The Greatest American Lawyer

Know Your Business and Mind Your Business

It is important to know what kind of law firm you are.  If you are a firm that drives business off your reputation and referrals, then those are the people you need to make sure you are attending to.  If you get your business off the internet, you need to pay attention to your internet web presence and make sure your search engine rankings do not decrease.  If your business model is dependent on getting your initial customers to sign up for a second and third project, then you better make sure you are showing those projects as part of your process. 

Every law firm is different.  You need to fully understand what kind of law firm you are and make sure you are attending to those things that really count. 

Larry Bodine Named Editor-in-Chief of Lawyers.com and Martindale.com

Larry Bodine is now the editor-in-chief of two of the largest and most prestigious services and websites in the world, www.lawyer.com and www.martindale.com.  I’ve known Larry for many years, as we have both been active bloggers for some time.  Lawyers.com has grown tremendously over the years in terms of content and attorney bio databases.  If you’re looking to find a lawyer, lawyers.com is a great place to start. 

Congratulations to Larry, lawyers.com and martindale.com on their efforts moving forward.

Read the full article.

Top Tech Trends Lawyers Should Keep an Eye On in 2012

Monica Goyal at the Law Times News published this article about the top five tech trends lawyers should keep a close eye on in 2012.  See her list below:

Growing Your Law Firm in 2012

Welcome to GAL Radio, brought to you by the Greatest American Lawyer Blog.  Changing the way law is practiced through technology, innovation and creativity.  Turning the business of law on its head and shaking things up to the betterment of clients, lawyers, law firms and society

Welcome to GAL Radio.  My name is Attorney Enrico Schaefer.  I’m an internet and technology lawyer, founding partner of the law firm Traverse Legal.  We have developed a number of innovative ways to provide client service, to bill clients, to provide flat fee defined deliverable projects with a price guarantee, and a variety of other methodologies all designed to improve the business model of law.  We did actually turn the business of law on its head, we shook it up, and we started from scratch doing only those things that made sense from a business point of view.  And let’s face it, law firms and lawyers typically are very poor business people.  Why?  Well, in an hourly business environment, it doesn’t take much creativity or any intelligence to be able to develop a system which spits out hours and bills them back to the client, and, if you’re lucky, that bill gets paid at the end of the month.  That does not require any innovation, creativity or foresight.

Why Are So Few Managing Partners Great Leaders

I was lucky.  My first law firm was Bowman and Brooke, a niche firm providing automotive product liability defense to the automobile industry.  The founder and managing partner of the firm was Richard Bowman.  By in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, he was one of the most out-of-the-box and innovative managing partners of any hourly billing firm in the world.  Dick Bowman never did anything because it was the way other law firms were doing it.  Bowman and Brooke became an innovator and stood out from the crowd in many ways. 

I have often wondered why so few law firm managing partners are like Dick Bowman.  They seem to inspire nothing except hourly minimums.  They innovate little beyond new billing techniques and policies. 

In the video below, Simon Sinek talks about how great leaders inspire action at a September 2009 TEDX Talk.   He points out that great companies always start with the question "Why?" as they pursue greatness. Think about whether or not you know any managing partners who come to mind as you watch the video…

Just A Few Reasons a Lawyer Should Fire the Client

I’m a big fan of Seth Godin’s blog found at sethgodin.typepad.com.  Seth talks in this post about an unreasonable customer and the reasons why you should consider firing a customer or, if you happen to be a lawyer or law firm, a client.  Here’s his list:

In the Internet and Technology Age, Isn’t it Time for Lawyers to Stand Up?

Don’t get me wrong.  I love technology.  And I adore the internet.  As a lawyer specializing in internet law and technology issues, it is hard for me to complain about anything related to technology.  Our law firm thrives on the growth and innovation that is occurring online. 

When Selecting an Attorney, Does Geography Count Anymore?

I was recently interviewed by The Northern Express Magazine who did an article titled “Internet Law.”  One of the interesting quotes that found its way into the article is as follows:

“It used to be that clients felt secure having an attorney who lived down the block,” Schaefer says. “Now, they feel secure having an attorney who’s written an article about their problem, no matter where he or she is from... The reality is that clients want answers, not lawyer-speak or disclaimers. They want business solutions and to real advice about how to proceed.”

State Bar Associations Continue to Lead from Behind

The Virginia State Bar Association took aim at a Richmond, Virginia Attorney engaged in the nefarious pursuit of “blogging.”   An article concerning the decision is posted here.  The Virginia State Bar Association’s misconduct charge can be viewed here.

Growing a Law Firm in Tough Economic Times

Lawyers and law firms are not exempt from the economic downturn.  When the economy is chugging along, companies regularly look to enhance their business model.  Clients have no problem hiring attorneys to do things which are important, but not critical.  While a trademark registration with the USPTO is important, the cost of a lawyer opinion letter on availability, legal fees for trademark registration and a filing fee to the USPTO can run about $1,600.  It is a discretionary spend.  Unless you get sued as a defendant in litigation, you typically have a choice as to whether or not to spend money on legal services. 

In order to overcome the economic disincentives to spending money on important legal items, which are not otherwise critical or mandatory, lawyers need to continue to differentiate their legal service offerings.   There are lots of ways to do this.  Innovative billing techniques, payment schedules, improved customer or client service, transparency or perhaps the most important item, is to make sure that you do not charge the client to learn about their problems.   Lawyers who charge for miscellaneous phone calls to or from their client are creating a huge disincentive for that client to contact the attorney.