Another “man am I glad I had the sense to start my own firm” story. I remember late in my second year of law school, when every one was looking for summer associate positions. Unless the practice has changed since the days of yore when I was attended law school, law students try to find…
Category: Articles
The Entertaining Use of “Buy Me A Coffee”
My discovery of Buy Me A Coffee. My partner and I both donate an inordinate amount of time speaking to callers and responding to emails. These are not clients or even potential clients. Rather, the calls involve the same legal situations that are presented to us over and over, given our practice areas. If a…
Dealing with clients who are convinced, “They are up to something.”
I remember all those many years ago when starting my firm, that I felt like I had to act like the big firm I had come from, which included having a receptionist to answer the phone. I thought it appeared unprofessional for an attorney to answer their own phone. Turns out, clients love that…
Using the HP e-Print Feature at Your Law Office
NOTE: Hard to believe I originally posted this article seven years ago, but I checked and this great printer – the Hp Envy 120 – is still available on Amazon, through third-party sellers. I ended up with two of these, I liked the form factor so much, but ultimately replaced the one in the conference…
Organize Your Chrome Bookmarks to Save Time
I have long been annoyed by one of my morning rituals, because I knew there was a better way to proceed, if I would just take the time to figure out how to organize my Chrome bookmarks. The ritual. There are a couple of things I like to check in the morning. First, I like…
Proofreading Documents by Having Them Read to You — Natural Reader Review
I don’t quite understand the phenomenon. I find great tools, use them for awhile, and then they somehow fall out of my mental toolbox. This is a tool that I used extensively for some time for proofreading documents, and only recently rediscovered it when I came across my own review article. I’ve started using it…
Should You Charge for Consultations?
When meeting with clients, should you charge for consultations? After implementing the law firm marketing plan contained in Big Fat Pipeline, the calls will start pouring in, and the issue of whether you should charge for client consultations will immediately arise. The answer to that question will turn on your individual circumstances and goals,…
Use Your Laptop or Television as a Second Monitor with Windows 10
You may not be aware (as evidenced by the number of hardware devices I see being sold that do the same thing), Windows 10 has the ability to mirror your screen to any other Windows 10 computer, as well as other devices compatible with the Miracast standard. It’s a easy, free way to add…
From the Trenches – Genius Advocacy or Sleazy Tactics?
Remember the days before the pandemic when we actually went to court for trials? In one of my many weird cases, the defendant had managed to continue the trial seven times and delayed my client’s day in court for over a year. Here is the technique he used, and while it is not something I…
Don’t Be That Attorney – The Uncommitted Extortionist
I see this a lot in the wrongful termination context, and I even warn callers, who are seeking to have their case handled on a contingency basis, that they will likely encounter this type of attorney if they make enough calls. I call these attorneys “Uncommitted Extortionists.” The Uncommitted Extortionist is an attorney who will…
Don’t Be That Attorney — Learn to Take Your Lumps With Aplomb
Ah, memories. Like the corners of my mind. I came across a news article about an attorney who is experiencing the sting of a footnote by an appellate court, and it reminded me of my own footnote experience. First, my experience. In one of my more bizarre cases, I represented a small business in…
Sleazy Attorney Technique No. 8: The Phantom Settlement Offer
Recent shenanigans by a particular opposing attorney made me think of a war story which just happens to illustrate Sleazy Attorney Technique no. 8.** When I first started practicing I had to be hit over the head with this technique a few times before I knew what was happening. I tend to assume the…
How to Use Flat Fee Arrangements to Promote a Winning (and Profitable) Practice [Updated]
Flat fee arrangements are amazingly liberating. Most of my fellow litigators won’t take a case on a flat fee, either because they are concerned that they will grossly underestimate the time the case is going to take and end up with an effective hourly rate of $8.25, or simply because they think they’ll make more…
How Your Preconceived Notions May Be Costing You Six Figures
When meeting with other attorneys at practice seminars, I frequently hear comments like, “I don’t represent individuals” or “I won’t take a case worth less than [fill in the blank].” You may have decided that under your business model it doesn’t make sense to take on small cases, and there is some wisdom to…
How to Earn Money on the Side Selling Guns and Methamphetamine
For attorneys who have not yet applied the marketing techniques set forth in How to Create a Big, Fat Pipeline of New Clients, making a buck can be a hard slog. But according to a federal grand jury indictment, one enterprising Orange County attorney found a way to earn some extra income with a…
Don’t Let the Client’s Problems Create Problems for You
Being actively concerned about your clients’ problems will naturally come with the territory if you have a heart. When you are representing someone who is about to lose their home due to fraud, or lose visitation of a child through a custody battle, you can’t help but be awed by the life-altering nature of your…
Thank God I was only offboarded!
It has long been the case that law firms never admit to terminating lawyers for financial reasons. Many big companies, the lifeblood of large law firms, want to feel like they have a big, bad law firm working for them. If a firm doesn’t have enough business to keep its lawyers busy, that must mean…
Add an Extra Monitor to Your Laptop for $14.99
How to add an extra monitor. I’ve written before about the quantum leap in efficiency you enjoy when using multiple monitors, and I assume that most attorneys who work with a desktop arrangement have at least two monitors going. But what if you use a laptop instead of a desktop arrangement, or are out and…
How to Market Your Law Firm With a Podcast
Why you should market your law firm with a podcast. I am relatively new to the podcasting phenomenon, but I have fully embraced this great method of law firm marketing. Arguably, the concept of podcasting in its broadest sense – making digital audio files available – has been around since the ‘80s, but the ability…
Don’t Dumb-Down Your Content – How to Show Off Your Expertise
Although my law firm thrives on content-based, Internet marketing, sometimes I am still taken aback when I see how well it all plays out. (Keeping in mind that to protect the confidentiality of my clients I change the story sufficiently so that even they would not recognize it), this week, I received a call…
Niches Make Riches – How a $5 Site Can Add $100,000 to Your Income
If you’ve been a regular reader here, then you know the heart of my law firm marketing is Internet marketing. Incredibly, I still occasionally get push-back from some attorneys who are doing just fine with no Internet marketing whatsoever, and can’t imagine why I go down that road. I know one attorney in particular…
How to Use “Freemiums” to Market Your Law Firm
“Freemium” is a business model that works by offering a product or service free of charge (typically digital offerings such as eBooks) while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services. The word “freemium” is a portmanteau* combining the two aspects of the business model: “free” and “premium”. Thanks Wikipedia. Freemiums…
All Clients Will Shop On Price if That is the Only Distinguishing Factor
I’m not here to spread doom and gloom about the legal job market, but these articles keep catching my eye. The latest if from the , where Paul Caron reported on a service he described as the eBay for lawyers, with the terrible name Shpoonkle. The Shpoonkle service allows clients to post their legal problems,…
Student Debt? What Student Debt?
With the downturn in the economy and the upturn in law school tuition, the perfect storm was created for a bumper crop of extremely dissatisfied law school grads, saddled with debt and finding only poor job prospects. On my Internet Defamation Blog, I wrote about the law student from Thomas M. Cooley Law School…
Ten Tips from a Podcast Listener to Make Your Legal Podcast Better
Hosting a podcast is a tremendous way to promote your law firm, as I previously discussed in detail in this article. Even if no one ever listens to the podcast (not a goal I am recommending), the podcast will nonetheless help to establish you as an expert, and brings major SEO benefits. I am…