Reflecting on 2021: A Message From Our CEO

February 1, 2022

“Why are you here and not somewhere else?”  

This saying, displayed prominently at the University of Chicago business school, has been at the forefront of my mind recently.  

We like to start each year with a management philosophy that guides our decisions, keeps us balanced in our priorities, and helps us to stay focused. I found myself reflecting often on this saying as we emerged from the fog of the last 2 years, trying to better understand our “Why.” Why do people join Paragon? Why do clients choose Paragon? 

What is our Why?

Working with Paragon means so much more than just engaging in our regular day-to-day business activities. Our Why is our drive to help clients and each other succeed.  Our Why is our commitment to building diversity, equity, and inclusion into everything that we do. Our Why is our values that shape our culture and guide our business. 

At the heart of it, Paragon’s Why is to create opportunity and to have a meaningful impact – on the lives of our employees and on the lives of our clients. The growth of our business in terms of people, number of clients, geographic reach, and in results, shows that we’re doing something right.  We’re proud to share that in 2021 we:

• Grew our client base over 30%;
• Grew our active attorney base over 30%;
• Grew our engagement count over 30%;
• Doubled the size of our corporate team with the addition of 7 amazing new team members;
• Expanded our footprint to 23 states … and counting.

The opportunity we’re providing to clients and attorneys to work in a way that works for them, is our motivator. It is our Why. It’s what makes us proud of the work we’ve done, and it makes us all the more excited for the impact we know we will have in 2022. 

How will we do that?

It’s simple, but not easy.  The road to achieving client and attorney success will take hard work, but the How is defined by our values.  Our values have long defined our culture and are woven into the fabric of who we are as a company.  On these values, we will not waver. 

• Do what’s right, even when it’s hard
• Seek to understand and grow
• Stand behind our work and our word
• Win together
• Put people first

We are so excited for 2022.  We are hoping for a year of more human interaction, improved health, and an opportunity to return to a sense of normalcy.  This year we will be making significant strategic investments in the business – to expand our attorney base in order to serve our clients better, to grow our geographic reach in order to serve clients and teams across the US, and to remain laser focused on being a place where people truly want to work.

We look forward to being a part of your company’s success in 2022 and to being the best client partner we can be. 

Trista Engel
CEO, Paragon Legal