The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

The majority of business owners have a very difficult time price setting.  However, much of that effort  (meant  to define the value for what a professional does )  is most often undone by those same professionals.   This is especially true of lawyers, who don’t like to talk with clients about money, and are more than willing to discount their services at the slightest provocation.   This becomes a significant problem, as attorneys reduce their effective rates via the method of death by a thousand cuts.  Law firms usually bleed revenue in fits and starts, until they begin to hemorrhage it; and, constantly discounting in an inconsistent manner is where it starts.  Plus, clients and referral sources talk  about how a particular lawyer can be a soft touch ; so, not only does this issue exist in a vacuum, it most often mushrooms over time.  Law firms that staunch the bleeding, tend to make more money overall, and per hour. ...

Efficient law firms return the most revenue, by a wide margin.  Yet, much of what law firms do cuts against efficiency: Attorneys tend to avoid modern technology.  Attorney like to do things themselves, and so they avoid effective delegation.  Attorneys want manual processes, which they feel they have more control over.   Of course, this is not the way to practice at the top of your law license: billing at your highest rates, or acquiring more work that you can  bill  at your highest rates.   Too often, lawyers are trying to pilot the plane, and hand out the pretzels.   While it’s true that delegation is a proven method for driving efficiency, law firms need not always delegate from managing attorneys to associate attorneys or staff.  Automation of rote tasks and processes is often more effective.  Consider the chain of events reflecting on law firm lead intake: scheduling, emails, contact forms, chat or text com...

Every December, your law firm shuts down, so that you can send out holiday  card s.   It’s not just about getting the contact l i st together.  It’s about selecting the cards.  And, getting the message right.  And putting them in envelopes.  And stamping them.  And mailing them.  And, the n  . . .   Your card gets throw n  o n  a pile with thousands of others, without even being looked at, before it’s recycled.     So, Id you’re going to spend your time, or require your staff to spend the time, sending out cards, you might as well make it worthwhile.  And, one of the way s  you can make  those  efforts  actually  worthwhile is to  reduce competition.  It’s the same reason rural law practices are successful; and, it’s the same  principle   behind  law firms select ing  niches.  But, how do you reduce competition when sending ou...

Believe it or not, the most important part of law firm branding is something that law firms often ignore, or throw away.    A business logo offers its owner a distinctive mark, a visual interpretation of the business’ purpose and meaning, that resonates with consumers.  Think of Coca-Colo or Ford or Apple or Target, and  you immediately  think of distinctive logos .   But, how many law firms have you ever seen with a really compelling logo, that wasn’t using a blue, whit e  and gray color scheme, and that didn’t feature columns, scales of justice, a gavel or the attorney’s initial s .   Law firms that conceive of compelling logos separate themselves from the morass of their competitors in a meaningful way.   Those law firms choose a unique color scheme, and let it set the design elements for everything else they do: business cards, letterhead, website, etc.  Those law firms that choose a unique avatar for...