The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Most people (me included) will tell you to get on social media because it’s great for marketing your law firm.  Well, it  is:  that’s still true.  But, there are also ancillary benefits to that.   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.  But, meeting and interacting with other professionals on social media is also a great way to advance your professional development.   Traditional law practices are hyperlocal (in their reach, of course, because law firms are fenced in by jurisdictional boundaries), both with respect to in-person referral marketing (their chief business funnel) and with respect to the world in which law firm lawyers meet other law firm profes...

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 s ome combination of trepidation and dread.  Because selling out on one or a few practice areas brings with it risk.   It could work out famously -- or, not so much -- which would necessitate a shift in the entire practice to resolve.  Of course, that’s not the only way to get niched.   If you work in a community with comparatively few lawyers -- not necessarily a ‘rural’ practice. just a practice operating as the sole, or one of a few providers in, a local community -- you can effectively create a niche as ‘the local attorney’.  Now, the nature of that locality  is almost entirely dependent on whether you can generate enough clients from it to support a practice.  Even so, the options are perhaps wider than...

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.     Those who work ‘in’ a business focus on moving the day-to-day operations of that business forward.  You’re getting out the paperwork.  You’re tracking and billing for time.  You’re discussing a  particular case  issue with a  staffperson .   Those who work ‘on’ a business are focused on moving the business forward in a fundamental way.   You’re trying to get after what your best long-term marketing tactics are.  You’re thinking about the best categories of employees to  complete your optimal staff  arrangement .   You’re figuring out your  BHAG , and trying to approach it.   The thrust of the proposition is that those business owners who focus on ways ...

Let me be clear: your job as a lawyer is NOT to be the next  Andrew Carnegie .   That’s in part because law firms are inherently geographically - limited business es  -- in the main.   What’s to stop Wal-mart from opening another location across the state line?  Essentially nothing.  What’s to stop a law firm from doing the same thing?  Well, another bar exam passage (or waive-in process), for one.  For another, there may be restrictive rules relating to physical office space requirements for law firms, as well as a host of other protectionist measures to keep out-of-state lawyers, well . . . out of state.  Then there’s the practical difficulty of managing various ethics rules regimes, for each state you locate an office (virtual or otherwise) in.   Because most law firms are still referral-based busines ses,  they rely heavily on local connections.  Usually the big kahuna at a law firm is going to be out and a...