Law Practice Management Blog

Last week in this space, we addressed the fact that law firms have really low net promoter scores, with an NPS equal to about the average airline provider.  As we discussed, that means that your clients like you about as much as they like Spirit Airlines.  You can do better.

Did you know that law firms have a really poor net promoter score? Wait, wait.  Let’s backtrack for a second.  Do you know what a ‘net promoter score’ is? 

As in-person networking begins to make a comeback, business cards are returning to the fore, as well. For lawyers, business cards remain the coin of the realm.  Even so, everybody’s business cards look the same.  Y’all went to Staples, too, right?

If you haven’t examined your budget lately, I bet I can nevertheless predict how you can eliminate a good deal of your overhead.  And, it’s a pretty simple solution: Convert to cloud services wherever you can.

I remember having a conversation with a lawyer who told me that his marketing goal was to have lunch with another business professional every day.  I asked him to track how many referrals he got from that.  A month later, I asked him how things were going, and he said, ‘Well, I guess I was just having lunch.’

One of the primary additional benefits of being professionally active on social media services is the wide opportunity to meet other professionals.  You’ll want to get to know other professionals on social media because it’s a great way to drive referrals to your law practice from complementary businesses, including other law firms. 

When most lawyers think about niche practice, their notion is that of a practice limited to one, or a few, practice areas.  And, that’s one of the chief reasons that attorneys approach the notion of a niche practice with some combination of trepidation and dread. 

The legendary business book “The E Myth” discusses the difference between working “in” a business and working “on” a business.  It turns out that subtle prepositional shift means a whole lot. 

It’s axiomatically true that local SEO is most effective.  And, you can market in such a granular way on social media that you could theoretically target a physical block of addresses, if you wanted. 

What would you say if you randomly came upon someone asking you what you do for work?  Will you stumble across your words, or have something coherent to say instead, that even serves to drive new business?  If it’s the former, it’s time to develop your elevator pitch.

In a final season episode of ‘Game of Thrones’, a stray Starbucks cup showed up on a table in a medieval castle.  This, among other things, negatively affected Game of Thrones’ critical reception in its last season.  But, that’s nothing compared to the personal hit that your reputation could take if you rely on Starbucks wifi to access confidential client materials online.

Tracking business expenses admits of the same issue as tracking time spent on client matters: If you’re not diligent, you may miss out on some items, especially the smaller items. 

Most lawyers think of ‘virtual law practice’ as an all-in sort of thing. Either you’re completely virtual, or you’re not virtual at all.  Only, that’s not the case.  Even virtual law practices intending to be totally virtual don’t ever really get there. 

With the rise of mobile search, many modern legal consumers are performing ‘in-app’ searches for professional services — such that, if they want to find a lawyer, they’re going direct to LinkedIn, or Facebook, or Twitter, etc. 

The most difficult hurdle to law firm growth is staffing up.  Managing people is definitely tough; but so is hiring the right people in the first place.  The good news is that hiring well can be a learned skill, too, just like becoming a good manager.

Technology overhead can make or break a law firm.  Too many unnecessary costs, and you begin to teeter over.  Too little overhead, however, and you’re likely inefficient.  Finding the right mix of technology is not an easy thing to do, and Googling gives you tons of options, but not necessarily experienced guidance.

Last time, in this space, we addressed the fact that attorneys can exercise ‘the nuclear option’ on any case referral, at any time: they can keep it for themselves. That’s why it’s so valuable to also network for referrals from non-attorney professionals, who have to find a lawyer to deliver referrals to.

Lawyers tend to congregate together. This is as much a fact of lawyer life, as it is a fact of professional life. Once you’re embedded in a career, you start to develop friends who do the same work that you do, and you generally prefer quality hang with colleagues, since you speak the same language.

You’ve heard the phrase often from busy lawyers, law firm owners particularly: ‘If only I could clone myself’. It’s wishful thinking; but, it gets to the heart of the one barrier to law firm expansion that you can’t fake: In order to grow your business, to scale it . . . you have to hire.

A decade ago, lawyers had just one option for office space: a traditional lease.  That’s a costly option, of course, and can be a barrier to entry, especially for young lawyers, looking to start new law firms.