Task(s) at Hand: Tools for Managing Your Practice Responsibilities
It’s likely that you already have a task management system in place – in fact, pretty much every productivity (email) software, or law practice management system has one built in. But, you may find those lacking in terms of the task functionality. If you do, there are a lot of great task management tools that focus on that one operation which you could look to.
Lost Time: How to Build a More Efficient Schedule
Automated time trackers manage your time across devices, and prompt you to add time manually when you have been away from your devices for an extended period of time.
Red Flag: Vetting Potential Clients Is Easier With a List
If you don’t have a list of red flags for potential clients, you may end up stepping in it down the road. Maybe you think those red flags are so obvious, they’re not even worth writing down. But, they are – if for no other reason than that they speak to your client vetting process, and will keep you in line on close cases.
Emotional Rescue: This Is Why Consumers Buy Legal Services
Attorneys hate to think of themselves as “salespeople,” but if you’re a law firm owner/manager, you’re selling things the same way everyone else who owns a business is selling things. Though, you might not be selling what you think you are . . . Legal consumers are not like you: They don’t know as many […]
Go Green: An Evergreen Retainer Can Help with Collections
It’s not the only solution available, but one method for dramatically increasing your collections is to adopt an evergreen retainer model. The way it works is: the law firm sets a retainer amount for an initial client payment; and then, moving forward, it’s the client’s job to ‘top off’ that amount, on a recurring basis, when it falls below a predetermined threshold.
Spin Cycle: How Quickly Do Your Cases Move?
The most efficient law firms make the most money, because they move through cases quicker; consequently, they can bring in new cases faster. That’s pretty simple math. But, making the equation work is hard.
Arrested Development: What Do Modern Law Firm Associates Want Anyway?
So, let’s do a quick crash course on what millennial (and younger) employees want out of an associate position.
Feature Presentation: Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Software?
Utilizing these features from a single interface not only means that you’re more efficient, it also means that you’re paying less because you don’t need to buy alternative products to substitute for what you’re already paying for.
Free Ride: What Are You Trying to Accomplish with Your Initial Consultations?
So, if you’re not sure about what to do with initial consultations, and you’re afraid that you might be wasting your time, consider what you ultimately want out of those conversations. Then create your system around your end goals.
Draw Me a Map: Intake is Still the Biggest Law Firm Challenge
The stats on law firm intake are pretty damning. 64% of voicemails left for law firms by leads are never returned. Only 1 in 3 phone calls for law firms are picked up live. It takes an average of 8 emails to schedule an appointment with a law firm. Those aren’t the sort of numbers you want to see in an economy driven by consumer convenience.
Processing Speed: How Much of Your Law Practice Is Mapped Out?
As is clear by now, more efficient law firms make more money than inefficient ones. The more work you can get through, the more money you make. Of course, efficiency does not build up out of thin air; you need to work for it. And, the best step to take, in terms of building law firm efficiency is to map out everything you do.
Double Up: Why You Should Have Two Email Accounts
The good news is that it’s not going to cost you anything, and will take less than 5 minutes to set up.
This Is Why I’m Single: You Should Only Have One Calendar for Your Law Firm
With most law firms shifting to cloud-based tools, you can effectively integrate multiple calendars — even linking your personal and professional calendars, if you’d like, including with appropriate color coding for different events.
Drive Safe: Cloud Data Storage Is Not Backup
And, this isn’t about Google or Microsoft or Amazon’s server architecture going down in flames — if that happens, we’ve all got real problems — it’s more about creating an alternate pathway to your data. What if you need a particular file when your document servers are offline for maintenance? What if there’s an extended power outage, and you can’t get to your files on the web?
The Best of What’s Around: How Distributed Workforce Models Deliver Talent Like Nothing Else
If you want the best people to work for your law firm, take advantage of the current opportunity to intentionally craft the distributed workforce you want.
Bouncing Around the (Zoom) Room: Taking Advantage of Online Networking Opportunities
A lot of those networking opportunities have moved online, and lawyers can now take advantage of broader marketing options via the web.
Lead and Follow(up): What Do You Do with Potential Clients Who Don’t Convert
In order to give yourself another bite at the apple for leads who don’t convert the first time, you need to be able to develop a remarketing strategy.
Lost Highway: Modern Law Firms Require Revised Intake Systems
More than 60% of law firm do not return voicemails. It takes an average of 8 emails to schedule an appointment with an attorney.
Thinking Outside the Inbox: Email Tips
Email drives business; yet, it also drives most of us crazy. If this is the year you want to take control of your email, here are some steps you can take.
Awards Season: Lawyer Superlatives Are Great and All, But You Need More Than That to Convince Clients
If you’re a ‘Super Lawyer’, a legal consumer understands that that’s probably better than hiring an average lawyer; but, that doesn’t tell the legal consumer anything at all about whether you can handle their case.