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.

Nolo.com Advertising. Is it Worth It? A Review.

As you know, I'm constantly on the lookout for ways to market my law firm. If you've never started a law firm before, you probably don't think about it that much, but getting people to pick up the phone and call you when they need you is the most important thing there is. Great attorneys aren't great unless they have someone to help, right?

So, I got a call the other day from a representative at nolo.com. They acted as if I should know who they are and that they are all over the place. Honestly, I didn't really know much about them. But, to me, it didn't make much of a difference. I still took the time to listen to what they had to say to see if they could help me at all. I think most people hang up. I listen. Most of the time I say no. Sometimes I say yes (and then I let you know about it!).

What they offer is a kind of personal profile on their site. And, though I signed up a couple of weeks ago, I remember that an attractive aspect of the site was that there were a limited number of attorneys in the space, and that you had the ability to build out your own profile, which was quite extensive. In addition to that within your profile you get to create 25 links and point them wherever you want. As you know, I love links, so this is what put it over the edge.

The pricing is honestly a little steep. Essentially you are paying for an online yellow pages ad, which gets crawled who knows how much (I'll periodically update this so you know), for about $160/month. If you pay up front and enter into a longer contract, it's cheaper. But I only went for a year. If it works out, I'll keep it up.

Remember, if you have decided to start a law firm, the number one question you are going to have to answer, and answer fast, is how you are going to get clients into the door. If you don't have an answer, then you are going to have a tough go of it.

I talk to people a lot about starting a law firm. I encourage it. I tell them what I've done right and wrong, and I try to help them through the process. But time and time again I ask them what they are doing and it's reading the law. Read the law when you have a client to work for. You have been taught how to learn the law. Now is the time to get clients. Put your energy toward that, and when you get someone that needs help, learn everything you need to help them.

I can guarantee you nolo.com will be contacting me to talk about this review. They always do. I'll let you know if I left anything out of the post.

Starting a Law Firm | Where to Get Work

Another week, another installment of how to start a small law firm. In this installment, we are going to answer a reader question about something I'm sure all of you are curious about - where I got my clients when I first opened shop.

Before I get into it I want to point out something that many of you considering starting a law firm probably won't have to deal with - I didn't have any connections in the community. What I mean is, I hadn't ever even practiced law in the State. I didn't know any lawyers, didn't have a lot of friends and family that got into trouble (remember I'm a Seattle DUI defense attorney), and didn't have any business lined up. But I had a plan.

So, without further adieu, here is the reader question:

Can you talk a little bit about the source of your clients/revenues?

I'm considering leaving my Firm to open my own Firm, and I'm curious where you get your work from initially.

From the little research I've done, it appears that court-appointed criminal work and State Bar referrals would comprise most of my clients initially.

If you could lay out something like:

Court-appointed work - [__]%
Family/Friend referrals - [__]%
State Bar referrals - [__]%
[Type] Advertising - [__]%

Will you also show how these numbers have changed through the months?

Have you used any referral programs/lists, etc. that you recommend using/not using? Will you write about what has worked and has not worked in obtaining clients?

Your blogs are great and very helpful, thanks for doing them.

Looks like there are six basic questions. First, where did I get my work from initially? Second, was it mostly court-appointed work and bar referrals? Third, can I break down by percentage where I made my money? Fourth, how have these numbers changed over the past 8 months? Fifth, have I used any referral programs that I recommend using or not using? And finally, what has worked and not worked in getting clients? Here we go!

Starting a Law Firm | Initial Work

When I first started I had a gradiose plan to take over the internet world to get all of my clients. I set up a few blogs, new what I was doing from a marketing standpoint, and was working every day to move farther and farther up the search engine rankings. But I knew it would take time. And I didn't know where I would get my money from. Honestly, I'd just planned on not making any money for about the first two months I was open. I just figured it would take that long before my marketing efforts paid off (remember I had to wait to get my law license here, so I couldn't do any back door marketing before I opened up).

But I lucked out. One of the places I checked in to for office space had just lost a bunch of their associates and was going to need some serious coverage help. They were a criminal defense firm, so I told them I'd be happy to do as much coverage as they needed until I got too busy to do it. To start, about all I was doing was coverage, at $50 an hour. It paid the rent the first 3 months of my practice and even got me a little extra to put in the bank account.

During that time I would also pick up a stray case here and there, almost solely from my internet marketing efforts. When those came up, I worked them. I also made it a point to tell everyone that I met what I was doing and if they had any problems to give me a call. I got a couple of referrals from that.

Don't be afraid to consider coverage work when you start out. It's easy money, it's low stress, it gets you out of your office, and it's a great way to meet other attorneys (whenever I'm in court I always try to meet one attorney I hadn't met before). I know some people that do coverage work full time - that is their business model.

How to Start a Law Firm | Court Appointed and Referrals

I've never had a single bar referral. I didn't sign up for them because I don't think they send you good clients. The only people I know that call the bar association have called a bunch of attorneys, no one wants to work with them, and they refer them to the bar. I'd only consider bar work if you want to do some pro bono type of stuff. I would not consider it a source of income in your business plan.

I am on the court appointed list, and I got on there right when I opened up. As with bar referrals, I don't consider this a serious source of income and didn't in my business plan. It depends on the structure where you practice, but here they have public defense agencies. I only get appointed when there is a conflict. This is good for a couple of cases a month, but it doesn't pay the bills. I do more as a pseudo pro bono project. My plan is to stay on the appointment list no matter how successful my practice becomes financially. Public defenders are great, but I consider people appointed to me lucky because I can give them at least double the time a public defender can. They are just way too overworked.

Starting a Small Law Firm | Breakdown of Work

Here is the breakdown as you asked for it, though I'll add another category (or two).

Court-appointed work - 5%
Family/Friend referrals - 1%
State Bar referrals - 0%
Internet Advertising (Yodle) - 3%
Online Marketing (self-marketing) - 91%

I think you can see form this chart that the easiest way to make money is to get out there and get to work on the internet. If you want some help, check out my online marketing site - lawfirmwebsiteseo.blogspot.com. Most of my money right now comes from traffic ticket work (about 60%) and all I've done for that is position myself in the top 5 results for almost all traffic searches in my area.

Starting a Law Firm | Change in Numbers

The numbers actually haven't changed much for me from the time I started, except that the coverage work has basically gone to zero. If I'm available I'll still do it, but I don't need it to survive. As time goes on I'm getting more and more criminal work (versus traffic) which is a result of my moving up in the search engines for those things.

By the way, if you couldn't tell, you need to figure out how to get yourself positioned in Google where people can find you. And I'm not talking about sponsored links. I'm talking organic - the place you go to find answers to your problems (I know none of you click on the ads at the top or the side of the page).

How to Start a Law Firm | Referral Programs

I actually have used one referral program that has sent me a decent amount of business. It's called ARAG. It's a legal insurance some large employers make available to their employees. Here it's Amazon, Microsoft, and some other companies that have it. It's great because it's free, I just submitted my information, they checked me out and made sure I knew what I was doing, and they listed me as a participating attorney. I haven't used anything else though.

Start a Law Firm | What has Worked and Not Worked?

What a difficult question to answer. Almost everything has worked a little bit. The one thing I'd suggest you do is have a plan for what you are going to do when the phone rings. How are you going to answer it? What are you going to say? When someone tells you they have a problem you can help them with what are you going to do? Set an appointment? Is it free? When you set the appointment, what kind of information are you going to want to give them? How is the meeting going to go? What are you going to do to give them the confidence to hire you? When it comes time to talk about signing up, are you ready to do that comfortably?

And don't just think about this stuff. Write it down. Do it the same way every time. If something doesn't work, tweak it. This is going to become extremely valuable for two reasons. First, it will help you sign up exponentially more clients. You will be in charge of the meeting. You will know where it's going, and potential clients will follow you right down the path to actual client. And second, when you get to hiring associates and staff, you can give them your written protocol for signing up clients. They will know exactly what you want, and they'll do what works.

Okay, that's enough for today. As always, if you have questions, let me know.

Related Posts:

Starting a Law Firm | Marketing

Starting a Law Firm | Challenges of Signing Up Clients

How to Start a Law Firm | Law Firm Blogging Part II

In my last post I showed you how to start a law firm blog. If you followed my advice, you should now have the bare bones of your new law firm blog. This lesson will probably be much shorter, but will contain some very important information.

Today we are going to discuss optimizing your law blog - in regular people speak, we are going to make it easy for Google, Yahoo, and the other search engines to tell what your blog is about so that when people search for your services the search engines will put you at the top (or at least near the top). For example, they know this site is about starting a law firm because I do things to tell it that.

If you weren't aware, most of the sites you see in the top ten positions on Google when you do a search for legal services aren't there by chance or luck. Because a lot of money is made on Google through advertising, sales, and other methods, ranking high on Google has become a bit of a science for some. Luckily, I have studied this "science" a bit and am willing to help you out. It isn't hard. It just takes a little time and some planning. So let's get started.

To begin with, you have already started optimizing your blog for Google just by picking a good title and blog address. When analyzing a site, Google tends to start at the top left hand of the page and work its way down toward the bottom right. Whatever Google sees first (the web address and title of the blog) it assumes is a good indication of what the site itself if about. That is why I suggested you use your practice area or whatever you think potential clients may search on Google as your blogger address and blog title. Don't worry, if your title isn't right, you can change it now. Just go to the Settings tab and change it - same with the description - the more keywords the better (but make sure it makes sense).

Before we go any further, you may be asking yourself, why would I be putting this information on the internet? Wouldn't I want to keep this information to myself and continue to rank high on Google (although I don't yet for my main keyword)?

The answer is twofold. First, How to Start a Law Firm is meant to be here to help you out. The purpose is to help others start and build a law practice, just like I am doing. And second, it is highly unlikely that you are in my area of the country and my area of practice and would be competing directly against me. And third, honestly, I think I can rank higher than you anyway.

Before the first post there is one other thing you can do to optimize the layout of your law firm blog quickly and easily - the "about me" section. Go to the "Layout" tab of your blog and click the edit button on the about me box. Then fill it out including as many of your law firm keywords as you can get in there, including the geographic location of your practice. For example, if I were a criminal defense attorney in Seattle, I'd write,

CMS, a Seattle DUI lawyer who will do whatever it takes to fight your criminal charges and get your life back on track.

This gets all of your keywords on all of your pages automatically - Google will see this and know what your law firm blog is about.

Now comes the fun part - your first post. Unless you really want to dive right in, I'd suggest making this an introductory post to help get your blog on the map. Here is a good example of a law firm introductory blog post. As you can see it introduces what the law firm blog is about, what it will say, and welcomes everyone in. There are also two other key aspects to this post.

First, when you are creating this post you will see a title box, to fill in the title, and "link" box, where you can put in a link. Every time you make a blog post, the link needs to have the home page of your law firm blog. For this "How to Start a Law Firm" blog, I insert http://startingalawfirm.blogspot.com each and every time. What this does is create unique pages for each of your posts. This allows each page to have its own Google "juice" and build up Google "juice" to your home page.

The second thing you will notice is that in the post there is a link to the homepage using some or all of the keywords. This is very important, and you should have at least one link back to your site (to the home page or an older post) each time you post. For my first post I linked to the home page. For this post I linked to the last post I did about starting a law firm blog.

So, your next homework assignment is to make this first post. I probably won't post for about a week, so if you want to post to your blog in the mean time make sure it is keyword rich and has the internal links. And if you are wondering wear I learned all of this, it's off a how to make money blogging site I just love (that's why I just gave the good link juice - read his site and you'll know what I'm talking about). The author offers great information on optimizing blogs (he doesn't care how you use it for the same reasons that I don't care how you use the information I am giving you - he is way out of my league). Go check it out and read it from the beginning. You can really learn a lot.

Next week - Starting a Law Firm | Getting People to Your Blog.

Related Posts:

Starting a Law Firm | Getting Ranked in Google

Starting a Law Firm | Internet Marketing 101