Large institutions may look different from the outside—the U.S. Air Force, the American Bar Association and a modern alternative business structure law firm—but leading change inside them follows remarkably similar patterns.

Across 33 years as an Air Force judge advocate, nearly 13 years as the ABA’s executive director and later helping build an Arizona-based ABS for Rocket Lawyer, I learned that successful change is not about disruption for its own sake. It is about aligning mission, structure and people with clarity and discipline. The legal profession now faces its own moment of transformation, and many of the lessons I learned in earlier jobs apply directly to the challenges ahead.

My final four years in uniform were spent designing JAG Corps 21, a comprehensive modernization of how the Air Force delivered legal services worldwide. Working with a talented team, we identified more than seven dozen major opportunities to use technology, consolidate operations and streamline workflows. The goal was simple: improve legal support to commanders and airmen while using resources more effectively.

Some of the most impactful changes were structural. We created a worldwide Claims Service Center to centralize expertise and improve consistency. We built Centers of Excellence to provide specialized support across the force, ensuring that even small installations had access to high quality legal guidance. We modernized training, digitized processes and rethought how legal services could be delivered at scale.

The lesson was clear: Large institutions can change—but only when the mission is clear, the structure supports it, and leaders are willing to challenge long-standing assumptions.

When I became executive director of the ABA, I stepped into another complex institution—one with a proud history, a broad mission and a membership model that needed to evolve. We undertook a major restructuring of the organization, simplifying operations, clarifying responsibilities and aligning resources with strategic priorities. We worked hard to modernize the membership model to reflect how lawyers work today, not how they practiced decades ago.

Change at the ABA required a different kind of leadership. The Air Force had a clear chain of command; the ABA had a culture built on consensus and volunteer leadership. Transparency, communication and patience were essential. So was a willingness to simplify—to remove layers, reduce complexity and focus on what best serves members and the public.

The lesson here: Change succeeds when people understand the “why,” see the path forward, and trust that the institution is acting in service of its mission.

After leaving the ABA, I helped build an Arizona-based alternative business structure law firm for Rocket Lawyer. The Arizona Supreme Court approved our ABS application, creating a regulated pathway for multidisciplinary ownership and investment. Our goal was to move from a documents and information platform to a system that provided clients with direct legal advice—efficiently, ethically and at scale.

This work required designing a structure that supported lawyers, rather than constrained them. We built systems for intake, workflow, technology and quality control. We created a model that allowed lawyers to focus on legal judgment, while operational experts handled the business side. It was a different kind of change—faster, more entrepreneurial and driven by client expectations.

The lesson: Innovation accelerates when structure aligns with purpose and when lawyers are supported by professionals with the expertise and resources to help them succeed.

Across these three systems—the military, the ABA and modern legal services organizations—the patterns are consistent:

• Large institutions resist change for similar reasons: tradition, culture and fear of the unknown.
• Technology and AI accelerate the need for adaptation.
• Independence of legal judgment remains nonnegotiable—but operational models must evolve.
• Change requires leadership, clarity and a willingness to rethink assumptions.

The legal profession is not facing a crisis of identity. It is facing a challenge of structure. Lawyers can uphold the core values of the profession while embracing new ways to deliver services. But doing so requires intentionality—the same disciplined, mission focused approach that drives successful change in other complex systems.

The future of legal services will not be shaped by those who resist change or hope it will slow down. It will be shaped by those who approach change thoughtfully, with a clear sense of mission and a commitment to serve clients effectively. The profession has the talent, the values and the capacity to adapt. What it needs now is the leadership to guide that adaptation.

Change is not something to fear. It is something to manage—with clarity, discipline and purpose.

Jack Rives is a senior consultant and strategic adviser focused on legal innovation, governance and access-to-justice initiatives. He previously was the executive director of the American Bar Association and later was the president of Rocket Legal Professional Services Inc., an Arizona-approved alternative business structure law firm.

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