Starting a Law Firm | Criminal Defense Addition

Starting a law firm is a lot of fun. And I think starting a criminal defense law firm is even more fun. First, the work is much more fun. Where else can you hear stories ranging from a fight for gold teeth to someone falling asleep at a poker table, getting dealt twice in a row, and then getting accused of cheating? No where else, that's where.

But, if you are going to go into criminal defense, you need to know a couple of things. It's possible to go out there and start a law firm right out of law school, but it's almost impossible to do it well. See, part of being a good criminal attorney is having the gumption (others would say balls) to stand up and say "f-you prosecutor, your offer sucks, and we're taking this to trial," when you know you have a shitty case. And it also just takes some good old fashioned experience.

There are several ways to get this experience, some more readily available than others. And, today is your lucky day, because I'm going to talk about them.

Criminal Attorney Experience | Watching

I probably learn more about how to be a great criminal lawyer from watching other people do it than any other way. Find out when motions dates are and find out when trial dates are of the good attorneys, and then go and watch them. You'll learn a ton.

Criminal Lawyer Experience | Trial by Fire

This is a great way to get experience. Just get in there and do it. When you open your firm there will be pro bono opportunities, conflict panel appointed counsel opportunities, and paying client opportunities to get out there and get to work. Just make sure you know your boundaries and don't get caught up in something you have no business doing.

Criminal Defense Experience | CLEs

I'm not talking about those CLEs people go to just to get there hours and get out of there. I'm talking about the substantive CLEs that teach you something about the law you are doing or about the craft that you have chosen to partake in.

For example, I'm a DUI attorney. I go to as many DUI CLEs as I can. I was recently certified in field sobriety testing (this means I've got the exact same training the cops get) and up next is probably breath test certification. And when the heavy hitters get together and talk about DUI, I make sure I show up.

I'm also a trial attorney, through and through. And trust me when I say this is a learned craft. You can never practice enough. In the last couple months I've taken two CLEs that were geared toward improving trial skills. And they were interactive. One made me about as uncomfortable as I've ever been (I had to give an opening statement to a "jury" and I couldn't move eye contact from one juror to the next without first touching that person - it was as awkward as it sounds) but made me a better trial attorney.

This is the kind of stuff that I'm talking about.

Criminal Defense Books

There is still something to be said for reading too. Every day I read 20 pages of the Washington State DUI manual, working my way from front to back and then starting all over again, and I read a chapter from the current marketing/practice book that I've got in my hands. Today on a whim I picked up The Best Defense by Alan Dershowitz, and I wish I'd picked it up years ago. He speaks plainly about what it really means to be a criminal defense attorney (for example, "almost all of my clients are guilty, but I don't care. I'm here to win. If they go free and kill someone it doesn't necessarily affect my conscience, much like it shouldn't affect a surgeon if he saves someone and then the patient goes out and kills someone"). Read it.

That's about it for this post, and the rules probably apply to whatever practice area you're going to focus on. There's a saying that being the best attorney in the world won't get you clients if you can't find them, but once you do find them you better know what you're doing.

Starting a Law Firm | Staying Motivated

I'm still really knew at my life as the owner of a DUI defense law firm. In fact, I'm still in my first year. The reality is, though, that starting a law firm, as fun as it is over the long run, is from day to day a pretty big grinder. Sure, I get to cash the checks, I get to make the important business decisions, and I get to take on as clients the people I want, but it is still possible to get bogged down in the day to day monotony of work.

And being a Seattle DUI attorney and owning a law firm provide a lot of work to get monotonous. So, how do I get through the monotony? How do I continue pushing forward and making things work? There are a couple of ways.

First, and I think this applies to any business owner, there is always the fear in the back of your mind that business is going to some day dry up and disappear forever. This fear, while stressful at times, is an important motivator in the grand scheme of things. For example, it's got me writing this post at 10:00 p.m. on a Sunday (as much as I love helping you all out, this helps me too).

Second, a lot of responsibility comes with being a Seattle DUI lawyer. People are relying on me to help them out of sticky situations. And I don't want to let them down. They push me to continue looking through the breath test databases for errors, to continue sifting through their police reports with a fine toothed comb, and to continue to negotiate with the vigor that gets results.

Third, and finally, I stay motivated by recognizing that I've got a lot of goals. I've got short term goals, which I try to meet every day. I've medium term goals, which I try to meet every month. And I've got long term goals, which stretch to the end of this year and beyond. The only way to reach any of these goals is to get started today pursuing them. Sometimes that means doing boring stuff. But it makes it so much easier when you are reaching and exceeding those goals you've laid out for yourself.

If you are starting a law firm and aren't sure if you have what it takes, don't think about all the things that can go wrong. Think about whether or not you have the guts and the drive to make things turn out right for you. It's no secret that you get out of life what you make of it. And there is opportunity out there to be grasped. All you have to do is jump out there and grab it.

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