Scheduling with law firms has always been a bit janky, because lawyers (usually late adopters of technology in general), rely on old tools and are unresponsive. Law firms don’t return emails at speed; they ignore contact forms; they let conversations die in voicemail hell. Modern consumers expect fast and efficient communications; and, law firms can’t provide it: that’s largely because lawyers live by appointments, and won’t do anything outside of a calendar entry. If something isn’t on a lawyer’s calendar, it may as well not even exist. And, lawyers awash in prospective appointments are not going to take away from substantive work time to place individual appointments into their calendars — neither do they effectively pay attention to whether their staff does so. This morass of inattention leads to lost leads and foregone opportunities to cement more successful client relationships.
The solution to the problem for busy attorneys is the adoption of automated appointment scheduling technology. And, for those lawyers (by which I mean all the lawyers) who want to avoid the downturn in productivity that is often associated with the move to new technology, simplicity is key. Fortunately, LawTap makes appointment scheduling so easy for attorneys, they can literally do it in their sleep.
LawTap Automates Appointment Scheduling for Law Firms
LawTap is a web-based appointment scheduling product that allows legal consumers to schedule directly with law firms, no matter where they are located and without any extra effort by staff or lawyers. How does it work? LawTap is linked to law firm calendars, and published to a website, including an attorney profile page. Potential clients or existing clients on that page are presented with scheduling options based on the linked calendars. They pick the date and time they want, and the selected meeting time is added to the appropriate law firm calendar, as well as the calendar of the client. Now, if that sounds like a process that just saved you about 76 emails or phone calls – that’s exactly what happened.
LawTap is not only easy for legal consumers to use, it’s also super simple for law firms to set up. The first step is to add a calendar, and that takes about a minute. (Calendars are linked so that the app can present available times to consumers or clients.) Next, the user will add appointment types. Conveniently, LawTap offers three appointment types commonly used by law firms, including phone meetings and in-office meetings. If there’s a match, simply pick one of those, and then launch the application, which is the last step in the process. There are several options for launching the LawTap integration, any or all of which could be used: a LawTap booking button can be added to your website or email signature, you can add a booking widget to your website or add a booking button to your Facebook page. All told, and if if you’re fairly quick, you can have LawTap up and running in less than a half hour.
It’s What’s On Tap: Calendar and Appointment Management
The heart of LawTap is the automation of your calendar management, which carries with it significant positive effects for law firms, like reduced staffing costs and added efficiencies. And, in terms of creating options for your scheduling, LawTap more or less places the world at your fingertips. For starters, each users can connect as many as 15 calendars with LawTap across all the most popular platforms, including: Clio, TimeMatters, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Google, Apple iCloud, Hotmail, and more. Lawyers can even block out time from their home or personal calendars, without having to worry about legal consumers and clients seeing personal data. All user appointments are available via the LawTap dashboard. That kind of broad-based calendar management flexibility is unprecedented in the legal space.
Of course, LawTap also shines when it comes to deriving appointment types. Its hyper-intuitive and multi-faceted appointment creation and management tool offers a multitude of choices for settling intake components. New appointment types can be created either by building from scratch or editing an existing option. Branding for appointment pages can be added via the creation of law firm and attorney profiles, and the application of color schemes and logos. Basic appointment types include phone, Zoom and Skype, as well as meetings at a law firm’s office, the client’s location or office and at court. From there, further options abound, including the ability to generate appointment names and descriptions, and to add buffers, so you don’t get overscheduled. Users can also add appointment forms, so that consumers or clients can include further information, at the law firm’s direction. This could be substantive intake information, or basic data not generated by the standard appointment form. And, appointment forms (including up to 30 inputs) can be built directly into LawTap, without the need for any additional software. If your law firm collects consultation fees, you will also be able to allow potential clients to make payments via LawTap, using its Stripe and LawPay integrations. Lawyers can also set notifications for themselves and clients and booked leads via email or SMS. Other thoughtful features under the appointments tab include: flags for conflict checks, limitation of appointment types to existing clients, SMS verification by consumers or clients, client review options, and more.
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LawTap is the most comprehensive booking platform in legal, and it works for individual lawyers, as well as law firms. Its list of integrations is lengthening (including Clio, LEAP, TimeMatters, Zapier and more), and at just $20/user/month or $160/user/month, LawTap is a great deal, especially when considering the accessibility of volume discounts, the fact that law firm staff are free and an annual subscription model that cuts the total cost by a third. Add to all that LawTap’s attorney referral network, which users access for free, and the value proposition is out of this world.
Tap into lost opportunity: join the LawTap community.
]]>The headline, of course, is that AnyLaw doesn’t cost anything to use. Despite the existence of a legal research industrial complex spearheaded by ancient behemoths like Lexis and Westlaw, there is a current drive to make legal research more accessible = less costly, or free. So far, AnyLaw has done the best job of putting its money where its mouth is, by delivering an ad-supported legal research tool. Using AnyLaw for legal research is similar to listening to free music on Pandora or Spotify; ads are present, but not distracting. At the home page, the search feature appears, with an ad at the bottom of the page; within search results: ads are on the right side of the page, search features are on the left.
Of course, ‘free’ is only a part of the equation: even free solutions have to work well, to merit consistent usage. And, AnyLaw works well. Full coverage of state and federal case law precedent is supplemented by responsive live filters, linked citations and real-time updates. You can easily tweak searches on the fly, or follow chains of case precedent. Users can filter for particular court systems via the main search page, or from within search results. There is also a download feature for case text, as well — since lawyers love to cling to paper documents. All those features are not only free, but don’t even require a login. If you join AnyLaw (provide an email address, and create a password), you’ll also be able to save (or, ‘favorite’) cases, which will then be accessible later, at your account, under the ‘My Stuff’ tab. This is less an inducement to solicit email addresses, and more of an answer to the reality of having to create a personal storage unit for the cases you wish to go back to. Saving search results is a key component to modern legal research, and AnyLaw offers that ability via its ‘Save’ feature.
For lawyers who are tired of haggling over research fees, with an end result of saving pennies on the dollar for a significant budget line item, AnyLaw is the answer for eliminating that overhead cost altogether. Of course, AnyLaw also has significant ramifications for access to justice (A2J) — not only because it offers legal aid lawyers a legitimate free research tool, but also because it provides DIY legal clients with a no-cost research alternative. Since cost is not a barrier with AnyLaw, it has the potential, as a research tool, to better connect lawyers and law firms with legal consumers.
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AnyLaw is free to use; and, there’s really no excuse to not at least try it today! Start here.
]]>Why, then, was ‘The Jetsons’ all one big lie? Why has your childhood been destroyed? And, what can you do about it?
I suppose that curling up into the fetal position and crying uncontrollably for several days is one option. Another is to embrace your data security responsibilities, and determine to kick ass at managing your clients’ data better than your rival law firms, and to use that as a competitive advantage. That latter choice seems like the better opportunity to me.
Let’s then discuss the practical responsibilities you should be crushing, so you can present yourself as a modern and secure law firm, in order to slake the thirst of a consumer public hungry for lawyers that understand and apply data security tactics.
Putting Software Providers to the Test
Some states, like my home commonwealth of Massachusetts, require small business owners, including law firms, to vet software providers for effectiveness of data security. But, even if you’re not required to do so by state or federal law, you may be required to do so by your local ethics rules or ethics opinions related to the use of cloud-based software — or, at least, the implication that you must do so will arise. And, even if it’s not a requirement, it’s still probably a good idea. Choose the wrong software vendor, don’t do enough to secure your data, and your professional reputation is at stake. And, the maintenance of your professional reputation is likely even more important than any short-term fines or penalties you may have to pay for a data breach, since that black mark on your effectiveness as a business owner is likely to last forever.
So, the necessary first step, before you look to additional measures for securing your data, is to find a software provider that already provides a highly secure environment for your law firm information. To that end, here is a list of questions you should ask of your potential software vendors:
(1) Does the provider offer two-factor authentication for login?
(2) Does the provider restrict IP addresses?
(3) Does the provider include features related to the setting of user roles and permissions within the software?
(4) Does the provider ‘lock’ the login process after multiple failed attempts?
(5) Does the provider utilize 256 bit SSL encryption?
(6) Does the provider encrypt data both when it is in transit and when it is at rest?
(7) Is the software HIPAA-compliant?
(8) Does the provider utilize a geo-redundant server architecture with real-time data backup?
(9) Does the provider maintain ‘five 9s’ uptime?
Asking these questions of any potential vendor, and getting a ‘yes’ for all of them, is a beautiful start to your new life as a data security-aware lawyer.
Protecting Yourself . . . um, from Yourself
Of course, that’s only a start because, even if your chosen software vendor provides you with all the tools possible to run a secure and stable law firm, user error is the most common entry point for a data breach. Consider that, even if your software vendor is able to answer all of the above questions in the affirmative, that your secretary who chooses ‘password123’ for her password remains a security breach waiting to happen. So, in order to effectively secure your law firm data, it’s not just about relying on your software partners, it’s also about training your staff, and maintaining security rules within your law office.
To that end, here are some tips for better securing your law office data, and preventing user error, also known as boneheadedness:
(1) Make sure you have a password for your computers that is complex, and preferably that requires capitalization, numbers and/or special characters.
(2) Make sure your password hint is not an obvious giveaway for your actual password.
(3) Make sure that your computer is set to ‘auto-lock’ after two minutes of inactivity.
(4) Make sure to manually lock your computer every time you leave your desk. (For Windows machines, press the Windows button + L simultaneously. And, for Macs, use Control + Shift + Power simultaneously.)
(5) Make sure you encrypt your hard drive. (Here’s how to do it on Windows; and, here’s how to do it on a Mac.)
(6) Make sure to have two-factor authentication actually enabled on all software, including your law practice management software, productivity software, accounting software and CRM.
(7) Do not use the same password for every login. (If your passwords are becoming overburdensome, consider a password management tool.)
(8) Beware of ‘phishing’ emails that ask you to download a file — even when those emails appear to come from clients or colleagues you have worked with before. (Remember that email addresses can be masked.)
(9) Moreover, never download a file that comes from a questionable source.
(10) Make sure to regularly run your system updates on all of your computers.
(11) Use reputable antivirus and malware software, with up-to-date virus definitions.
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If you’re looking for a technology partner who’s as concerned about law firm data security as you are, consider Practice Panther for law practice management. If you want to find out what they’re all about, schedule a product demo via this link.
]]>The more you can tell people about what you do, show them your knowledge, gain their trust, the more clients you’ll eventually acquire. The advantage of posting your content to social media services is that you expand your reach exponentially each time you utilize a different service. Consider the math: If you have 5000 followers on Twitter, 3000 connections on LinkedIn and 1500 friends on Facebook, every time you post something on those channels, you have the potential to reach 9500 people. And then, if any of those people repost what you’ve posted, you have access to their networks, and from there the numbers expand exponentially. It used to be that lawyers would have to go through a long-term editing process and find a magazine to publish something. Now, you can publish anything you want, anytime you want, while simultaneously developing a larger reach than those old school publication methods offered.
And, setting up profiles on social media services is straightforward — far easier than creating a website, which itself is becoming easier than ever to do. Once you have a professional photo and a logo, just follow the prompts for any service to develop a page for your business — keeping in mind that some business pages are valuable (Facebook) while others are not (LinkedIn). Even if you plan on remaining solo, or using your personal social media accounts for exclusively professional purposes, just claim accounts for your business name, in case you need them at some point in the future.
When your accounts are established, develop a publication schedule for your social media posting, just as you would for posting to your blog. And, if you’re having trouble effectively managing many different platforms, use a social media management tool, like HootSuite or Buffer, to login and post to different services at the same time.
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If you want to start your own law firm, join me for an exclusive workshop, coming up in Boston (August 24-26) and New York (September 7-9).
For more information, visit the official site: www.buildyourownlawfirm.com.
Social media hashtag: #BYOLF.
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]]>Ancillary costs related to the ownership of a website are not going to break the bank or your back, either. Domain names can be purchased for about $10/year, and can be scheduled for automatic renewal. Costs for website hosting (how your website gets published online) are around $10/month. And, that’s about all you need.
That all sounds simple, and it is; but, there are some other considerations related to website design, that may (and probably should) lead you down the path of having someone else design yours.
First, when you’re starting a practice, it makes sense to focus your time on converting your existing network to your new brand and performing the best possible work for your new clients. If you’re experienced in building a website, it’s gonna be a frustrating drag on your time. Assuming you finalize the content quickly enough — which is always the biggest issue for completing and publishing a law firm website — your new website will be published in short order, if you’re using a reputable vendor. Second, you’re not likely to have the up-to-date skill set to be able to optimize your website for SEO/SEM, and you may want a vendor to manage that for you, as well. Third, managing updates to themes and plug-ins can be a pain; and, contracting with a vendor will allow you to offload that responsibility. Fourth, if you’re using a specific theme to build your law firm website, there’s a bunch of other business who will be using the same theme, such that having a vendor code and build a website just for you will differentiate you from the crowd. If you do choose a vendor to work with, just make sure to buy and renew your own domain name, because unscrupulous vendors will attempt to buy it for you, and then to sell it back to you at an exorbitant rate before releasing you from a contract.
Your website should be the hub of all of your online activity, and to where you funnel all your clients. Make sure you take the time to do it right or hire right, to get the best online home you can.
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If you want to start your own law firm, join me for an exclusive workshop, coming up in Boston (August 24-26) and New York (September 7-9).
For more information, visit the official site: www.buildyourownlawfirm.com.
Social media hashtag: #BYOLF.
Visit our Sponsors:
]]>Whenever you launch a new business, you’re building a new brand. No matter what you’re doing now, you did something else before. And, you’ll remain associated with that something else until you begin to inform, and then to remind, people of what you’re doing now. Even if you’re launching a law firm right out of law school, prior to doing that, maybe you were the hostess at Olive Garden. That’s still an association you have to break, to create your new brand.
As alluded to above, the first step is to inform, and the second step is to remind. And, the usual method lawyers use to inform old and new clients about new endeavors is the opening announcement. Traditionally, this was effectively an advertisement, appearing in a local newspaper and potentially a local trade publication. But, those broad announcements have diminished in effectiveness as the circulation of traditional newspapers have diminished. That’s not to say that you ignore or eschew that option; but, you should supplement it, by sending out an announcement to your own list.
Now, what your list is, is an open question. In the first instance, you’ll likely have an email contact list of friends, families, colleagues, past clients, existing clients, etc. If that list is not robust, or not well-manicured — then, build it up as much as you can before you send to it. If t makes sense to construct tailored messages for, say, colleagues versus past clients, then segregate those sublists and build the separate messages. When you’re ready to send something out, use an email marketing tool, like ConstantContact or MailChimp, to create a better template, allow your list to utilize unsubscribe options and access analytics. Remember, though, that your opening announcement via email should be just the start of your email marketing campaign. You should next develop a publication schedule for an enewsletter or regular client alerts. But, remember that your contact points no longer exist solely in email — so, whatever you post to your personal email network, create a version of that opening announcement that gets blasted to your social media profiles, as well.
Building a new brand is a long process, that takes years. But, it starts with a first step.
. . .
If you want to start your own law firm, join me for an exclusive workshop, coming up in Boston (August 24-26) and New York (September 7-9).
For more information, visit the official site: www.buildyourownlawfirm.com.
Social media hashtag: #BYOLF.
Visit our Sponsors:
That being said, it’s very easy to become overwhelmed when starting a law firm. One of the primary symptoms of that problem is the desire to do everything at once. It’s frustrating to know that you’re good at what you do, but that your business is taking time to take off. But, the key to building a new law firm, and what you should spend the vast majority of your initial time on, is letting everybody else know how good you are.
If you don’t have a book of business, you need to spend 90% of your time — and, that is not an exaggeration— building one. While you may not want to be overly aggressive in year one in constructing a revenue projection model, there is no way you can be too aggressive in creating a marketing plan. In fact, if you think your marketing plan is too aggressive, you should up the ante. The sooner you can get that marketing engine in place, the sooner you meet and exceed your financial projection, the more likely it is that your business will succeed. Of course, it doesn’t stop there; and, consistent business development is the watchword for every successful solo or small firm lawyer.
If you do have a book of business, and it’s not enough to cover your expenses and/or a salary for yourself, revert back to the last paragraph, and read it again. If you do have a book of business that is comfortable for you, even for an extended period of time, note well that revenue is always a moving target for law firms, and you must continue to discover new referral sources and client generation modules to guarantee your future success. You should also keep in mind that your new brand will not resonate overnight; that will take at least two years to develop. The fact that you have shifted from (insert seven names) Law to (insert your own name or brand name) Law means that it’s going to take time for people to associate you with your new business rather than your old business. And, frankly the more successful you were marketing yourself in your old job, the harder it will be to disassociate yourself from that brand, and to associate yourself with the new one.
Marketing is job one for every new law firm owner; and, the truth of the matter is that it will likely remain job one for the remainder of the life of your practice, whatever form it takes.
. . .
If you want to start your own law firm, join me for an exclusive workshop, coming up in Boston (August 24-26) and New York (September 7-9).
For more information, visit the official site: www.buildyourownlawfirm.com.
Social media hashtag: #BYOLF.
Visit our Sponsors:
]]>Since this can be a frustrating task, it’s tempting to just throw up your hands, and tell yourself that, truly, you’ll know what you’re going to make when you make it. The downside of that approach is that it’s difficult to make any plans that way, and to begin to define a strategy for business growth. Without revenue goals, there are no targets to hit. You won’t know whether to judge your year as a success or a setback. Establishing revenue markers is a method for implementing steady (not overwhelming) growth) — and, it doesn’t mean that the overarching goal is no longer to make as much money as you can. If you hit or exceed your goal, be more aggressive about establishing next year’s goal.
These are some basic tips for developing revenue projections for a new law firm:
Start with Your Overhead. At a very basic level, you need to meet your expenses to stay in business. So, start there. Figure out what you need to meet your personal and business expenses, and then build revenue goals on top of those.
Ask Around. Lawyers hate to share information about their rates. But, for almost every other category of law firm business management, you won’t be able to stop them talking. So, find a mentor in your practice area, and have her review your financial projections, to see whether what you’re thinking jibes with her experience.
Create Three Test Cases. If you’re having difficulty deciding on just one revenue model, try out different test cases. Create an aggressive financial model, a moderate one and a conservative one. See which one you nail, and then you’ll have a better idea about your growth pattern for year two.
Don’t Get Too Far Ahead of Yourself. It’s likely not valuable for you to project too far ahead, especially as a new business owner. While you might feel some comfort running out financial projections to year five (which will be far rosier than what you would have developed for year one), so much will change in your business by that time, that that projection is likely garbage as soon as you mark it down. Consider developing financial projections for the first year of operation a victory.
Simple is Best. You needn’t go crazy trying to find a financial projection model that suits you. Just create a spreadsheet. List your expenses, including line items. List your projected revenue, including total matters and hours. There is no prize for the prettiest financial modeling.
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If you want to start your own law firm, join me for an exclusive workshop, coming up in Boston (August 24-26) and New York (September 7-9).
For more information, visit the official site: www.buildyourownlawfirm.com.
Social media hashtag: #BYOLF.
Visit our Sponsors:
]]>The traditional advice on this topic is that you go out, and ask around. Only, lawyers (especially your competition) are fairly reticent about sharing their rates, probably obviously. This is also a taboo topic in terms of bar association engagement, since those organizations don’t want lawyers publishing or discussing rates under their auspices, for fear of being implicated in price fixing. The majority of lawyers do not publish their rates on their own websites, either — because they don’t want to be undersold by new law firms entering the market. I know lawyers who have asked staff or friends to pose as clients of other law firms, to call and acquire rates; but, the majority of lawyers think that’s cheesy — and, rightfully so. So, your best bet is to find lawyers outside of your geographic area or jurisdiction, or a mentor who may share a niche but not target clients, to help you get a handle on the market. Failing that, you’ll figure it out eventually, after trial and error. That’s not encouraging, of course.
There’s another approach, however; and, that is to start by figuring out what you need to pay your bills, and to create rate sets around that. Once you have that number, add your expected law firm overhead, and then think about how many cases you’ll want to take on in your first year. Divide that total number of cases by your personal and business expenses, and that’s your required hourly rate. You can then adjust up (if you think the value of your services means you can charge more) or down (adding to your required case total). Readjust after six to twelve months.
This is, certainly, a very basic analysis of fee setting, based almost entirely on an hourly rate model, that most law firms still use. Other factors that will relate to your rates include: whether and how much you charge for retainers, and what types of retainers you use; whether you need to construct rates for associate attorneys or staff; whether you need to build in coverage for processing fees or other expenses; whether you can charge more based on your expertise or experience; etc. In some cases, and this may be true of entire practices, contingencies or statutory requirements establish fee structures for you.
. . .
If you want to start your own law firm, join me for an exclusive workshop, coming up in Boston (August 24-26) and New York (September 7-9).
For more information, visit the official site: www.buildyourownlawfirm.com.
Social media hashtag: #BYOLF.
Visit our Sponsors:
]]>But, when you’re starting a law firm, it’s important to understand the bottom line. You will very quickly learn that you can’t make sustained guesses about expenses and revenue, when all your bills remain due every month.
A lot of start-up law firms avoid financial management as a defense mechanism, waiting until their new venture is viable before looking at a more pleasant set of numbers. But, in the first instance — and especially for start-up law firms without a definable source of income — it’s important to at least get your arms around your expenses. If you can create a list of expenses (monthly and annually), you’ll know what you have to make to meet them. And, that’s the first step in building a viable business.
It’s important not to get stuck trying to create the perfect format — which is a way that lawyers regularly get themselves stuck. Start by figuring out what your initial costs will be. Then, define what your monthly costs will be. Lastly, take those down somewhere — whether it’s on a document or a spreadsheet or a notepad, it doesn’t matter. Know and understand your numbers, and compare them to actual expenses on a monthly or quarterly basis, and at the end of the year. Then re-do your entire budget for the new fiscal year. If you pay the bills in your house, include those expenses, too — on a separate sheet. Once you know how much you need to pay, you can figure out how much you need to make.
And, you don’t need to be a math major to figure that out.
. . .
If you want to start your own law firm, join me for an exclusive workshop, coming up in Boston (August 24-26) and New York (September 7-9).
For more information, visit the official site: www.buildyourownlawfirm.com.
Social media hashtag: #BYOLF.
Visit our Sponsors:
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