Turning Down Clients the Key to Starting a Law Firm Successfully

You may have just read the title of this post and immediately thought of clicking away. After all, how can you make any money if you turn down clients? Isn't the goal to make as much as possible, and isn't that goal only attained by getting the maximum number of clients? I mean, if you are just starting a law firm, isn't any client better than no client?

The short answers are: you can make more money if you turn down certain clients; the goal is to make as much money as possible, but that doesn't necessarily mean getting as many clients as possible; and no, any client is not better than no client at all.

If you've already started the journey, you know starting a law firm is a scary experience. And for me, it was probably about as scary as it could get. I was in a new city, didn't know any people, and was scared the phone might never ring. But, keeping my law firm goals in mind and thinking big picture instead of immediate gratification helped my law firm generate money from day one.

Turning Down Bad Clients is Okay When Starting a Law Firm

Turning down clients to make more money with your new law firm, while appearing to be a little counter intuitive, definitively holds true. Let me give you an example from my practice to show you what I mean. I had someone come into the office who had a problem. They were facing some pretty serious criminal charges. No problem, I told them, I can help you, it will only cost you x dollars. I need to be paid up front and once I get that payment I'll help you.

The client's court date came and they told me they'd have a check waiting. I showed up, entered my appearance, got the check, and deposited it. And it bounced. Not only did it bounce, but I found out it was a check on a bank account that had been closed. So I called the client and told her I needed to be paid, in cash. She said okay, but she couldn't get it all, she could only come up with about a third. I said okay, bring the third and then pay me x dollars a month after that.

The last time I got paid was in September. I've been doing some work for her ever since, and every time I ask for payment I get excuses that I buy and give her more time. Tomorrow I'm entering my motion to withdraw and get out of the case. And if I would have demanded payment earlier I could have used the time I wasted helping this person to help a paying client or do something else that would help my business.

And it isn't just nonpaying clients. You ever have someone come in that you knew was going to be difficult? That was going to be pulling teeth to work with? Why take them on as a client? I know it's a scary proposition to turn business away, but you will be happier, your employees will be happier, and other people will still want your help if you turn bad potential clients away.

Making the Most Money Possible Doesn't Mean Having the Most Clients Possible

You can have two kinds of practice as an attorney - a volume practice or a value practice. The volume practice relies on discount prices and a high volume of clients. Think bankruptcy, think criminal defense (for some people), think traffic defense. You need a lot of people to survive because the profit each client gives you is small.

The value practice works in a different way. Your clients are paying you not for your time or because you are the cheapest, but because you provide something to them that they consider valuable enough to pay a premium (or at least market or above market value for). It is your job to create and demonstrate that value to potential clients, but it is there, and it is possible. A value practice makes more money with less clients by making more money off of each case, by providing more value to each case.

If you are a volume practice, turning down clients is difficult. If you are a value practice, it is easy.

Any Client is Not Better Than No Client at All

I think you already know where this is going. The bad client doesn't pay according to your agreement. The bad client calls you for no reason. The bad client doesn't adhere to your policies and procedures they agreed to at the beginning. The bad client has had previous attorneys and moved on to you. The bad client is just not a nice person. And you don't need the bad clients.

And turning them down will not only not have a bad effect on your business, it could actually help it thrive. First, you won't have the stress of dealing with that bad client. Second, you won't have the stress of trying to track them down for payment. And third, you can use that time to work on your firm (marketing, marketing, marketing) and work for your good clients, your paying clients.

I'm a Seattle DUI attorney. This means I have the choice of slugging it out in the gutter, racing to be the cheapest attorney out there or provide a great service to the clients I have, at a good price. I think you know which way I'm going.

Any thoughts, questions, comments? Please leave them below.

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Starting a Law Firm? Get Your Money Up Front

Challenges of Starting a New Law Firm