As a law firm owner, you have to balance practicing law and running the business behind the firm. This can be a challenge, but it's easier to understand what elements go into each side.
Law school prepares you for the practice of law. Follow these tips to discover what else is required to build a firm that provides outstanding client experiences, tracks to goals, and is a great place to work.
Defining Your Law Firm's Mission and Vision
You can't determine if you're getting where you want without naming that destination upfront.
Before diving into operations, it’s crucial to articulate why your firm exists. What drives your passion for the law, and what change do you hope to bring to your clients and your community? A clear mission statement articulates your firm’s purpose, guiding every decision from strategic planning to client interactions.
Your vision statement should project your firm's future. Where do you see your firm in five or ten years? Are you looking to specialize in a niche area? Perhaps you want to expand your reach to serve clients across multiple states? By drafting strong mission and vision statements, you’ll create a guiding compass for your firm’s growth and decisions.
Define Your Firm's Focus and Goals
Along with defining your firm's mission, vision, and values, you must set goals that excite the entire team.
Having a clear vision before starting your own law firm allows you to create smaller goals that are broken down into weekly and daily tasks.
To refine your firm focus and objectives, start by brainstorming around these three questions:
- Who will we serve?
- Where will we play?
- How will we win?
If you're new to strategic planning for law firms, Playing to Win is an essential law firm management book. It's a soup-to-nuts approach to establishing your focus and targets as a business owner.
When you know your practice areas, how you'll reach ideal clients in those practice areas, and your law firm's unique value proposition, you stand a much better chance of hitting your milestones.
Having a general idea of these concepts also sets you up to write a clear business plan.
Create a Business Plan
Download your copy of our law firm business plan template here:
Running a law firm requires a plan and roadmap. Your law firm business plan outlines your focus, goals, and strategy and sets up the foundation for your marketing plan.
If you're looking for a way to craft your law firm with strategic operations in mind, check out Gino Wickman's book Traction. It's an excellent resource for building a team and staying on track with the goals you name in your business plan.
Here's a brief overview of what goes into a business plan for a law firm:
- Executive summary
- Description of the firm
- Analysis of the local legal market
- Details on firm management and organization
- Service details
- Your marketing plan
- Your financial plan
- Your launch budget
Legal Structure of Your Law Firm
When starting your own law firm, the legal structure you choose significantly impacts taxes, personal liability, and how you operate. Common options include:
- Solo Practice: Ideal for independent attorneys who wish to retain complete control over their practice.
- Partnership: A good fit for attorneys looking to collaborate with others, sharing profits and responsibilities.
- Limited Liability Company (LLC): Offers flexibility and limited personal liability, protecting your personal assets.
- Corporation: A more formal structure that can attract investors but involves more regulations and complexities.
Thoroughly research each structure, consulting with a legal or business advisor to determine which best suits your firm's needs. Understanding these foundational elements will set you up for long-term success and give you the clarity needed to tackle the exciting journey ahead.
Prioritize Client Service
Research shows that 80% of consumers believe the experience provided by a company is just as important as the services or products it provides. Your prospective clients have a choice about who they work with, and prioritizing your client's needs is the best way to grow your firm.
The more you focus on the experience you give to your clients, the higher the chances they'll make referrals, leave reviews, and give you opportunities to expand your practice. The social proof generated by someone who had a good experience can pay off in spades.
With everything you do in your firm, ask the question, "How does this benefit clients?" From setting rates for legal services to communication guidelines, your clients should be front and center of every experience you create.
Here are a few ways to manage your law firm with client satisfaction in mind.
Prioritize Communication
Effective communication is the bedrock of any successful client relationship. From the first point of contact, your clients should feel that they can easily reach out to you with questions or concerns and that you are responsive to their needs.
Establishing clear and open lines of communication can significantly enhance your client experience. Regular updates on case progress, prompt responses to emails, and even personal check-ins can turn a routine legal interaction into a relationship-building opportunity. Making it a priority to listen actively to your clients demonstrates that you value their perspective and are committed to understanding their unique situations.
Implementing a CRM System
A robust CRM system is essential for managing client interactions effectively and efficiently. These platforms allow law firms to centralize client data, track communications, and schedule follow-ups, leading to a more organized approach to client management.
When selecting a CRM system, look for features tailored to the legal profession, such as:
- Case and document management: Keep all relevant documents and case notes in one accessible place.
- Task and calendar management: Assign tasks, set deadlines, and ensure you never miss a crucial appointment.
- Client portals: Provide clients with secure access to case updates, documents, and billing information, enhancing transparency and trust.
Implementing a CRM system will not only streamline your operations but also enable you to personalize your service for each client, making them feel valued and understood.
Additional Strategies for Retaining Clients
Retaining clients is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones, making client retention strategies crucial to your firm’s growth. Here are a few proven approaches to ensure your clients remain loyal to your firm:
- Regular Check-Ins: Don’t wait for clients to reach out. Regularly check in with clients during and after their cases to gauge their satisfaction and address any concerns. A simple phone call or email can leave a lasting impression.
- Personalized Service: Tailor your service to fit the specific needs and preferences of your clients. Showing that you understand their unique circumstances can differentiate your firm from competitors.
- Feedback Mechanism: Encourage clients to provide feedback on their experience. Use surveys or informal conversations to gather insights that can help you improve your services. This not only helps you gain valuable information but also shows clients that their opinions matter.
- Post-Case Follow-Up: After a case concludes, continue to engage with your clients. Send a thank-you note, check in on their situation, or offer additional resources that might be helpful. This thoughtful approach can keep your firm top-of-mind for future needs.
Get the Right People in the Right Seats
To create a great place to work, you need to set some goals around work culture. Workers should feel excited, engaged, and hopeful about the work culture they're building together. Here's how to practice effective law firm management starting from the ground up.
Recruiting and Hiring the Right Talent
To begin with, you must identify the qualities and skills you want in your team members. Look for candidates who demonstrate not only strong legal expertise but also the ability to work collaboratively and empathically with clients. Consider the following when recruiting:
- Skills and Experience: Different areas of law require different expertise. Depending on your practice area, consider candidates with specific training and experience that match your firm's focus, whether that's family law, criminal defense, or corporate law.
- Diversity: A diverse team brings varied perspectives and experiences, fostering creativity and innovative solutions. Emphasize inclusivity in your hiring process to build a well-rounded team.
- Professional Growth Potential: Look for individuals who demonstrate a desire for continuous learning and professional development. These are the team members who will adapt to changing legal landscapes and contribute to your firm’s growth over time.
Training and Onboarding Processes
Mentoring and developing associates and staff, as well as being open to feedback from your team, is the best way to determine whether your work culture is strong.
Once you've hired the right talent, law firm leaders should implement effective training and onboarding to set them up for success. A strong onboarding process not only helps new hires feel welcomed but also equips them with the tools and knowledge they need to perform well.
- Structured Orientation: Create a comprehensive orientation program that familiarizes new employees with firm policies, procedures, and cultural values. This helps them understand the organization's vision from the start.
- Mentorship Programs: Pair new hires with experienced attorneys or legal professionals within your firm. This can lead to a smoother transition, allowing newcomers to ask questions and learn the nuances of your firm in a supportive environment.
- Continuous Training Opportunities: Legal practices evolve constantly, requiring team members to stay informed about new laws, regulations, and technologies. To promote professional development, provide ongoing training sessions through workshops, seminars, and online courses.
Even for a small company like a law firm, replacing an employee who gets fired or quits can cost thousands of dollars. Getting the right people in the right seats is vital for ongoing firm success and for reducing the amount of time and money spent on turnover issues.
A thriving law firm comprises support staff and attorneys in positions that capitalize on each person's strengths.
To grow your firm, law firm owners need other staff members to take over tasks. Knowing how and when to delegate are vital skills for any lawyer.
Beyond attracting the right people to work at your firm, successful law firm owners also need to think about how you'll engage and keep that person on board with the team.
Establishing a Positive Workplace Culture
A positive workplace culture is essential for retaining top talent and fostering collaboration. Creating an environment where team members feel valued, respected, and supported can lead to increased morale and productivity. Here are a few key aspects to consider:
- Open Communication: Cultivate a culture of transparency where team members feel comfortable sharing ideas, giving feedback, and discussing challenges. Foster open lines of communication across all levels of the firm.
- Work-Life Balance: Law can be a demanding field, and it’s essential to encourage a balance between professional and personal lives. Consider flex working hours or remote work options to adapt to your team’s needs.
- Recognition and Appreciation: Acknowledge and celebrate the hard work and achievements of your team members. Simple acts of recognition, whether through shout-outs in meetings or tangible rewards, can make team members feel appreciated and motivated.
Do I Need a Law Office Manager?
One of the first major hires you might consider as a law firm owner is whether or not you need someone in an administrative or law office management role.
It might be time to hire a law office manager if you're spending hours each week working on things like:
- Client intake
- Answering the phones or responding to general emails
- Ordering supplies or handling other admin
- Posting job ads and screening applicants
An office manager frees up your time spent on law practice management so you can focus on the two most important aspects of running a law firm: serving clients and business development.
As your firm grows, you need to evolve into the role of firm leader rather than the doer of all tasks. If a law office manager could save you hours each week, it's time to take those items off your to-do list.
Set KPIs to Stay On Top of Your Business
How do you know you're hitting the targets you set up in your business plan and marketing plan?
By determining key performance indicators and regularly checking in on them.
Keeping track of your KPIs gives you a pulse on your firm's performance, allowing you to pivot and make adjustments as needed.
KPIs are things that move the needle in your business and are not just vanity metrics. For example, setting a KPI around the number of followers on Facebook is meaningless to track unless you're actively getting clients when you add new followers.
Instead, be intentional about what you track. This keeps you and your employees accountable while also avoiding KPI overwhelm.
Here are some example KPIs to evaluate for your law firm as a starting point:
- New client intake calls per month
- Number of website visits per month
- Average call-to-conversion ratio for prospective clients
- Number of new leads received vs. ad spend for those leads
- How many people complete forms on your website each month
Invest in Technology and Innovation
For the modern law firm, investing in the right tools can save you time and money while also making you more efficient each day.
You can always add more law firm tools as you grow but focus on the basics first. Taking on too many bells and whistles just overcomplicates things, especially if your staff has to spend extra time on a learning curve for complex software.
At a base level, you'll need at least one tool for each of the following:
These are the minimum tools a law firm needs to manage deadlines, client service, and ongoing tasks. Some legal practice management software includes a suite of tools that can handle many of the above needs. We recommend doing thorough research before adding anything to your tech stack and making sure that your staff is thoroughly trained on how to use it.
Overall, your technology should help you, not hurt you. If something isn't streamlining workflows and improving efficiency, re-evaluate whether you need it in the first place. Come back to your technology once or twice a year to ensure you're keeping up to date with advancements and that your tools are working.
Develop Standard Operating Procedures
Much like with tools, standard operating procedures (SOPs) produce more consistent work from one case to the next and make your firm more efficient. This also makes it simpler to train new staff members and avoid costly mistakes, which is key for reducing risks across the board.
With clear policies and procedures, you'll improve the work experience for all of your staff and make clients happy, too.
As your firm grows, keep track of typical processes that repeat. For example, each new prospective client should undergo the same intake procedure with multiple touchpoints. You can get as detailed as you want with operating procedures. Create documents and workflows that show how each thing is done.
Whenever you can, automate part of that process. If you just wrapped up a case, you could set up an automation that sends a link to your Google My Business profile in a canned email asking for a review.
Even within your software, you can establish standard procedures around goals. Perhaps you want each case to be reviewed weekly, so you can train your staff to review and leave notes in your practice management or case management tool. This decreases the chances that someone drops the ball and misses a deadline or leaves a client hanging.
Emphasize Continual Professional Development
It's not enough to build systems and processes that make life easier now. You must also stay on top of legal industry changes beyond your required annual continuing education courses.
Make a plan for your professional development and support your team members on topics like leadership, communication, project management, and more.
As a law firm owner, you can't afford to ignore opportunities to stay sharp with your own business acumen and leadership skills. You're managing a team, so make sure you know what it takes to attract, support, and grow with your law firm staff. What it means to run a business evolves quickly, and you need to know that you're always at the top of your game.
From attending workshops to following top blogs or even downloading books every lawyer should read, it's easy to stay on top of what's trending in a way that works for you.
Here's a short list of some excellent books for lawyers to check out:
- Traction by Gino Wickman
- Playing to Win by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin
- E-Myth Attorney by Michael Gerber
- Building a Client-Centered Law Firm by Jack Newton
Draft a Clear Marketing Strategy
Law firm marketing is essential if you want to attract and convert the right clients. Marketing communicates who you are and who you help in the channels where your clients spend time.
With law firm marketing, your goal is to help clients travel down a marketing funnel. At the top of the funnel, those clients may not fully understand their legal issues, and they don't know who you are. As they learn more about you and their legal concerns, you're building trust with that person.
Over time, the prospective client travels down to the middle or the bottom of the funnel, where they're more prepared to decide. In your marketing plan, you lay out how you'll reach these people and move them through the funnel by naming specific channels and tactics.
There are many ways that lawyers can market their law firm services, including:
One of the biggest reasons that many law firms get confused by marketing is that they're not sure where to start. Feeling pulled in too many directions can dilute your marketing results.
Plenty of leading law firms resolve this issue by hiring a trusted marketing partner who can help them identify and then execute marketing initiatives.
Get Support Executing in Your Firm
When managing a small law firm, there's a lot to consider and decisions to make. But the good news is that you're not alone.
You can partner with others to help execute and fine-tune each aspect of your operations. From hiring a law office manager to handle the admin to finding a qualified legal marketing partner to implement campaigns for you, you can leverage your own time effectively.
If you're ready to make your marketing come alive, contact Rankings.io to create a winning SEO strategy to put your firm on the map.
