Starting a Law Firm | Hiring Another Lawyer

Just like I told you all a few weeks ago, I have hired my first associate attorney! This blog is quickly going from the "how to start a law firm" category to the "how to sustain and grow a law firm" category. But that's okay. There will always be a ton of information here that someone can use when they want to start a law firm. They might just need to go back and read from the beginning to see exactly what's going on.

Here's how this new associate hiring went down. I finally broke down and saw that I needed some help. I want to pursue this more, I want to focus more on running the law firm and making sure everything works smoothly within it, and I couldn't do that with all of the legal work that we were starting to get (this month has been our best month by far). I realized that the cost of an associate would be more than offset by the value I could bring elsewhere - in other words, an associate attorney would more than pay for themselves.

The Process of Hiring an Associate Attorney

For me, the process was pretty straight forward. First, I put an ad out with the local law schools for the position. Not only do new law school students see this information, but their alumni and others that subscribe see it to. This was my posting:

We are looking for an associate attorney to join our criminal defense practice. We're a young group but an energetic one. We're looking for someone excited about criminal defense (and DUI defense in particular) with a strong work ethic, strong attention to detail, and a competitive fire. You've also got to have a car you can drive (there are many court appearances to go to).

Good things about this job - (1) you'll get a lot of experience; (2) you'll work in a fun environment; (3) you'll be pushed; (4) there's will be a lot of opportunity for growth.

Bad things about this job - (1) at the beginning, the pay will suck.

If you're interested please send a cover letter, resume, transcript, and short writing sample (5 pages or less). In the cover letter, tell me these three things; why you're interested in criminal defense; why you're better than everyone else; and what your favorite sports team is.

As you might expect, it's a little out of the ordinary. But I didn't just want an ordinary attorney - I wanted someone better than that. And that's exactly what I got.

My new associate started this week. He's hitting the ground running, is pumped to be here, and I think has been enjoying it so far. As he gets more and more comfortable here and with our cases, I think he's going to like it even more.

I know, I know, you all want to know what I'm paying him and all that stuff. Well, I'm not going to tell you. It's none of your business!

I'm kidding, it's kind of your business because I've come here and shared so much with you. Here's what I'll tell you about the pay - it's set up so that the salary is low. Very low. But, there is the opportunity to make more money, a performance bonus if you will, based on the number of people that sign up. More people sign up, he makes more money. The sky is the limit as far as that is concerned. That's all you get to know about that.

The Interview Process

After I checked the people out, I set up an interview with the five or so people that I thought were the best candidates - ended up being 3 guys and 2 gals. I gave them each an hour and brought them into the office, sat them down, and chatted them up.

For these interviews I wanted the pace to a lot more conversational than I'd done in the past. If you're a criminal defense attorney you need to be able to think on your feet, to show a little passion every now and then, and to really sell yourself. So I tried to ask questions that allowed people to show me that. Some did, some didn't.

After the interview it came down to two candidates, and both were very well qualified. The decision at the end of the day just came down the person that I thought was the best fit for the firm (which is what I tell people to do when they are choosing a lawyer).

Getting Ready for the Associate

One of the major things about hiring a new attorney is that the processes really need to be more streamlined, written down, and adhered to. When it was just me, it was easy to kind of keep a list of to-dos in my head and then just coordinate that stuff with my assistant. With another attorney in the mix, it's important that we all rely on the systems in place to keep track of what's going on so nothing is missed, or things aren't done twice. For us, that started with the weekly planning meeting to make sure we all know what we're supposed to be doing.

The weekly meeting is pretty straightforward. We have all of our open cases in a spreadsheet, we figure out what we need to do next on the cases, and sometimes we note the thing that needs to be done after that, and then we get to work for the week. The next week, we figure out what's been done, and move on to the next thing after that. We keep track of what we're doing in that spreadsheet (we all have access to it and can cross stuff off when it's done), highrise, which is where our cases are managed, and just the open lines of communication.

Okay, gotta run. More to come on this later. I know you all have questions! Ask them! I'd love to talk to you.

More on the horizon. More to come. Looking forward to this year - it's going to be epic!

Oh, and, by the way, been doing some crazy good stuff with the search engine stuff for the people that signed up. Going to talk about that over at my law firm marketing blog. Go check it out.

The One Thing You Need to Start a Successful Law Firm

Before I get started I want to let you know that I've got some pretty big plans for this blog and my law firm marketing blog this year. If everything goes the way I think it will, I'm going to be posting here more often. If you like what I'm saying, and want to make sure you don't miss anything, make sure you subscribe to my feed. That way whenever I post anything you'll automatically get it.

The One Thing You Need to Have a Successful Law Firm

Although I've got a bunch of new stuff I want to talk about, and a bunch of new stuff I want to use this year (think the book - finally, video posts, podcasts, interviews, and more interactive things like that), I got a reader comment this week that I've been wanting to talk about, as it gets to the essence of starting a law firm and what it really takes to be successful.

Here's the comment:

One attorney that I read stated that really all a lawyer needs to start his or her own firm is a computer, phone, fax, and business card. Is there anything that you would add to or subtract from that?

My answer is, yes, there is definitely something I would add to that. It's probably the thing that's going to make the difference in the success of your law firm.

One of the great and terrible things about starting a law firm is all of the decisions you get to make. What type of computer to get. Should you get a scanner? Should you get embossed business cards? What's the best phone system to use? Should you have a virtual office or a brick and mortar place? The possibilities are endless. And endless possibilities are safe.

If you let yourself, you can spend months making all of these decisions. The thing is, though, at the end of the day, none of that matters.

IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL LAW FIRM, YOU NEED TO HAVE A PLAN.

That's really all you need. A plan. You need to have a plan for the type of firm you want to have (what type of law do you want to practice, and if it's more than three areas, you need to rethink it). You need to have a plan for how you are going to handle clients from start to finish. And most importantly, you need to have a plan to get clients.

Let me repeat - you need to have a plan to get clients.

If you don't have that, you don't need anything else. And until you have that, you don't need to worry about anything else. So, my advice to you, today, is to stop thinking about what kind of computer you need or what kind of phone system you want or what kind of business cards you should get. Instead, sit down, and think about these things:

1. What kind of law do I want to practice?

2. Who are my ideal clients for this type of practice (be as specific as possible)?

3. Where are these ideal clients at? I.e. how can I get in front of them?

4. What am I going to do to get in front of them?

5. What am I going to say once I get in front them (what's my value proposition)?

Answer those questions and execute the answers and you'll have a successful law firm.

As always, thoughts, comments, and questions are welcome. The more you talk, the more discussion we have, the more we all benefit. Don't be shy!

Starting a Law Firm | Experience Requirements and Dealing with Haters

Here we are again with our weekly blog post about starting a successful law firm. The first week of 2012 is upon us, and I hope through 4 days everyone has held firm with their New Years resolutions! Studies show it takes 28 days to form a habit, so, if you've kept it up so far you only have 24 more days to go until that positive action is ingrained in your soul.

I received a few comments on last weeks post and I mentioned that I'd answer one of them as the blog post here this week (there's plenty to be said on the subject). Here's the comment:

First of all, thank you for blog - it has given me much inspiration and motivation over the past few months as I have started to plan the move to go out on my own. My goal for 2012 is/was to "open shop" hopefully around the middle of the year.

The reason I say "was" is that I have quite a lot of negative feedback from other lawyers about going out on my own so early. By mid 2012 I will have been practicing for two years (in Australia we can only practice law in a supervised position for the first two years). Prior to admission I was a legal secretary for two years. From my research (albeit limited) it does seem most Australian lawyers have significantly more experience before going solo.

So my question twofold - how much/what kind of experience do you think you need as a minimum? And how much credence should you give to the naysaying peers and colleagues?

And here's my answer.

How Much Experience do You Need to Start a Law Firm?

You're going to hate my answer to this one, because the answer is I don't know. It depends. Some people (and practice areas) require a little more experience and some don't.

Not good enough? Okay. Here's what I think. Do you need experience to get going? No. You need a law license to practice law. Is it a good idea? Sure, if you can get it. Are there other ways of getting experience other than working for someone else? Yes there are. You just have to decide what is best for you.

Before I really get going anywhere on this topic though, I want to say one thing. Never ask a lawyer if you want to do anything that involves risk. They are never going to go for it. Most lawyers enjoy being on the sidelines, watching the action and judging it from afar. The idea of actually being a player scares them to death. In reality, it doesn't matter how much experience, or money, or clients, or anything you have - they are going to be hesitant about starting a business. The great thing about trying something is that if you fail you get to keep trying.

Our ethical rules require us to provide zealous, competent representation. Competency can be acquired via experience. It can also be acquired by observing, by reading, by practicing, and by mentoring. Find some people that you respect as attorneys and start talking to them. Find out when they have things going on that you can watch. Find out what their cases are, go down to the courthouse, and get copies of their briefs (and the other side's briefs) and read them. When those briefs cite cases, go read those cases.

It's impossible to know how much experience you specifically need. It's different for everyone. No matter who you are or how long you've been practicing, don't ever be afraid to ask dumb questions to people who know the answers. Better to look dumb behind closed doors than in a courtroom.

How Much Credence Should You Give to Naysaying Colleagues?

The answer, not surprisingly is, it depends. But most of the time it's "none." There are certain people that I admire and trust, that know me well, not only from a legal perspective but from a personal perspective. It's those people that I would at least listen to if they had some opinions on the career choices I was going to make. Everyone else I would just smile at and dismiss.

The fact is, as a society we hate to see people succeed. As you look through the news, there are very rarely stories about people succeeding. Most stories are about successful people that have done something wrong to fall from grace. I think as humans it just makes us feel better to have confirmation that no one is perfect.

When you start this law firm you are going to have a lot of people tell you you aren't going to be successful. Some of those people actually think that to be the case. If they present you with some specific information related to that opinion, listen to it, and then plan accordingly to avoid that problem. Most of those people, though are in reality envious or jealous of you. They may have no desire whatsoever to start a law firm, but seeing someone with the guts to take a chance on an unknown is depressing for some, since they know deep down they'll never ever do anything like in their life (whether it's related to work or hobbies or love - they'll always do the safe thing).

I hope you decide to open your law firm. I hope you sit down and think and plan before you do so (job number one - figure out how to get clients). And when you open I hope you stick with it and create an extremely successful business.

Questions and Comments Welcome

I know you have thoughts about this. Please share. I know you have other questions. Please share.

Have a great weekend.

Profits or Growth? | Lessons from Monopoly | 2012 Goals

Well, we've finally reached the end of 2011, and I must say it was a pretty good year. The business is humming right along, family life is good, and there's only sunshine on the horizon. But enough looking back, let's look forward.

As you can see from the title of this post, I've got a few things I want to talk about today related to starting a law firm. The first is whether or not you should be working toward profits or growth. The second is a lesson I learned from Monopoly this last week while I was at home visiting family. The third is a true breakdown of my professional goals for this coming year.

Profits or Growth

I read a lot of stuff. I read books, I read magazines, I read articles on the internet, and I read blogs. One of the blogs I read is called "A VC." It's written by a guy who's a venture capitalist in New York. As you might guess, this is one of the business blogs that I read.

The other day I was scanning through my blog reader when I came upon a post on A VC called "Profitable: To Be or Not to Be?" It was a great read and it got me thinking a lot about my law firm and the decisions I need to make moving forward to get to where I want to go. You can read the post here.

The paragraph that got me thinking was this one:

Many high growth companies can be profitable. They have enough revenue to cover their essential costs and could easily decide to show a profitable income statement. But they don't make that choice. Instead they invest heavily in the business with the expectations that those investments will produce more revenue (by hiring salespeople), or additional products (by hiring engineers and product managers), or additional geographies (by hiring an international team), or any number of other value enhancing aspects of the business. The result of that decision is that the business loses money or simply breaks even (I prefer the latter approach)

Sure, it's geared toward high growth companies and larger companies, but it also applies to businesses like yours and mine. At some point hopefully the money we are bringing in is more than the money that is going out. At that point we have a decision to make: do we put the money in our pockets or do we put the money back into our business?

Now, I know it's not an either/or decision. The answer is probably a little bit of both. But you can definitely skew that one way or the other depending on what your business philosophy is. The important point I'm trying to make here, I guess, is that whichever way you decide to go, make sure that it's at least a conscious decision. If you take all of the money out of your firm you're going to feel like you're spinning your wheels when it comes to growth. If you leave it all in you may feel like the business isn't reaching its true potential (because you're broke).

What's my philosophy? We're going to talk about that next.

Lessons Learned from Monopoly

I love the game of Monopoly. I've been playing it for about as long as I can count money. What I love about monopoly is that it has rules, but those rules include the ability to negotiate just about anything you want. It's kind of like real life in business - if you can get someone to take your offer, then you've got a deal.

Although I love the game of Monopoly a lot, I don't actually get to play it that much. First, it takes forever to finish a game. Second, there just aren't a lot of people around that really want to play. But, over the Christmas holiday, I found a few willing players, and I learned (or was reminded of) some great concepts related to starting a law firm, including the idea of growth or profits. I'm not going to tell you who won the game, because it's not important. But I will tell you I had a blast playing.

The game started out like many games do - everyone is trying to grab as much property as they can, hoping to either get enough properties of one color to expand, or to put together a portfolio big enough to make some deals and then expand. Over time it worked out where one player had all of the railroads and utilities plus Park Place and Boardwalk, the two most expensive properties on the board. One player had many different properties spread throughout the board, including one entire side of the board (minus the railroad, utility and chance spots), one had two properties on opposite sides of the board, and one didn't have much (worst luck rolling the dice I've ever seen).

At this point people have options on what they want to do. They can try to get more properties from people, the can expand their existing properties, or they can do nothing. We'll call the first two growth strategies and the last one a profit strategy. For about an hour I was probably in the profit strategy camp. I'd just go around the board biding my time, hoping to put together enough money to someday expand my existing properties. I wasn't active at all. But I stopped that once I saw what was happening as a result of that - I was spinning my wheels.

I wasn't losing money, but I wasn't really making that much either. People would land on my properties and pay but then I'd land on one of theirs and have to pay. Sort of the same way you get money in from clients and then have to pay it out to vendors or for other expenses. It was frustrating for me because I was eager to get ahead of the game but I just couldn't.

It took me an hour to realize I'd been employing the wrong philosophy.

After that hour I started investing my money in growth. When I had extra money, I bought a house or put up a hotel. There was some worry about landing on Park Place or Boardwalk and having to pay a big rent (incurring an unexpected large expense) but it happened so rarely that I had enough money to take care of it. And if I didn't then I knew I could leverage some of my property to take care of it (credit card - line of credit). All of a sudden my profits started soaring. By putting the money back into the business, in places that yielded good returns, I was the benefactor of those returns. A little aggressiveness went a long way.

It was during that game (and later while reading a book I'll talk about later) that I realized I needed to employ some of this in real life. I'm a growth guy. I want this business to grow, and the best way to do that is by reinvesting in the business, by being aggressive in specific, calculated ways that I'm confident will help increase business (yes I'm talking about law firm marketing, but I'm also talking about other things).

Which brings me to my goals for 2012.

Goals for 2012

I know I've already talked about some of my law firm goals for 2012, but they were really just fly by the seat of pants. These are still kind of just coming out of my brain as I type, but I'm going to try to break them down a little bit more.

1. Gross Revenue of $300,000

I think in my last goal projection this number was higher, but this I think is a good goal for the year. It's $50,000 higher than my goal for 2011 and a little bit more than that for actual increase.

Breaking that down I need to make $25,000 a month. Just looking at that it seems like quite a bit of money. But, in reality, it's only about 8 cases a month (2/week). That's only a slight increase over what I'm doing now.

2. Hire an Associate in January

This is where that "growth" strategy comes into play. Right now I'm simply wasting too much time going from courthouse to courthouse doing the procedural dance that is a DUI defense practice. I need someone to come on board that can not only cover those hearings but learn DUI defense from the ground up. I need to invest in the future of the firm.

This is not just a 2012 goal but a January 2012 goal. I plan on posting the job tomorrow on the law school job listserves and see what's out there. There's no reason to put it off anymore. Once I get someone helping me out I can devote more time to reaching goal number 1.

3. Join Toastmasters

Yes, I know, this was a goal for 2011. I don't have any excuses for not making it happen. It just didn't. But it is this year.

Why? You might be asking? Simple - communication is the lifeblood of my work. If I can't effectively communicate, particularly through the spoken word (think jury trial) then I'm not going to get the results I want. Toastmasters helps you work on those skills.

4. Redesign My Websites into a Coherent Whole

This one speaks for itself. My websites right now don't share the same message. That needs to change. I've already started working on it, but I want everything to be set in place so no matter which one of my websites you land on you're getting the same message (that we'll do whatever we can to win your case).

5. Satellite Offices in Nearby Cities

For the last year I've been expanding my internet presence by spidering out to the surrounding communities. For example, if I'd started with Salt Lake City DUI attorney or Houston Criminal attorney, I'd now be focusing on West Valley City, West Jordan, Sandy, or Missouri City, Pasadena, Aldine, or Sugar Land. But now that I have an internet presence there I need to have a satellite office there - a physical address I can use to meet clients, conduct meetings, and put on my website. So I'm going to do that. I think I've got one place I can use for super cheap, and finding another shouldn't be too hard. As I expand in other ways I'll add satellite offices there too.

6. Finish the Office Design to Project Our Core Values

In a business like ours, first impressions mean a lot. There are at least 10 other people out there competing with you for business, no matter what city you're in, and if you don't make people feel safe and exude a sense of confidence you are not going to win those potential client battles.

One way to do this is to have an office set up that projects what you are selling. You are successful or will be successful, so make it look that way. Make sure your office is clean. Make sure it is well lit. Make sure your artwork projects the feelings you want it to. Make sure your office set up makes sense.

Right now my office looks nice, but it could be so much better. I'm going to stop thinking about it and start doing some things to change it up. And I'm going to do them sooner rather than later.

Okay, that's it for goals for 2012. What do you think? What do you think about growth versus profits? What do you think about Monopoly? What are your goals for 2012? Let's talk about it. Send me a message in the comments.

Starting a Law Firm | "The Flinch" Review, and What Makes Me Flinch, Among Other Things

Update to this post before it's even posted - I wrote it about 10 days ago - doesn't make it any less relevant, just means I'm not actually in a plane right now

Right now I'm sitting in an airplane at thirty-five thousand feet or so, headed from Seattle to New York. I've never been to New York before (can you believe that?!) but I guess this is as good a time as any to go. The University of Washington is playing Duke in basketball on Saturday in Madison Square Garden. I plan on being there. But it's not all fun and games. The plane ride, though a direct flight, has given me five or so hours to get to work. And you are one of the lucky beneficiaries.

I'm not going to answer any questions about starting a law firm or marketing a law firm because I don't have access to the internet. Yes, the plane has wifi, but I don't want it - it's amazing how much work you can get done when you don't have an internet connection.

But I haven't been working the entire time - I've been reading too. Today I happened upon a book called, I think "The Flinch." It's a free book you find on Amazon. I was directed there by Jonathan Fields, a writer and blogger that always has something interesting to say. He recommended "Flinch," it was free, so I uploaded it to the handy iPhone to read when I had some spare time (i.e. train ride to the airport and waiting to board the plane). It's a short book, and I've already read it, so I thought I'd review it.

The Flinch | A Book Review

"The Flinch" by Julien Smith, is a motivational book. The purpose of the book is to get you to realize all of the things you are afraid of are dumb and to get over it, get out there in the world, and start mixing it up. It's a great book and really hit home for me.

The idea behind the book is that we all know what a flinch is. Someone acts like they are going to punch you or you think you are about to get hit by something, and you flinch - it's a recoil based on the fear of what is to come. This book points out a very eye opening fact - every day we flinch, we back of things we should do or want to do, because we are afraid of getting hit by some imaginary object (failure, ridicule, etc.).

Flinching, as the book so eloquently points out, is an instinctive reflext that used to have a lot of value, and has some value today. If you are actually in a dangerous situation, there's nothing better you can do than flinch. It protects your vital organs. It keeps you out of harms way. But there's a problem - we don't have many truly flinch inducing events in our lifetime. But the flinch reflex wants to act, so it finds situations where fear can be created, and it causes us to flinch.

The whole premise of the book, in short order, is to stop flinching. It's not going to hurt. You are going to survive.

My Own Flinches | Things to do Immediately

As I am wont to do, I thought I'd share some of my flinches right now.

1. Hiring an Associate

For me to get to where I need to go I need an associate. I need someone to do some of the technical work (lawyerly work) work so I can focus on other things (growing the law firm). But I'm scared because I'm concerned the person I'd hire wouldn't be good enough. That manifests itself in my constantly thinking and talking about finding help but never actually actively looking for any help.

2. Growing the SEO Business

I know I've talked about this a lot here, but I've got some skills that could really change the lives of the attorneys that want to to take advantage of that. But doing that means taking another chance, it means more work, it means hiring more people, and it means more chances to fail. No one likes to fail. I hate to fail. And, honestly, even though I know I won't fail at this, something inside of me is telling me to flinch, to hold back on this, for no rational reason.

But I'm going to fight the flinch. I'm going to get started on both of these things, today. And I'm going to make your life better (potentially) and I'm going to make my client's lives better.

This is all I've got for now. Read the book. Think about where you are flinching in your life. Then stop. Hop in the cold shower (read the book), make yourself uncomfortable. Start a law firm. Until you start doing that you can't reach all of your goals.