Category: start a law firm

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Estate Planning Blogs

As I’ve discussed, my current legal marketing plan includes a lot of internet marketing. That means I have a lot of reading and writing to do and it is tough to come up with ideas about what to blog about.  That is where good lawyer blogs come into play.

What I don’t want to do here is make a complete list of all the lawyer blogs I like and currently utilize on my Google Reader.  What I will say is that many of the blogs I follow fall into two categories:  (1) lawyer start-up & practice tips blogs and (2) niche practice blogs in my practice area.  It took a lot of vetting, but I am very pleased with the information that I get from other solo attorneys.

I wanted to focus a little bit today on the blogs that I traditionally follow for my particular niche practice area – estate planning.  My practice focus includes family law and estate planning.  These two fields are often interchangeable and I find that a lot of family law clients need estate planning done or they have parents/siblings/relatives who are in need of estate planning.  Having a family centered practice means a lot of referalls if you treat your clients with the respect they deserve.

Without further adieu, here are my favorites for estate planning:

That is it for my current list.  All of them are very good, with, in my humble opinion, Ask Liza and Wills Trusts and Estate Prof Blog being the best.  Ask Liza is good for being diligent, helpful, and well written.  It is the kind of estate planning blog that every blogging attorney should model their practice related blog after.  The Prof Blog is exactly what it sounds like – a great blog written by a professor.  I participate in as much CLE as I can, but, for me, this blog keeps me up-to-date and feeling like I am on top of the law.

If anybody out there has specific blogs they like, I would appreciate a comment.  I’ll keep everybody updated on my reader list as it grows.  I will also talk about my specific starting a law firm reader list in a future post.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Search Engine Optimization and Keywords

As I’ve discussed previously, a big part of marketing a start-up law firm is the use of the internet and search engine optimization.  When I say search engine, I mean Google.

According to one source, Google has an approximately 65% market share on search engine use.  I know Google is  my search engine of choice.  Furthermore, they appear to be set to be a major player in the smart phone market with their recent purchase of Motorola.

What does this mean for starting a law firm and marketing?  It means, that Google is important and you need to pay attention.  With their new foray into smart phones, you can bet that the Android operating system will be in high demand and will be a serious player in the market.  I’ve read a lot of articles which say that smart phone/cell phone operating systems are the future of computing and internet use.  Check out this post by MyShingle author, Carolyn Elefant, on making a legal marketing app. for smart phones.

There are a lot of lawyer blogs out there, and here is is the main reason why:  they help with search engine optimization.  Blogging about your chosen practice area creates an immediate link-back structure for advertising your law firm.  It is really that simple.

The main reason I blog is for marketing purposes.  This blog is not so good for marketing and I would call this a pet project.  It is something I enjoy doing and it does give me some link-back potential.  My other practice area related blogs are my main marketing sources.

My keywords are family lawyer and/or estate planning lawyer.  Those are basic terms.  I can branch out with other terms – and I do – but Google Keywords has told me that those are terms that people in the Minneapolis metropolitan area actually use.  Go to Google Keywords (Adwords now) and do some basic research on your particular practice area (New York, Miami, small town USA) and the drill down your search terms related to your niche practice (family, personal injury, etc) and you will see what people are searching for.

Once you figure out what your niche practice area is (mine is family law and estate planning) you use your area and start blogging with your keywords.  I’ve set up several legal blogs which market towards my practice area.  My task now is to put more work into them to start building keywords, links, and content.   Eventually, if I do it right, this will result in a high rank on the first page of Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.  That should also lead to telephone calls and new clients.  That’s it.  Pretty simple.

The hard part is blogging and blogging well.  Adding content and fresh articles to blogs is tedious work at times.   I’ve written about legal blogging for business and discussed why it is work.  Try it.  You better like writing.

Starting a law firm means going out of your way to do what it takes.  It’s a long slog and blogging is a big part of it.  The light at the end of the tunnel is that maybe you will build up a practice that means you don’t have to blog all the time.  Or, maybe you will enjoy the blogging/marketing aspect so much that new career opportunities will open up.  I can confidently say that I could probably get paid to build lawyer websites and do search engine optimization for firms.  It is a nice skill to have.

At the end of the day, lawyers need to be cognizant of the power of blogging, search engine optimization and the use of keywords.  Believe me, there are lots of lawyers doing this stuff already and it will become the future of legal marketing.  I don’t know about you, but I am going to catch the wave and try to be a front-runner.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Choosing a Practice Area Update

While waiting for bar exam results and scouting out other attorneys and law firms in Minneapolis, I realize I have some hard decisions to make before starting a law firm.

My wife, son, dog, and I are currently running our little family-base-camp out of Cannon Falls, MN.  She is a new doctor in town and I am currently a stay-at-home-dad and part-time blogger.  About the only thing I can do right now is reasearch and blogging for my chosen practice areas.

So, as part of my research into office spaces and specific areas where I can set-up shop, I realize I have A LOT of choices to make.

Some of my tough choices include:  which county is the best for my family law/estate planning practice?  Is a specific metro area better?  Should I try and have an office in a smaller town but advertise for the bigger town market?  Is there a median income range I should be going after for family law?  Does any of this matter?

In the effort to answer those questions, my wife an I are also trying to find a permenant home for our little family.  Cannon Falls is probably not an option as it is small and only has two deeply entrenched attorneys in town.  Plus, I don’t want to be a small-town attorney.

But, there is this wonderful little community close by called Northfield.  There are about 20,000 citizens, but there are also two fairly large liberal arts colleges in town:  Carleton College and St. Olaf.  It is also only about 30 minutes from the big city.

Fairfield is very pretty and has a cool eclectic mix of small town charm with the big city (Minneapolis/St. Paul) only minutes away by highway.

Another interesting (bad?) thing:  Fairfield appears to have A LOT of attorneys.  I counted over 25 attorneys in this small, 20,000 person, town.  Is it over saturated?  I don’t know.

Fairfield does have two campuses which likely means some criminal defense work.  There are also several nice manufacturing businesses in town, including the cereal-giant Malt-O-Meal.  These companies surely need attorneys.  I also noticed several general practice and family law specific practices.

Fairfield also sits on the border of Rice and Dakota counties in Minnesota.  Cannon Falls (15 miles from Fairfield) is in Goodhue County.  To me, this means that Fairfield has the potential to have a practice area of three different counties – which is a good thing.

So, at the moment, in my research into specific metropolitan areas where I can start a law firm, I have a new option:  Fairfield.  I like university towns.  They provide culture and interest in ways other towns do not.  Plus, I’m a sucker for liberal arts – I’m an English major by heart.

I’ll be sure to keep this blog updated on my decisions, but Northfield is definitely an option for starting a law firm.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Slow Times

I’ve been away from this starting a law firm blog for a while.  Two reasons:  (1) my summer fishing vacation and (2) I’m waiting to get licensed in Minnesota so this blog becomes al little superfluous.  Regardless, my situation reminds me of the slow times involved with starting a law practice.

Summer is about fun for most ordinary people.  Lawyers (although some beg to differ) are ordinary people.  Lawyers like breaks too and the summer can provide them – in ways both good and bad.

Summer also means that other ordinary people don’t want to work.  They want to go on vacation.  If your law practice is at all consumer driven (family law, criminal law, debtor representation) you have probably noticed that the summer can often mean slow times for your practice.  It has for mine.

As I stated, I like to fly fish and the summer is a great time for this.  But, I always feel irritated when the practice of law slows down along with my monthly income.  My theory is that, in the summer, people either don’t want to think about lawyers and/or they are too busy doing fun stuff to worry about what they really need to get done.

In terms of my family law practice, on the opposite end of this spectrum is tax season.  My practice always picks up during tax season because people get their tax returns and can now afford to pay my retainer fee for a divorce, adoption, guardianship, child support modification, etc.  That is a good time for my law practice and I often feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I need to get done.

However, during the summer my practice slows down considerably.  While working as an associate out my ten-attorney law firm, summer also brought on slow times for our corporate clients.  Guess what that means?  The corporate client work slows down as well. During nearly four years in practice, I now know that June through August has always been some of my slowest months in terms of work done and money earned.

Which leads me to ponder:  maybe we lawyers should take a cue from our lack of clients, worry less about the billable hour and more about our mental and physical well-being during the slow summer months?  I’ll be the first to admit that I am not good at slowing down.  But, what choice is there if there isn’t much billable work to do anyway?

I’m making an assumption here that those of you reading this have already started a law firm and built a succesful law practice.  If you are just getting going and notice that the summer months are slow – be patient, refocus, and maybe have some fun?

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Bar Exam = Minimum Competency Exam

As I stated in a previous post, before starting a law firm in Minneapolis, MN, I have to take the bar exam in Minnesota and get licensed to practice law all over again.  No, it is not more fun the second time around.

I will admit to being nervous.  I will admit to some paranoia.  I will admit to thinking about the dire consequences of not passing, and wondering what am I going to do with my life, and when will I ever make a living, and can my son be provided for if I don’t earn a living, and so on and so forth.  But, I keep reminding myself this one very important point:  the bar exam is a minimum competency test.  I’ll say it in a different way:  it’s a pass/fail exam.

I don’t know the exact statistics, but I’ll generalize and say that the national passage rate is high.  I’ll even tell you that in the midwestern states (Minnesota) the passage rate is very high.  92% of the first time test takers in Minnesota passed the exam.  Why would this be?  Because, while it is a difficult exam, it really isn’t that difficult to pass.

What is another good thing about this silly exam?  Test takers are competing against other test takers.  Yes, there is a model answer out there.  Yes, it will be better than most test takers’ answers.  Yes, some professor probably wrote it.  So what.  The test takers are not the professor.  The test takers are just like you and me.  Test takers are tired and they are under pressure.  Your fellow test takers also had to cram.  And, even better, I would guess 10% or so of the test takers didn’t study for the exam too much.  Guess what?  You did (or, at least, I did) and you will pass.  I would further venture to guess that those 10% that didn’t study much are the 10% or so who fail the exam.

That is good news for me and good news for all others who have studied.  I don’t know how much studying is necessary, but I do know that I’ve gone through the BarBri study program twice now and it’s tough.  The reason it is tough is not so much the material, it tough because of the time and effort it takes.  The description comparing it to a marathon is apt.  It is an endurance exam and people who want to pass must train.

But, assuming you’ve trained, the odds are that you will be just fine.  Again, you just have to pass.  I would guess that in law school, most student are worried about a certain grade – preferably an A.  On the bar exam, you don’t need an A.  You don’t need a B.  I would argue somewhat that you don’t even need a C.  You just need to pass.

If you are like me and you are anxiously awaiting passage and licensure so that you can start a law firm, I wish you luck.  If you are not like me and you just want to pass, I wish you luck.  I wish everybody luck, but, if you have trained for this exam, you don’t really need luck – you just need to pass.  Remain positive and focused and work hard.  The exam itself is gruelling, but, if you train, you can show your minimum competency and get on with the rest of your law practicing life.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Law Firm Office Sharing

I have spoken with a law school classmate of mine recently about whether he might be interested in starting a law firm in Minneapolis, MN with me.  The basis for the discussion ultimately resulted in a decision that, when starting a law firm, it is probably best to not have a partnership at first, but, rather, an office sharing arrangement.

My friend is currently practicing law in a town within 100 miles or so where am going to start a law firm in Minneapolis.  There is an obvious logistical problem for him in terms of leaving a practice and starting over in an area where he can’t bring any clients with him from his current law firm. Furthermore, he has the risk of leaving a practice and going out on his own.  In other words, starting a law firm with me is not such a good gig for him.  But, I can tell he is interested.  So, we began discussing what it would take to start a firm together and make it work.

At the beginning, unless both attorneys have a self-sustaining law practice or a fairly stable “book of business”, it would be tough to partner-up right away and start a firm.  For instance, in my case, my friend has clients in Minnesota already and I do not.  Therefore, who do you think will have more work to do and more money to make for the firm right away?  That’s right:  my friend.  This may be a good deal for me, but it certainly wouldn’t be for him.

What is the answer to this problem?  The office-sharing arrangement.  This arrangement would mean that my friend and I would not form a partnership, but, instead, invest in an office together and set up different law firms within the same building.  We each would have our own separate corporate forms (LLC, Corp., sole proprietorship, etc), but we would share office space for purposes of helping with overhead.  In fact, this is the arrangement that my old firm had with another well-established firm in town.

Office sharing allows attorneys and their new law firms to keep law firm overhead much lower.  It can be a great thing.  It allows attorneys to share rent costs, secretary costs, utilities costs, and other general costs.  Think about it:  it would be wonderful to only pay 1/2 of the $1000 a month lease on a building or 1/2 of the receptionist’s salary.  As I said, my old firm had this arrangement.  I can also tell you that my old firm brought in several million dollars a year in revenue.  To me, that is pretty good money, and yet we were still in an office-sharing arrangement.  Of course, my old firm owned the building and was making money in rent from the other firm, but that is a pretty good arrangement as well.

The office-sharing arrangement would also give both of us the benefit of having another attorney around to bounce questions against.  This can be huge for battling isolation.  I can’t tell you how often I asked questions of other lawyers in my old office just to get their thoughts.  To be honest, that is one of the things I miss most as I practice law on my own.  The ability to have another attorney listen to your thoughts on strategy or other case issues can be extremely helpful.

Now, there are also ethical considerations that come into play when sharing an office with another lawyer.  My friend and I would need to make sure that we did not hold out to the public that we were somehow only one law firm.  We would want our names to be different and have it clearly established that, although we are in the same building, we are not the same law firm.  We would need to use our own malpractice insurance, letterhead, business cards, etc.

At the end of our discussion, we determined that an office sharing arrangement would probably be in our best interest.  If we later felt more secure with our practices, it might turn out that we would want to develop a partnership.  To be honest with you, I haven’t thought enough about why we might want to partner-up.  Perhaps hiring an associate and sharing salary costs?  I’ll put that one on the back burner for the moment.

Starting a law firm means making correct initial decisions about how your firm is going to survive and grow.  An office-sharing arrangement can be a great way to save money at the beginning on law firm overhead.  I’m always thinking about money and how to save it.  Sharing an office is certainly a great way to do that.  I’ll keep you posted on what my friend and I ultimately decide.  Even if my friend doesn’t leave his firm, the same benefits of office sharing can be applied to any attorney in town.

 

 

 

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Bring it Strong or Don’t Bring it at All

When I first started practicing law, a great piece of advice I received early on was that, when filing pleadings and making arguments, you better be darn sure you are right and you better have the guts to follow through on your court filing.  In other words, you have to bring it strong or don’t bring it at all.  Or, as Shaq once said: “Don’t fake the funk on a nasty dunk.”

Filing weak pleadings results in weak cases.  Lawyers have to know the law and have the confidence to enforce it in favor of their clients.  Like it or not, it’s an adversarial system and you are your clients’ advocate.  You better believe that the other side is going to bring it (or, at least you should expect them to.)

I suspect the adversarial nature of the legal system is why a lot of lawyers either leave the practice and/or suffer extreme stress and job fatigue.  Starting a law firm and practicing law every day is not easy.  It can be incredibly rewarding and often very fun, but it is not easy.

In my practice, I try to take good solid advice where I can find it.  My example of this concept is the game of baseball.  The baseball season is a long, drawn-out, competitive affair.  There are many ups and downs.  I find this to be a lot like a lawsuit – a long, sometimes painful struggle to win.  So, a lot of managers and players in baseball talk about the mental makeup it takes to be an every-day ball player.  You have to keep an even temper and always remember to be positive and keep your goals in mind.  There are so many highs and lows that controlling your emotions is very important.  If you get too high after a win you tend to miss the big picture.  The same goes for a loss.

I try to be like a veteran baseball player – take the highs and lows as they come and keep a steady keel.  Does it always work?  No.  Sometimes I want to tear my hair out.  Sometimes I gloat over a nasty dunk.  But, trust me, you will be a much happier person and a lawyer if you remember to keep a steady focus on the task at hand.

But, back to filing strong pleadings.  To me, there is nothing worse than having to look back on a case where I failed to bring it.  I have had several of them.  I knew I needed to come strong, but for whatever reason, I didn’t.  Afterward, I felt like I didn’t give it my best shot for the client.  Maybe I was tired that day.  Maybe I didn’t feel like I had the time.  Those excuses stink and I can tell you that you will feel worse later if you realize you didn’t give your full effort.  Your clients will also realize that you weren’t fighting for them like you should have.  This results in dissatisfied clients and loss of income to your law firm.  Both are bad things – especially when trying to build a law practice.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Knowing Your Local Rules

Starting a law firm doesn’t just mean marketing your firm.  You won’t be in business very long if you don’t know the law.  The last thing you want when starting a law firm is to be faced with a legal malpractice lawsuit for failure to know and follow the law.

The law you know includes more than the state and federal law that you learned in law school.  The law also includes your jurisdiction’s state (county) and/or federal court local rules.  Failure to learn and know the local rules puts you at a huge disadvantage and will ensure that your initial efforts will not go well with your client, opposing counsel, and the court.  This is a really bad was to develop reputation.

Knowing the local rules also means that you are going to make your local judges happy.  Making judges happy is a good thing.  They know the rules and so should you.  In fact, your judge probably wrote a few of the local rules in your jurisdiction.  Many judges are often either on the local rules drafting committee or are giving direct insight into the drafting the process.  Believe me, it is your best interest for you and your new law firm to know the rules.

Also, knowing the local rules will surely put you at least on par with your local attorneys who have been in the community for a while.  You can be sure that those attorneys know the local rules and will not hesitate to use them against you.  Also, in my practice, I found that a number of attorneys (for whatever reason) tended to ignore the local rules.  This is not a good idea when starting a law firm.

I have a little sticky note in my office which says “I get paid to win”.  Now, that is probably not the end-all-be-all of how I want to represent my clients, but it reminds me that I am my clients’ advocate.  My clients don’t want to pay for my mistakes and nor should they have to.  What is a great way to make mistakes for your clients and hurt your new law firm?  Not knowing the local rules.  In my family law practice, I have both won key victories and lost some things because I did or did not know a particular local rule.  I can tell you that, although my clients didn’t know the law, they knew that I had won something for them or done a good job.

Building a successful law firm means a lot of things.  It certainly means developing a marketing plan, being ethical, and having experience – but it also means making a reputation for yourself.  One of the best ways to earn a reputation is by knowing the law and asserting your client’s position to the fullest.  That will get your bills paid, believe me. In my view, there are many different ways to “win”, but knowing the local rules (and the law in general) is one of them.  Don’t under estimate it.

When thinking about starting a law firm, don’t just think about marketing and planning the firm.  I know that is tough to do.  After all, your law firm needs clients first to make any of this matter.  But, I read a lot of blogs and other literature and they seem a little too focused on money and marketing your firm.  Don’t forget that when starting a law firm you need to be just as concerned with being a good lawyer.  In my experience, things will fall into place if you start with that as your rock.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Filing and Withdrawing Your Attorney Appearance

In an effort to talk about some of the more practical aspects of starting a law firm, I wanted to talk about the filing and withdrawing of an attorney appearance on behalf of a client.

When I began practicing, I didn’t have a good grasp on what it meant to file and appearance for a client.  I knew I had to be competent and diligent in executing the case to the best of my ability.  I knew I had to act as an officer of the court.  I (thought) I knew I had to do everything in my power to protect my clients’ interests.  But, I didn’t know that I couldn’t just get out of a case if my client wasn’t paying me or because the client was difficult to deal with.

I am not saying that you cannot withdraw your attorney appearance if the client is not paying you or if the client is being unreasonably difficult which is hindering your good faith representation.  You can – IF the judge says you can.  If you file an appearance on behalf of the client, guess what, you are on the hook for being the voice of your client before the court no matter what.  That is a big responsibility and you should think of it that way.  This also means that client selection is hugely important.  It all really begins with that.

Most jurisdictions, and certainly Indiana (where I am licensed), require you to gain court approval before withdrawing your appearance on behalf of a client.  You must file a motion and support that motion with facts which meet your jurisdiction’s withdrawal standards.  You should also be VERY CAREFUL that you do not include facts that are going to hurt your client’s position because you still have a continuing duty to your client even if you are withdrawing.  Thus, don’t include a silly letter that throws your client under the bus if you are withdrawing.  There is simply no need for this. Furthermore, the judge may even set the withdrawal motion for hearing and you are going to be placed in the precarious position of supporting your withdrawal.

Now, what is the best way to withdraw without creating havoc for yourself, the court, the court staff, and your client?  Get the client’s approval.  Talk to your client about it.  Make sure you are on the same wavelength about the withdrawal.  This is important not only for your law firm and your client, but it helps keep a good reputation in the community.  You don’t want clients feeling dumped and bad mouthing your law firm – even if the client is a total nightmare who doesn’t pay the legal services bill.

Furthermore, you need to put your client withdrawal rights into your engagement letter and/or Agreement for Legal Services.  This is the document you have the clients sign and review when the attorney/client relationship starts.  There should be very clear language in those documents that delineates when and how you will be able to withdraw from representation; e.g. failure to pay you.  This is helpful for both withdrawing your appearance and for legal malpractice reasons.  In fact, I need to write a post entirely dedicated to the importance of the Agreement for Legal Services.

What I am trying to say is that you have to be above pettiness when starting a law firm.  This should sound obvious, but I practice with several local attorneys who sometimes don’t seem to understand this.  Again, as a lawyer, you are an officer of the court and you need to act like it.  I try (and big emphasis on the word try) to rise above the fray and be as ethical and as faithful to my clients’ best interests no matter how much I may want to act otherwise.  That way I hope my new law firm is ahead of the curve.