Networking Groups – Are They Ethical?
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Referral sources are the lifeblood of many successful attorneys. Old standby places to meet new people and establish relationships with referral sources include bar and trade associations, as well as business community organizations (such as Chamber of Commerce or Rotary). Although the missions of these groups vary significantly, referrals are the inevitable reward for active participation. Continuing reading this post at www.lawyernomics.avvo.com Read More
Networking and Websites Are Your Best Bet for Marketing
I’m frequently asked how much time and money should attorneys spend on marketing. Like a true lawyer, I reply that “it depends.” There is no magic percentage of revenue or billable hours to be allocated to business development activities. The answer to this question will vary by practice area, geographic location and budget. But when asked about the two most important marketing tools for attorneys, my answer is rarely “it depends.” The answer is your networking efforts and your website. No matter how much time and money a lawyer decides to spend, spend it in these two areas. Networking Works Like it or not, law is a relationship-based profession/business. Always has been and always will be. People hire lawyers whom they like and trust. Although liking and trusting can sometimes be achieved without face-to-face contact, an attorney’s best relationships are usually made in person and enhanced by networking. The type of networking I recommend, stresses one-on-one coffees or lunches, and perhaps the occasional client-entertainment-type activity. Social Media What about it? It is most effective when used as a marketing tool to expand your network by laying the groundwork for personal meetings. Websites Make Your First Impression With marketing legal services, you have only one opportunity to make a strong first impression. Prior to the advent of the Internet, this first impression was usually made at an in-person meeting. Today, the first impression is typically your website. Make it count. The circumstances that caused a potential client to check out your website are irrelevant. The visit could be the result of a Google search or a referral. No matter the circumstance, you want to leave the best possible impression. The lawyer with the best website will get the first call. And there may be no second call. Plenty of posts on the web provide excellent suggestions about the look and feel of a good law firm website, as well as the content. However, it never ceases to amaze me how many lawyer websites don’t follow even the basics. These include the following: Make your website easy to read and navigate. If it takes more than two seconds for a visitor to look up an attorney’s bio, your site needs work. Make sure your website contains: This is who I am, this is what I do, this is who I do it for, and this is how you can reach me. Tell stories that demonstrate how you can help clients solve their legal problems. This matters so much more than where you attended law school, all of the deals you have worked on or a list of your representative cases. Double Down on Networking and Websites Use networking to develop relationships. Use your website to inform and impress. Spend your time and money in these two areas and, trust me, your phone will ring. Originally published on Lawyerist.com Read More
Categories: Business Development
Keep Your Marketing Out of Ethics Traps
The most important ABA Model Rule governing professional conduct in the area of legal marketing is Rule 7.1, which covers communications concerning a lawyer’s services. All states have adopted this rule, worded exactly the same or very close to it. The rule provides: Continue reading this post on www.attorneyatwork.com Read More
Why Lawyers Should Beware of "Specializing"
It is the rare lawyer who is familiar with all the intricacies of legal marketing ethics rules. Most of them, however, seem to know that they must take care when using the word “specialize.” At the same time, most of these attorneys have no idea why. Continue reading this post to discover the answer. Continue reading this post at www.lawyerist.com Read More
Even Abraham Lincoln Had to Market
I enjoy the holiday season for many reasons. One is because Hollywood usually releases a few decent and entertaining movies. One movie that earned a respectable amount of praise this season is Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. If you read the reviews, or talked to friends and colleagues who have seen the movie, you’ve probably heard a common refrain: “I didn’t know that Abraham Lincoln did that.” Lincoln the Trial Lawyer Most of you should remember from your history classes that Lincoln (like many presidents) was a lawyer. You may even recall that he was a famed Illinois trial lawyer. But you probably don’t know that Lincoln the lawyer was just as skilled at marketing his own services as he was in the courtroom. By today’s standards, in fact, he might be accused of being an ambulance chaser. As a lawyer in private practice, one of Lincoln’s most important cases was Illinois Central Railroad v. County of McLean. He represented the railroad and convinced the state’s high court that the county could not tax the property of railroads that had been chartered by the state. Without getting into the details about the facts and holding of the decision, I’d like to share with you my fascination with how Lincoln got the nod to represent the railroad in the first place. Lincoln the Marketer Lincoln initially solicited McLean County officials orally during some meetings. He wrote a letter to an official in neighboring Champaign County, seeking to represent it, too. After getting no response from either county, Lincoln then wrote to the railroad’s chief lawyer to indicate that he was available to represent the railroad. “And if you think fit,” he said, “you may ‘count me in.’” Four days later, Lincoln was retained. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. At the time, of course, Lincoln’s conduct violated no ethics rule. It wasn’t until 1908, when the ABA issued its Canons of Professional Responsibility, that individual states began to prohibit most forms of solicitation and advertising by lawyers. Under today’s rules, Lincoln’s solicitation and direct mail campaign would probably raise more than a few eyebrows. It should come as no surprise that Lincoln was effective at marketing his talent as a lawyer, After all, getting elected twice as the nation’s president could be considered the quintessential American marketing endeavor. He was obviously no amateur. Even the Best Market The next time you catch yourself grumbling over having to market so much, stop and think. Just remember, even an icon like Lincoln needed to do his fair share of marketing in order to be successful. Originally published on Lawyerist.com Read More
Billing by the Hour: We Didn't Always Do It That Way
Billing by the hour is just one of many established customs within the legal profession. Why do we do it that way? I’ve always been amused by the answer to that question. Inevitably, the answer is, “because we’ve always done it that way.” End of discussion. In the early 1980’s, when I first entered the legal profession, billing by the hour was well ingrained as the standard for all but a handful of practice areas. As a young associate in a large law firm, the thought never even occurred to me that attorneys could bill clients in any other form. Now, of course, I know better. I am very familiar with the flaws of the hourly rate system. I suspect you are, too, since the legal blogosphere is full of posts on this topic. Instead, I’d like to talk a bit about how the profession got itself into this mess. Despite what people think, “we didn’t always do it that way.” A Short History of Legal Billing A century ago, lawyers rarely billed by the hour. Instead, they billed in a variety of different manners: fixed fees, retainers, estimated “value” and contingency fees. Ironically, these are many of the same methods being touted today as“alternative.” As corporate America’s demand for legal services grew in scope and complexity in the 1960s and 1970s, it became more difficult to determine a fixed fee, a retainer or “value.” At the same time, it became more difficult for clients to understand exactly what they were purchasing. Enter the “bill by the hour” method. Initially, time records were only one component used to determine final bills. However, by the end of the 1970s, time records became the only way to determine final bills. This change was welcomed by all. Lawyers liked it because it was easy to predict revenue and profits. Clients liked it because it was easy to comprehend what they were buying. The Times They Are A’Changing Even lawyers without much business sense were soon able to figure out that the more hours they billed, the more money they made. This gave rise to law firm minimum-billable-hour requirements. You know the rest. This created an incentive to spend more time than necessary on matters and, at times, to engage in fraud by “padding” hours. Here’s a bit more history. Before billing by the hour became the standard, guess what the ABA considered to be a full year’s-worth of billable hours for a full-time attorney? In 1958, it was 1,300 hours. Those “good old days” were, in fact, pretty good! The next time you and your colleagues are commiserating at happy hour about the tyranny of the hourly rate, remember this. We didn’t always do it that way. There are a wide range of attractive alternatives. Fifty years from now, perhaps the billable hour will be the exception rather than the rule. Read More
Categories: Practice Management
Law School Regrets
I graduated from law school 30 years ago. When speaking to law students about how to find a job today, I mostly cover the basics. But I draw on my own experiences, too, and offer one bit of advice rarely provided by most career counselors. I arrived at this advice when, to prepare my presentation, I asked myself: “Knowing what I now know about legal careers after all these years, would I have done anything differently when I attended law school?” Continue reading post on attorneyatwork.com Read More
Solos: Do You Really Want a Partner?
In the legal profession, there are many solo practitioners. The ABA estimates that half of the country’s lawyers “hang out their own shingles.” Over the course of a career, most of these solos occasionally give serious thought to the idea of joining forces with another lawyer. Such a decision should never be rushed. It should always be well-thought-through. Continue reading this post at www.lawyerist.com Read More
Signage for Solos
I recently received a call from a former lawyer-coaching client of mine seeking marketing ethics advice. He’s a solo practitioner and plans to relocate to a new office building. In the new location, he will office share with two other solos. His question: What kind a signage is appropriate when three solos are sharing one office at the same address? Continue reading this post at www.lawyerist.com Read More
Categories: Practice Management
Unhappy Lawyers; Why So Many?
Not surprisingly, there are thousands of unhappy lawyers who are new to the profession. After all, there’s plenty to be unhappy about if you’re unemployed and trying to pay back six-figure loans. But what about more-experienced attorneys who have stable jobs and little-to-no debt? Are they a satisfied lot? A 2007 American Bar Association survey found that only 55 percent of lawyers were satisfied with their careers. In my opinion, this is because many of them become lawyers with vague or unrealistic expectations about what a career in the legal profession would be like. Why Did You Go To Law School? First, I’ve learned from my experience as a coach, that many seem to decide to become lawyers by default. I’ve coached well over 100 lawyers who came in all shapes and sizes — solo to big firm, rural to big city, consumer to business. During my first session with each lawyer, I ask a series of questions. One question is, “Why did you go to law school?”The number one answer by far (and there is not even a close second) is, essentially, “I couldn’t think of anything better to do.” Some of my clients within the Jewish community even joke that “nice Jewish boys who don’t like the sight of blood choose law school.” While my sample contains a good cross-section of lawyers, there is admittedly an element of self-selection that biases these results. In any event, I’m still convinced that a majority of attorneys go to law school by default, lacking any strong passion to do what lawyers do. (Full disclosure; yours truly went by default) What Do Lawyers Do? Little knowledge of what lawyers actually do is the second reason for unrealistic expectations. Did you know what lawyers do when you enrolled in law school? I certainly did not. We were all smart enough to realize that most lawyers don’t go to court every day, but what do they do on all of the other days? Becoming a lawyer is not like becoming a doctor. Everyone knows what doctors do. When I started law school, I thought that I would become a labor/employment attorney. After all, I had majored in labor and employment relations as an undergrad. Did I have any clue what it would actually be like? Absolutely no clue. In short, many lawyers decide on this career path hoping and assuming (based on absolutely no evidence) that it will be a financially rewarding and satisfying career. When those expectations fall short, it should come as no surprise that they wonder what went wrong. Law School Does Not Help Next in line for blame are the law schools, which only make a bad situation worse. We enter law school not knowing what lawyers do. How much more about that do we learn during the next three years? Not a helleva lot. Furthermore, law schools create the expectation that practicing law is going to be a great intellectual exercise. Yes, there have been times during my 30-year career that my brain has gotten a thorough work-out. Unfortunately, I wish it had been more often. I am sure that many of you agree with me. So This Is What It’s Like? Finally, from the perspective of “outside looking in,” there are some lawyers who seem to have it good. They appear to have successful practices and significant financial rewards. One day, despite all this, these lawyers sit back in their fancy chairs and ask themselves, “Is this it?” The new luxury car and big courtroom win simply don’t bring the thrill they used to. Perhaps, those things never even brought a thrill at all. I’m a lawyer, not a psychologist. I can’t say for sure why some attorneys are unhappy or what their expectations were at the time they entered the profession. Certainly, lawyers are not the only ones who realize that money rarely buys happiness, yet continue to toil away at not-very-meaningful work. Don’t Worry; Be Happy! Well, enough of the doom and gloom. I want to end this post on a more optimistic note. Most legal career counselors believe that it is rarely too late to make changes in one’s career. Lawyers are fortunate in that they have an extraordinarily wide range of choices.These include switching law firms, modifying practice areas, going in-house and going solo. There are also opportunities in fields related to law, such as e-discovery, bar association work, alternative dispute resolution and legal recruiting. Of course, you can also cut your losses and get out completely. Change is not always easy and can certainly involve risk. But if you happen to be one of those unhappy lawyers, life is too short to simply accept the status quo. Do something to take charge of your legal career. Originally published on Lawyerist.com Read More
Categories: Legal Careers
