Originally published on November 16, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.
TechnoLawyer asked me to reflect on a year of blogging about law firm management, and choose my top five tips for small firms. You'll find them below. Please reply if you have employed any of these suggestions in 2009, or if you have tips of your own to share.Know the Source of Your Best Clients
Instead of making assumptions about where your clients come from, keep track of the statistics and take the time to think about your ideal client and how your existing clients compare with that ideal. Determine who refers business to you, and whether they refer the business you want. Armed with this information, you can improve your marketing and business development efforts.
See Do You Know Where Your Clients Come From?
Make It Easy for Clients to Hire You
Law is a profession, but lawyers must still think like businesspeople and act strategically to attract the right clients. Make it easy for your clients to hire you. Publish useful legal information so that prospective clients can find you. Don't forget to list your contact information.
Nowadays, you can share your knowledge using low cost platforms such as blogs, microblogs (e.g., Twitter), and online videos (see YouLaw for tips). Also directing readers to additional information on the same topic may send them away momentarily, but they'll remember the source.
See How Easy Is it to Hire You?
Manage Email Effectively
To be productive, you need to manage the daily deluge of email. First, eliminate unnecessary email. Enter appointments into your planner/calendar immediately and delete the email. Drag and drop email into your calendar to preserve the details.
Purge alerts, advertisements, and newsletters from your inbox. If you haven't read it after a week, delete it or save it to a designated folder. When you need the information, use desktop search programs to locate it.
Unless you frequently receive urgent email don't review your email first thing in the morning or review it constantly throughout the day. Create folders and set up rules and filters to automatically route email to the correct folder.
See Email Management Tips for Lawyers
Consider Practice and Document Management Software
Practice management and document management software provide many advantages for solo and small firm lawyers. Document management software enables you to categorize and easily search for and retrieve documents.
Practice management software can link clients, matters, and documents, making file review and client communication easier. Practice management software also is a huge time saver when a client's information changes — change it once, in one location, and it's done.
Practice management programs integrated with time and billing programs can help you create and assemble documents with oft-used information and can help you track and bill your time for those activities as they're being performed.
Must you buy these tools? Probably not, but the productivity and efficiency you gain make them a worthwhile investment.
See Do Lawyers Really Need Practice Management Software?
Prevent Client Dissatisfaction
All lawyers encounter difficult clients and scenarios. Conflicts with clients often arise because clients feel you don't understand their point of view. To you, it may be just another case. But to the client, it's their life or livelihood.
Mirror the client's concerns. After the client explains the issue, reflect it back to them so that the client knows you're listening, and and that you understand the issues.
Confrontations can also arise when the unexpected occurs. You can prevent difficult client situations through preparation and by setting boundaries at the outset of the engagement.
See Effectively Dealing With Difficult Client Situations
Written by Allison C. Shields, Esq. of Legal Ease Consulting.
How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
