Six To-Dos Every Firm Can Embrace in 2026

14 snips

Feb 3, 2026

Kellam Parks, partner at Parks Ziegler PLLC and founder of The Motivated Lawyer coaching program, builds tech- and metrics-driven law practices. He discusses intentional firm design, setting multi-year goals broken into quarterly rocks, KPIs across finance/intake/ops/marketing/satisfaction, delegation to stop being indispensable, and practical tech and AI adoption starting from systems not tools.

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ANECDOTE

Pro Bono Coaching Success

Kellam Parks took on a listener, Alyssa Vachon-Daneau, as a pro bono coaching client to help launch her firm.
They completed about a dozen sessions and she made meaningful progress toward starting her practice.

ADVICE

Define Your Firm Purpose First

Sit down and decide intentionally what you want your firm and life to look like before scaling.
Define hours, practice areas, partners, and lifestyle goals to guide firm design.

ADVICE

Plan By Time Horizons

Break long-term vision into five-year, three-year, one-year and quarterly goals and track them.
Run weekly check-ins (even solo with yourself) to measure progress toward quarterly targets.

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Where do you want your firm to go in the new year? Do you have a plan to get there? Intentional firm design and strategy trumps reactive growth every time. Don’t let your firm run you; take charge today!

Guest Kellam Parks is a partner with the metrics- and technology-driven family and cybersecurity law firm Parks Zeigler PLLC, and he runs the coaching program “The Motivated Lawyer,” helping firms craft a path to a successful future. Hear how he recently took on one new client pro bono to demonstrate how his coaching helps lawyers visualize and achieve their goals.

Parks began his own Virginia Beach firm as a “paperless” entity nearly 15 years ago, incorporating emerging tech to maximize efficiencies. As the firm developed, tech tools have helped his team automate the routine and focus on the most important and demanding tasks. He is a regular speaker and provider of CLE programs for attorneys and firms and produces educational videos and a popular newsletter packed with tips.

Do you need help building out your technological capacities and marketing? As Parks points out, “Nobody knows everything.” Always be learning and open to new ideas.

Questions or ideas about solo and small practices? Drop us a line at NewSolo@legaltalknetwork.com

Topics:

Too many solos start out with no intentional plan, opting instead to gather as many clients as they can then scrambling to keep up. A recipe for stress and inefficiency.
In 2026, think about what you actually want from your firm. Then create an intentional plan to get there, step by step.
Technology is not an option. Use the tools available to you. But remember “technology does not fix chaos.” It all starts with your plan, your established systems, and understanding what you’re doing (and why).

Mentioned in This Episode:

Previous appearance on New Solo, “Tech, Automation, and Cybersecurity: A Pioneering Attorney’s Perspective”

Previous appearance on Legal Talk Network’s Digital Detectives, “Cybersecurity: Getting to Good for the Small Law Firm”

Ben Glass, Great Legal Marketing

Gino Wickman, “Traction”

Allie K. Miller, understanding AI

“Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire,” by Dan Martell

Clio

ABA Techshow 2026

Clio Cloud Conference 2026