I was recently referred a great client from a law school classmate. Without getting too specific basically it’s a guardianship estate for an affluent elderly woman. There’s nothing particularly contested it’s just a matter of some regular client counseling and preparing the various annual reports for the court that are required in guardianship cases. And in a rather short period of time I’ve been able to clean-up the case which I took over from another attorney. The previous lawyer had not been doing quality work and frankly he had been bilking a wealthy client while accomplishing little. This case really got me thinking about how I should be handling the lawyer referrals I’m in a position to make.
Because I can be a TON more valuable to my clients if I have a specific and vetted group of attorneys to refer business too. I’ve surely passed referrals over the last 9 years of my legal career but I haven’t done it right. Too often I’ve passed a phone number on that I got from another person without knowing anything about the individual to whom I was passing the referral. That method might be a half step above just sending a person to the Yellow Pages but it’s not much better.
Being a great REFERRER will allow me to:
- Serve my clients better;
- Bring more value and better service to my clients;
- Generate business for myself and other lawyers.
I am a vetted referral source for the law school friend I mention in paragraph 1 and that friend has referred thousands of dollars in legal work to me over the years. Do you really think that the client this guy referred to me above isn’t going to get absolute A+ service from my Firm? Because it’s not just about her it’s about not letting my referral source down as well. It’s sort of like 10x just the regular old, single client.
And that’s what I want to start doing immediately for my clientele:
Provide vetted lawyer referral sources that will allow them to receive A+ legal services.
What’s Next?
Basically I’m motivated to serve my clients better plus I’ve been honing my niche more narrowly with RJon Robins’ help. What do I do? I’m a pro-marriage and pro-family divorce lawyer. So that’s all I’m doing: Cook County divorce and paternity matters because family relationships don’t end just because a marriage/relationship does. And, because family break-up shouldn’t destroy lives. And far too many litigants and children are screwed-up for life because of stupid, anti-family choices their divorce lawyer made. Not me.
So if you’re in my niche…I want your referrals! But for everyone else I want to know you better and really ‘vet’ you and get to know you well so that my client’s are benefiting big time from your A+ legal services. Lets do lunch. You know where to find me (leave a comment, Facebook, @soloinchicago, peter@soloinchicago.com). Specific practice area requests to come but if you know my niche you probably know some of the referral areas I need a LOT of right now.
Peter,
I hope that the specialization works out for you. Generally I get requests for Lake and McHenry County family lawyers, but if I have someone who needs in Cook, I’ll be certain to make the introduction.
Patrick