Jesse Brodsky, Lawyers of Distinction

Lawyers of Distinction is a professional organization only available to the top ten percent of attorneys in each state. The company employs a fee-for-service program that puts approved members in successful databases. Once listed, thousands of clients who use the website can see their practice and chose to work with them. Jesse Brodsky, the head of membership services, considers the organization a tremendous brand-building tool. Lawyers do not only get recognized for extraordinary service but also boost their revenues by accepting more customers. Moreover, Lawyers of Distinction provides new members with dozens of marketing prompts and online accessories.

Can you describe an average member of your organization?

Well, I will start off by saying that an average member is anything but ordinary. Everyone that applies becomes a part of a rigorous review and goes through a background check. Therefore, we are highly unlikely to approve anyone who is short of extraordinary. Every area of law is welcome, and all of our requirements are merit-based. So, every distinguished lawyer will be a hard-working, dedicated, and enthusiastic professional.

What is your highest priority when it comes to your company?

Customer service. Ultimately, we hope to grow our business, and the easiest way is to have high-quality customer service. In our case, that are two sides to discuss. First, we address all of our lawyers' needs. Mainly, they are the primary workforce, and the organization would be useless without them. Besides our attorneys, we also work hard to keep our outside customers happy. That mostly includes people who come to our website to find excellent legal representation. Satisfying both of these parties is what lets us run this company efficiently.

What is your long-term plan for Lawyers of Distinction?

Hopefully, we will keep expanding as time passes. We currently enforce a top-ten-percent system that leaves out a ton of successful lawyers. Over time, we hope to build a better system where more attorneys will be eligible to apply. Simultaneously, however, we do not want to reduce the quality of lawyers that we approve. After all, there would not be much "distinction" if anyone could just sign up, right?

What steps do you plan to take in order to reach those goals?

We are building new frameworks and brainstorming on how to achieve the aforementioned. Our senior management is focused on streamlining the application process and making it faster. Also, we do frequent reviews of external opportunities for outsourcing.

What would be a quote that accurately depicts your organization?

"Great things in business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people". This quote comes from Steve Jobs who changed the world with his inventions. Although we are definitely in different service lines, I believe that the quote applies. Our organization is based on teamwork between management and lawyers as well as lawyers and customers. Failure on either end could cause a lot of issues for everyone involved. Thus, I always push for open communication as the firm's best practice. As long as everyone is on the same page, there is less room for misaligned interests.

What do you do when your plans fail? Has it happened to this organization?

I will give an example to better answer the question. In the past, many issues came up in regards to our member-acceptance policy. We were reviewing nominations and accepting people based on experience, success, and reviews. After a while, however, we noticed that some states had more distinguished lawyers than others. To avoid the discrepancy, we decided to place a membership ceiling to even things out. Thus, we went through multiple stages of planning and came up with the ten-percent system. Now, only the top ten percent of any given state's attorneys are our members. In general, every business has issues, and we are no different. Anyone making an argument that their organization is error-free should not be taken seriously.

What do you suggest to those who want to apply?

Just do it! Many individuals avoid filling out the paperwork because they are insecure about their odds. One thing that you never know is how many practicians from your state have a membership. Thus, even if you do not believe in your chances, you might still make the cut! If not, keep working on those areas that we comment on and re-apply again later.