New Educational Program to Help Solos & Small Firms Get Things Done
Learn to “Get Things Done!”
Designed for
Solo & Small Firm Attorneys
Is 24 hours not enough? Do you want to get more done? This FREE program is designed specifically for solos and small firm attorneys.
In six meetings over twelve weeks, you will learn critical time management skills, including hot to:
- Prioritize & Organize
- Set & Implement Goals
- Overcome Self-Defeating Beliefs & Habits
- Combat Procrastination & Time Wasters
- Leverage Technology to Increase Efficiency
- Reinforce Your New Behaviors
Each meeting will feature a time management presentation as well as opportunities for discussion, goal setting and getting to know fellow attendees.
Starting: Friday, September 14, 2012 from 12:30 to 1:45 PM.
Openings are limited, so we ask participants to commit to attending all six meetings.
Upon completion of the program each participant will receive a FREE copy of David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.
To Sign Up or Learn More Please Contact:
Lottie Rutherford
(857) 383-3250
lottier@lclma.org
Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Inc. with its
Law Office Management Assistance Program
Staying the Course When Deciding to Go Solo (Part II)
*Guest post by Susan Cartier Liebel – Solo Practice University*
1. Make a plan with a definite timeline: We’ve all heard it before. A goal without a plan and a timeline for achievement is just a dream. We all have dreams. But you have to have real goals with action steps that create a bridge between where you are today and where you want to go. If you have a goal for a solo practice it’s time to create that bridge, a plan and a timeline for success.
But there is yet one more important ingredient. You have to stay focused on the end game, which is not solo practice in and of itself. The end game is achieving those ‘dreams’ solo practice promises. Is it more time with the family, making your own schedule, building an empire, never having to ask for time off? Whatever your idea is that solo practice promises…you have to stay focused on the end gratification in order to get you through the processes. These very processes are the ones which can dishearten you and cause you to forget your motivations.
Regularly think about your plans for the future as it provides a powerful way to stay truly motivated. It allows you to keep your engines revved, the same way you felt when you first decided solo practice was the right choice for you.
2. Become Automated: As lawyers, we are very practical and analytical. We have to be. But in many ways this doesn’t serve us when it comes to opening a solo practice. (What, you’re saying?) That’s right. Opening a solo practice requires a certain leap of faith, faith in ourselves to not necessarily have all the answers but to understand we are trained to ‘figure it out.’
So, on some level we have to silence our practical and analytical mind in the face of others’ opinions, statistics and more. We simply have to have a singular reaction when an obstacle presents itself (real or imagined.) Instead of focusing on the immediate reaction, ‘I don’t know’ simply tell yourself, “I’ll find a way.” If you tell yourself ‘there is no obstacle I can’t address’, you have pre-determined you will surmount whatever obstacles present themselves in order to succeed.
Sometimes it is as simple as putting our heads down and placing one foot in front of the other. I’ve often had to do that when climbing a hill. If I look up and see how far I have to climb, I stop and imagine all the reasons why I can’t do it. If I look at my feet and just place one foot in front of the other, I get much further along without distraction from my purpose. I quiet my thinking and just ‘do.’
3 Stay Focused on the Long Term Goals: Life presents many distractions designed to throw us off track. It takes commitment, discipline and a real desire to become an entrepreneur to stay the course. Deciding to fulfill your own goals instead of those who write you a paycheck is a major life transition. It takes a certain spirit and tenaciousness, a change in mindset.
4. Keep Your Goals in Context:
One of the hardest things to do is keep your goals in perspective. The goals we set out for ourselves personally and professionally 5, 10, 15 years into the future are to help us improve the quality of our lives…but not just for the future. They are also set out to improve the present. If we focus solely on enjoying the fruits in the future we fail to enjoy the present. Then we start to get angry and want to toss our long term goals believing our goals to be wrong. No. It’s not the goals. It is our singular focus on the goals.
Remember, building that million dollar practice and the tools to do so are the means to an end, not the end in and of itself As you already know, freedom to do as you wish on your own schedule is one of the primary goals of most solo practitioners. And as a solo practitioner you should plan to start enjoying those benefits as soon as you hang a shingle.
About the Author
Susan Cartier Liebel is the Founder & CEO of Solo Practice University®, the #1 online
educational and professional networking community for lawyers and law students designed
for those who want to create and grow their solo or small firm practices.
A coach/consultant for solos and small firms, an attorney who started her own practice right
out of law school, an Entrepreneur Advisor for Law Without Walls, an adjunct professor at
Quinnipiac University School of Law for eight years teaching law students how to open their
own legal practices right out of law school, a columnist for LawyersUSA Weekly, the
Connecticut Law Tribune, The Complete Lawyer, and Law.com, she has contributed to
numerous legal publications and books on this topic as well as the issues facing women in
the workforce. She speaks frequently to law schools and professional organizations around
the country on issues facing solos, offering both practical knowledge and inspiration.
Connect with Susan Twitter Facebook LinkedIN Google Plus
Staying the Course When Deciding to Go Solo (Part I)
*Guest post by Susan Cartier Liebel – Solo Practice University*
You may start by scouring the internet for resources, telling all your friends, fantasizing of how you are going to tell your boss and co-workers your plans, maybe hire a coach or join a listserv, buy a domain name and business cards. You think about how you are going to make a difference in this world, maybe even that one case which changes law and people’s lives into the future. You even envision what you will earn and how you will spend it. Yet after a few weeks, or even days, your initial euphoria and energy dissipates and you start wondering if you’re making or have made a mistake. You question if you can do it. More importantly is it worth losing the (false sense of) security you have as an employee with work handed to you versus what you envision solo practice to be all about. After all, a bird in the hand…..
How do you keep yourself motivated and on track if this is what you truly want to do?
When I work with clients we do a very important exercise:
- Envision where you want to be 5, 10, 15 years from now, not just professionally, but personally.
This is not an exercise in fantasy. It is creating a road map. If you don’t know where you are going, how do you know if you’ve arrived? If you don’t have a destination, how can you plot a course. The destination can change as can the course, but you have to start somewhere.
Going solo is unlike working for another in ways you may not have considered. Your personal and professional life must mesh seamlessly as whether you like it or not, you are ‘on’ 24/7. This is not necessarily a bad thing. But what you must wrap your head around is this: in order for it to work there must be little to no tension between your work life and your personal life. The way this gets done is by not changing who you are or what you want to achieve, but constructing a whole life that accepts who you are and respects where you want to go. Isn’t it better to float downstream than to swim against the tide? It’s certainly less tiring leaving more room for enjoyment.
2. Find your inspiration –
It’s very important to find your inspiration, that carrot which keeps you moving forward even when you don’t feel like it or think you can’t. I’ll share mine because it left an imprint on my entire life.Many years ago I went to a health spa, nothing fancy. They had a climbing tower in the back. Not a rock wall but a full fledged tower you climbed. You participated as part of team to build trust. Falling backward with your eyes shut, etc. At the end we had to climb the tower and rappel down. Great. I was going to get to the top of the tower if it killed me. Nothing was going to stop me. We were told to pick a word or a phrase which we should call on for motivation, something emotionally meaningful, when we felt our strength waning or when we didn’t think we could push ourselves anymore. I knew mine.I started to climb with enthusiasm and speed until I realized it was more difficult then I expected. I got anxious, a little nervous. I thought, “I can’t do this.” I froze. I thought, ‘this is as far as I’m going to make it.” The coach said, ” see if you can just get passed where you are now? Are you further than you expected to be?” I realized I was. Then I thought, “Wow. I can do this.” As I climbed higher and higher, I got more nervous. I’d never been that high climbing straight up, the only safety net was this group of strangers whom I was asked to trust. The coach said, ‘don’t look back or down. Keep going. Is your motivation to get to the top?” Of course, it was. So, I continued to climb. Before I knew it I was just under the platform. Now I had to swing over the top but it required me to use considerable upper body strength which I didn’t have. I kept trying and trying frustrated and miserable that I couldn’t seem to do it. Time ran out. I didn’t get to the very top and had to rappel down.I said to the coach, “I didn’t do it. I just didn’t have the upper body strength. I failed.” She said, “you did?” Of course, I did. “No, you didn’t. The exercise wasn’t to get to the top. The exercise was to get you beyond where you thought you could go. BINGO. I used my internal dialogue, my mantra, to encourage me to go beyond my perceived limits.What emotional, yet meaningful mantra do you have to help push you further towards your goals?
“I figure we all have enough of our own fears, so I couldn’t let other people’s worries get in the way of what I wanted to do.”
—–Emily Kimball, age 76 who at age 61 rode her bike cross-country in spite of being told by everyone she was ‘too old.’
In Part II I’ll offer some suggestions to help you stay focused on the end game, your own solo practice.
About the Author
Susan Cartier Liebel is the Founder & CEO of Solo Practice University®, the #1 online
educational and professional networking community for lawyers and law students designed
for those who want to create and grow their solo or small firm practices.
A coach/consultant for solos and small firms, an attorney who started her own practice right
out of law school, an Entrepreneur Advisor for Law Without Walls, an adjunct professor at
Quinnipiac University School of Law for eight years teaching law students how to open their
own legal practices right out of law school, a columnist for LawyersUSA Weekly, the
Connecticut Law Tribune, The Complete Lawyer, and Law.com, she has contributed to
numerous legal publications and books on this topic as well as the issues facing women in
the workforce. She speaks frequently to law schools and professional organizations around
the country on issues facing solos, offering both practical knowledge and inspiration.
Connect with Susan Twitter Facebook LinkedIN Google Plus
Starting Out Solo and Calling It Quits
Guest post by Attorney S.H.
This is the story of a girl who went solo and called it quits. My story begins in May 2008 when I graduated from law school. I spent that summer studying for the bar and planning for a wedding. I got married in September 2008 and started my two year clerkship term in October 2008. My plan was to finish out my two year term as a clerk and hopefully start to work at a law firm focusing on employment law.
Knowing that my clerkship was going to end in October 2010, I started to look for a new job in the beginning of 2010. After sending out countless cover letters, resumes, and writing samples, it quickly became clear that the job market was very competitive, and there was not much out there. I only received one interview after sending out many, many applications. Things were not looking good.
Then my job search came to a halt in June 2010 when I had my son. I decided to take a break from the job search, and I took the summer off for maternity leave. I returned to work at the end of the summer, and ended my clerkship in October 2010. I was sad my clerkship was ending, but I was happy to lose my three hour round trip commute each day. While I love Boston, it was too far away from my home and I hated losing all that time each day commuting.
The job search began once again. I quickly realized that almost everything that was posted was in Boston and I did not want to work in Boston. It was also very discouraging to send out application after application and receive not one interview. So slowly, but surely, with encouragement from my family I started to think about hanging my shingle. My husband had steady income and he carried out health insurance so it was an option. I attended the MCLE course “Hanging Your Shingle” along with the LOMAP start-up meeting. Both of these courses were excellent resources. I read some books, talked to some friends, and away I went!
I was very, very cautious about spending money. It took me almost three months to decide on a location. I thought about virtual office space, but there was nothing close enough to my house that would be convenient. I looked into renting office space, but I was way too nervous to commit to a one year lease when I did not have one client. On a whim, I emailed a local attorney I had never met and asked if I could use her space to meet clients and I would pay her on a per use basis. She called me right away and said that arrangement would be fine with her. She also agreed that I could use her office for my business address. It was essentially a virtual law office, but only 10 minutes from my home and I could use it as often as I wanted. I was so excited!
As for the rest of my expenses, I purchased a new computer, printer, scanner, and Dymo LabelWriter. I changed my home phone number to use for my business phone, got a fax number through an online service, set up a website and email through godaddy.com, and ordered some business cards. I purchased my liability insurance and set up an IOLTA account. I also went to an IOLTA training seminar through the Office of Bar Counsel. I set up my office in the basement of my house and I was ready to go.
I decided to focus on real estate since I knew some people in the real estate industry. Even though the real estate market was not the best, I figured it was a way I could get a steady stream of income initially. I contacted some real estate attorneys and got advice about how to become an agent for a title insurance company. I attended some MCLE courses and read everything I could about Massachusetts real estate.
I received my first real estate deal in March of this year. It was the first time I had to make all the decisions in the workplace. I had no coworkers or boss to look to for guidance. I felt very vulnerable and nervous. Luckily, I had a friend who was a real estate attorney. I also reached out to a fellow Starting Out Solo member who basically saved my life. She walked me through everything I needed to know. I was up very late the night before my first closing balancing my HUD and going over my final numbers with her. I will forever be grateful for how much she helped me! I would not have ever got through that deal without her.
I knew I needed to build up my business so I joined some bar associations and my local chamber of commerce. I am a social person, so going to networking events was always fun. I gave out my business card and made small talk. However, I had a hard time dealing with the lack of results for the amount of time I felt I was putting into networking. I remember Jared from LOMAP stressing the marketing aspect of the business. However, marketing was just not my thing! The marketing aspect of the business quickly became a thorn in my side. I realized that I am an impatient person who does not like rejection. Summer came along, and I started to rethink going solo…
And them BAM, my husband got laid off. I tried to be calm, cool, and collected but inside I was panicked. He carried our health insurance. I was making barely any money. How could this work? How could we afford health insurance if my husband did not have a job? The job market was awful, and every day more gloom and doom reports came on the news about how things were not going to get better any time soon. Our son was 14 months old, and doctor appointments at that age are a frequent occurrence. I was already rethinking going solo, and at that point I knew I had to start applying for jobs.
So I applied. And I applied. And I applied. I applied to everything everywhere. Attorney positions. Non-attorney positions. I did not care. As long as the job had decent pay and health insurance, I was applying. I received many rejection letters and one interview. The job was for a non-attorney position with a very reputable company. I had high hopes, but I did not land the job. I tried to remain positive, but when you have a young child and a mortgage and bills to pay, you start to panic.
And then it seems that all the stars aligned. A job was posted for a firm looking to hire a litigation associate only 25 minutes from my house. No litigation experience necessary. I applied right away, and two days later I got an interview. Then I got a second interview. And then I waited for a phone call….
It was Labor Day weekend. We packed up the family and headed to my in-laws up North. Once we arrived my husband got a phone call. He received a job offer for a better position with health insurance benefits. We were so excited! We celebrated all weekend. And then the week after I received a job offer from the firm close to my house! I could not wait to receive a steady paycheck again.
I started with my new firm at the end of September. I had some real estate closings to wrap up for my firm and I just did my last closing last week. I am now in the process of fully winding down my solo practice. It was a one year journey that I will never forget. I loved being my own boss, making my own hours, and calling all the shots. I did not like the marketing, rejection, and anxiety that came along with having my own practice. I simply could not handle the business aspect of the business. I wanted to practice law. I did not want to run a business and I am glad I quickly came to that realization. I am happy I tried it, but I am also happy that I made the decision to close up when I did. Going solo works out for a lot of people. It did not work out for me and I am ok with that. I am proud of myself for putting myself out there and trying to do something very difficult.
I am thankful that I had the support of my family, friends, and most importantly Starting Out Solo. I do not know how I would have made it through this year without this group of attorneys. I have never met many of you, but I feel like I know you well. You made the scary journey of going solo not as scary and provided many laughs along the way! I cannot thank you enough.
A Solo Attorney’s Personal Crisis
by Shanda Tinney
On August 15th my entire life changed.
My husband and I had just sold our home and were moving. Closing day was scheduled for August 15th. We had been packing and sorting all month and started moving the week before.
My husband became very ill. He had been tired the whole week and not himself, but I put it down to moving. No one likes to sort and pack and haul things, especially in the summer. But the day before closing, he was violently sick. He finally agreed to go to the hospital at 5 am on August 15th—closing day.
Our family came and finished up the move for us while we were at the hospital. Due to a series of mishaps, the closing attorney was not ready with the documents, and so the real estate agent came to the hospital for us to sign continuances. It was a long nightmare of a day.
My husband was admitted to the hospital, and a few days later was transferred to Boston by ambulance because he was so ill and had so many complications. In the meantime, I camped out in one room of our new house (after attending closing alone on August 16th with my power of attorney and in sweatpants I had worn to the hospital, because my clothes were packed in a box that I could not find), found people who daily came to take care of our dogs, and spent 12 + hours a day at the hospital. The contractors had already begun a renovation on the new house, and of course that had hit some delays too, so the contractors were at the new house every day and calling constantly to ask me what kind of hardware we wanted for the little metal strips on the floor and did we want 4 recessed lights or 6. When my husband was transferred to Boston everything became worse, because then I also had to fight Boston traffic in a car which was no longer working well. Our family spent days at our house unpacking and sorting so that I could find my clothes and maybe some dishes and the coffee pot. My mother flew in from out of state to stay with me while my husband was at the hospital, and she dealt with the contractors for me as much as she could, unpacked boxes, and took care of the dogs. I called my husband’s place of employment and started arranging for him to use his sick and vacation time, and to start the process of applying for long-term disability. We did not have a stove so friends brought my mother and me meals we could heat in the microwave or treated us to Iunch. And every little thing that could go wrong did. Verizon went on strike and we had no internet, phone or cable. The car broke down. One of the dogs had to go to the emergency vet late one night. My husband’s ambulance was in an accident with him in it on the way to Boston. The basement flooded. Lowe’s delivered the wrong type of dryer and it took two weeks to get the right one, and then they forgot the venting system. The oil tank ran dry and we had no hot water. I stopped sleeping all together.
None of us anticipated how long it would last. My husband was discharged from the Boston hospital after a week or so, but over the next two months he was readmitted over and over, and until the last hospitalization, it was always in Boston.
Before all of this, my solo practice had finally hit its stride. I had lots of active cases (mostly family law, but other types as well), and I had not had a slow month in almost a year. I had new client calls several times a week. I also worked with some other attorneys as an independent contractor and that supplemented my income.
But there was no longer any time to work. I had to take my own personal Family and Medical Leave without pay. I did not have a secretary or paralegal, so I returned calls using my cell phone in the hospital lobby and answered emails using my laptop while my husband slept.
Doctors were constantly coming in and out of the hospital room, and they had to keep running tests to try to figure out what was wrong. I had to focus on the doctors and tests and medications, because my husband was too ill to handle it himself. There were so many teams of doctors that I became the coordinator and would update each team on what another team had said or wanted to try. I was also the person who made sure that medically my husband did not fall through the cracks. I could not focus on my practice.
I did the only thing I could: I asked friends who were also attorneys, who had time, to handle my cases for me. One person in particular managed almost everything. She drafted documents and filed things and appeared in court for me. She made calls and responded to emails. She even made dinner and brought it to my house for my mother and me, because the new stove had not yet arrived. Other attorney-friends also helped me cover things. I referred out the new client calls, and stopped taking new cases. More than one potential client did not even get a return call, because I was at maximum capacity for what I could handle on any given day. I also had to eliminate some cases entirely from my case load, because they were on matters that my attorney-friends were unable to handle. I referred those cases out and refunded fees, even fees I had already earned, because from the clients’ point of view, they had not received anything of value for their payment, as their cases were still in the early stages. The earned fees came straight out of pocket. I had to withdraw from a court-fund case with almost no notice. In short, I started losing money fast, and my practice lost clients.
I did my best, emailing and calling clients to explain the situation without getting into too much detail. I talked to clerks and explained. My clients and the clerks were very understanding. And I relied on the huge support network I am lucky enough to have. I have very good friends who are attorneys and who offered, without hesitation, to handle my practice for me. I had two teams—my home team and my work team—and they made it possible for me to be with my husband and manage the crisis with him while they handled just about everything else for me. When I did make it to the office, the other people in my building (not all of them attorneys) always stopped to ask me how was I doing, listened to my tales of woe, and brought me coffee. I received supportive emails and text messages daily from friends and family. One attorney friend talked me through the process of applying for long-term disability versus SSDI. Another helped me with some deed drafting issues for our new house.
Two months later, my husband is home from the hospital. It will be a long time before things are back to normal, and he is healing while I adjust to being a caretaker. I went back to work part-time this week (by part-time, I mean I spent about 10 hours in my office). I have a lot to catch up on, and I still have friends helping me. I do not have as many active cases as I did, and I am not earning what I was earning. My desk is a bit of a disaster and my office plant might not make it. But my husband survived, thanks to the grace of God, my house is still standing, thanks to our wonderful family, and my practice survived, thanks to great friends who handled my practice for me at a moment’s notice. I will be going to court for the first time in two months next week. I even took on a new client. Things are definitely getting better.
But a solo just cannot do it alone. A solo attorney absolutely must have a strong support network of family and friends, and other attorneys, who can help them in times of personal crisis. Without my family, I would be living in a shack with a flooded basement right now. Without my attorney friends, I would have no job left at all, and I might be facing malpractice claims. Without faith, I would have lost my mind, making all of the above null and void anyway.
It is a fact of having a solo practice—solos need others, period. I am so grateful for the friends and family who took care of my life for me while I took care of my husband. I owe all of them a vacation to Hawaii but I cannot afford it. The best I can do is to thank them from the bottom of my heart, and to be there for them should they ever need me.
When is it time to call it quits
That’s the Charlie Brown advice we were taught growing up. Never, ever give up. Quitting is for losers. Now that we’re grown up, things are just never that simple.
I recently came across the story of a new solo from Washington who started his law practice. He was doing well for about 6-months (and by well, I mean he had one paying client a month) and then all business just stopped. For the past several months he was netting about $350-$500 per month. There was no way he was going to survive. He started to get desperate and took on cases even though his full retainer wasn’t paid. He resorted to taking cases in areas he didn’t want to practice then. He worked from home and then one day, the unthinkable happened. Unbeknownst to him, his roommate missed a rent payment and his landlord illegally locked them out. he was suddenly homeless. He didn’t have his computer, client files, clothes or anything – just the clothes on his back. He sent an email out to a listserv sounding desperate and maybe suicidal. He was definitely at the end of his rope.
Should he quit as a solo? I think so. And there’s no shame in that. He probably didn’t have the advantage of starting out his solo practice with a nest egg or help with family. As a fellow SOSer, Jonas Jacobson said, “Money provides the lubrication to make mistakes.” When you don’t have money, you have no wiggle room for mistakes.
Growing up in school, we were processed through this assembly line of education where we sit, learn and take tests. If we failed a test, it was a bad thing and we were shamed. If we got an A, we were praised and everyone assumed we were smart. School however doesn’t teach us the necessary life skills such as learning from failure; coping with failure; picking ourselves up when we fall; and the value of failing. We learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. Afterall, if we succeeded, why change or learn. Then as adults, when we fail, many of us never learned to cope and failures, like death and taxes, are inevitable and like interest rates, are only compounded as we get older.
My advice to the attorney in Washington would be to quit solo practice (at least for now) and do something else. Try to get a legal job. If that’s not possible, get a non-legal job. If you can’t get a full-time non-legal job in this economy, then get a part-time job. Get several part-time jobs. The important thing is to stay alive, learn from your failures, and live to fight another day.
When to Hire Employees for Your Law Firm
If you search the wisdom of the Internet, you will find a million answers to this question: When should you hire your first employee? Any of the answers you find, could be right for your specific situation. As lawyers often say, it depends.
For me, I hired my first employee – an intern- when I found that my legal work was starting to interfere with my business work. What I mean by that is that I started to realize that I was spending all my time answering the phones, doing client consultations, drafting motions, going to court, etc. and not enough time networking, marketing, and working on the business. The realization is that if I kept on that path, I would be busy, yes, but I would never grow bigger because I wasn’t investing in the future but rather, I was simply concentrating on the here and now.
I hired my first employee through the Northeastern University School of law coop system and it was fantastic. My first intern (who I have subsequently hired as an associate) did most of the legal work, while I supervised. It freed up my time so I could take my contacts out to lunch, network and market by writing blogs posts and joining Boards and Councils. Without help, I would’ve never grown my firm to the point where it is now with 3 associates.
What about money? You are bound to lose money when you hire an employee at first. That employee will not be able to generate you the business but over time, picking a good employee, whether we’re talking about a secretary, paralegal, associate or law clerk, will make you money. It just harks back to the old addage – you have to spend money to make money. But remember to spend your money wisely.
How to Sell Your Legal Services to a Skeptical Client
[Attorney]: The fee for the legal service is $250/hr with a $5,000 retainer.
[Client]: That’s too much. Can we do $200/hr with $1,000 retainer? I promise I’ll pay. And I can refer my friends to you.
We’ve all, at one time for another, had a client say a version of the above conversation to us. It happens to the best of us. The question is, what do you do in that situation? The answer is simpler said than done. You of course, hold your ground and don’t lower your fee. But what happens to a lot of attorneys (not just new or young attorneys), is that we start to bargain with our client and inevitably, we lower the fee. And in many cases, months down the road, we’re suddenly surprised that this great client isn’t paying us. How could we have missed the warning signs?!
Here’s a couple of strategies I use to sell my services to a skeptical client and not budge on my fees.
Sell them your expertise, not your fee
What I mean by that is to sell the client on your expertise before you sell them on the price of your legal services. If the client knows and trusts that you’re the best fit for them, then price is no longer the primary decisive factor between you and the next attorney they’ll call. You sell them on your expertise by doing very extensive intakes, really listening to the client, and not only giving your client advice about what they want, but tell them what they need. If you can effectively sync up with your client and tell them what they need before they tell you what they want, you’ve just sold them on your expertise. The last thing you should do is quote them a price. At that point, they’ve already decided to hire you despite not knowing the fee.
Show them how you negotiate
In most consumer oriented practices such as any type of civil ligation, transaction deal, family law, etc., you’ll be spending a lot of time negotiating a deal with the other party or opposing counsel. What the client is paying you for most of the time, is your ability to negotiate on their behalf and get them the best deal possible. So when a client asks me to lower my fees, this is what I tell them,”If I lowered my fees because you asked me to, then you shouldn’t hire me because what you’re hiring me for is to negotiate on your behalf and if I can’t even effectively negotiate the fee that I know I deserve, what makes you think I’ll be able to negotiate effectively for you?”
At this point, the client should be throwing money at you.
What other techniques have worked for you? Tell me in the comments.
“If I lowered my fees because you asked me to, then you shouldn’t hire me because what you’re hiring me for is to negotiate on your behalf and if I can’t even effectively negotiate the fee that I know I deserve, what makes you think I’ll be able to negotiate effectively for you?”
Are Solo Attorneys Schizophrenic?
We must be. How else can you explain perfectly rational, intelligent individuals constantly referring to themselves in the third person and plural on their websites. You’ve seen the websites – “Attorney John Doe graduated from the University of East Dakota Law School. Attorney Doe, who started his practice in 2007, now limits his law practice solely to Estate Planning. Attorney Doe welcomes your inquiry, and offers a free 30 min. consultation.” Or similarly, “We welcome your inquiry and offer a free 30 min. consultation.”
Can you imagine if everyone went through life like this? How strange would it be to have a conversation like the following:
Waiter: Can I take your order sir?
Attorney Doe: Yes, Attorney Doe would like to have a salad and a bowl of soup.
Waiter: Will Attorney Doe be joining you soon?
Attorney Doe: I am Attorney Doe!
Waiter: I apologize. Is there anything else that Attorney Doe would like?
Attorney Doe: Yes, we will also have a Diet Coke.
I raise this point jokingly, but it is a legitimate issue that most solo attorneys grapple with as they design their websites. When I first started to practice, I designed my website to be in the third person and plural. Why? I’m not quite sure, other than I saw other attorneys doing it. The more I added to the website or changed it, though, the more uncomfortable I felt referring to myself in the third person or plural.
After much struggling with the approach of the web site, I finally decided to change it to be first person and singular. I started to realize that one way or the other, the client is going to find out that I am a solo practitioner. Why try to hide it? I decided that my best approach was to take advantage of being in practice on my own. Let the potential clients find out as soon as possible that I’m a solo attorney, that I understand their area of the law, that I’m easy to communicate with, and that they will be dealing one-to-one directly with me.
I will close by saying that there is no right or wrong with this issue. I have taken both approaches, and have decided that I feel more comfortable talking about myself and my practice in the first person and singular. That is just Attorney Baron’s opinion, though. He welcomes your comments. You can find out more about Attorney Baron by visiting his web site at: http://www.lawbaron.com. 🙂
The Most Important Part of Running a Law Firm
What’s the most important part of running a law firm? In my opinion, it’s getting paid and it harder to do than it sounds.
Most solos and law firm owners know this – getting clients to pay the full bill is like pulling teeth. You either won’t get paid at all by some clients, or you get nickled and dimed by others. It is the exception rather than the norm that you get paid on-time and in full by a client. Knowing that’s true for the majority of law firm, it’s sad. Because at the end of the day, we’re running a business. And businesses need to earn money in order to keep offering services and survive.
So what are some ways to ensure that you get paid or at least, don’t get burned as often?
Flat Fee Billing
This is what I do and this is what works for me. It might not work for everyone and it is not the only way to always get paid. However, I have $0 in receivables at the moment or for the past several years for that matter. That means that no one owes me money and I am paid in full by all of my clients. The reason is because I never begin representation of a client before my legal fees are paid in full. I bill for the entire case up front.
Now, there are of course challenges to flat fee billing, such as how to set your rates and hedging your bets against really complicated cases, but those challenges can be overcome. My friend, Jay Shepherd, runs a consulting practice called Prefix where he helps professions set flat fee rates. The mistake that most people make when setting flat fee rates is that they’re estimating the time it takes to complete the case and simply charge it up front. Well, then it’s not really any different than billing hourly if you’re still trying to bill the same number of hours. Jay Shepherd advises you to bill for your advice and knowledge instead of your time. It’s very tricky but definitely can be done.
Bill Early and Often
This is usually the common sense advise that most older lawyers give to younger lawyers. Bill early and bill often. That way, when a client doesn’t pay, at least you give yourself time to withdraw and if you don’t get your last bill paid, at least it’s only a little bit of time and money lost. This is a great model to use IF you stick to it. Problem is, lawyers are busy people and the time it takes it bill early and often, most of us would much rather do legal work.
So if you have the money, it is useful to have a secretary or paralegal do the billing for you. However, if your books and accounting is a total mess and you think that just by hiring a secretary or paralegal, they will come in and magically organize your life, you will surely be disappointed. A helper can only follow your system and rarely will you be able to hire someone that will develop a system for you to stick to. I’ve hired many interns and helpers in the past and I’ve found the opposite to be true. I develop a system and it’s hard to get those you hire to stick to them.
So if your law practice is a mess, you need to simply sit down, organize yourself, develop your own system and hire someone to help maintain it. You cannot expect others to do the hard work for you and planning and systematizing is usually the harder work.
Do you have any other suggestions for reaching that $0 receivable karma? Let me know in the comments.