Anniversary Date: You Should Replace Your Hardware Devices on a Schedule
It actually makes more sense (and, it’s cheaper for a whole host of reasons) to replace your hardware more often and on a regular schedule – and, this is a lot easier (and less expensive) to do in an environment where law firms are using less and less hardware, given the adoption of cloud software.
Hero’s Journey: Law Firm Intake, Part 2 – Advance
Many law firms fall down because they haven’t set up any kind of system and don’t know what the next step is themselves, or because they don’t have a simple and convenient option for clients to move the ball forward.
Melting Pot: Should Law Firms Start Hiring More Non-Lawyers?
One trend that is manifesting is that attorneys are beginning to expand their vision of who can and should be hired by a law firm by looking at non-traditional roles within the law firm.
Hero’s Journey: Law Firm Intake, Part 1 – Engage
Every aspect of the intake process should address engagement because 90% of the time, the law firm that effectively engages a new lead, closes that lead.
Ringer: Who Should Answer the Phone at Your Law Firm?
The last thing you want is to let a call get to voicemail. Just a hair over 35% of law firm voicemails are ever returned, and once a lead or client gets voicemail, it’s no guarantee that they will even leave a message – and, the next move is definitely to call your competition.
Engagement Party: Your Fee Agreement Is More than a Recitation of the Cost of Legal Services
Here are three potential additions you could consider to your standard fee agreement that will truly turn it in to an engagement agreement.
Accommodation: Making Money in Legal Services Is About Finding More Time to Work
Lawyers often think it’s pricing that makes them money. It’s not. In specific geographic areas, for specific practice areas, lawyers charge about the same across the board.
Is Walmart Targeting Your Law Firm? What Alternative Business Structures Will Mean for Small Firms
Lawyers have always been protected against other business owners infiltrating their territory by the existence of ethics rules banning lawyers from sharing fees with non-lawyers, effectively barring business partnerships between lawyers and non-lawyers.
2FA 2day: This is the Simplest Security Upgrade You Can Make to Your Law Firm
The news surrounding data breaches is always big, national or international in scale, involving lots and lots of money and big names and big companies. Of course, smaller data breaches happen everyday to unknown and unnamed victims. Some of those victims are law firms.
All-Star Game: How to Better Leverage Technology in Your Law Firm
But, what if you had a staff person who was a tech all-star, was great at troubleshooting, willing to help others, and held an intimate understanding of law firm technology. Wouldn’t it be better to leverage that person more aggressively?
The Say Hey Kid: The Simplest Tickler in Your Calendar is Also the Most Important
Even if you don’t have an update to make, your clients will feel cared for, because most attorneys only contact their clients if they want something, including more money. It’s a small effort, that goes a long way.
Buried Treasure: What Software Features Are You Missing?
lawyers may be overpaying for technology, and it’s largely because they’re buying new stuff without looking harder at what they already have.
Eye of the Storm: How Will Alternative Business Structures Affect Traditional Law Firms
Arizona has recently stricken the rule barring non-lawyer ownership in law firms from its professional ethics code. Utah is creating a sandbox environment to explore the same option. Mixed ownership law firms are called “alternative business structures,” and they already exist in other parts of the world, most notably the United Kingdom. It’s only a matter of time before the traditional lawyer monopoly is broken.
Ain’t No Valley Low Enough: You Almost Can’t Niche Down Enough
If a general niche (like family law) works to reduce competition, a more specific niche (like estate planning), even further reduces competition. Take that to its logical extreme, and the deeper your niche, the less competition you have.
The Nice and Naughty List: How to Pick New Software
Selecting new law firm software can be a daunting prospect. Follow these tips!
The Big Picture: Four Ways to Up Your Video Conference Game
These are relatively simple, inexpensive steps any lawyer could take, to look better online.
Trust the Process: Systemization is What Separates Modern Law Firms
If you’re looking to build a modern law firm, you need to stop flying by the seat of your pants, and invest in systems for the long haul.
Fee Shifting: Is It Time To Revise Your Rate Structure?
Consider the fact that law firm rates barely keep up with inflation, and the massive changes that the rise of the convenience economy has wrought, and there’s probably no better time to reconsider your rates than right now.
Side Hustle: Your Hobbies Can Help You Market Your Practice
The point is that attorneys can lean into their hobbies to meet like-minded individuals. And those like-minded individuals can become referrals sources. Just making yourself visible within a group, without even selling anything directly, can lead to the generation of new clients and referrals.
Touchless: Law Firm Automation Can Be Applied More Broadly Than You Think
The upshot is that, as a law firm, you should automate as many of the rote processes of practicing law as you can. The high-touch aspect of professional services should be reserved for the most compelling parts of the representation, when the attorney is offering the most value.