The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

It’s a whole new world for lawyers; but, one thing hasn’t changed: there are still a lot of them.     Yes, there are a staggering  number  of attorneys in the United States, both in terms of raw numbers, and when you look at per capita figures.  Yet, most of the law firms are very poor at differentiating , one  from another.  Law firm   websites spout platitudes about customer service and competency, and offer ,  what amount to very  weak,  reason s  for a consumer to pick one law firm apart from another.   This is a long-standing issue; but, the ongoing pandemic, while carrying with it lots of problems, also offers attorneys new and interesting ways to create unique sales propositions, especially relevant to their customers, like these:     -If you’re one of a growing number of Americans fleeing major cities, you’ll find new opportunity being a community lawyer, without a specific practice focus, in smaller comm...

Although lawyers often guess about what legal consumers want, there are very specific and discoverable things that legal consumers want from lawyers.  And, knowing these things  can allow you to convert more clients.   One of the things that legal consumers want from law firms is  to know  the total cost of legal services .  This doesn’t mean your hourly rate, because that’s uncapped.  And, consumer and corporate legal consumers are getting wise to the fact that hourly rates actually  promote   in efficiency.  I mean, think about it: the more hours you bill, the more money you make: So what’s the incentive for working fast?  There isn’t one; in fact, there’ a  disincentive  for doing so.     The job for modern lawyers is to meet and exceed client expectations.  So, if you  know (now you do) that clients want to know the total cost of representation before engaging a law firm, how do you provide for that...

If your revenues remain down, there’s a probably a simple reason for at least some of that dip.     According to  the recently-released 2020 Clio Legal Trends Report ,  23% of legal consumers think law firms are closed.  This is largely based on their knowledge of court closures leading to an assumption that the entire legal industry is shut down.  That, in itself, is a problem for lawyers.  Making matters worse is that only 2% of lawyers believe that legal consumers think law firms are closed.  That means that lawyers aren’t addressing the problem.   If nearly a quarter of legal consumers think your law firm is closed, almost 25% of your potential leads aren’t contacting you.  While it may seem trite at this point to inform your consumer base that your law office is indeed open, clearly there is a need for that to be broadcast.     What can you do to let potential clients know you’re still open, and recapture those lost leads?...

Adding new software to a law firm is often a challenge.   But,  the reward is great.     The issue is that most law firms  stumble out of the starting blocks, and then squander any gains that they may have had.   One way  law firms screw  this  up is to  spend too little time vetting software, so that they’re surprised by what they view as limitations  during the implementation process  -- which may be actual limitations, or  just undiscovered  existing features, of which the law firm is not aware, because they did not utilize a thorough vetting procedure.  Another way that law firms screw this up is by focusing too much on the implementation procedure, with skewed expectations  with respect to speed of adoption  --   many lawyer-owners feel that a software should w or k perfectly within their environment right away;  but,  that’s the wrong expectation.  It takes time to ad...