Maine Law Practice Management

It’s a whole new world for lawyers; but, one thing hasn’t changed: there are still a lot of them.     Yes, there are a staggering number of attorneys in the United States, both in terms of raw numbers, and when you look at per capita figures .  Yet, most of the law firms are very poor at differentiating , one from another .  Law firm websites spout platitudes about customer service and competency, and offer , what amount to very weak, reason s for a consumer to pick one law firm apart from another.     A ttorneys should consider new and interesting ways to create unique sales propositions, especially relevant to their customers, like these:     -If you’re one of a growing number of Americans fleeing major cities, you’ll find new opportunity being a community lawyer, without a specific practice focus, in smaller communities -- just as local referrals are on the rise .     -What practice areas are on the rise during the pandemi...

Although lawyers often guess about what legal consumers want, there are very specific and discoverable things that legal consumers want from lawyers .  And, knowing these things can allow you to convert more clients.   One of the things that legal consumers want from law firms is to know the total cost of legal services .  This doesn’t mean your hourly rate, because that’s uncapped.  And, consumer and corporate legal consumers are getting wise to the fact that hourly rates actually promote in efficiency.  I mean, think about it: the more hours you bill, the more money you make: So what’s the incentive for working fast ?  There isn’t one; in fact, there’ a disincentive for doing so.     The job for modern lawyers is to meet and exceed client expectations .  So, if you know (now you do) that clients want to know the total cost of representation before engaging a law firm, how do you provide for that?     It’s difficult to...

Adding new software to a law firm is often a challenge.  But, the reward is great.     The issue is that most law firms stumble out of the starting blocks, and then squander any gains that they may have had.  One way law firms screw this up is to spend too little time vetting software, so that they’re surprised by what they view as limitations during the implementation process -- which may be actual limitations, or just undiscovered existing features, of which the law firm is not aware, because they did not utilize a thorough vetting procedure.  Another way that law firms screw this up is by focusing too much on the implementation procedure, with skewed expectations with respect to speed of adoption -- many lawyer-owners feel that a software should w or k perfectly within their environment right away; but, that’s the wrong expectation.  It takes time to adapt software for your office.  Don’t even get me started on staff training for software: la...