LMAF interviews peek into the lives and minds of some of the most compelling figures in the legal industry. Interviewees answer three questions from each of three categories—savvy, salty, and personal—to reveal unique insights and talents driving our field.
Platform
Roxanne Jensen brings strategy, growth, critical thinking, and creative change to law firms through her 10-year-old business, EvolveLaw. For a recent example of Roxanne’s stewardship, look no further than Taft’s acquisition of Denver stalwart Sherman & Howard, which took effect January 1. Roxanne advised Sherman & Howard to set strategy and find potential growth partners, building consensus over time and unearthing the most effective ways to prepare for the deal and hit the market at full speed.
A former antitrust and IP litigator, Roxanne managed MoFo’s Denver office for three years. Her BigLaw experience, combined with extensive knowledge of law firm governance and compensation, growth and merger strategy, integration efforts, and succession planning have made Roxanne a powerful resource to some of the nation’s most respected law firms and legal leaders.
When she’s not moving law firms and the legal industry forward, you’ll most likely find Roxanne in her happy place, the peaks and valleys of Colorado’s Grand County, on one of her seven pairs of skis.
Savvy
What are clients asking for that you just don't see law firms delivering yet? I still think it’s a soup-to-nuts, top-to-bottom understanding of their competitive environment and their industry. I've seen very few law firms spend the time to do that.
I think the best tool to solve that problem is to form true industry groups in law firms. For years there have been industry groups listed where if you've done one insurance case, you're listed as a banking and financial services industry lawyer. That’s not a real industry group. Industry groups should be multidisciplinary and understand an industry from top to bottom, be devoted to joining industry organizations, visiting clients often to understand their businesses and their competitors, and seeing around corners as result.
The most powerful industry groups, I think, are truly integrated in the governance of an organization.
There are two firms that, I think, have done it well. Husch Blackwell is one. They live and breathe their industry groups. They even have an operations chief at the head of every one of those industry groups who is responsible for coordinating understanding of the industry and their clients to make sure that the industry is front and center in how the firm operates. Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in Portland has also done a good job with industry groups. The most powerful industry groups, I think, are truly integrated in the governance of an organization. Industry group heads should have, in my view, P&L [profit and loss] responsibility, for example, to understand how things are developing.
What's the best advice you've ever received? From my dad: “If you never fall down, you won't learn anything.” My brothers and I started skiing at age two. I was not the biggest risk-taker—more of a risk-taker than either of my brothers, I will say—but still not the biggest. Being willing to make mistakes is great advice to live by.
What tools of the trade do you most love using in your day-to-day? This may not be exactly what you're asking for, but I think it could be seen as a tool. It's relationships. Collaboration, perhaps, is a better way to put it. I can't, in fact, do anything as well as I should without heavy reliance on other perspectives and inputs. It's worth every second.
Salty
What law firm trend bothers you right now, and why? There’s a law firm trend that I've seen forever and is often, I think, solved only in name and not in reality. It's growing without strategy or without good business integration. Growth without good, well-thought-out strategy based on values and an understanding of the current state of the firm in the marketplace is significantly more likely to fail or result in a loss of key talent.
And even if good strategy drives law firm growth, one plus one can't equal three without planning for it and following through. And that happens with detailed business planning and integration.
What words or phrase do you wish would go away from the business of law forever? I think this is true of writing generally, with the exception of extremely talented writers. The words “clearly” and “truly.” If you have to say something is “clear,” it probably isn't. And if you have to say “truly,” then whatever follows is probably a stretch.
What's the worst advice you've ever received? Don't be emotional. Even our negative feelings are really instructive, you know? Maybe they're unjustified. Maybe they should change. But they're always instructive. What you don't want is to express emotions in a way that's destructive, and that takes work, hard work. Avoiding that is key to growing relationships.
So what's something you've gained by flouting that advice? Deeper connection. Better self-understanding. Maturation overall, I think. I'm steeped in Scandinavian culture, full of Stoics. We're brought up to be pretty stoic, and in our culture, expressing negative emotions can often be frowned on, especially for women. Working with negative emotions is really important for women in particular to achieve what they want to achieve and for relationships to grow.
Find a path that allows you to use your values and skills to provide value to others.
Another piece of advice that I think can hold you back is to only do and pursue what you love. Usually this means as a career—people are giving career advice. That can really limit people. I think it's important to find a path that allows you to use your values and skills to provide value to others, and that could be as a barista, if you're relational and good at multitasking, for example, or as a rocket scientist if you're great at math and disciplined and attentive to detail. Those jobs may not be passions, but they provide great value.
I think people often end up feeling bad about career choices they've made because they're not straight in line with what may be a passionate pursuit. Yet those who can make a career out of their passions, I think, are really few and far between. If you have a passion for making music, you could save it for fun times—“me” times—instead of turning it into work.
Personal
What advice would you give your younger self? Going on a decidedly less introspective tack, I would advise myself to take special care of my joints.
Oh! Do you care to elaborate? I love being outdoors. It feeds my soul. I’m hoping to be able to do that into my eighties. So let's go joints!
What would you be doing if you weren't working in the legal industry? I'm a diagnostician at heart, whether I'm hunting for solutions or for the source of a problem. I think anything that relies significantly on that skillset is a possibility. Philosophy. Medicine. Investigations. Or like a mystery writer. I love hunting for solutions and solving problems.
Being a mystery writer feels rooted in something much deeper if you trace it back to philosophy! Last prompt: Name your favorite personal health tool. My skis. All seven pairs of them, each with its own place and use. I love hiking and mountain biking as well, but I'm particularly passionate about skiing. Sometimes I'll get out downhill for a couple hours. I'll come back and work, and then I'll take my dog out on the Nordic skis. I'm a Colorado girl through and through, a native, and I love the winter with my skis. The snow keeps me sane.
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