The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has changed many of lawyers’ closely-held beliefs about how to run a law practice.  Not a single aspect of law firm business management is being left unexamined.  And, as law firm concerns over revenue grow, cost - cutting measure s  begin to intercede.  At this point, a number of law firms have furloughed staff; but, many have held onto the second largest office expense: the office itself.   That may change, however, as social distancing requirements linger.  If no one, or fewer people, are at the office, your law firm won’t require as much office space.  And, it’s likely that you and your employees are becoming far more proficient in working at home.   If those trends continue, it’s the smart business decision to reduce office space, and so your monthly rental nut.     Of course, that was the smart move before you ever even heard of the coronavirus; but, you were probably too afraid to pull the tri...

Lots of lawyers remain unsure about what do during mass quarantining.   They’re  uncertain about how to move their businesses forward, so they do . . . nothing.   That’s  the wrong play .     A number of law firms are shutting down intake, reducing advertising spend and limiting marketing efforts.  Now, however, is exactly the time to be ramping up your efforts in marketing online.  Consumers who are looking for lawyers are seeking guidance; and, for those consumers, a lawyer’s guidance has never been needed as much as it is now.     Many attorneys don’t want to market their services right now in light of the coronavirus pandemic, because they don’t want to be seen as profiting from tragedy.  Most law firms have issued a notification about the state of their business during closure: that law firms are essential businesses, and that they remain open.   But, potential and existing law firm clients don’t just want i...

Phone systems, and managing phone systems, are essential for law firms  --  even if managing lawyers can tend to overlook the importance of such things.  But, in a very real sense, law firm phone systems are really  money machine s.  Getting a lead to the right person, transferring calls appropriately, accessing a message in a timely fashion, utilizing a system in which leads most often reach humans, even  if those humans are part of a contracted virtual receptionist service . . . any or all of those attributes of a feature set and their application can increase your chances of converting a lead by degrees.  You can also utilize phone systems to keep existing clients happy, including by  reducing the perceived layers of administration between lawyers and their customers.   As with most technology options that face modern attorneys, there are no easy choices.  Not only is  a lawyer’s ethical competency now often tied to...

All lawyers have marketed their law firms in the same fashion since time  in memoriam .  The idea was always to build a personal referral base via business networking, and that the rest would take care of itself.  Even as the world around law firms has changed over time, that  one  constant has not changed.   But now , if a new report is to be believed, other modes of client acquisition may be outstripping this tried and true option.   The 2019 Clio Legal Trends Reports indicates that fewer potential law firm clients are seeking referrals from other attorneys or affiliated professional service providers .   In fact, the study indicates that legal consumers are more likely to ask family members for a referral .  And, more than half the time, a legal consumer performs independent research to locate the right attorney.   Of course , most of those preferred mechanisms do not align with how attorneys work to acqu...