The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

As the coronavirus pande mic continues to force business shutdowns and social distancing , some law firms will be forced to make hard choices about staffing and continued business operations.   But,  all law firms should now start looking at expenses, to see whether they can reduce their overhead – at least over the next quarter.   An easy place to start is with subscription services.  Lots of law firms maintain subscription services they don’t use, especially with respect to technology.  And, many law firms only use a small part of the  softwares  they have access to.    With law firms  now feeling the pressure to build   more virtual business  model s , there’s no time like the present to get  mor e lean .   And, that starts with streamlining your technology.  Determine, then, which software tools you’re  actually using , and to what extent  you’re using them .  Then, begin ...

A decade ago,  lawyers had just one option for office space: a traditional lease.   That’s a costly option,  of course,  and can be a barrier to entry, especially for young lawyers, looking to start new law firms.   It’s also a  scary,  long-term commitment, potentially for up to  f ive years, for  any  law firm.   Fortunately, there are now more office space options than you can shake a stick at.   Due, in large part, to the rise of cloud-based technology,  lawyers can now work at home , exclusively .  Modern consumers care less and less where attorneys work, and that means that lawyers don’t need an expensive downtown address, in the way that they used to need an expensive downtown address.  Instead of an office lease, you can get your mail in a big city  to acquire a big city address , and talk to your clients via video conferencing.   . . .  And, get them to sign documents...

For my money, unless you have actually been a real-life, honest-to-goodness website designer at some point in your career,  and  if you're a lawyer, it's never a good idea to design and maintain your own website.  It's kind of like performing open heart surgery on yourself, and it can have the same negative effects on your business that it would on your body -- including the potential for flat-lining.  Even otherwise traditional law firms are drawing more and more business from the web; and so, the law firm website, as the online hub for your business, continues to be vital to generating law firm revenue.   So, let's start at the beginning, and I'll tell you three things to watch out for when you're choosing a website design firm:   (1)  Own your Own Domain.   The cheesiest website design scam is when the vendor buys your domain name  for you  and sells it back to you for an exorbitant rate before the vendor will release you from ...

Lawyers have always billed clients the same way: by the hour.  (Yawn.) While that option is good for law firms (hello: uncapped billings), clients often chafe at the model, because $— x however many hours the lawyer decides to work is a little bit more of an investment than, say, a Netflix subscription. But, there’s a reason why subscription services like Netflix flourish: it’s because of the low level of investment, and the high value of return.  People have little problem dropping $15 per month on Netflix; but, if Netflix jacked the price up, or severely restricted the number of entertainment offerings included, there’d be a problem.  Law firms seem to suffer from that very issue: a lack of differentiated offerings and a heavy price point.  It’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma , bound up by a total lack of imagination. Of course, there’s a logical resolution here.  If clients think law firms charge too much and don’t offer enou...