Starting a Law Firm | Working for Friends and Family

A funny thing happens to all attorneys once they actually become attorneys, whether they choose to start a law firm or not - friends and family begin to ask you all sorts of legal questions from all sorts of different areas of law. You've got your buddy that got a traffic ticket, you've got a cousin that needs you to look at her lease. The list goes on and on - and I'm not saying this is bad by the way, just a fact - remember, I have family too :).

The question of the day is, what do you do with these questions?

I received a comment on this blog today from someone that wants to start a law firm. She had several concerns, which many people typically have, and then she left this at the end:

4. I do alot of legal work for my family and friends right now because I am out of work. I don't get paid because I don't feel comfortable charging people I know when I am unemployed and don't have a practice. Please give me some suggestions on how I should market and gain clients?

It was something I just couldn't pass up talking about.

I guess the easiest way to do this is to answer the question, and then explain why. Here you go -

the only free work I do for anyone is family. And even then, I strongly consider charging for it. And I don't typically give discounts to friends.

I know, I know, I'm cold hearted, I hate my friends, and I'm just trying to make some money off my friends. In fact, the opposite is true, and here's why.

1. Free work has little perceived value.

I get the idea of wanting something to do and jumping on the legal issues your friends and family members have. And I'm okay with that. It makes you feel like a lawyer, like you are doing something good, and it helps out a close friend or family member.

But here's the problem, when you do work for free, it's impossible for your friends and family to understand the level of value you are providing them. When you charge, they get it. And most importantly, they get it enough that when their friends have problems, they will remember that you are a lawyer (and that you do great work but you aren't cheap). You might not believe this is true, but trust me, it is.

2. Free work doesn't count as work when you are starting a law firm.

If you want to be busy, go down to the courthouse, tell people you'll work for free, and start signing people up. But if you want to make some money while helping people (which is sort of the point of starting a business), you've got to be making money for the work that you do. If you aren't, then you're doing yourself a disservice because you're working for well under your value and you are taking yourself away from other things that you should be doing (i.e. marketing to get paying clients).

I see this all the time in criminal defense. People are running around working their butts off for people that are probably never going to pay them. Until they look at their bank balances they feel like their business is really taking off. Bottom line, if you aren't getting paid, you don't have a successful law firm.

3. Family and friends can be a crutch that can hurt you in the long run.

This blends points one and two together, in a way. What I mean is, if your friends and family keep bringing you work and you keep doing it, for little or no pay, then not only does it make it hard to market to outside sources, it gives you a reason not to step out there and take some marketing chances. And you can't fail if you don't try, right? So you'll just keep languishing, wondering when business is going to pick up, when in fact you are doing it to yourself by leaning on your friends and family to make you feel like you're busy.

I know, I know, it's uncomfortable asking for money from friends and family for work that requires your expertise, knowledge, and will provide them with tremendous value. But if they aren't happy to pay after you've talked to them about what you can do for them, it's your fault not theirs. You haven't done a good enough job of letting them know why they should be more than happy to pay you for the work you are about to do for them. Here are a couple of starters.

First, they are going to get a level of service they won't find anywhere else. For example, you have a dentist? Ever try to get a hold of the dentist personally? Not easy to do. For your friends and family, they have your cell phone number at the ready. They have a level of access to their attorney, someone that is going to be helping them with a problem, that they wouldn't otherwise have.

Second, they have a level of trust with you that they won't have with any other attorney. Ask people what the number one concern is with hiring an attorney and it's whether or not the attorney is going to perform as advertised. With you, they know what they are getting, and as long as you don't make outrageous promises, they are going to rest easy knowing you are giving it everything you have.

Third, and finally, they are showing their support for you by investing their money in your services. What better sign of "this attorney is good and can be trusted" than when family and friends are paying you to help them?

Now, to back track just a bit. Here's the part where I say you don't have to charge everyone full price all the time. That just doesn't make any sense. But, if you're going to give a discount (you should only do something for free as a last resort - do it for free and if anything goes wrong your client is going to think you weren't giving your full effort because you weren't getting paid), make sure you spell out to the client what you would normally charge (printing it on the bill is a good way to do that). That way they will know what your services are worth.

In the end, starting a law firm is as much about running a business as it is being a lawyer. So you've got to start thinking about your law firm as a business, as something that helps you accomplish the goals you have in life. Bottom line, if your business isn't making money, it's not working for you the way it should be.