You Did Not Get Here the Way You Planned
Leadership • Reflection • September 7, 2026
Most law firm owners spend a lot of time thinking about where they are going.
We think about next quarter’s revenue goal, the next hire, the next marketing initiative, the next office, and the next stage of growth. There is always another target in front of us.
But when was the last time you stopped and thought about how you got here?
You own a law firm today. Was that always the plan?
For some attorneys, ownership was the goal from the beginning. For many others, it grew out of an opportunity, a frustration, a relationship, a risk, or a moment they never could have predicted.
Most of us did not arrive here in a straight line. I certainly did not.
The Plan I Thought I Had
My dad was an attorney. I grew up around his law office. I tagged along with him to court, attended local bar association events, and went to Kentucky Bar Association and American Bar Association conventions.
The legal profession was part of my life before I was old enough to understand everything that came with it.
I went to college knowing I would go to law school. But unlike my dad, I wanted to become a prosecutor. I could see that path clearly. I would graduate from law school, serve as a prosecutor, try cases, and build a career in the courtroom.
Personal injury was never part of the plan. Running my own firm was not part of it either.
I had watched my dad own a firm for years. He used to tell me that from 8:00 to 5:00, he had to run the firm. He only got to practice law before 8:00, after 5:00, and on the weekends.
He worked nearly every weekend.
I respected what he built, but I also saw what ownership demanded. A law firm owner was not only an attorney. He was responsible for the employees, the clients, the bills, the systems, the decisions, and every problem no one else knew how to solve.
I did not picture that life for myself.
The Phone Call That Changed My Career
Then one day, I received a phone call from a local personal injury firm asking me to come in for an interview.
I had not applied. I was not looking for a job. Personal injury was not even on my radar.
I could have declined the invitation and stayed with the plan I already understood. Instead, I took the interview.
I could not have known it at the time, but that phone call changed the trajectory of my career and my life. It led me into personal injury, eventually into firm ownership, and ultimately into the work I am doing with law firm owners today.
“I had a plan. Life had a different path. Looking back, I can see that the unexpected turns were preparing me for what came next.”
– Chris Keller
We tend to recognize the importance of these moments only after we have lived through them. At the time, they often seem like an ordinary phone call, an uncomfortable conversation, an unexpected introduction, or a decision we are not certain we should make.
Years later, we can see the line connecting them.
Becoming a Law Firm Owner Rarely Follows a Straight Path
Ask a group of law firm owners how they arrived at ownership and you will hear very different stories.
One may have inherited a family practice. Another may have left a large firm after realizing there was no meaningful path to leadership. Someone else may have been laid off, overlooked, or forced to build something after a partnership failed.
Some owners began with a clear business plan and adequate capital. Others started with one case, one assistant, and no real understanding of what it meant to run a company.
The origin story matters because it often explains how the owner leads today.
- An owner who started without enough money may remain overly cautious about investing.
- An owner who escaped a controlling partnership may resist sharing authority.
- An owner who built the firm through referrals may struggle to trust paid marketing.
- An owner who personally handled every early case may have difficulty delegating legal work.
- An owner who learned through constant crisis may unconsciously recreate urgency even after the firm becomes stable.
Your path gave you experience, resilience, and judgment. It may also have given you habits and assumptions that no longer serve the business you are trying to build.
Understanding how you arrived here is not an exercise in nostalgia. It is part of understanding how you lead.
The Wrong Way to Compare Your Progress
Law firm owners are surrounded by opportunities to compare themselves with other owners.
Their firm is bigger. Their team looks stronger. Their advertising is everywhere. Their financials appear cleaner. Their social media makes growth look effortless. They seem to have solved the problem you are still trying to understand.
But you are comparing your current reality with a version of their story you can see only from the outside.
You do not see the years when payroll was uncertain. You do not see the failed hires, bad investments, difficult partnerships, personal sacrifices, or decisions they wish they could make again.
You see the visible result. You rarely see the entire path.
That kind of comparison can make an experienced owner feel like a failure. It can also prevent someone from starting because being a beginner suddenly feels embarrassing.
We do not want to walk into the room where everyone else appears more capable. We do not want to ask the basic question. We do not want anyone to watch us struggle through the first attempt.
Yet every meaningful chapter of our lives began with us doing something we did not already know how to do.
You were once a first-year lawyer. You once handled your first case, signed your first client, hired your first employee, reviewed your first profit and loss statement, and made your first payroll.
You became the person capable of doing those things only after you were willing to begin.
A Better Comparison for Law Firm Owners
Instead of comparing your beginning with someone else’s progress, compare who you are today with the person who first decided to begin.
Think about the attorney who took the first risk. That person may not have understood leadership, finance, marketing, intake, operations, or organizational design. That person simply knew it was time to take the next step.
Now consider what you have learned since then.
- You have made decisions without complete information.
- You have carried responsibility for clients, employees, and families.
- You have survived mistakes that once felt catastrophic.
- You have developed judgment that cannot be learned from a book or conference.
- You have become capable of handling challenges that would have overwhelmed an earlier version of you.
That does not mean you have arrived at a final destination. It means you have evidence that you can grow into what the next chapter requires.
The goal of reflection is not to become satisfied with the status quo. It is to remember that you have been a beginner before and that beginning changed your life.
Five Questions Every Law Firm Owner Should Answer
Take ten quiet minutes and answer these questions honestly. Do not turn this into another project or a lengthy strategic exercise. Write down the first truthful answer that comes to mind.
What Did You Originally Believe Your Career Would Look Like?
Go back to law school, your first job, or the beginning of your legal career. What did you expect your life to become? How does that picture compare with the life you are living now?
What Changed Your Direction?
Identify the person, phone call, opportunity, loss, frustration, or setback that altered your path. What happened because you responded to that moment?
What Did You Begin Before You Felt Ready?
Think about the decision that required you to act without certainty. What did you learn only because you were willing to take the first step?
What Has Ownership Required You to Become?
Firm ownership changes people. It demands new levels of discipline, communication, courage, patience, and self-awareness. Which version of you had to emerge for the firm to reach its current stage?
What Are You Hesitant to Begin Now?
This may be the most important question. What are you delaying because you do not feel ready, do not want to fail publicly, or might look inexperienced?
It could be hiring a leader, starting a new marketing channel, sharing financial responsibility, building a management team, entering a new market, recording videos, joining a peer group, or finally taking your own health seriously.
What if the next unexpected turn is waiting on the other side of your willingness to begin?
Your Path Prepared You. Your Next Decision Still Matters.
You may not have planned this exact path, but every turn helped prepare you for the seat you occupy today.
You are leading a firm. You are creating opportunities for other people. You are helping clients through some of the most difficult moments of their lives. You are carrying responsibilities an earlier version of you could not have imagined.
Take a moment to appreciate how far you have come. Not to live in the past, but to recognize the experiences that prepared you for today.
Then look forward again.
What is the person you are becoming willing to begin next?
What Moment Changed Your Trajectory?
I know many law firm owners’ business numbers, current challenges, and next-quarter goals. But the story of how an owner arrived here often reveals more than a scorecard ever could.
If you are a law firm owner working through your next stage of growth, I would like to hear your story. Tell me about the moment that changed your direction, what ownership has required you to become, and what you believe comes next.
I work with a select group of law firm owners who want to build stronger businesses, become better leaders, and create firms that can grow beyond their individual effort. Our work includes strategy, quarterly planning, accountability, operations, marketing, leadership, and the honest conversations that are difficult to have inside your own organization.
30 minutes. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about where you are, where you want to go, and what the next stage may require.
Chris Keller is a business coach, attorney, and founder of Ascend Legal Partners. He built a personal injury law firm from one employee to more than 80 across multiple states before transitioning to coaching law firm owners and entrepreneurs on leadership, growth, and scaling with intention. Learn more at callchriskeller.com/coaching.
