Matt Lockaby is the founder of Lockaby PLLC, a business law firm based in Lexington, Kentucky, serving clients across employment, corporate transactions, M&A, and litigation. The firm's tagline says it plainly: "Protecting What You've Built, Guiding What Comes Next."
I asked Matt what led him to start his own firm.
"Once I had children, there were sacrifices I wasn't willing to make anymore," he told me. "I wanted autonomy over my time and my decisions. And I thought I would do some things differently. I'm not sure I'm working any less than I was at a big firm but I just find the purpose behind it all a lot more fulfilling."
He launched the firm lean, hiring deliberately and building only what the work required. The firm has never taken on debt. Cash flow discipline has been a constant.
"In terms of how we built the team, it's just been very intentional," he said. "What do I need to not be doing? And can I find someone who's going to do it at least 80% as well as I could? If that's the case, I can train them on everything else."
What shapes how Matt leads goes back to how he was raised. His parents were working class and sacrificed a great deal. His in-laws owned multiple businesses. Growing up around both hard work and entrepreneurship meant he never developed a ceiling on what he thought was possible and that has carried into how he runs the firm.
"I've just never thought I would or had to say no to anything," he said.
"Why not have a crazy big dream and go write out a plan to meet each step along the way?"
His firm has a set of core values everyone is held to, including themselves. Accountability, grit, and integrity are the baseline. He is direct about performance and private about problems, and he makes space for empathy in both.
When it comes to building a team, Matt is clear about what he's trying to create.
"We've kind of taken the things that we didn't like from managing partners or superiors in prior jobs and tried to build exactly the type of workplace we would have wanted when we were young associates."
"The type of personality that typically excels in law school doesn't always lend itself well to managing others and to mentoring," he said. "Those are skills you have to develop and we're doing what we can to make sure there's the best of both worlds on a day-to-day basis and in our small environment here."
At the heart of all of it is his clients. Matt worked at a small business before law school doing sales, marketing, accounting, shipping and receiving and that experience never left him. The firm has grown from employment law into corporate, M&A, and outside general counsel work in a way that mirrors exactly what a small business owner needs: someone who can do a little bit of everything, and do it well.
"Small and mid-sized businesses are the backbone of our economy," he said. "That's what gives everybody here a lot of energy every day."
Are you a small or mid-sized business in Kentucky looking for strategic legal counsel? Connect with Matt Lockaby and check out Lockaby PLLC.