Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

Along this same vein of thought, is there a strong business justification to ever practice in the domestic relations field? Note from the last post, this is currently our largest practice area. But, everything one reads about lawyer profitability says that family law is the worst area for profitability. You never see the big firms practicing family law…and this is the reason right? I certainly know about the struggles to get fees paid in these sorts of cases.

With us there’s the issue of do we want to let go of this “branch” before we have another profitable area set-up. And I can think of many non-monetary reasons to be in this practice area, but is there ever a good business reason to do it? How can we make family law work from a business standpoint?

Thanks for some of the great comments in recent days encouraging specialization in the practice of law. Going a step or two further, and I’m sort of describing the debate that’s going on inside my head rather than suggesting I have an answer, what if you are too much of a lawyer generalist…how do you transition toward being that desired expert/specialist?

I’d guess that my journey towards sole practitioner and arguably too much of a generalist, is fairly common. When my solo firm was started some 2+ years ago I had practiced in 3-4 practice areas primarily based on the practice areas of the two employers I’d worked for previously. So those 3-4 practice areas were what I knew (to some degree) and that along with the need to “pay the bills” led me to probably be a bit too general. We’re say 60% various forms of family law, 20% residential real estate, 10% trusts/estates and 10% landlord-related matters. I certainly turn down cases where I’m not competent but at the same time there certainly are situations where I feel like my knowledge isn’t specific enough in some of the nuances of our practice.

If you have a practice like mine or even a more general solo practice with maybe some corporate work too, how do you choose which area becomes the “new” speciality? What drives the choice? Your interests? Market-based analysis? Both? Other factors?

Saw his quote from a law firm leader with a mid-sized Chicago firm:

We are continually shaping our strategy so that it is more focused rather than less. For a smaller firm, it is life or death. If you are not focused, you are dead. If you are just a generalist, you are only competing on rate. You are not competing on expertise in a few areas where you can have a strong market positions.

What do you think about the statment? And aren’t entirely too many small firm lawyers falling prey to this “problem”? I’m fearful that I too often have one foot in that boat…and it’s slowly sinking.

Saw this piece about animal law expansion.

“It’s growing really fast, and faster than we can probably keep up with,” said Jonathan Lovvorn, who leads the Humane Society of the United States’ litigation department and has quadrupled his staff to 12 during the past two years.

Work by groups such as the Humane Society and the Animal Legal Defense Fund is encouraging student and attorney interest and funneling it into legal activity. Lovvorn’s department has 40 cases pending around the country and has handled 100 since starting in January 2005.

It’s interesting to see how new areas of law develop. Of course I dislike pets so I think it’s weird.

I’ve been seeing more and more about these formal lawyer networks. The NYTimes had a good piece here. I’m familiar with Meritas and the International Network of Boutique Law Firms.

Who should be a member of these? Isn’t it just a question of a better “vetting” vehible for referrals? I’m intriqued. I constantly grapple with how to better refer clients and receive referrals. It seems like it’s mid-sized firms attempting to compete with the mega firms on an international scale.

Yaro Starak over at The Entrepreneur’s Journey has a new eBook on profitable blogging here. Obviously I’m a bit off of “legal stuff” but he’s developed some great small business and entrepreneurial resources if you don’t get any of his stuff.