Category: Marketing

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Starting a Law firm – You Can Do It. Seriously.

I was going over my various blogs and I thought I would visit my first one – this one.  It has been a couple years since I started this blog to serve as my outlet while I moved from a law firm job, to taking the bar exam in another state, and, essentially starting my legal career over again.

I haven’t posted on here in months.  I may not post here again in months.  I may post next week.  I may never post again.  Who knows.

However, I wanted to say to all those lawyers who find there way to this blog  – which was started by an amateur business man who just really, really wanted his own law practice – you can do it.  Seriously.  If you want to, go start a law firm.

It isn’t always easy, it isn’t always fun.  But, if you want it bad enough, you can do it.

The first few months are probably going to be tough. The middle months can be amazing.   When you really start cooking it is a great feeling.  Then you realize you got to keep feeding the beast.

I’ve made more money than I ever did at a law firm.  I have freedom.  I save what I want for retirement.  I call all of the shots.  I am a Minnesota estate planning and probate attorney.  Nobody tells me what to do.  I pick my clients.  I work my ass off if I want to and take vacation if I want to.   I love it.  I am happy.

Getting new clients is always tough, but they are there.  Be bold.  Take a chance.  If you can stomach the risk, do it.  Do it right and don’t look back.

I will leave you with this:

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Starting Law Firm | I’m still here

I am about eight months into starting a law firm.  I don’t know if I have “made it” yet but I can tell you that the absolute terror and nervousness is gone.  I almost feel like this is my real “career” now.  I have a long ways to go, but I got a lot of it down – not everything, but a lot of it.

I am not sure what people want to hear or not.  I am also not sure I what direction I want to take this blog (if I want to take it any direction at all).  As anybody who read this may know, I haven’t posted here since June.  Will I post again next week?  Next month? Tomorrow or in three months?  I don’t know.  I can tell you that blogging takes up too much time and when I am trying to make money by selling my time, blogging tends to just get in the way.  That being said, it does work.

So how does it work?  Basically, blogging gets a search engine’s attention.  Let us not get lost in the woods.  This blog is found by search engines.  Their value  cannot be denied.  I think SEO and all that stuff is scummy and can be borderline unethical at times.  Yet, it can’t be any worse than billboards or those ads you see on television.  But, I continually questions what is the value of blogging – or anything for that matter.

If you want to start a law practice, I would probably recommend blogging if you like writing and you are an introvert.  It is long and tedious.  Have a plan and stick to it.  I haven’t stuck to it.  I have, however, gotten some good (and bad) clients from the internet.  It works.  What else works? Networking, social clubs, friends, connections, print advertising, etc.  What is the best?  I have no idea.  I will let you know when I figure it out.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I am still here.  I am still running my own law practice and I am successful.  I have branched out a little and now consider myself a Minnesota business lawyer.  I have not “made it” yet, but I think I will.  My definitions of success have changed a bit.  I have learned a lot.  I am enjoying the ride.

 

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“Above The Law” Seeks Solo Attorney Input

I wanted to let my readers out there know that one of the major blogs, Above The Law, is soliciting solo lawyers for worthy topics to be posted on its “Small Law Firms” section.

I don’t read their coverage of small firm matters often – mainly because their primary focus is on big law as far as I can tell.  However, I get some good chuckles from them now and again.  Also, providing worthy info on small firm practice or on starting a law firm to a major blog will do nothing but help publicize your blog or law firm website.

If you are so inclined, you probably couldn’t go wrong by providing something.

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Jump-Starting a Solo Law Practice

Carolyn Elfefant over at MyShingle.com has a post this morning titled “Crowdsourcing Advice for a Struggling Solo.”  She has included a letter asking for advice from a struggling solo lawyer in an east coast city.  The letter brings up issues that all solo attorneys struggle with.

Ms. Elefant asked readers to try and answer the attorney’s question, so I’m doing so here. To that end, here is the sanitized version of the struggling-solo-attorney’s letter as posted on MyShingle:

I am a solo with a practice in a large East Coast city. I handle real estate transactions, bankruptcy, divorce and general litigation. I started my solo practice three years ago, following several years of employment at a smaller firm. Initially, I was able to sustain a practice through referrals – although even then it was a struggle. But lately, I find that people don’t want to pay for legal services. I do an initial consult, but then the potential client will haggle over the price. In addition, the referrals come in spurts and I would like to find a way to produce a steady revenue stream.

I am updating the firm resume, adding a Facebook page, joining Linked In and I have started sending email updates to colleagues. But I would like ideas to jump start my practice – to start bringing in work right away while developing a reliable stream of revenue for the future.

To try and answer the questions, I’m going to strip the letter down to its most basic level:

Good things for a Solo Attorney:

  • The attorney indicates that he/she has been a solo for three years;
  • The person has some kind of referral base, although dwindling;
  • This person apparently has office space and necessaries like a receptionist, billing software, etc.

Bad things for a Solo Attorney:

  • Dwindling referral base;
  • Lack of steady revenue stream;
  • Potential clients haggling over price.

As Ms. Elefant states, there isn’t a lot to go on in the attorney’s letter, but the things I listed above are something all solo attorneys struggle with.  I know I have.

So, to try and help:  the attorney does have some things going for his/her law practice.  The attorney has the ability to be successful with the institutional tools he/she has set up.  These are all good things.

The rest of the issues seem to be related to marketing and client interviews strategies. Let’s start with the client interview.  The attorney is concerned about clients coming in for a consult and haggling about price.  This happens to me all the time.  That is what walk-in clients do.

If the attorney wants to continue to have a general practice dealing with every-day people, my suggestion to solve this problem is work on your selling skills.  I don’t mean sugar-coating the law or telling the potential client that they have a case when they don’t.  However, being overly nice to the client and making them understand how valuable your services will be to them is rule-number-one.  I don’t have a lot of problems closing and I think it is because I am overly nice, I explain the law in an easy to understand way, and I make the client knows that they and their legal problems are really important to me.

After that, I have found that having a credit card system usually helps ease the burden of a large retainer.  We aren’t told if this attorney utilizes credit card payments.  To me, credit cards are a must for a general practice attorney who is seeing people walking in the door.

Another client interview retention technique I use is the call back.  It works in one of two ways:  (1) I tell them to think about what they want to do with their loved one and I’ll wait or (2) I tell them that somebody from my office (usually me) will follow up with them in a couple days to see if they are still interested.  I don’t change my price, but I do explain the credit-card-system and I do take this additional opportunity to explain to them why I can be of service to them.  Basically, the client really wants to know that they are going to get something of value from us over-priced lawyers.

The second issue I see is the steady-revenue-stream conundrum.  Ah, the gold mine of solo attorneys.

My big suggestion for this is to find a practice area that caters towards steady-revenue. Once you choose one, you market towards it.  One idea is collection work.  Collection work allows you to be in court often and meeting with debtors on a constant basis.  It’s nickel-and-dime stuff, but it is work.  Also, if you have a large collection practice, you will begin to get good referrals from banks, businesses and other entities that are in need of fee collection – or, perhaps, better legal work.  Once this practice gets off the ground, you have instant steady revenue.  I’m not saying it is easy, but it is an option.

Another steady revenue option is getting on a public defender, indigent-person, court-appointed-appeals contract.  These are all steady revenue sources and they are usually available to struggling solos.  I try to get in good with my local judges, do a good job, and then let them know I am looking for work.  They usually want to help and they steer me business because I do a good job (I think) and they like me (I know).

Another idea is getting on a pre-paid legal referral network.  These networks can be dicey and you should check with your bar-association to see if they are legal, but they do work.  The pre-paid legal referral sources will always call you if you do a good job.  Try to get friendly with the support staff and they will really like you – thus referring steady business to you.

Finally, work your butt off networking at corporate/business functions and get yourself a great manufacturing type client.  These businesses always have need for a labor law lawyer.  The employees constantly have problems and/or the business always needs contract related advice.  This one is tough, but it can be a gold-mine, steady-revenue source.

I am not trying to say these options are easy.  They are not.  I have struggled with doing every one of them.  To me, law firm marketing means hustle.  However, what has helped me with the hustle is:  focus, being a nice guy, working really hard, and having a plan.

That is my two-cents.  I hope it is helpful to the struggling attorney.  If anybody wants to post here on their ideas on how to start a law firm and maintain it, please feel free to comment.

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Starting a Law Firm | Interview with Solo Attorney, Carl Taylor III

When I posted recently about start-up law firm press releases and Somerville, New Jersey Divorce Attorney, Carl Taylor III, I didn’t expect Mr. Taylor to actually notice and respond to the post.  I probably should have.

After some friendly back-and-forth exchange, we determined that an interview was the best way to go.

I haven’t done an interview on this blog before so this is somewhat of an experiment.  If anybody out there would like to do an interview at Solo in Minneapolis, I operate on a first-come first-served basis.

One of the discussion points was that we are both passionate about starting a law firm.  I have talked a lot on here about networking and getting your law firm name out there in whatever way you can.  Having an online discussion with a peer is one way to do this.  It may not bring work in right away, but networking gets your name out there, it allows you to create a dialogue, and it gives you an online friend who may be able to lend a helping hand in the future – all good for starting a law firm.

Without further adieu, I hope you enjoy my first interview with Mr. Taylor:

(1) What Got You Interested in Being a Lawyer?

In a way I always wanted to be a lawyer.   I was simply drawn to the profession, even as a child.  My best friend growing up jokes that when we were 10 he would say he wanted to be a professional baseball player when he grew up, but I said I wanted to be a lawyer.  But the goal of being a lawyer really became solidified when I was a little bit older.  My background is very “blue collar”, and my parents always worked so hard.  They had an unfortunate situation arise during that period in time, and they weren’t legally savvy enough to have it properly taken care off.  I always felt like they were taken advantage of by their attorney and the system in general.  So for me, it also became a goal of being an honest attorney, who would try and level the playing field for people in difficult situations.  And to a large extent that is what I’ve done as an attorney.

(2) What’s Your Favorite Part of the Job?

As not only an attorney, but a business owner, I like that every part of my day I am building something all my own.  I also like when I help someone in need, or help a client obtain their desired goals.  I pride myself on only taking cases where I feel secure that I will be able to effectively work towards the clients goals.

(3) What Advice Would You Give to Solo Family Law Attorneys?

I’m a solo Somerville NJ family law attorney.  As I have just started my solo practice, some of my advice would be as follows:

  • Expect the costs and expenses to start and run a firm to be higher than expected.
  • Have sufficient money set aside for the first few months/years when times are tight.
  • Take action, sitting around is not going to attract clients to your new firm.

For family law attorneys in particular, I would recommend trying to stay as level-headed as possible.  Few areas of law are more emotional than family law.  That’s why it’s best to try and be level-headed, to keep the case progressing toward an amicable resolution in the best interests of your client and any children from the relationship.  This is not always easy to do, but really important.

 

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Starting a Law Firm | Law Firm Blogging Platforms: Blogger or WordPress?

As many solo lawyers know:  starting a law firm in this day-in-age means blogging.  Solo attorneys are especially cognizant of the need to market themselves and garner search engine attention quickly and efficiently.  Doing so means blogging for business.

Law Firm Blogging Options

There isn’t a lot of information on the web comparing the main blogging options.  Those that I know of include:

There are other platforms, but I believe these 5 to be among the most used.  All of them would work as a blogging option for your law firm.  However, from what I have seen, Blogger.com and WordPress.com are the top blogging platform choices for solo attorneys.

Which Blogging Platform is the Best for Starting a Law Firm?

The answer to this question is open to some debate.  For the sake of brevity, I’m going to posit that WordPress and Blogger are the two most user-friendly platforms.  Both are free (if you want to stick with the basic blogging option) and both offer a great deal of user flexibility in the design and formatting options.

Blogger.com

Blogger is owned and maintained by Google.  Being Google, Blogger has excellent support and tutorials.  From my experience, it is easy to find answers to questions and concerns.

Google appears to be putting a lot of effort into making Blogger a good, user-friendly platform.  The controls and layout choices are clearly explained and logical.  When you initially log on the layout of Blogger is obvious and they point you where you need to go. If you have questions, Blogger makes you keenly aware of their ample help tutorials.

The design layout is also well-labeled and easy to understand.  Blogger also ties in seamlessly with popular Google tools such as Google Analytics, Webmaster, and Adwords.  This is where Blogger really has a leg-up on WordPress. I have found installing all of these desirable Google products difficult for my WordPress blogs.  It can be done, but it takes some learning and tinkering.  With Blogger, setting up these Google accounts is as easy as a simple click of a button.

Perhaps that is the key feature of Blogger:  the ease of use by simple button pushing.  You can create a decent-looking blog on Blogger within minutes by follow simple instructions and pushing a few well-placed buttons.  For a technophobe, Blogger may be the way to go.

Signing up for Blogger means you need a Google account and I believe there is some tie-in to get you a Gmail account. Once you get signed up, creating a Blogger blog is easy and quick.  However, for my money, this is where the superiority of Blogger ends.

The Blogger design layout is minimal.  There just aren’t a lot of options to choose from and the options Blogger has look much more like children’s books than professional websites.  There are some more professional looking options that are designed by outside vendors, but I haven’t found those options to be nearly as attractive and user-friendly as WordPress.

My end review of Blogger is that it is user-friendly and easy, but it looks unprofessional and lacks the content and layout options of WordPress.

WordPress

I use both Blogger and WordPress platforms, but my main focus has been on WordPress. I actually started with Blogger because it was easy and I found WordPress initial interface to be cumbersome.  To be sure, there is a learning curve with WordPress, but it is worth it.

For starters, WordPress’s layout and design options are much more professional looking than Blogger and WordPress.  The layout and design options are called “themes” and WordPress has many free themes to choose from.  If you don’t like the free themes, you can upgrade to a WordPress created “premium” theme for various costs from $35.00 to $165.00.  Or, you can choose from a myriad of professional theme designs.

As I discussed in my prior post on creating a law firm website, there are many law firm website and/or WordPress blog theme options to choose from.  Wordpress theme options that I have found and like include:

The cost for StudioPress themes is a one-time fee of $24.95 for one theme or $79.95 for a developers license.  The cost for the DIY Themes, Thesis theme is $87.00 for a single use or a one-time fee of $164.00 for a developers license.  Finally the cost for a Elegant Theme license is $39.00 a year.

Take my advice, you always want to go with the developers license.  If you like the theme you are going to want to use it again and you are going to want to have support for it.

Also, I am not making a plug, necessarily, for any of these themes, this is just what I have used.  I have also heard good things about the Thesis theme from DIY Themes from Lawyerist and other lawyer blogs.

Sadly, I have gone through several options and I am still constructing my own website: flanderslawfirm.com.  I am currently running a StudioPress theme on my website.  I still haven’t come up with my optimal website and I continue to tinker.  But, the point is that I can tinker because WordPress and the theme developers I have named allow me to do that.

Domain Names Choices

WordPress and Blogger both allow the user to create a blog domain name for free as long as the moniker “wordpress” or “blogspot” is utilized after the chosen domain name.

For example, I could choose “jlawyerblog” as my chosen domain name.  If I use the free WordPress option, my domain name would look like this:  “jlawyerblog.wordpress.com”.  If I use the free Blogger option, my domain name would look like this:  “jlawyerblog.blogspot.com”.

If you don’t like the added tag of “blogspot” or “wordpress” you can upgrade to your own domain name for both Blogger and WordPress as long as you pay for it.  Therefore, if I wanted to create my own custom domain name (assuming it was available) I would create the domain name “jlawyerblog.com.”  The cost for Blogger for a custom domain name is $10.00 a year.  The cost for WordPress is $12.00 a year.  Obviously, both are inexpensive.  The expense of blogging, which truly is minimal, is if you decide to upgrade to a professional theme design.

Conclusion

For all of the reasons discussed above, I have chosen WordPress as my main blogging option for starting a law firm.  The functionality and options are far superior to other Blogging platforms.  The WordPress themes are also far superior in layout and design to Blogger.  Wordpress and Blogger both have great support, but WordPress’s functionality, options, and professional-look make WordPress my choice for law firm blogging.

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Starting a Law Firm | Online PR and News Releases

I’ve been noticing a lot lately that attorneys are announcing the opening of their law practice on online public relations web sites.  It appears that the purpose of the public relations web sites is to distribute it to other online sources and feeds.  The idea is very similar to the Associated Press (AP) news releases.

For instance, I subscribe to a Google newsfeed on starting a law firm.  I get updates daily on what is going on around the web related to opening a law practice.  Most of the articles are boilerplate, but I occasionally get something pretty useful.

When I get something useful, I try to share it with my blog readers.  Today there was a announcement by 28-year-old, Carl A. Taylor, III, that he was leaving his law firm job to start a law firm.  I was impressed for several reasons:  (1) he is young (28), like me (31), and (2) that he had his own press release.  I want a press release.  Not only that, but the article is well-written.  It is very much akin to an AP news release.

However, digging a little deeper, I noticed that the press release was distributed by PR Web – an online public relations and news release service.  PR Web is set up solely for the distribution of organic press releases.  It appears that you can write and distribute your own articles.  Pretty useful, I should think.

Maybe I am just behind the times, but I hadn’t thought of this yet.  Most law firm start-up advice sources recommend making some kind of a press release, but I wasn’t sure how. When practicing law in Indiana, I received several such annoucements from local attorneys who had just started their own firms.  However, those announcements were on letterhead and were sent to me in the mail.  The online press releases are different – they reach a much larger audience.

From my review of the PR Web website, it looks legitimate and well done.  There is a catch, it costs money.  There appear to be four different plans to choose from:  Basic, Standard, Advanced, and Premium.  Th Basic being one, simple press release.  It costs $80.00.  Is it worth it?  I don’t know, I haven’t done it.  I will say, however, that Carl Taylor III’s press release got to me.  Did I mention that he is in New Jersey and I am in Minnesota?  Seems to be pretty good distribution to me.

A more pertinent question may be:  is it necessary to issue a press release when you start a law firm?  It seems a little over-zealous to me.  But, my general opinion is that all news is good news.  In other words, it can’t hurt to get your name out there as much as possible.  Getting your name from New Jersey to Minnesota for $80.00 seems like a good deal to me.

What I am wondering now is how many press release websites are out there and what is the general pricing?  Are there any free sites?  Are there different options?  These are all question I don’t have answers to, but it appears clear that public relations and news releases on the web are an avenue I need to explore.

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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.

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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.