In his February 2004 post, Ward Bower lists his Ten Keys To Success In A Small Law Practice. In the 6+ years since the post, the legal world (like the rest of the world) has undergone a lot change. Do these keys still hold true today?  

 

#1: Learn to Say No

Small firms and solo practitioners should specialize, even if by exclusion.

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Solos and small firms also have to learn to say "no" to clients who are either unwilling or unable to pay their fees. Early qualification of clients should occur by virtue of fee counseling, engagement letters, and fee memos clearly spelling out the client’s obligations.

Your initial reaction during a difficult time might be to "take on all comers." To the contrary, client qualification and selection is more important now than ever. While there are certainly many unique challenges to practicing law and managing a law firm, too many legal professionals fail to recognize the business aspects to their practices.

If your law firm is not profitable, it will eventually cease to exist. Maximizing your time on your best clients and minimizing, or eliminating, time on your worst, is an important step to securing your prosperity.

 

#2: Take a Lawyer to Lunch

"Small firms that specialize in only certain practice areas should develop a network of other firms specializing in different practice areas, for purposes of referral of work by specialty. Inbound and outbound referrals should be monitored and tracked to assure that the implicit quid pro quo actually develops, and to maximize the asset value of outbound referrals for business development purposes."

Referral business remains one of the very best sources of new business. With the advent of social media and social networking, developing referral relationships is that much more efficient and effective. Follow online social etiquette, but don't be afraid to reach out to others. Relationship-built businesses always prevail.

 

#3: Show the Old School Ties

College friendships and acquaintances should be maintained as a potential source of clients. Just as importantly, law school ties should be maintained, particularly with lawyers specializing in other areas of practice and who practice are outside of your jurisdiction.

Nurturing and maintaining existing professional relationships is even more important than building new ones.  These "old" relationships should be your strongest.  Don't be afraid to leverage them for new business.  Remember to reciprocate.  Relationship maintenance is a two-way street.

 

#4: Become Famous

Solos and small firms should get to know reporters in local newspapers and other publications that cover legal and business fields. It is entirely appropriate to volunteer to provide expert background on legal topics within the ambit of one’s practice specialty.

While more easily said than done, developing relationships with journalists and other publishers can be the most powerful strategy in terms of building your professional brand.

In addition to positioning yourself as a trusted authority in your field, building relationships with online publishers can have significant benefits to your search engine visibility.  If your local newspapers consider you an expert, chances are that Google, and more importantly, potential clients will too.

 

#5: Give Back to the Community

each lawyer should select one or two activities or organizations to join and contribute actively, preferably achieving leadership status. Furthermore, the commitment to the community organization should be genuine—overt selling is never necessary.

With high-paced schedules, legal professionals often puch time investments to the back burner.  However, time spent on community participation and sponsorship, can be one of the most effiecient and effective reputation building investments.  And who knows, it might just make you feel good too.

 

#6: Get Your Money’s Worth from the Bar Association

Bar associations can be exploited as excellent referral sources.

While I'm all for getting your money's worth from your Bar Association, in my experiences, Bar Association networking has been generally more expensive than valuable.  Obviously, it stands to reason that the effectiveness of networking varies greatly from on Association to another, as well as, one practice area to another.

In my opinion, if you're going to invest in Bar Association networking, stick with local associations.

 

#7: Mine Your Clients

80% of the business development potential of a law firm comes from existing clients; conversely, only 20% of the potential rests in the remainder of the marketplace. Clients are potential sources of repeat business, plus potential selling of other specialties in a firm, and referrals.

Yes.  A satisfied, well-serviced client is absolutely your strongest marketing agent.  Nurture these relationships.

 

#8: Don’t Hang Around Lawyers

Although law school classmates and bar associations might be developed as referral sources, other local lawyers are potentially poor sources of significant referral business, unless one’s practice is highly specialized, or lawyers/friends are corporate counsel who cede their client’s work to outside law firms. In most instances, social circles should concentrate on business people and other prospective clients.

I have seen too many lawyers who spend a great deal of time building professional relationships with other lawyers, and wonder why they're not receiving a great deal of new clients.  Look, building referral relationships is very important.  However, you have to "go where your clients are."  While becoming the best friend of many other lawyers in your community can lead to professional recognition and leaderships positions, don't over do it at the risk of not building new potential client relationships.

 

#9: Reinvest in Your Practice

Solo practitioners and small firms probably should spend up to 5% of revenues in marketing, advertising, business development, and promotion to achieve a profile and brand-name recognition to influence clients.

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Investment in technology is a competitive requirement in today’s marketplace.

Ding ding ding ding!  Law firms are businesses.  They require investments in order to grow.  If you rely solely on your existing recognition and relationships, you probably won't have the kind of success that you want.

Like it is in business, complacency in the marketing and management of your law firm is usually a death sentence.

 

#10: Manage Your Economics

Fundamental to financial management of any business is knowing your costs.

Failing to measure, manage, and analyze the economics of the firm is a widespread problem among legal professionals.  Many managing attorneys simply don't make understanding the economics of their businesses a priority.

This problem is especially true when it comes to marketing and advertising costs.  One of the first things we do for our clients is to take an audit of their existing marketing efforts.  It is shocking how few marketing programs are held accountable through performance metric measuring.

We have seen law firms pouring thousands per month into unmeasured programs.  Holding marketing accountable is one of the first places to improve upon the efficiency of business costs.

Despite being four years old (ages in online time), Bower's keys to small law success seem to be more important now than ever.