While starting his business, YLawIn 2013, Leena Yousefi, a seasoned family attorney, mediator, and now CEO, hired experts to investigate how she could better serve clients’ needs. “What is the first thing your customers think of when they walk through your door?” she was asked Yousefi thought she would want information on the divorce process or strategies to win her case. Bad, they told him. The first thought clients have when they walk into a family law office is less practical and more emotional: “How did I get here?”
These five simple words, Yousefi says, inspired how he thought about running his business. She could practice law in another way. The human needs of customers could be a priority. And so could the human needs of her team. Having worked at larger companies herself, Yousefi knew the industry was a breeding ground for burnout. “Companies rewarded workaholism and left very, very little room for women to excel, thrive, or sometimes even exist.”
That is not the case at YLaw. Yousefi has built a team that includes people of color, pregnant women, people on parental leave, and single moms. (Eighty-seven percent of staff are women.) All are rare in the lists of major companies. “A single mother, or any father, has already shown me that she can multitask,” says Yousefi. “They are capable of being productive, efficient, empathetic, caring and understanding. When they arrive at the workplace, that’s the attitude they bring.”
As is the case in many industries, racial and gender inequalities in the legal field can make hiring underrepresented groups more time consuming and difficult than taking advantage of traditional and often biased hiring funnels. But for Yousefi, building a diverse team wasn’t just about fairness; it also provides a strategic advantage. “If I want to serve clients from different cultures who are immigrating here or going through separation or marriage, I want attorneys who can speak their language, who can understand cultural issues and be sensitive to their needs,” she says. “Because that will result in happy customers.”
Family law can be exhausting, and YLaw is investing to ensure the longevity of its people. Offers employees a four-day work week and supports all partner follow-up attorneys to ensure a successful transition. For Yousefi, measures like these are about reciprocity. “For my business to be successful, I need good energy and good faith,” he says. “That’s not just coming from the people who are paying.”
Read more of the 2022 New Innovators List