Who are you?  Who is your organization?
I’m Matt Homann, and I’m the founder of LexThink, a legal innovation consultancy.  I’m a former lawyer and mediator and the author of the [non]billable hour blog. I regularly write and speak about ways lawyers can use innovative ways to build their practices, serve their clients better and make more money.

Through LexThink, I design, facilitate and host retreats and legal conferences.  I also facilitate high-stakes meetings and brainstorming sessions for non-legal companies like Microsoft, Sungard, HP, McDonald’s and the Marine Corps.

Where does your organization fit in the legal industry?
That’s a difficult question for me to answer, because LexThink does a variety of things traditionally offered by a range of service providers: including marketing gurus, strategy coaches, firm management consultants, retreat facilitators, trainers, and keynote speakers.  Instead, I prefer to say that I make lawyers and meetings better — and often at the same time.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the legal industry now and in the upcoming year?
Most lawyers are focused on returning their practices to profitability — which is a near term problem for many of us.  However, I think a far greater challenge is looming in the distance, and that is irrelevance. 

For far too long, lawyers have taken their clients and customers for granted.  Quietly, real alternatives are emerging that are making lawyers less necessary to clients.  In just the last five years, we’ve seen more and more consumers turn first to the web as they draft their will, start their LLC, etc.  This is a trend that will only continue, and lawyers must begin thinking about a day when the least valuable thing they have to offer their clients is advice.

How can law firms work with you?
My ideal law firm client is looking for a unique, innovative and creative firm-wide or practice group retreat that focuses on real problem solving, collaborative brainstorming and team building. 

For example, I’m working with a firm right now to build a client-focused retreat for a practice group.  We’re going to invite actual clients of the firm to work alongside partners, associates and staff as they design and build a better customer service experience.

I speak at firms about innovation, creativity, marketing, alternative pricing and social media.  From time to time, I will also work with individual lawyers to help them think differently about their practices.

How can the legal vendor community work with you?
I can design and facilitate unique, fun user meetings and focus groups, and am already working with a few legal vendors to help them better understand their audience and improve their “pitch.”

I’m also building a two-day, immersive “Vendor Value Experience” that will use a variety of methods (including collaborative brainstorming exercises and visual facilitation) to help vendors better understand their trade-show audiences, re-evaluate their conference presence, improve their value proposition and hone their “elevator pitch.”  I’ll be launching this in November.

Matt can be reached at matt at lexthink.com.