Reboot Your Law Practice

On this week's episode Oscar and Scott welcome Conrad Saam from Mockingbird Marketing. They discuss the importance of a website to your legal practice, what to look for in a website vendor and what every website should contain. Most importantly, hear the story of how "Zippy the Chicken" was invited to become a "Lawyer of Distinction.

This Episode, Oscar and Scott discuss the potential timelines for law practices to financially recover from this crisis. They discuss short term and long term possibilities along with other informative information about how to run your practice during this crisis.

On this episode, Oscar & Scott discuss the probability that the Covid Pandemic will have serious effects on the practice of law until a vaccine is distributed and even beyond. They discuss mindset and how to get yourself and your practice in a position to succeed in this unprecedented situation.

A few weeks into the Covid-19 Pandemic, Oscar and Scott talk about how they are handling their practices and the planning they are doing for the future.

After over a year absence, Oscar and Scott "Reboot" the podcast to discuss some of the issues they are facing as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic. They discuss the changes in their practices and give advice on how to position your practice over the next few months.

This episode Oscar and Scott discuss the impact of technology on how the solo and small practice are looked at by consumers. The ability to hold yourself out as an expert in many types of law is increasingly difficult. Client's want someone who specializes in their specific issue and if your website advertises that you are an "expert" in 7 types of law then the client may well move on to someone else. They discuss how to use your website and other online media to best try and attract the client that is looking for your services

As your practice grows and you enable more moving parts, sometimes these parts break down and you have to deal with a quick painful situation or a long painful situation. This week Scott discusses the stress of creating a new website for his practice while Oscar discusses an associate who left and the options for replacing him.

Oscar and Scott discuss Text-a-lawyer. Is it a service that can help those that can’t otherwise afford legal advice or is it an ethical mess that distorts attorney client privilege.

When Oscar and Scott started the podcast they were truly “Rebooting” their law practices. Now over three years later they discuss the next level planning and ideas that they are initiating for their practices. They touch on speaking in front of groups, evaluating if a networking group is right for you and getting involved in thier local bar associations.

As we know, your website is one of the most important tools you have to give prospective clients information about your firm. Scott gives a status update on the revamp of his website. He discusses the steps his design firm is taking to make the new site a success.

In this episode Scott and Oscar talk about making sure you are not getting bogged down by handling small matters that do not properly compensate you for your time. Getting properly paid for your time is the key to a successful law practice. Handling small cases or charging really low fees or agreeing to just “write a letter” for a client for $200.00 may bring some cash flow into your business but your time would be far better spent in working on your practice and on your higher paying clients.

It’s important to have a sterling reputation in the legal community to develop your practice, and that will come if you consistently do good work. But it’s more important to be more concerned about your reputation and “brand” in the client community. Does your website and other marketing material speak to your target clients? Have you planned on how you will reach the type of clients you want? You need to step back and think about who you want as clients and how you will reach them. Then make a plan to put yourself in front of those clients and make sure you are geared towards connecting with them in your marketing and networking.

In this episode, the hosts discuss a variety of issues in their practice that irritate them (adversaries who don’t use email for example) and, building off the last episode, some new ideas they are implementing in 2018 (writing things down on paper) and some things they are not (getting an app for their law office).

Planning and strategic thinking are important certainly. But at some point, you have to just pull the trigger. Scott and Oscar talk about how as 2018 gets going, this should be the year listeners Do Something! Whether its starting a blog, increase or decrease staffing, networking more, whatever it is. Let 2018 be the year that you take at least one concrete step to implement a change in your practice that will increase business. The hosts discuss some of the steps they are taking this year to improve their practices.

As we delve into the New Year, there are things we should be taking off our Practice Management “To Do” lists in 2018. Scott discusses how this year he is completely revamping and re-tooling his website. A high quality, effective website is a main tool in any solo or small firm’s arsenal. Too often, once we put one up, we don’t look at it again for a decade or more. The hosts discuss why it needs to be refreshed every few years to accommodate changes in technology and changes in the way you practice: How does your website look on the new iPhone? How long does it take to go through the main points you want clients to look at? What areas of practice do you want to feature? Old websites look stale and uninviting. Make sure this year you get yours up to date and coordinated to your practice.

Scott and Oscar have talked about the value of networking in many past episodes. This week they discuss why committing to networking should be on your 2018 New Year’s Resolution list. Whether it’s joining a BNI Networking Group in your area or signing up to become more involved in your local Chamber of Commerce, getting actively involved in some form of steady and consistent networking is essential to practice growth. The hosts also provide tips as to how to get the most out of the networking that you do.

In advance of a presentation they are making to the Nassau County Bar Association, the hosts talk about ways to get your name out in social media and the community. Publishing articles; making presentations; blogging; and yes, even doing a podcast are all ways to put yourself out in the universe and the marketplace. Scott and Oscar talk specifics and give do’s and don’ts about the right way to do this so that you provide value to those who receive it which will turn into business.

Scott talks about his recent attendance at a conference sponsored by the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System where the subject was the future of law schools and the legal system. While there were some positive moments where there were discussions about making law school more client-centered; using apps to increase access to justice; and teaching leadership in law school. However, there was a lot of talk about meeting the needs of the unrepresented without any solutions that would help lawyers make that financially worthwhile. Oscar brought up that President Obama’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program has led many new attorneys to get involved in public service; a similar idea geared towards helping the under-represented could work to bridging this gap. The podcast hosts point out that until law schools and those in academia take note of the many lawyers that are not making a living, a credible solution to filling the gap will not be found.

Scott Limmer continues the discussion of the CLIO Cloud Conference. A large part of what was discussed involved time and data management. For ex.: at CLIO a speaker pointed out that out of an 8 hour workday only 1.9 of that time is collected upon. How can we increase the amount of time that actually puts money in the bank? What can the data we have on our clients tell us – where they are coming from, how much are they paying, how much are we collecting, etc. The bottom line is that solos and small firms need to expand their horizons and look beyond traditional sources for information to help develop your practice. Step 1 could very well be attending a conference on law practice management.

Fresh off his trip to New Orleans, podcast host Scott Limmer discusses attending the CLIO Cloud Conference while there. The conference focused on practice management for lawyers, highlighting of course, CLIO software products. But the hosts discuss the need for lawyers to engage in these conferences to learn about what’s out there for use in their offices and just to connect with similarly situated attorneys. As usual, Scott and Oscar also discuss what practice management and time management tools and strategies worked – and didn’t work – for them.