Category: Marketing

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Post-Bar Exam Wait

As any readers of this blog know, I am starting a law firm in Minneapolis, MN just as soon as I can get licensed by the State of  Minnesota.  I have practiced for 3+ years in Indiana as both a small firm attorney (10 attorneys) and on my own as a solo practitioner.   However, I have never practiced in Minnesota (my new residence) because I just took the bar exam and I am now playing the lawyer licensing waiting game.

My wife tells me that I should relax and enjoy my free time.  The problem is that I am not very good at enjoying free time.  I suspect that is why many of us became lawyers in the first place: we can’t let good enough alone and always strive to do just a little bit better.  In an effort to “do a little bit better” I am going to continue to blog and try to have as much internet marketing help as I can before I can officially hang out my shingle in Minneapolis.

As I stated in a prior post about legal blogging for business, it is important to get content up on your blog on a constant basis.  This is work.  I’ll say it again:  legal blogging is work.  This creates the need to be diligent about posting and trying to make posts that are at least somewhat interesting to the public at large (or, at least, all you boring start-up lawyers out there).  The problem lies in the fact that I don’t always know what may be relevant or interesting to my small readership.  I will tell you that I get a lot more hits and responses from legal marketing and legal internet/blogging type posts.  Why?  Probably because that is what most attorneys are searching for when they find my blog – how to market their little firm and make it better.

I don’t know that I necessarily know how to market better than anybody else.  I do, however, know that marketing is a must for starting a law firm.  I did quite a bit of networking as an associate and on my own in Indiana and I can tell you that it works.  This blog is meant to serve as a vehicle for two things:  (1) explaining to younger attorneys how to start up and run a practice and (2) to serve as a marketing vehicle with link-back potential.

In the world of the internet, content is king.  I strive to have good content on this blog and that is probably why I haven’t been posting as much lately – I just don’t have any good content at the moment.  I plan to update this blog with posts about all of my Minneapolis firsts – first client, first office, first retainer check, etc.  But, alas, I have to wait until I get licensed before any of that is relevant.

Thus, in a world where content is king, I will continue to try to blog about prior war stories and my general ideas about starting a firm.  There are some things I can do, such as writing a more detailed legal business plan.  I also need to get all my old office furniture so I can create home office with a virtual office space.  This is all work and it can be blogged about.

Starting a law firm means being patient and staying the course.  It is tough to be patient when waiting to be licensed because the bar examiners take so very very long.  Hopefully I passed and licensure will come.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Being Patient

Starting a law firm takes a lot of patience and an involves an acceptance of a certain amount of controlled risk.  In other words, in the beginning, you need to be willing to work very hard to receive very little.

I will admit that I get a little melodramatic every time I drive by a restaurant that is no longer open or a store front showing an empty space where once there was a small business.  This got me to thinking about patience and the willingness (stuborness?, stupidity?) to get through the tough times with irregular pay when starting a law firm.

I recently spoke with another solo attorney the other day at a collection hearing.    I was trying to collect a judgment against his client.   We both understood that we were adveraries in terms of representing our respective clients, but there was also a certain amount of comraderie.  This is one of the things I really love about my job – actual professional comraderie in the face of strife.  This attorney also appears to be doing well and appears happy.   Anyway, we got to talking about starting a law firm and the things we didn’t like about large law firm life.  He also mentioned that he is very happy he left his old law firm where he was a partner and that he still very happy being on his own.  The discussion was pretty obvious, but he made some good points about starting and building a law practice.  The main one being the general advice that “it takes a couple of years.”

I have been doing decently at my own solo law practice while I wrap up client cases from clients that came with me from my old firm.  I have had work to do when I want it, but I have realized that networking and marketing needs to be a full-time, ever present job.  It takes time.  It takes a couple of years.  I think I am ok with that.  Luckily, I have always made marketing a big part of my practice – perhaps because I actually enjoy it.  As I’ve already posted, having a law firm marketing plan has helped my firm in a big way. Developing a niche practice has also been a good idea.  But, I have also fazed out my Indiana practice and will be doing this all over again in Minnesota.

In sum, I hope to be more like the attorney who kept at it and is still practicing as a solo attorney.  I also hope that I’m not easily satisfied and that I continue to stick with my desire and goal to build a thriving law practice.  I hope anybody reading this post feels the same way.

It takes time and effort and sometimes it is a difficult mental struggle.  Starting a law firm, is about patience, mental fortitude, and commitment.  In short, it takes a couple of years.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Law Firm Marketing Plan

Starting a law firm means that you have to know how to develop a legal marketing plan.  As I’ve discussed in prior posts about law firm marketing and legal internet marketing, the duty to market your firm never ends.

Now, this concept is nothing new, and I suggest you check out the Nolo Legal Marketing Blawg for a plethora of wonderful tips on law firm marketing.  I hope to add more to the excellent discussion on that blog.

To that end, I wanted to open a dialogue related to developing a legal marketing plan. You do have a legal marketing plan, don’t you?  At my prior law firm, a lot of discussion revolved around whether an attorney was a rainmaker or not.  Often, in my experience, this revolved around whether the attorney was actually a good lawyer.  What I mean by this is, there seems to be a conception that attorneys who are good at marketing themselves are not the best lawyers.  The rationale seems to be that lawyers who are good lawyers don’t spend time marketing because they are too busy thinking about the law.  I want to dispel this myth.  You can be a good marketer and a good lawyer.

First, solo lawyers know that they need to market themselves in order for their firm to survive.  I suspect that many firms have people who are more adept at rainmaking and they bring in business for all of the other lawyers in the firm.  This was certainly my experience as a firm associate.  However, I found I was bringing in a lot of work, but I wasn’t getting a lot in return – thus, the starting my own law firm gig and this blog (however, that’s another story I won’t digress on here).

Ok, so how do you develop a legal marketing plan if you are not at a law firm and there is nobody who brings in the work for you?  That is the rub.  The first step is focus.  What do I mean by focus?  I mean, you need to think about your niche area very strongly and then you need to market directly to that chosen niche area.

For my law firm, I have chosen family law and trust and estates for three main reasons (1) family law brings in immediate work which equals money and (2) estate planning is something I enjoy and would like to focus on full time at some point and (3) I have prior experience in these areas and I think I am good at them.  Are those the best reasons for choosing a niche area?  I don’t know, but I know that legal marketing means focus and I intend to focus on them.  I don’t necessarily recommend either of those areas – you should do what you like and what your are competent at.

So, once you have chosen your niche, you need to start to develop a legal marketing plan on how you will get others (your potential clients) to notice you and your law firm and then call you.  There are many different ways to get people to notice you, but you should be careful to be ethical and garner the right kind of notice.   You need to get your name out in your immediate community in a positive way.  This takes attending business related functions like the Chamber of Commerce in you area or other community/business related activities.  This means creating relationships.

Another good source of legal business is other lawyers.  Lawyers often have conflicts of interest or cases they can’t (or don’t want to) handle.  If you are starving, another lawyer may throw you a bone.  You may not want the bone, but, if you are just starting a firm, you need to take what you can get at first.  Thus, your legal marketing should be focused on things like bar association meetings, continuing legal education, and other practice related seminars and conferences.

I won’t go into all of the different areas for this post, I just wanted to give you an idea that you first need to chose your niche area and then drill down the focus.  I plan to continue writing about the theme of law firm marketing in this blog and this was the opening salvo on my ruminations.  Learning how to start a law firm and market your firm is an evolving process and I intend on sharing my thoughts as my law firm evolves.

 

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Not-For-Profit Networking

Starting a law firm means that you have to network, a lot.  It’s been said over and over again, and I’m going to continue to say it because it is that important.

Starting a law firm means that you have to build a client base from your connections (otherwise referred to as your network).  Furthermore, when you begin your law career – either starting a law firm or as an associate attorney at a law firm – you are always going to have to network to bring in clients.  Being a solo attorney does not change this.  Additionally, there are many different ways to network and I have tried slight variations of many of them.  I plan to share as many of those variations as I can on this blog.  However, for the sake of brevity, I wanted to talk a little bit about Not-For-Profit Networking.

As an associate, I joined many different kinds of social organizations – some for-profit and some not-for-profit.  To be honest, I can’t say that either one was particularly lucrative in terms of bringing in clients.  However, networking in the not-for-profit field gets your name out in the community in a big way.  Furthermore, you might even really like your new job as a not-for-profit volunteer.  I’ve known people who quit their jobs to go work for the not-for-profit.

When I say not-for-profit, I am talking about joining a board of directors of a large organization or in some way lending a helping hand with an organization.  One thing to keep in mind is that if you join a not-for-profit for the sole basis of legal networking and building your law firm, I suggest you join a board of directors and network with other board members as much as possible.  The board of directors is often made up of community business and social leaders in your community.  When I say leaders, I mean these are typically people who run the show and who you want to know.

Furthermore, joining a board of a not-for-profit shouldn’t be just for the purposes of law firm networking.  If you aren’t committed, it will show.  The other board members will quickly realize you are a sycophant who is only there for the connections.  That is a bad idea and it isn’t good marketing for your law firm.  You might as well not be on the board.

Also, don’t over-extend yourself.  Only join boards or not-for-profits that you feel passionate about.  If you don’t care about the “mission”, you won’t do a good job.  You will also not do a good job if you are over-extending yourself.  Your first duty is as a lawyer and to your law practice.  Keep these rules in mind whenever you are making decisions about what to join and how much work it is going to be.

An examples of good not-for-profits are local healthcare, child care, religious, or other humanitarian related groups.  Examples include: Habit for Humanity and Big Brothers Big Sisters.   Furthermore, most social clubs like Kiwanis, Rotary, and the Knights of Columbus have groups in almost every major city in the country.  Again, I am not saying you should join these groups, I am simply giving you networking options.  I will admit that my membership in Kiwanis was not as effective as it could have been because I felt over-extended and it often came last in my though process on networking.  Perhaps that was because I was on two other board of directors of major not-for-profit organizations and I didn’t have a lot of time.

To recap, not-for-profit networking is an excellent way to hob-knob with the business and social leaders in your community.  You want to be one of those leaders.  These people open doors for you and your law firm. It might not necessarily bring in money to your new law firm right away, but the connections you make and the reputation you build will.  I don’t know why exactly, but it works.  This gets back to my idea of legal networking as hustle.  Furthermore, you need to network with these groups for the right reasons.  Don’t join if you are not going to contribute.  Also, don’t join too many groups and over-extend yourself.  If you follow these tips, you will meet people you like, you will be happy with the networking opportunities, and you will be something good not only for starting a law firm – but for the community at large.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Public Defender Contracts and Getting Paid

I am not one for short blog posts, but I want to share some disturbing news I was reading over the Easter weekend related to my fears about starting a law firm.

While visiting family in Iowa, I was reading the Cedar Rapids Gazette’s business section.  There was a disturbing article about lawyers not getting paid for their public defender contract work by the State of Iowa.  Wow.  If you can’t rely on the state to pay your attorney’s fees bill, who can you rely on?

I have a constant fear of not getting paid.  I do a lot of family law work and I have had a lot of clients who do not pay their bills.  As a young attorney worrying about whether I can start and maintain a successful law firm, I worry about how I am going to get paid all the time.  One thought I have had when I consider how to make my new law firm successful is to sign up for the public defenders program in Minneapolis, MN.  But, if a state supported program isn’t going to pay the bill, why would I want to do that?

Another reason for sharing this article is that it discourages me in the respect that I might not be able to make it on my own.   If you read the story, one of the lawyers apparently couldn’t afford to pay her secretary and her home mortgage because of the State of Iowa’s failure to pay her public defender bill.  That should scare anybody who wants to start their own law firm.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Experience

Starting a law firm is not easy and it isn’t for the faint of heart.  My first recommendation to all graduating law students is that starting your own law firm after law school is not your best bet for making it as a solo attorney.

Experience is the key to hanging out your own shingle.  Why?  Because, law schools don’t do a very good job of preparing lawyers for the practice of law.  How do you get experience?  For starters, you need to be licensed in your particular jurisdiction.  After that, in general, most graduating law students do one of two things: (1) they get a job in private practice, or (2) they get a job in the civil or government arena.

Getting a job in private practice. 

Hopefully, you can find a job as an associate in a law firm after graduation.  Your first job will make a big difference on the kind of experience you obtain.

If you start a job with a large firm, you are not likely to have client contact right away and you, therefore, won’t need to worry as much about the procedural minutiae of practicing law.  Conversely, if you get a job with a small law firm, you are more likely to get practical experience quickly.

After you get your first job, my recommendation is to get as much client and courtroom contact as possible. You should also ingratiate yourself with an older attorney.  Establishing a mentor relationship can prove invaluable.  After that, if you work hard, and keep your nose to the grindstone, you may be ready to start a law firm.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Market Research

I probably haven’t talked enough about market research when starting a law firm.  I did quite a bit of market research when I was first thinking about starting a law firm.

Mirriam Webster defines market research as:

“research into the size, location, and makeup of a product market”.

That does a pretty good job summing up what I am trying to do with my market research.  I know my location.  The town where I hope to open an office is Apple Valley, Minnesota.  As with all big cities, there are many suburbs of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in the Dakota County area.  Also, I don’t want to limit myself to one specific town or county, but I know from my prior practice in Indiana that it is best to develop a network in a specific county when starting a law firm.  You need to get to know the other attorneys.  You need to know the judges and their staff.  You want your office to be close enough that you are spending too much travel time getting from your office and to the courthouse.  All this involves detailed market research.

The size of my market is larger than I am used to in Indiana.  Obviously, the Twin Cities are much bigger than South Bend, Indiana.  I don’t know what challenges that will bring.  I have been through the Apple Valley courthouse and know it’s general layout.  It isn’t terribly different than all the courthouses I have ever been to.  Also, there is a great law library attached to the courthouse.  This should be very helpful in establishing a form library.  I’ll talk more about the need for a form library in a later post.

I also know the competition in my area.  There is one large law firm with about 30 attorneys.  My guess is that they eat up a lot of larger, business type work.  They are a bit out of my league as for as the clientele I want to attract, but I think I know who the big dog in town is.  Otherwise, there are many solo and small law firms in the area.  It doesn’t seem to be overly saturated with lawyers.  I’m not there yet, but I don’t think it will be terribly difficult to get a foothold.  I do find it interesting that there seem to be a lot of solo practitioners in the family and criminal law area.  I know the legal job market isn’t the best, but I was surprised at the number of solos.  Again, I hope that isn’t a problem for my new law firm.

One good thing about Apple Valley and the Dakota County area is that driving and transportation is very easy.  I am used to an older town with some crazy city plans.  It isn’t a big deal, but I earn my money by the hour and I want to be able get to the courthouse or to wherever my client needs me to be quickly.

Finally, I think I know the marketing and advertising structure of the attorneys in my market.  I am happy to report that I think I see some avenues of getting my name out there quickly that other attorney don’t appear to be taking advantage of.  It is both a blessing and a curse of all attorneys who start a law firm that they inevitably have more time on their hands to market themselves than more established attorneys do.  Would I rather have the problem of having too many clients and too much to do?  Yes.  But, I’ve got more time to make that dream a reality.

As I’ve stated in prior posts, I’ve already begun networking with attorneys in the area to get feel for things.  If my wife and I could just find a home and move there, things would be a little easier in my quest to start a law firm.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | More Guest Blogging

It has been blog, blog, blog lately for me in my fledgling quest to start and build a law firm.

I will be guest blogging on several more websites, with the most recent being LegalJob.com.  LegalJob is a website dedicated to helping law students and young lawyers learn about what it takes to be a successful lawyer.  That kind of blog is certainly something that I’m interested in and I hope you are too.  Please follow LegalJob in the near future to look for my posts.  I’m hoping to post during mid-week as I’m already scheduled to blog on Friday’s for another website (not to mention my own blogging duties).

I haven’t started my guest posts for either the Law Street Journal or LegalJob.com, but you should check both websites out soon for my material.  As I’ve written about in prior posts, when trying to start a law firm, it is so very important to network with people in your chosen niche area.  Right now, since I am not licensed yet in Minnesota, my chosen niche area is blogging about how to start a law firm.

I’m getting the word out now to like minded people in my niche area.  That’s how I plan to start and grow my practice.

Posted on

Starting a Law Firm | Blogging

In my continuing quest to start a law firm, I have been thinking a great deal about blogging and internet marketing.

I have learned a great deal about starting and building a law firm and the real purpose of blogging.  My naive thoughts when I started this blog was that it would be a fun way to share what I am going through with whatever poor sap was interested in reading my posts (my wife, my mom).  Then I started to dig deeper into this vast morass of keywords, SEO, USG, and content-driven-marketing.  (yes, I may have too much time on my hand while I wait to start studying for the bar exam).

After practicing for 3+ years at a general practice firm, I never did this kind of thing.  I wasn’t starting a law firm.  I did network quite a bit and tried my darnedest to get my name out there.  And it worked.  But, I didn’t do blogging.  I didn’t do internet marketing.  And I should have.

Of course, there is the fact that my firm was well established in the community.  Starting a law firm wasn’t an issue then.  The phone would ring there and I would often take a cold call.  I got a lot of work that way.  After a while, I started to think:  “what makes the phone ring?”  Why are people calling this number?  The phone book?  The internet?  Reputation?  Probably all of the above.  But, I never thought about a blog.

When thinking solely about starting a law firm, blogging is a wonderful way to quickly and organically develop a readership.  Those readers know people.  Those readers may need a lawyer.  The readers’ friends may need a lawyer.  Those people may call the telephone number.  Blogging is a sort of instant networking – that is, as long as you write good content and then share it with your friends, family, and colleagues.  How do you share it?  Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, and so many other social media websites.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I was somewhat ambivalent about social media.  I like social contact better.  But, like it or not, social media has a purpose and it (in my humble opinion) is leading the forefront of a new form of marketing.  I’m going to ride the wave and see where it takes me.  I have a feeling that it is only going to help me start and build my law firm.