming podcasts, or other educational and communication tools.
Maziarek and Ergler joked that the Council of Luminaries worked like LVN’s version of Shark Tank. Ideas are pitched to the Council and in turn, the solutions are run through the traps. Does this make sense? Do we think this is doable? Is it actionable? Can it be implemented? When the Council invests in these solutions, it works to find a way to leverage the thought leadership, networking, and relationships of LVN to produce practical, useful, tangible content and deliverables for the membership.
The Council of Luminaries’ Words of Wisdom blog posts give members practical outlines, workflows, examples, and materials to read, share, and use in their individual work processes. To learn more about LVN’s Council of Luminaries and to see the content and deliverables produced so far, visit https://legalvaluenetwork.com/council-of-luminaries-home.