How to Write a Recession Survival Story for your Small Law Firm
There are plenty of attorneys making money in these difficult economic times.
You read that correctly.
There are small law firms and solo practitioners doing quite well in spite of the gloom and doom on both Wall Street and Main Street. And no, I’m not just talking about bankruptcy attorneys.
There are dozens of examples in almost every specialty. Real estate, employment, immigration, corporate transactional law, all have success stories that you won’t find in any newspaper. These firms are just beginning to “hit their stride” as the recession seems to be in its darkest days.
How are they doing this?
All of these successful firms have three things in common:
1). Fiscal Flexibility: Firms that have had the greatest success during the recession have had the ability to adjust their economic model.
A condo association attorney in South Florida was able to adjust to paying his five team members once a month instead of every other week. This helped him manage his cash flow and adjust to the slower payment patterns of his clients.
A twelve member firm that specializes in Intellectual Property Law in New York City let their office lease expire and allowed all the members of the firm to work virtually. They pay $500 per month to use the conference room in a larger firm’s law office every two weeks for staff meetings. The firm saves the $18,000/month rent and everyone loves the fact that they can now work from home.
2). Real Work for Real Lawyers: Another characteristic that is common to firms doing well in the recession is the “can do” attitude of the principles/owners of the firm. The small firms that are thriving in these difficult times are made up of lawyers who roll up their sleeves and get dirty. That means that actually do the work – and lots of it – themselves.
While this is something that will definitely hinder long-term growth, many of the financially successful firms’ Partners are handling work they would normally have a paralegal tackle. This saves the expense of the extra person and it keeps the attorney close to the client.
This was exactly the situation with an immigration attorney in San Diego. She began handling all the paperwork on her cases in the middle of last year and she saved the expense of the freelance paralegal she was working with a couple of days per week.
A real estate attorney in Miami who had been handling 10 closings per week with a staff of 5 people just 18 months ago is now working on double that number of loan modifications – with one other person – and making about the same money.
3). Maintain a Continuous Focus on Marketing. This is not that time to be shy. Now is the perfect time to aggressively market to your target audience. Why? Because your competitors are cutting marketing expenses.
A husband and wife attorney team in Georgia gives estate planning seminars twice a month in the basement of a local church. The majority of the questions they answer are about the current state of the economy but they always come away from those seminars with a few new clients.
A corporate transactional attorney in my Private Client Group has steadily increased his client base during the past six months by moving to a weekly newsletter from a monthly newsletter. The key to his success has been to offer timely, relevant information to his prospective clients on how to handle issues specific to an economic downturn.
Your small law firm or solo law practice can do well in spite of the economy. The keys are to stay flexible, look for every opportunity to save money and keep getting your name in front of your prospective client base.
Maintaining these qualities even after the economy recovers also might not be such a bad thing.
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