Starting a Law Firm | The Form File

Starting a law firm means working efficiently with your time.  After all, most practicing attorneys bill-by-the-hour and, at a certain point, using your time in most efficient fashion means earning more money.

To that end, most law firms have developed a system of using prepared forms.  The form file is a place where hard copies (or, as is more likely in this day in age, digital copies) are commonly stored.  Often, the the staff – paralegal, admin, and other support – will be responsible for the maintenance and storage of the forms file.

Examples of documents that would be in a form file in a family law practice are a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, Summons, Certificate of Service, Petition for Provisional Orders, Petitions for Restraining Order or Domestic Relations Order.  All of these are documents that are used often in a family law practice.

Once the attorney has drafted these documents to his or her liking and in compliance with the law, the forms can be saved and stored for future use.  The forms will have the basic legal information that must be in every document.  For example, a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage will contain things like a caption, the cause number, jurisdictional requirements, a general statement for reason for divorce (“irretrievable breakdown”) and other pertinent legal information.  As an aside, if you are not sure what is required in a specific form, your local law library is sure to have many such forms in horn books or pre-prepared for the general public.  The forms will not contain basic client information like names, addresses, age, date of birth, social security numbers, etc.  That information can be plugged into the form by staff after the initial client interview.

I often conduct the initial client interviews when the client first comes in.  Assuming the client is going to hire me and pay me a retainer, I either take down their information myself or have someone on the staff do it.  I also have pre-made intake forms that ask basic client questions like name, address, etc.  Once I have conducted the interview, I will then ask the staff member to make a basic divorce form packet for me so that I can review it and then file it with the court.

Using the form file in this way saves a great deal of time and is very efficient.  The client is also happy because his legal documents get prepared quickly and he can sign the documents quickly. Using a forms file also means that you prepare documents more quickly and may be able to meet a quickly approaching court deadline – like a statute of limitations. Attorneys certainly do not want to be working from scratch when they are under a tight deadline.

Knowing how to work quickly and efficiently is the name of the game.  Knowing how to start a law firm and what it takes is an essential part of running a thriving law practice.  Over time, efficiency becomes more and more important as your schedule gets busier and busier.  Being very busy is a blessing and curse.  However, having a forms file will always be a good thing.

Starting a Law Firm | Search Engine Optimization and Keywords

As I’ve discussed previously, a big part of marketing a start-up law firm is the use of the internet and search engine optimization.  When I say search engine, I mean Google.

According to one source, Google has an approximately 65% market share on search engine use.  I know Google is  my search engine of choice.  Furthermore, they appear to be set to be a major player in the smart phone market with their recent purchase of Motorola.

What does this mean for starting a law firm and marketing?  It means, that Google is important and you need to pay attention.  With their new foray into smart phones, you can bet that the Android operating system will be in high demand and will be a serious player in the market.  I’ve read a lot of articles which say that smart phone/cell phone operating systems are the future of computing and internet use.  Check out this post by MyShingle author, Carolyn Elefant, on making a legal marketing app. for smart phones.

There are a lot of lawyer blogs out there, and here is is the main reason why:  they help with search engine optimization.  Blogging about your chosen practice area creates an immediate link-back structure for advertising your law firm.  It is really that simple.

The main reason I blog is for marketing purposes.  This blog is not so good for marketing and I would call this a pet project.  It is something I enjoy doing and it does give me some link-back potential.  My other practice area related blogs are my main marketing sources.

My keywords are family lawyer and/or estate planning lawyer.  Those are basic terms.  I can branch out with other terms – and I do – but Google Keywords has told me that those are terms that people in the Minneapolis metropolitan area actually use.  Go to Google Keywords (Adwords now) and do some basic research on your particular practice area (New York, Miami, small town USA) and the drill down your search terms related to your niche practice (family, personal injury, etc) and you will see what people are searching for.

Once you figure out what your niche practice area is (mine is family law and estate planning) you use your area and start blogging with your keywords.  I’ve set up several legal blogs which market towards my practice area.  My task now is to put more work into them to start building keywords, links, and content.   Eventually, if I do it right, this will result in a high rank on the first page of Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.  That should also lead to telephone calls and new clients.  That’s it.  Pretty simple.

The hard part is blogging and blogging well.  Adding content and fresh articles to blogs is tedious work at times.   I’ve written about legal blogging for business and discussed why it is work.  Try it.  You better like writing.

Starting a law firm means going out of your way to do what it takes.  It’s a long slog and blogging is a big part of it.  The light at the end of the tunnel is that maybe you will build up a practice that means you don’t have to blog all the time.  Or, maybe you will enjoy the blogging/marketing aspect so much that new career opportunities will open up.  I can confidently say that I could probably get paid to build lawyer websites and do search engine optimization for firms.  It is a nice skill to have.

At the end of the day, lawyers need to be cognizant of the power of blogging, search engine optimization and the use of keywords.  Believe me, there are lots of lawyers doing this stuff already and it will become the future of legal marketing.  I don’t know about you, but I am going to catch the wave and try to be a front-runner.

Starting a Law Firm | If You Had a Do-Over, Would You Choose Law School?

If anybody would like to post on this topic, I’d welcome the discussion.

I was combing through the ABA blawg listings when I came upon a popular article listing link. Doing a quick perusal on what was popular, I noticed an article that asks “if you had to do it all over again, would you choose law school?”  Certainly an interesting topic.

Now, I generally hate these kinds of backward thinking, retrospective articles or blog posts. They cheapen things.

I will admit don’t always like practicing law.  At times I have hated it.  There is nothing I hate more than a client who calls constantly for no other reason than to have someone to yell at.  That sucks.  I also hate opposing counsel who seem to enjoy rubbing my nose in the dirt because they can. That sucks.

But, I refuse to look back on my decision as a mistake.  Practicing law can be a lot of fun.  I don’t have any experience as in-house counsel or working in the public sector.  I’ve never been a prosecutor.  I don’t know much about politics.  But, all that stuff sounds interesting – and it’s out there if I want it.

For now, what I do want is to run the show.  I want to build something.  I want success and I want failure.  That is life.

I was riding my bike this morning and I had the thought:  “if BIGLAW offered me $100,000 right now to come work for them, would I take it?”  The answer, I am happy to say, was emphatically “no”.  Furthermore, the answer is no because I still like being a lawyer.  I will admit that I have only been at this for 3+ years, but I get a lot of satisfaction out of somebody coming into my office, asking for my advice, paying a retainer, and letting me be of service to them.  What other professions gets to do that?

Talking with my family members who are not attorneys, I know that they don’t always like their jobs.  I know they have also had some bad jobs where they are mistreated, bored, under-paid, and over-worked.  Guess what?  They are not lawyers.  They are just people grinding it out and using their chosen degrees.  I’ll be the first to admit, work can suck.  Plain and simple.  As my dad says, work is a four letter word.

Despite all of this, I can honestly say that I am excited about starting a law firm and trying my darndest to make it.  Maybe I won’t.  Maybe I will give up and regret the decisions I have made.  But, I doubt it.  There are times in life when you get that little feeling that what you are doing is right.  I know that, for me, starting a law firm is right for me and having a law degree was a good decision.

So, let’s here from you:  would you choose law school again?

Starting a Law Firm | Social Media For Lawyers

As a legal blogger and somebody who is still wrapping his mind around the virtual world, I wanted to clue readers in on a great article in the Minnesota Bench & Bar on Social Media for Lawyers.

I don’t have much to say other than it’s a good article on the issues (confidentiality, conflict of interest, possible litigation) involved with lawyer use of social media.  I won’t add commentary, go read the article for yourself.

Starting a Law Firm | Choosing a Practice Area Update

While waiting for bar exam results and scouting out other attorneys and law firms in Minneapolis, I realize I have some hard decisions to make before starting a law firm.

My wife, son, dog, and I are currently running our little family-base-camp out of Cannon Falls, MN.  She is a new doctor in town and I am currently a stay-at-home-dad and part-time blogger.  About the only thing I can do right now is reasearch and blogging for my chosen practice areas.

So, as part of my research into office spaces and specific areas where I can set-up shop, I realize I have A LOT of choices to make.

Some of my tough choices include:  which county is the best for my family law/estate planning practice?  Is a specific metro area better?  Should I try and have an office in a smaller town but advertise for the bigger town market?  Is there a median income range I should be going after for family law?  Does any of this matter?

In the effort to answer those questions, my wife an I are also trying to find a permenant home for our little family.  Cannon Falls is probably not an option as it is small and only has two deeply entrenched attorneys in town.  Plus, I don’t want to be a small-town attorney.

But, there is this wonderful little community close by called Northfield.  There are about 20,000 citizens, but there are also two fairly large liberal arts colleges in town:  Carleton College and St. Olaf.  It is also only about 30 minutes from the big city.

Fairfield is very pretty and has a cool eclectic mix of small town charm with the big city (Minneapolis/St. Paul) only minutes away by highway.

Another interesting (bad?) thing:  Fairfield appears to have A LOT of attorneys.  I counted over 25 attorneys in this small, 20,000 person, town.  Is it over saturated?  I don’t know.

Fairfield does have two campuses which likely means some criminal defense work.  There are also several nice manufacturing businesses in town, including the cereal-giant Malt-O-Meal.  These companies surely need attorneys.  I also noticed several general practice and family law specific practices.

Fairfield also sits on the border of Rice and Dakota counties in Minnesota.  Cannon Falls (15 miles from Fairfield) is in Goodhue County.  To me, this means that Fairfield has the potential to have a practice area of three different counties – which is a good thing.

So, at the moment, in my research into specific metropolitan areas where I can start a law firm, I have a new option:  Fairfield.  I like university towns.  They provide culture and interest in ways other towns do not.  Plus, I’m a sucker for liberal arts – I’m an English major by heart.

I’ll be sure to keep this blog updated on my decisions, but Northfield is definitely an option for starting a law firm.

Starting a Law Firm | Update on Legal Marketing Plan

As I’ve stated in the past, if you want some really good advice on legal marketing go to the Nolo Legal Marketing Blawg written by Carolyn Elefant.  In my humble opinion, she is as good as it gets on legal marketing in today’s blogoshpere world.  I’m just going to add my two cents on what has worked for me and, also, what I plan to do in the future.

Below is my current legal marketing plan in a nutshell (caveat, it needs work, but I’ve had two cups of coffee and feel like writing):

(1)  Foremost, we live in a digital age and I plan to use the internet as my number one marketing tool (at least from the start).

(2)  Assuming I can establish a foothold here in Minneapolis, I then plan on scouting out attorneys in my practice area for the old get-to-know-you.

(3) Next is researching and joining organizations which enable me to network effectively.

That’s it.

For item number one, I plan to use the internet and its search engine capabilities to get a lot of buzz for my website – flanderslawfirm.com.  I’m not very happy with the law firm website and I plan to redesign it with a law firm website “call to action”, but the website will due for now.  Also, as I talked about in a prior post, I have taught myself how to design websites now and I think I can update my site as needed.  I may change templates entirely.

Anyway, I’ve also talked about blogging for business and why I blog.  To be honest, I don’t think I am very good at the whole blogging thing and I need to be more focused.  This blog is essentially an outlet for my thoughts, so please pardon any rambling.  Blogging for business allows you to build a link-back structure which eventually leads to your firm’s website.  (Of course, your firm’s website is an entirely different animal and I won’t cover that so much here – basically, get your contact information in the correct spot).

This blog is newish and only has a finite number of posts.  I am getting some good SEO recognition on Google and other search engines and that is not by accident.  However, I don’t have much of a pagerank yet.  Pagerank influences the ability of my blog to link to my website and move my website up in terms of search engine recognition.  I am working on pagerank and it takes time and effort – essentially blogging a lot with good, well-written content.

Beyond pagerank, I do have law firm blog network of sorts that will all be pointing to my law firm website.  This is user generated content  (or USG in the industry).  I am trying to make as much USG as possible while I wait to be licensed in Minnesota.  I don’t have to pay anybody to do this and it really does work.  It takes up my time and is rather tedious, but it does make me feel connected when I am otherwise isolated.

So, I continue to blog on this starting a law firm blog, and I also have one other estate planning blog at the moment.  I plan on moving on to family law (my main practice area) but I haven’t gotten there yet.  One problem I have been having is that I bought several domain names that are location specific (Minneapolis) but I am not licensed in Minnesota yet.  I can make a generic blog with no location specifics but that is essentially pointless in terms of generating traffic to my website.  However, as I have stated, getting content up is king in the blogosphere and I can always make changes to content later.

There is my initial interenet legal marketing plan in a nutshell:  user generated search engine optimization. Or:  USG = SEO.  There are many books on the subject an I suggest you go buy them and read them.

(2) Networking with other lawyers.  This one is straight forward and simple.  However, in practice, it is harder than you might think.  I am young (31) and a lot of more experienced attorneys have their networks firmly established.  This means two things for me:  (1) I can get the older attorneys cast off work and (2) I can network effectively with younger attorneys who generally have less referrals to give.

In terms of the older attorneys:  I have found them to be a mixed bag.  Some will help, others won’t.  Some don’t care.  Some care, but they don’t have much work to give.  Essentially, networking at this level is all random, but it is useful.  It gets my name out there and it does result in some referrals.  If you get one and take the case – no matter how bad the case –  you MUST do a good job on it.  If it’s a dog and the client treats you badly, don’t network with that attorney anymore.  If it’s a decent case, but not great, do a good job and make sure the referring attorney know it.  Take that attorney out to lunch or something, thank them, and ask for more work.  After that, repeat the cycle, make friends, etc.

In terms of younger attorneys:  I love this bunch.  They know what it is like to be starting out.  However, they are also a mixed bag.  Some are helpful in terms of someone to talk to, but have no business to refer.  Some have business to refer, but are not going to refer it.  Some have no clue.  What I like to do with this group is simply make friends.  Eventually these friendships will cause work to come in.  Have fun with them.  Go to lunch a lot.  Go golfing together.  Whatever.  Just make yourself known in that group and try to be the hub or really helpful person.  Organize the lunches.  Organize the golf outing.  Networking is about being the go-to-guy.  It’s work, but it also brings in work.  After that, repeat the cycle, make more friends, etc.

(3) Joining Organizations.  This is a tough one for me.  Which organizations are the good ones?  Am I looking for referrals or am I simply trying to get my name out there in the community?  Both are necessities, but certain organzations often don’t provide both.  I’d like both.

In my prior practice, I was on the board of directors of a major community child services not-for-profit.  It was great for name recognition, but not so much for referrals.  However, I got a lot of satisfaction from doing it and really enjoyed the people.  The work was fulfilling in a way that the practice of law was often not.  This was good for several reasons and I aim to join a similar group in Minneapolis.

I was also in Kiwanis.  I didn’t enjoy Kiwanis as much.  It was good for community recognition but it lead to nearly zero referrals.  This may be because I wasn’t very interested in the group and it probably showed.  My excuse is that I was a little too busy, but I regret doing something when my heart wasn’t in it.  My life is too short for that.

So, with my prior organization-joining-experience behind me, I now plan to join organizations that (1) I have a high level of interest in and (2) that I really want to get involved with on a detailed level.  Again, joining these organizations does not necessarily bring in work right away.  That is ok.  It serves to get your name out there in the community, generate a possible referal base, and may give you something to do while your practice builds.  Remember, it is going to be slow at the beginning and you need to have something to do.  But, don’t get sucked in too deep.  Remember that the purpose is to help your fledgling law practice.  If you forget that, you may find yourself running charity auctions every other weekend instead of bringing in billable business.

Those are my initial thoughts on a legal marketing plan.  Simple, I know.  But, I have found that simplifying is often the best thing I can do.  It creates focus and an objective.  Starting a law firm is all about focus on practical level.  You need to generate revenue right away and this means getting out in the community and hustling.  Believe, you will be surprised out how well the hustle works.

 

Starting a Law Firm | Slow Times

I’ve been away from this starting a law firm blog for a while.  Two reasons:  (1) my summer fishing vacation and (2) I’m waiting to get licensed in Minnesota so this blog becomes al little superfluous.  Regardless, my situation reminds me of the slow times involved with starting a law practice.

Summer is about fun for most ordinary people.  Lawyers (although some beg to differ) are ordinary people.  Lawyers like breaks too and the summer can provide them – in ways both good and bad.

Summer also means that other ordinary people don’t want to work.  They want to go on vacation.  If your law practice is at all consumer driven (family law, criminal law, debtor representation) you have probably noticed that the summer can often mean slow times for your practice.  It has for mine.

As I stated, I like to fly fish and the summer is a great time for this.  But, I always feel irritated when the practice of law slows down along with my monthly income.  My theory is that, in the summer, people either don’t want to think about lawyers and/or they are too busy doing fun stuff to worry about what they really need to get done.

In terms of my family law practice, on the opposite end of this spectrum is tax season.  My practice always picks up during tax season because people get their tax returns and can now afford to pay my retainer fee for a divorce, adoption, guardianship, child support modification, etc.  That is a good time for my law practice and I often feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I need to get done.

However, during the summer my practice slows down considerably.  While working as an associate out my ten-attorney law firm, summer also brought on slow times for our corporate clients.  Guess what that means?  The corporate client work slows down as well. During nearly four years in practice, I now know that June through August has always been some of my slowest months in terms of work done and money earned.

Which leads me to ponder:  maybe we lawyers should take a cue from our lack of clients, worry less about the billable hour and more about our mental and physical well-being during the slow summer months?  I’ll be the first to admit that I am not good at slowing down.  But, what choice is there if there isn’t much billable work to do anyway?

I’m making an assumption here that those of you reading this have already started a law firm and built a succesful law practice.  If you are just getting going and notice that the summer months are slow – be patient, refocus, and maybe have some fun?

Starting a Law Firm | Post-Bar Exam Wait

As any readers of this blog know, I am starting a law firm in Minneapolis, MN just as soon as I can get licensed by the State of  Minnesota.  I have practiced for 3+ years in Indiana as both a small firm attorney (10 attorneys) and on my own as a solo practitioner.   However, I have never practiced in Minnesota (my new residence) because I just took the bar exam and I am now playing the lawyer licensing waiting game.

My wife tells me that I should relax and enjoy my free time.  The problem is that I am not very good at enjoying free time.  I suspect that is why many of us became lawyers in the first place: we can’t let good enough alone and always strive to do just a little bit better.  In an effort to “do a little bit better” I am going to continue to blog and try to have as much internet marketing help as I can before I can officially hang out my shingle in Minneapolis.

As I stated in a prior post about legal blogging for business, it is important to get content up on your blog on a constant basis.  This is work.  I’ll say it again:  legal blogging is work.  This creates the need to be diligent about posting and trying to make posts that are at least somewhat interesting to the public at large (or, at least, all you boring start-up lawyers out there).  The problem lies in the fact that I don’t always know what may be relevant or interesting to my small readership.  I will tell you that I get a lot more hits and responses from legal marketing and legal internet/blogging type posts.  Why?  Probably because that is what most attorneys are searching for when they find my blog – how to market their little firm and make it better.

I don’t know that I necessarily know how to market better than anybody else.  I do, however, know that marketing is a must for starting a law firm.  I did quite a bit of networking as an associate and on my own in Indiana and I can tell you that it works.  This blog is meant to serve as a vehicle for two things:  (1) explaining to younger attorneys how to start up and run a practice and (2) to serve as a marketing vehicle with link-back potential.

In the world of the internet, content is king.  I strive to have good content on this blog and that is probably why I haven’t been posting as much lately – I just don’t have any good content at the moment.  I plan to update this blog with posts about all of my Minneapolis firsts – first client, first office, first retainer check, etc.  But, alas, I have to wait until I get licensed before any of that is relevant.

Thus, in a world where content is king, I will continue to try to blog about prior war stories and my general ideas about starting a firm.  There are some things I can do, such as writing a more detailed legal business plan.  I also need to get all my old office furniture so I can create home office with a virtual office space.  This is all work and it can be blogged about.

Starting a law firm means being patient and staying the course.  It is tough to be patient when waiting to be licensed because the bar examiners take so very very long.  Hopefully I passed and licensure will come.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted.