Core Values

  • We value people's design.

    We believe that each individual is uniquely designed. We are dedicated to discovering and cultivating each of our team member’s (attorneys and support staff) distinct gifts so that they can thrive in the workplace, excel in their work and find fulfillment in their calling.

  • Means matter.

    We are dedicated to a practice of integrity, diligence, and efficiency because we know that those are the optimal tools to help our clients resolve their issues, close their deals, and help their business and relationship flourish.

  • Advise, advocate, counsel.

    We regularly reflect on what it means to be a legal professional. Our attorneys embrace the practice of law as a calling whereby they become advisors, advocates and counselors.

  • Work & rest rhythm.

    Healthy work and rest rhythm is a requirement for fulfilling life, and meaningful rest fuels fruitful work. That is why we strive to create an environment that honors and cultivates healthy work and rest rhythm.

  • Serve as a model.

    We strive to serve as a model law firm where cultivating attorneys and support staff according to their unique design and gifts is valued. We welcome replication of our law firm model by other firms.

  • Educate to transform.

    We share our knowledge of law, business, and culture to transform the legal industry.

  • It's not about me.

    We value the success of our clients above any victory for the firm. That means that the firm only wins when our clients win.

  • We love our neighbors.

    We exist to serve all of our neighbors. Our neighbors include our clients, employees, legal community, vendors, and the poor and the marginalized - locally and globally.

History

In 2012, Haejin Shim, an experienced litigator, co-founded Frecker & Shim LLC with the vision to provide value-oriented legal services and renew law firm culture.  Ms. Shim reimagined law practice from multiple perspectives, including the clients’, the partners’, the associate attorneys’, the support staff’s, and the legal community’s.  Ms. Shim identified the broken areas of law practice and sought to redeem them, thereby making legal practice more rewarding and fulfilling.  In particular, Ms. Shim saw a need for renewed firm culture where lawyers and support staff are professionally cultivated and developed, according to their design and gifts, rather than the traditional rules of promotion. 

Ms. Shim considers lawyering as a vocation. The word vocation stems from the Latin word vocare,

which means to call.  A job is a vocation only if someone else calls you to do the job and you do it for the benefit of the caller rather than for yourself.  Thus, lawyers’ work can be a calling, rather than simply a job, when it is reimagined as a mission of service to something beyond making a living.  Accordingly, lawyers are called to represent the interests of their clients as an advocate, advisor, and counselor.  With these ideas, Ms. Shim built the firm.

In 2017, Ms. Shim’s team transitioned into Shim & Associates, P.C. and advanced the vision of providing value-oriented legal services and renewing law firm culture by adopting eight core values: (1) We value people’s design; (2) It’s not about me; (3) Means matter; (4) We love people’s design; (5) Advise advocate counsel; (6) Work & rest balance;

(7) Educate to transform; and (8) Serve as a model.  Shim & Associates, P.C. is committed to serve our clients with the utmost excellence and professionalism, redeem law practice and firm culture and cultivate the legal professionals for their calling.