Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

The Greatest had a couple of interesting recent posts regarding e-mail etiquette and dictating e-mail…they’re well worth a read. He’s right in his general theme promoting dictation generally especially with all the digital options out there these days.

I’m amazed at the vitriol I see written via e-mail particularly from clients and on lawyer list serves. I really think that the impersonal nature of e-mail (typing on some electronic device by yourself) really brings out the worst in people. My personal policy is absolutely if there needs to confrontation or criticism, do it in person or over the phone. Time and again I see a tone of communication from people that they would NEVER express verbally but when it’s not really expressed to a person but rather just typed into a box there’s inappropriate anger.

Ya know the Dewey Decimal system?

OK, a bit off topic here but our Rotary club is having our big fundraiser this weekend called Do The Dewey which is a partnership with the Des Plaines Public Library. It’s a good time w/ food, music, activities AND free plants from Pesche’s. So if you’re in the NW ‘burbs and want something to do Saturday night drop me a line…I have plenty of free tickets!

As we’ve blogged about previously, I’m now up to 6 court appointments through this program. Mostly unpaid child support cases but a couple are lets say more “interesting.” So I’d continue to recommend this for the solo, domestic relations start-up.

However, my one negative is that I’m getting appointed and these judges don’t know my schedules so I get six court dates on six different days. The last 10 business days I’ve been in court on 6 of them, mostly on these appointments. And generally it’s bad business to go to court for only 1 case.

Make your schedule to make you money, my biggest $$ days by far are the days where I can schedule 3-4 cases at Daley in one morning.

At least not on Alberto Gonzales’ resume. Here’s the piece regarding his job search struggles. Hey, I don’t need the Old Grey Lady to tell me it’s a tough job market for lawyers.

An art? I think it’s a science.

Nevertheless, here’s the full NYT piece with a few take-away-points:

¶ “Start by making a list of all the people who might be a referral source for you. These may include people you do business with, such as your banker, accountant, attorney, printer, consultant, broker, and so on. This list will also include at least some of your existing clients.”

¶ Then, zero in on the people who are already frequently recommending prospects to you. “Almost always, you’ll have better results by developing stronger relationships with a few referral sources rather than shallow relationships with lots of sources.”

¶ Help those referral sources help you by telling them exactly what kind of clients you are looking for, explaining in detail how you can help those potential clients. Also, be sure to point out the types of clients you do not want. “When you are clear about describing the recommendations you want, you make it easier for your referral partners to identify prospective customers for you.”

I had three contested hearings on three different days this week…that’s tough when you’re mainly used the “carpet commute” (Chuck Newton). I hardly got to watch Washington Journal all week.

Hey he didn’t do too well at the trial level of MSFT’s anti-trust case back in the 1990s but I’ll bet he has an interesting perspective…

William H. Neukom, president of the American Bar Association, will be the guest speaker addressing “The Rule of Law and Intellectual Property in the 21^st Century” at the Hon. Howard T. Markey Distinguished Lecture April 18 at The John Marshall Law School.

Here’s a short piece on the lecture and JMLS’s announcement.

It’s 12pm – 130pm at Daley with Judges Evans and Jacobius regarding acting as a child representative in domestic relations cases. It’s put on by the court so no surprise one can’t find anything online…they have signs posted on many of the courtroom doors up on the 30th floor. If interested I’d try and call Judge Jacobius’ chambers @ 312-603-6556. I’d bet it’s in his courtroom 1901; I’ll be there.

So one month to go in our Illinois State Bar Association’s (ISBA) election…vote, vote, vote!! Yours truly IS a candidate for the Board of Governors (Under 37, Cook County). OK, this will be the first and last post plugging my candidacy…

Why do I want to be on the Board?

In many ways my candidacy is a direct outgrowth from this blog and its purpose: Attempting to help and empower Chicagoland’s entrepreneurial legal community. That’s what I’m trying to do through my posts and sharing my personal story. Yet the most meaningful aspect of this now nearly three-years-old blog/journey hasn’t been about me but rather it’s been about the people I’ve met and the relationships formed that sprouted from this tiny piece of cyberspace. And what I’m hearing far too often across the table from lawyers throughout the Chicago area is that they’re struggling to build successful legal service businesses.

Whether Solo By Choice, solo due to a very tight legal job market, or not a solo at all, the ISBA must provide the business consulting, law practice management, and marketing resources critical to its lawyer members. The development of progressive lawyer-business people is critical to the future of the legal profession. We have an ethics hotline yet we don’t have an on-call law practice management adviser. This must change!!

Help me be your voice on the Board; I need your vote! Help me spread the word!

ALL RIGHT, the commercial is over…back to blogging (blawgging).

This list compliments of the Rainmaker Institute…

• People: Identify your target market. Analyze the characteristics of your best and worst clients and determine why they need your services. Look for a niche you can serve.

• Product: Pinpoint what services you provide and how you can best present these to your prospects. Put yourself in their shoes. Ensure they know exactly what services they will receive.
• Positioning: Study the competition. Learn why you are different from your competition and educate your prospects about why they should hire you and no one else. This convinces clients to do business with you and no one else.
• Packaging: This is an important marketing strategy. Project an image that makes people want to work with you. Think about the image that best represent you and creates interest in prospects.
• Place: Make sure that a prospective client can find you when they need your services. Build an online presence. Try networking with other professionals. Give presentations or seminars. Determine which methods work for you when finding new clients. Make your marketing plan an efficient machine.
• Price: Compare prices with your competitors. Be prepared to strategically explain to clients how they benefit by using your services. Find out where you are on the pricing ladder. Learn how to merit top fees while retaining clients.
• Promotion: Learn to differentiate good prospects from bad ones to maximize the effectiveness of promotions. Develop a set of questions that qualifies which prospects are good for you. This helps determine what kind of prospects are attracted by your law firm marketing methods.
• Persuasion: This is where you turn prospects into clients. Ensure your “buying process” produces the results you desire. Learn to nurture long-term relationships with clients.
• Performance: Look at client turnover rate to determine what steps are needed to take to keep your best clients. The most expensive thing you can have in your practice is a one time client. Find ways to obtain repeat business from your current and former clients.
• Plan: Create a written marketing plan for your law firm. Be sure to include: your target market, the challenges they face, the solutions you provide, why you are unique, the strategies you will use to reach them, roles and responsibilities, time frame for achieving your goals, and a way to measure your success.