No matter how recently you started your business, you need help with HR.
While working with Prism, founders get time back to focus on what matters most: product, clients, and profitability.
It’s “fracitonal” because that’s all you need right now. But be prepared to get so much more than you pay for, because everything in a business impacts how people work. Prism delivers much more than HR.
Hiring has become more complex and talented people are rowing in different directions. Leadership is not a multiplying force. Perhaps you’re even feeling disappointed in the people who crushed the interview process but haven’t delivered since singing on. You need to get this stuff off your mind and out of the cap table so that you can direct resources toward the people who are growing your business, not depleting it.
You started your own firm for a reason: to do it your way. But what exactly does that mean and how do you get everyone to bill enough, play nice, and help you build the firm you envisioned? Expectations and accountability don’t have to be heavy-handed to be effective. Learn to lead people and build the firm that allows you to enjoy the upside of ownership, not drown in billable hours and never-ending people problems.
Important note: Erin Robertson, Prism’s Founder and Principle, has consistently worked with boutique law firms since 2021.
After 20+ years working with founders, Prism understands exactly the pressure you’re under. Together we decide what will bring value and velocity, and cut anything that sniffs of “process for process sake”.
Using the best of communication, interviewing, and your unique culture to hire your ideal team and set them up for success.
Constraints and accountability in the day to day. Lean performance reviews that harvest the information needed to make the best business decisions.
Decision making leaders are every organization’s “First Team” and should be cultivated as such. With certifications in The 5 Behaviors and the DiSC model, your leadership team will learn how to debate, align, and execute under any circumstances.
It’s happening whether you’re paying attention to it or not. Culture investment has exponential returns that will save you money in the long run.
Every team has friction. Simple systems to address it as it arises is another way to save a lot of time and money down the line.
Maybe! The only way to know is to reach out.
Reach outContext sharing, vibe check, detail alignment, engagement terms
Project-based or retainer-based, our engagement will be crystal clear with timelines, deliverables, and regular check-ins. Engagements can run 6-24 months.
Engagement tapers off, with workflows being handed off internally or to a new hire. I am on-call to advise, counsel, and support a successful transition.
Prism is deliberately small. A handful of retained clients at a time, every deliverable is made by the person you met on the first call.
The only HR professional I haven’t hated working with.
Erin speaks ‘fluent founder’ and knows what it takes to build a business that can grow.
Kevin DelieFounderOur culture has become a competitive advantage, which is a rare thing in the legal profession.
Rachel JohnsonFounder and Managing PartnerErin is one of the rare few that can build a vision for the future while seemingly solving the day-to-day.
Jordan SchenkCEOI’m good at what I do because I understand how businesses are built and I love to help people who are building them, and I do that through HR.
I’ve loved to work for as long as I can remember, since my first job at 14. Who we are at work is who we are in life, and work has been the place where I’ve done the most growing.
My career has been one long, organic thread: nearly seven years at a grassroots nonprofit inside the United Nations system, then grant writing and in-house fundraising, which is where I started working shoulder to shoulder with founders. I took on HR before I really knew what HR was, found I had a knack for it, and eventually started my own practice.
Along the way I built the HR practice inside a law firm and deepened my employment-law knowledge; they’re still the partner I turn to when a client’s matter needs real counsel. Twenty years in, I speak fluent founder, I’m comfortable in the gray, and I keep the right experts on hand for everything else.
AI is already part of the workforce, and it will only become more so. The future Prism believes in is exceptional human talent combined with AI, not one replacing the other. Prism uses AI in its own work and in client work: time saved, more value delivered for every dollar invested. The judgment stays human. The tools make it go further.
Prism brings senior strategic leadership capacity and willingness to execute. “Fractional” means I’m only spending time on high-value work that moves the needle for the business forward. An HR manager would be in the weeds of the day-to-day, rarely able to say no to things that dilute their ability to impact business results.
Law firms are unique, but the challenges of leadership and people management are the same. Prism has been embedded in boutique firms since 2021, so the accumen for helping Managing Partners build their firm is strong. Some aspects of the work translate cleanly between startups and legal, and some new skills have had to be built, but the quality of client experience and deliverable is the same.
That depends, but the baseline is an hourly rate of $350, and project engagmenets can run anywhere from $5,000 - $100,000 or more. It’s a big range, yes, but every organization is different in size and complexity. You will know pricing before signing the engagement letter. There will never be any surprises.
Maybe! The only way to know is to reach out.