Articles

A vast and beautiful country

Our travels have taken us over 8,000 miles thus far. We finally turned the corner in Cleveland and have begun our trek back west. Today, we left Chicago for Madison and will go to Minneapolis and Omaha before boogeying back home. We will likely have traveled more than 11,000 by the time of our return.

Despite the diversity of our geography and of our people, I have found that lawyers are facing the same issues irrespective of whether they are in small communities or larger cities, in solo practice or in major law firms, in general practice or in a specialty boutique. Are there differences? Yes, but I like to view it in terms of nuances rather than differences. In other words, the "differences" are smaller in nature than many contend.

Oh, I know, we all think we’re different. We all think we’re special and face special circumstances. My experiences in both industry and in law tells me different, that all commercial enterprises, whether professional or trade, have the same basic characteristics. In other words, we all have to get the business (marketing), do the work (production) and get paid (finance). Each of us excel in certain areas and need guidance and support in others.

My travels has renewed my energy to coach and to produce more material (audio and electronic) that will guide lawyers to improve their connection with their clients. Though our trip has not yet concluded, it’s never to early to thank those many lawyers who’ve attended our programs and been generous with their comments of support. I look forward to continuing our work together.

 


View page

Tips for Increased Revenue

Ed offers 5 ways to increase your law firm’s revenue.
1. Emphasize collections.
2. Hire lateral lawyers to meet specific demands, a new practice area, a new need.
3. Leverage technology.
4. Create a cooperative compensation model that emphasizes the law firm as an institution.
5. Outsource functions that are better done by others. Delegate.


View page

Controlling Clients’ Legal Costs

Ed discusses how to estimate future costs by listing your assumptions.
Most clients don’t complain about hourly rates; they complain about the totality of their legal costs. In order to control legal costs, one help is budgets. 
How to estimate future costs: List your assumptions and make sure the client understands these and also provide for change-orders if any of these assumptions prove to be erroneous. That’s how you keep the costs down and that’s how you keep the client satisfied.


View page

Competition in the legal profession

Yesterday, one of the attendees at the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association suggested that increased competition was the largest challenge facing lawyers. He said that more lawyers are using television as a major promotional venue … and it’s very difficult to compete against. These are not just the lawyers on late night, early morning spot ads. But, rather, lawyers throughout the day and in a variety of practice areas.

Television advertising is an important marketing tool for many lawyers. It has become more important for some, despite the increasing importance of the internet. 

One way to address these competitors is to focus on existing clients.  Bond with existing clients, serve them in ways that creates loyalty, and have these very same clients be your advocates with others.

In such a case, you don’t need television. You won’t have competitors! You will be in your own bubble, growing your revenue and growing your profitability with clients who continue to return and who refer others to you.

 

 


View page

Women are moving up

In a recent study of the top 100 general counsel, a woman was listed as the top earner (more than $6 million) and more women (14) appeared in the list. This is the first and most since the study began. 


View page

Collecting Your Fee Begins At the Intake

Ed discusses the factors that influence collection success. Client selection: you have to get the right client. You must understand the wants and the needs of the client. You have to get confirmation of the arrangement between you and the client in writing, and check the client’s credit.


View page

Why do we do what we know injures us?

One of my clients recently asked me why we all do what we know is not good for us, in fact, hurts us? If you’ve got a choice between option A that is good for us an d option B that is not good for us, why do we oftentimes select option B? To be specific, why do we procrastinate? Why do we fail to enforce our own engagement agreements? Why do we continue to work for clients who do not pay our billings? And we could go on …

In this specific instance, my client complains about his partners and associates not collecting billings for work performed. There may be several possibilities to answer the “why.” One is that, despite being in an adversarial profession, most of us dislike being confrontational, especially with our own clients. Second, lawyers like doing what they love to do … and collecting (or any business related matter) is not what they love to do. And third, they don’t perceive this as their business.

There may be a number of solutions that will get their attention. First, you sign the paycheck. That carries a lot of weight if you care to wield the “stick.” Two, engage a staff person to be the collections manager for the firm; don’t ask lawyers to do that which they’re both not qualified to do and which takes them away from doing what they do best. Third, read my book, Collecting Your Fee: Getting Paid from Intake to Invoice, and follow the scenario and script outlined to interact with slow-paying clients.


View page