OUR MISSION
Build Better Law Firms.
We exist to give managing partners their time and attention back—so they can lead clients, culture, and growth while we build the operational infrastructure behind the practice.
Why We Exist
Law firms are professional service businesses that often outgrow informal management. Staffing, technology, finance, compliance, and accountability pile onto owners who never intended to become full-time operations managers. Growth stalls. Teams frustrate. Profitability leaks. We built The Legal Ops Group to close that gap with law-firm-specific operational leadership—not generic business advice.
Why We Are Different
More Than Consultants. We Operate Law Firms.
Typical Consultant
- Recommendations
Hands you a report and leaves the implementation to your team.
- Strategy Only
Advises from outside the operating seat.
- Project Based
The engagement ends when the deliverable is handed over.
- General Business Focus
Applies a general business playbook to law firms.
- Limited Accountability
Recommendations with no owner or follow-up once the report is delivered.
- General Finance Advice
Financial recommendations without law-firm billing experience.
The Legal Ops Group
- Execution
We build the workflow, report, structure, or system with your team, and make sure it works before we step back. - Strategy + Operations
Derek has held the operating seat. He was COO at Tiffany & Bosco and at Carpenter, Hazlewood, Delgado & Bolen, and Regional Office Administrator for Polsinelli's western region. - Ongoing Leadership
Project work when the problem has a finish line. Ongoing Fractional COO leadership when the managing partner is still the firm's unofficial COO. - Law Firm Focus
Nearly 30 years in the legal industry, starting as a file clerk at a plaintiff's employment firm. That includes running non-legal operations across Polsinelli's Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Palo Alto offices, and advising small and mid-sized firms through Cornerstone Consulting Partners. - Owners, Scorecards, Follow-Through
Every engagement gets a prioritized plan with owners and due dates, plus a monthly operating rhythm and scorecard so progress stays visible. - Law-Firm Financial Operations
Laura Goins leads our financial operations and billing work. She brings a background in investments and a B.S. in Financial Management from Bob Jones University.
Who We Serve
We work with law firms that have become too operationally complex to manage informally, but are not ready for a full-time COO. Our operational leadership is built for managing partners and firm leaders who are ready to move from informal management to systems that hold up as the firm grows. Serving law firms from coast to coast.
Leadership Team
Derek Andersen
Founder & Principal Consultant
Derek Andersen has spent nearly 30 years in the legal industry. He started as a file clerk in college at a plaintiff’s employment law firm — and learned quickly he was not cut out to be an attorney. Working the plaintiff side of employment law gave him a clear view of the worst practices of employers. That experience still shapes how he leads, how he advises, and why he is passionate about helping law firms succeed financially and culturally.
Before founding The Legal Ops Group, Derek served as Chief Operating Officer at Tiffany & Bosco and at Carpenter, Hazlewood, Delgado & Bolen, and as Regional Office Administrator for the western region of Polsinelli, an Am Law 100 firm — overseeing non-legal operations across Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Palo Alto. He is also owner of Cornerstone Consulting Partners, advising small and mid-sized law firms on finance, people, process, technology, and growth.
After graduating from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration (emphasis in human resource management), he earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix and continued sharpening his craft in law-firm operations and executive leadership. His writing on legal leadership has appeared in Legal Management.
As founder of The Legal Ops Group, Derek brings that operating experience to every facet of a practice: people, process, finance, technology, and growth. He creates practical, personalized solutions that help managing partners build better law firms — including Fractional COO support for firms that need executive operating leadership without a full-time COO.
Most importantly, Derek is grounded in his faith in Christ, believing that nothing should be done out of selfish ambition — that true leaders share their knowledge to bring out the best in others. That conviction shapes how he and his team pour into each client, recommending practical and meaningful changes that bring out the best in each firm.
Laura Goins
Consultant
Laura Goins is a financial operations specialist with a background in investments. She optimizes law-firm billing and accounting through streamlined software and procedures. A graduate of Bob Jones University with a B.S. in Financial Management, Laura recently relocated from Arizona to North Carolina where she resides with her husband and three children.