The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

You’ve heard the phrase often from busy lawyers, law firm owners particularly: ‘If only I could clone myself’.  It’s wishful thinking; but, it gets to the heart of the one barrier to law firm expansion that you can’t fake: In order to grow your business, to scale it . . . you  have to  hire.   Of course, that’s a hard thing to do, especially for solos, who’ve never had an employee before, or who have only used contractors previously.   Lawyers, even lawyers who have started their own businesses, tend to be highly risk-averse.  They crave safety, surety, over all else.  But, there’s not a whole lot of surety in expanding a business.  And, that’s mainly why it’s so difficult for attorneys to move forward on this score.   Since most law firms bill on an hourly basis, the only way to increase your revenue beyond a certain point is to increase the numbers of hours you can bill, and there are only two ways to do that: become more effi...

Business growth is what everybody wants; but, it’s not easy to manage.  Managing people brings with it new duties, and added headaches.  Of course, it’s  the  only  way  to scale your business beyond yourself.   Fortunately, for law firms owners, there are more staffing options now, than you can shake a stick, even if you’re not ready to make the move to hiring an employee.   Many expanding law firms choose to engage contract attorneys, who can make their own hours, and are often experienced enough to manage their own wo r fklows.  These folks don’t require benefits, or a salary.  For contract attorneys, the advantage is that they can make their own schedule, which works well, for moms who want to be home with their kids, for example.  Law firms using contractors are advantaged because of the cost savings  --  in addition to salary and benefits, you’re also often saving office space and technology costs....