Maine Law Practice Management

It's clear that law firms need ed to think more granularly about their intake processes .  The convenience economy was accelerated by the pandemi c, which means that any business intake process must now b e tight as a drum .   Now , in thinking about your law firm’s intake process , understand that it comes in stages .  The first stage is a basic qualification level = give us your contact information, tell us what your legal need is, let us know whether you live in our jurisdiction , etc.  Of course, legal consumers want a speedy response, and transition to a next step (like scheduling an appointment), so they will only tolerate so many qualification questions – usually 7,10.  But, that’s enough to get some basic answers, and to determine whether the potential client is a fit for the law firm.     But, there’s often a second level of intake, that’s probably just as important; and, that’s when you need to collect data to effectuate the repres...

There’s been lots of talk about law firm efficiency of late .  And so , some folks address the value of workflows .  And, others talk about how important it is to generate metrics around efficiency .  And, then there’s the pressure coming from clients fed up with the inefficiencies inherent in traditional law practice and law firm billing .  So, it makes sense that every law firm out there is looking to work faster, and smarter.   But, one area that can significantly add up to more efficiency is expertise ; yet, it’s often ignored, as an efficiency driver .  However, one of the best ways to get faster = more efficient, at what you do, is to do it over and over and over again , until you’ v e mastered your tasks, and are massively proficient .  So, if you focus on a specific practice area, by leaning into a niche, that’s a great way to add efficiency, because you’re gonna get particularly good, at that particular thing .  It’s a simi...

Nobody wants to spend a whole lot of time on contacts – even if they’re really important to effectively marketing a law practice.   I mean, yeah : it’s super easy to just cut and paste emails or phone numbers, as you acquire those, rather than making an extra effort to also grab additional information .  But, the more data related to your contacts that you can accrue , the better – because you’ll have more information about the kind of messaging you want to relay to those folks .  So, that begs the question: Which folks , exactly ?     Ideally, your email (and text, etc. – if you’re using a marketing automation platform) marketing will be focused on specific groups, because the messaging for each of those groups will be varied .  For example, unless all you’re ever gonna do is a basic newsletter about your law firm, it would make sense that the kind of things you want to send to your existing clients, and your former clients, and other ref...