Happy New Year!

Well, tomorrow, at least. :)

I thought I’d close out this year by letting you see inside the Kimono and get a peek at what we’re focusing on in 2024.

There will be some new, and a lot of building on the foundation we’ve already created.

Interested?

Here we go!

Before I get started, what I’m planning on doing is just listing out one by one the things I’m hoping to accomplish in 2024. They’ll be short and sweet, and hopefully interesting.

1. The Renton office will be fully functional.

Did you know we have two offices? We do! One in Kirkland and one in Renton.

Until recently the Renton office was only used periodically.

But this year it will be fully functional, just like the Kirkland office.

Two attorneys will be there – Adam and Mitchell, and we’ll be doing signings there twice a week, just like in Kirkland.

What that means for me, just so you know, is setting up the calendar so you all can utilize the office if you want, and making the office pretty (art, etc.).

2. Continue to build on our core values.

I can say without a doubt that we’ve got the best estate planning and probate team. Period.

It isn’t just the legal knowledge that makes us good – it’s the service.

And part of the reason we’ve been able to excel is our execution of our core values:

Excellence in Everything – we do our best to give our best in everything we do.

We want our emails to be concise and clear and pretty.

We want to have great energy when we talk with you over the phone and in person.

And we want our work to be great – every time.

Consistent progressive improvement – did you know we have a legal education meeting every week?

That the legal team meets twice a week to help work through novel issues?

That the customer service team meets every week to practice and improve our processes?

That every estate plan when reviewed by an attorney is done with an accompanying loom video for the paralegal so they can see the why behind the final product?

We are actively trying to get better – and we are. That will continue in 2024.

Be quick but don’t hurry – we are really really good at what we do, and sometimes when you are really good at something you can relax a little – and make mistakes.

So something we talk about ALL the time is being efficient with our time – working diligently – but not so quickly that we make mistakes.

No excuses – I hope you’ve never had any issues with our service, but if you have, you’ve probably noticed we take responsibility, apologize for the inconvenience, and fix the problem.

Taking accountability is huge here.

We all have high standards for ourselves and our teammates.

When we fall short of those standards we don’t blame. We acknowledge it and do our very best to not make the same mistake twice (see core value #2).

3. Maybe open office #3? :)

I do know I want to be able to provide great legal services at great prices to as many people as possible (and have a team of legal professionals that actually likes what they do and who they work with), and to do that we need to grow.

My question for you is, which way should we go?

South (Tacoma maybe)?

West (Seattle)?

North (Everett)?

If everything goes according to plan we’ll be operating at a high level for you and looking to get out there and help as many people as possible.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for caring about us enough to read.

We really do put a lot of ourselves in the work we do for you.

And remember, we’ll be back in the office on Tuesday ready to get back to work!

Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Christopher Small
CMS Law Firm LLC

PS – don’t keep this estate planning stuff to yourself – you know it’s important and we LOVE referrals!