How One Attorney Uses Seminars to Build His Law Firm
Vince Walker owes a great deal of his success in the legal profession to his stamp collection. Well, not exactly, but it was his fervent interest in collecting stamps that led to the marketing strategy that propelled Vince’s practice into the fast lane.
As a boy and all through school Vince was a stamp enthusiast. He collected stamps from the United States as well as from all over the rest of the world. As far back as high school it was said that his own collection was worth more than $15,000 – all stamps that he’d researched and procured with very little help from others.
Much of his interest (and most of his success) was nurtured by his stamp collecting mentor. The man went by the name of Ernie and ran a large stamp collector’s store in the state capital. But that’s not how Vince met Ernie. Ernie was devoted to stamp collecting and held classes and seminars about stamps all around the tri-county area. Vince met Ernie at a class he’d held years ago in the auditorium of the high school. From that first meeting Vince didn’t miss a single class held by Ernie. In time Ernie and Vince became not only friends but nearly contemporaries in the field of collectable stamps. And Vince’s collection continued to build value with Ernie’s help.
Vince’s interest in stamps waned as he made his way through college and the arduous study that comes with law school. His efforts paid off though as he breezed through the bar review and passed the bar on his first try. Vince agreed to work as an intern in a personal injury law practice for two years after passing the bar. From there he planned to open his own practice if things seemed right. They did. About halfway through his two-year get acquainted with the law apprenticeship, he began to roll out his marketing plan ala Ernest.
Remembering how he felt sitting in Ernest’s stamp classes so long ago Vince wanted to get his practice up and running using the same strategy – teaching classes. Since he planned on opening an estate planning office he began offering local classes on filling out simple wills. He also offered a class on incorporating a business along with one on using a family trust. At first the classes were lightly attended but along about the fourth month people started showing up in droves. Vince was still working at the personal injury firm but was building a client base with the list of attendees showing up for his classes. Not only that, but he was getting some actual paying clients from them as well.
By the time his two-year stint with the personal injury firm was up Vince’s classes were quite popular. He’d added a lot of new topics too. Every month Vince would conduct a class and almost every month he’d get paying work from one or more of the attendees. It only made sense to lease some space and set out on his own. And that’s what he did. Here are a list of the more popular classes and seminars he offered in that first year and every year since:
- Avoiding Probate
- Writing Your Will
- Trusts Made Simple
- How to Hire The Best Attorney For Your Personal Matters (every attorney should offer this one)
- Partnerships, Limited Liability Companies and Corporations
- Understanding Living Wills
- Planning Your Estate
- Understanding Power of Attorney
- Offshore Wealth Preservation Strategies
- Homesteading
- Asset Protection and the Patriot Act
- Family Limited Partnerships
Vince has taken the time to research and write comprehensive course outlines for each of his classes. He’s actually developed several of the more popular classes into two-day weekend seminars. These almost always bring in lucrative business and lots of referrals. But Vince sees his efforts as more than just a ploy to bring in business. He sees his teaching as a way to get out and meet people; to offer something of value for people who might not have such information otherwise. Vince believes that success comes from a fair value for value exchange and he knows that if he makes the first move in offering something of true value, that before long that value will be returned to him in the form of new business or other opportunities.
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EmailBeing Stuck in a Snow Storm Leads an Attorney to a Great Marketing Plan
Victor Lombardo owes much of the success of his thriving legal practice to a crippling snowstorm that literally shut down the city of Chicago in January of 1979. Victor was returning to Saint Louis from New York on behalf of his firm when his flight was re-routed for landing into Chicago due to severe storms. He spent the following 36 hours camped out in an employee lounge at O’Hare airport with more than 3,000 other stranded travelers.
Victor spent a week in his firm’s New York office orienting with a senior partner who specialized in corporate law. He was tired and like everyone else stuck at O’Hare wanted nothing more than to be able to be on his way home. The room had turned into a makeshift shelter. Babies were being fed and changed. People were playing cards and other travel games. There were children running around unattended. At times tensions were high as virtually everyone was frazzled. Victor sat on the floor against a wall and reached into his briefcase for some work and pulled out a blank will form. There was a man sitting by his side who commented on the will saying that he wished he was rich enough to leave everyone in his family a yacht, mansion, and millions.
Victor was slap happy by now so he played along and began to fill in some of the spaces in the will as the man dictated. Another of the airport-campers noticed what they were doing and joined in leaving his kids each a savings and loan. Before long there was a small gathering around Victor with each of the people adding their fantasies to the will. The little group was drawing the attention of the larger crowd. Victor saw an opportunity to offer a bit of relief to the weary assembly. He stood and explained to the entire room that he was an attorney and he’d been creating a fantasy will for some of the others. The people picked right up on the game and began shouting out offerings for their surviving loved ones.
Within a few minutes an airport employee offered to make multiple copies of the blank will and distribute them to the entire group. This way everyone could fill in the blanks on their own pretend wills as Victor offered legal tips along with some lighthearted kidding around. The session was a hit with the stranded travelers and Victor held several of them with people recycled through the room from other parts of the airport. He was actually performing a valuable service in providing an interesting distraction for the weary and airport officials were glad to utilize his generous ad hoc class to relieve some of the tension of the travelers. But there was much more going on than simply relief for the weary.
Victor came up with a strategy for using a learning environment to attract new clients. It has worked for his law firm for almost 30 years. Continue reading to see how he did it.
Law Firm Seminars: If You Teach – They Will Come
Before changing careers and becoming an attorney my good friend James was a teacher for nearly 15 years. I guess he’s still a teacher at heart. As far back as I can remember James has been completely unselfish in offering to help people and explain things. In fact, it’s been said of James that his true ability lies in making complex subjects easy for the average person to understand. This is what led him to the teaching profession. But somehow he wasn’t completely fulfilled as a teacher. He wanted more. So he went back to school and before we knew it he had become an attorney.
He worked several years in a family law practice before branching out on his own. At first, his old firm offered a fair number of referrals. Added to those clients were the friends and colleagues he’d known as a teacher. And slowly but surely his business grew. But it wasn’t until he did what comes naturally, teaching, that he hit full stride in what has become one of the most lucrative law practices in town. And it all happened quite by accident, though many would say there are no accidents in the world.
One day James received a call from the curriculum director at the community college. He wanted James to teach a civics class two nights a week at the adult education program the college offered. Well, James could never turn down a teaching opportunity or an old friend so he agreed to teach the class. And something happened when he did. The material offered in the civics class was closely related to some of the family law matters he dealt with on a daily basis in his law practice. Before long James was offering a question and answer session related to certain family law issues after regular civics class hours.
Word of these sessions got back to the college and James was offered an opportunity to teach his own family law class the following semester. It soon became one of the college’s most popular courses and brought James a good deal of business to his practice. But it didn’t stop there. James so much enjoyed teaching the class that he began offering short weekend seminars on family law matters such as simple contracts, divorce counseling, child custody issues, bankruptcy, immigration and others. These classes were usually full and these too brought James a lot of business.
If the story ended here it would be a happy one for sure. But it doesn’t end here. James ended up literally developing and adding a teaching arm to his practice.
Here’s how he did it:
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