Category: Networking

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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 | 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.

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Starting a Law Firm | Naming Law Firm Part II

There are many many choices to make when trying to start a new law firm. Sometimes it seems overwhelming.  Where should I start?  Making a list and outlines always helps me, but you still need a header.  (As an aside, because I am so into reading all forms of knowledge I can get, here is a cool link to a book by Atul Gawande called “The Checklist Manifesto” that I am planning to read.)

So my header to day is Naming Your Law Firm.  A tried and true choice is using some form of your own name.  After all, aren’t you going to be the one to represent the clients?  Aren’t they going to come to your office with your name on it to hire you to help them with their divorce or other family law problem?

I have strongly considered using some form of my own initials.  It sounds a little more professional and grown up to me.  It also creates more of an impression of strength and stability to me and it is different from all the other “John Doe Law Firm, P.C.” names out there.  You need to be careful though, there is plenty of information out there on misleading potential clients with your law firm name.  It can be unethical to try and mislead potential clients about the size of your law office and the number of attorneys working there.  However, I think using your initials is reasonable and not misleading – after all, the “Law Tigers” moniker seems to be ok for some reason.  All things to consider when starting your own law firm.

Your professional affiliation or “business association” is also important.  As lawyers, we know that we need to use business associations like Corporations, LLC’s, Professional Corporations, Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, and S Corporations in order to protect our businesses from liability and to deal with taxation issues.

Which leads me to think that my initials and some for of business association behind it might look good.  Here goes:  “JMF Law Firm, LLC”.  Not bad.  Not too bad at all.  I haven’t made a final decision yet, but I am leaning towards the initials direction.  I should also note that there are other firms out their with that designation.  They aren’t in Minneapolis or Apple Valley, Minnesota, but when thinking about search engine optimization (SEO), I do want to keep in mind some originality in my new firm name.

One thought I have been turning over in my brain when thinking about the best way to market for starting a family law firm is to ask for outside opinions.  I’ll be honest, my wife is my biggest sounding board.   She is very astute and gives me an honest opinion which I really value.  But, she doesn’t know much about the law or marketing.  She thinks I should use my last name in some fashion.  I’m not sure my last name is all that catchy. I’m not sure it will sell.  I’m not sure she’s wrong.

I am not sure about a lot of things about starting my own law firm, but I am sure I am excited and happy about the decision to start a firm.