As you know, a little over a month ago, we became a Certified B Corp, but we never gave the story behind why we choose this certification. To understand why we chose this, you also need to understand our origins.
In 2012, Richard Bobholz wanted to be a part of a law firm that put the client above profits and the community above self. Through his research and interviews, he could not find a single law firm that offered what he knew businesses were starved for, so he created his own.
Starting as R. W. Bobholz Law, PLLC, the firm made a few commitments from the very start:
- Respond promptly when a client contacts us,
- Provide quality work, no matter how much time and effort it takes,
- Bill based on value, not hours,
- Take the time to do things right the first time,
- Constantly learn and improve.
Throughout the years, these guiding principles changed slightly as we discovered what clients want and how we can better serve the community. We are still responsive, provide the highest quality work, bill mostly flat rate, and are constantly learning, improving, and becoming more skilled at everything we do. On top of these things, we also wanted to position ourselves as leaders in the volunteering community, demonstrating the value of giving back as a business owner.
In 2015, our firm, now called Law Plus Plus, had the stability and vision to really assert ourselves as a thought leader in using business for good. We had known about the B Corp movement for a while, but hadn’t had the ability to obtain certification.
B Corp Mission
The B Corp mission puts employees, customers, the environment, and the community on par with the profits of the company. This is exactly what Law Plus Plus aims to do. We treat our employees and independent contracts with respect and transparency, making clear what our expectations are, how to advance, where their income comes from and even how the owners are doing.
We treated our customers how we would want to be treated if we were in their shoes. This is where our transparency and flat rate billing model came from. To us, it is impossible to envision a world where our clients didn’t know up front what to expect.
The environment and our community have been very important to us from the start. We spend a significant amount of time volunteering at nonprofits or cleaning up the environment because we believe it is something anyone should do. We also monitor our own impact on the environment through our own vendors and our practices.
All in all, the move to become B Corp Certified was not one to gain anything except being a part of a great community of businesses who have the same desires as us. We know business can be used as a force for good, and so we look forward to being able to do exactly that with other like minded companies.