Sage Legal Group is a woman-owned law firm based in Shorewood on Oakland Avenue. Megann Hendrix, owner and attorney, founded the business in November of 2023.
Since their founding, Sage Legal Group has become an ever growing community within their women-run firm.
“I had been an attorney for 13 years, and I had been at three different law firms throughout that time. I wanted to be able to practice law and run a business the way that I wanted to,” said Hendrix. “[Sage Legal Group] does estate planning, elder law, estate administration. I have 10 people working for me now and are just continuing to grow.”
In addition to those focuses, the legal group also specializes in special needs planning and family law. The law firm has an extensive hiring process to determine if someone is the ideal fit for the business. Hendrix looks for two main attributes: competence, as well as a large focus on how the team member will influence the work environment.
“It’s really important to us that we can serve clients the way that we value serving clients,” Hendrix said. “We don’t want people who don’t share that same value coming in and disrupting the good culture that we’ve created.”
This work culture focuses on three core values, the first of which is service to others.
“I think service to others is what being a lawyer is all about, or what it’s supposed to be about,” Hendrix said. “Not competing with each other and helping each other out when people need help.”
The second value, compassion, plays a key role into how the firm addresses often sensitive cases and clients in their times of need.
“In all of those areas, compassion is absolutely necessary because we’re dealing with real people who are going through really difficult times, and we need to be compassionate about how we approach that,” Hendrix said.
Their last value involves integrity. Hendrix believes that people should become lawyers because they want to help others.
“I think having that integrity, and staying focused on the true goal is really important,” Hendrix said.
Sage Legal Group values segue into their goals for a more progressive, client forward future.
“I’m hoping that by really staying committed to client service and compassion that we can raise the bar for legal work and say ‘this is how it’s supposed to be practiced,’” Hendrix said.
Hendrix hopes to create a positive change when it comes to how cases are handled, and how lawyers approach their clientele.
“I think that [within] the legal field, […] there’s a lot of great lawyers out there —but I think that some people are only thinking about their clients as a case number or a file on their desk,” Hendrix said.
Ultimately, Hendrix shares that her goals as a small business owner are to raise the standard of how a business can operate.
“It all comes down to service to others. Service to your team members, not just to yourself. And that also applies to me as the business owner too. My goal is to be a good employer to my employees, [and to] make sure that they feel valued and heard- that they’re able to have a healthy lifestyle,” said Hendrix. “I want to take away a lot of toxic culture that unfortunately is really common in the legal field.”
As Hendrix’s business is Shorewood based, she shared hopes to set an example by being involved within the community.
“[I give] back to the community through volunteer time,” Hendrix said. “I’m on the Seed Board, the Shorewood Foundation Board, [and] the Shorewood Business Improvement District Board.”
Moreover, her business as a whole contributes in any way that they can.
“We’ve done the Alzheimer’s Walk. We have hosted organization donation drives to donate clothes and supplies for different charities around the area. We also do an electronic drive every day for Earth Day,” Hendrix said. “So we’re trying to think of ways that we can give back to the community either in sponsorships or time and donations.”