How to Build A Law Practice In Los Angeles
Want to know how to build a law practice? Here are a few tips to get you started.
With 190,232 active attorneys in Los Angeles alone, practicing law is a competitive field.
Building a law practice can be a daunting challenge, especially when you’re in a large city like Los Angeles. In addition to passing the bar, an attorney must obtain startup capital, hire support staff, and find clients.
As a certified attorney referral service in California, we maintain a close relationship with a wide range of experienced attorneys so we thought we would take a closer look at some of the things you can do to help build your law practice.
Let’s take a closer look!
How to Build A Law Practice
There’s no right or wrong way to build a law practice, but there are a few things that help you and your business grow over time. We’re going to focus on a few of those things today so you can move forward with confidence as you strategize how to build your law practice.
- Specialize in the area of law you’re passionate about
- Develop your brand
- Hire your team
- Go above and beyond
- Plan your finances for the future
- Build on referrals
Let’s take a closer look …
Specialize In One Area of Law
You have been trained and been exposed to several areas of law. You are ready to take on the world, to help any client that calls you or knocks on your door. But this isn’t the way to build a successful business.
You can’t be all things to all people. You have to figure out the area of law you like the most. Decide what niche you want to focus on and learn everything you can about that niche.
After narrowing your focus, expand your appeal by doing things other lawyers don’t do. Go the extra mile. Avoid taking just any case that comes along. Don’t settle for being a generalist. Become an expert in the space you want to claim.
Develop Your Professional Brand
As you become an expert in your chosen field of law, develop your personal brand. Make yourself and your practice stand out. Find new ways to publicize your offerings. Reach out to potential clients through social media. Put ads on Facebook or LinkedIn. Put tutorials on YouTube.
Develop community blogs and invite conversation. Create a newsletter or website and offer instructional content on areas of law you are experienced in. Look for speaking opportunities or join local associations. Become visible.
Also, become useful. Don’t just become active. Satisfy client problems. Offer real value. Be instructive. Give away free content. Find sources of information that could benefit your clients and pass them along.
Earn the reputation as a problem solver. Don’t try to oversell your firm. Show an interest in client problems and discuss possible solutions. Discussions like these will sell the firm. Clients want to talk to lawyers who understand their problems and have a certain degree of empathy.
Surround Yourself with A Brilliant Staff
Sooner or later you will need help. Make it sooner. Start building your staff one brilliant person at a time. Trust your intuition and find people who have high ceilings, people that can grow with you. Find people smarter than you.
An intelligent, capable staff will surprise you with how much they can accomplish. Smart people like working with other smart people. Getting things done efficiently is contagious. Everyone wants to contribute to the success of the firm. Build a spirit of teamwork and group accomplishment.
Hire people who have specific knowledge and skills that can help you immediately. Maybe they have technical skills and can help you with areas of technology. Maybe they have financial skills where they can help with budgeting or loan management. Maybe they have experience with social media or are active in community organizations. They can help you in some other area in addition to helping with legal support.
Having a capable staff will not only make your job easier but it will free you up to go after new business and give you time to learn more about your specialty. You won’t be an expert overnight but the more you know, the more leverage you will have over those other guys.
Go Above and Beyond Expectations
Clients expect their attorneys to do a good job for them. You should exceed those expectations. That is quality service. Be very responsive. Get back to clients immediately. Use automated response systems. Be available and approachable.
Be consistently better than expected. Train your staff to be courteous when dealing with customers. Answer the phone the same way each time it rings.
Under-promise and over-deliver. If you say you will have something done by Friday, get it done by Thursday or even Wednesday. When you give a client a report, be sure to follow up to make sure the client understands it. See if there are any questions you can answer. Go beyond what is expected. Reach out to new clients and follow-up with them as well.
And speaking of follow-up, always thank your clients and your employees. Send clients notes you actually write yourself. Be appreciative. Give your employees gifts from time to time or extra time off. A dozen cookies go a long way. Make your law firm a family. If your client sees people who care for each other, that client will want to be part of that family, too.
Manage Finances Carefully
Have a financial plan to follow. Track income and spending. Know when it is a good time to add staff when business starts to outgrow your ability to respond quickly to clients or to give them the extra time and effort they expect. Establish a budget and stay within it.
The best way to grow is to reinvest profits, but if this isn’t possible, especially early on, look at financing alternatives like loans. Manage the loans carefully because many firms fail because of poor budgeting and lack of smart financial planning. Successful firms use analytics and create financial reports every week so they know what is coming and what is going out. Always keep track of your investments and ROI statistics. You will know if you are going forward or backward.
Build On Referrals
This takes us back to the attorney referral service we mentioned earlier. The best way to build a business is through referrals. Clients who are happy with the work you did for them will be your biggest fans. They will bring you more clients. Good work is the best advertising you can have.
Find a referral service approved by the American Bar Association and certified in California.
This service will see the strengths you have and the expertise you show in your chosen specialty and refer clients whom they interview and who need your help. These referrals will continue to expand your business and amplify your reputation as a legal expert.
Follow these suggestions and you will be a successful entrepreneur, your own boss, leader of an exceptional staff, and head of a law firm that provides an extremely valuable service to the community. (And you will make a lot of money.)
Are you in search for a certified attorney to represent you?
Let us help you find one today!