Studying law is one thing but practicing law can be a unique experience. If you have already established your law firm, think back on when you were a fresh graduate. Obviously, you were not an expert at that time but now you have expertise and experience. You started with the great fear of falling and may have worked with other law firms before having your own.
So here the question arises:
What are your legal learnings are a few things you wish you knew before you start your own law firm?
These tips can greatly help the freshers who are looking to establish their law firms and have no prior experience.
Remember that small law firm businesses still need a lot of exposure and improvements. Statistics show that more than 40% of small law firm businesses do not have their own websites. Most law firms are missing the internet marketing element, which can give them a huge edge over other law firms. As experienced legal professionals, we must teach it to the novices.
After consulting with other law firm experts, we have discovered a few commonalities in things they wish they knew before starting their law firms.
So let’s get started!
Choose the appropriate law firm name from the beginning
The name that you choose for your law firm should reveal the area of expertise and the branch of law you are dealing with. A lot of people start with cliched terms that are ambiguous and do not clearly define the branch of law you provide services for.
For example, if you deal with criminal law, your firm law name could be “Orlando Criminal Law Firms”. Moreover, you should also keep in mind that the name of the law firm should be simple and easy to remember, otherwise people might have difficulty recalling and sharing it.
Various beginners continue to use difficult and highly professional form names that are not comprehensible for the common people.
You are educated and familiar with legal jargon, but not everyone is aware of legal terms.
Avoid being over-complicated, set a unique name with the keyword in it, and your firm will be successful right from the beginning!
Store your legal documents in a single place
Instead of storing physical copies of all your legal documents, it is better to save them in a cloud-based system. Take advantage of legal apps that are particularly designed to make your legal experiences easy.
MyLitBag is an IOS-based iPad digital binder legal tool. By using this app, users can replace and share their physical binders with password-secure virtual litigation binders of fully editable documents and files.
With the MyLitBag app, the creation of document binders is made easy. Download MyLitBag from the Apple App Store today for a free 7-day trial and see for yourself how easy it is to create and store virtual binders.
Stay focused and never go astray
Some lawyers start by handling cases in various fields and areas. This is not the right approach especially when you are a beginner and have expertise in only one branch. This can be a great blunder that can lead you to nowhere.
For instance, lawyers that specialize in dealing with financial issues might start taking orders from families to handle divorce issues. Remember that making money initially is not enough, you should also try to gain some experience in your area of expertise. Dealing with diverse issues may destroy your reputation even before it’s built.
This is perhaps the worst mistake that many lawyers regret making.
Create an official website
As we discussed earlier, more than 40% of small law firms do not have any social or online presence. As a beginner, you should understand the importance of enhancing your visibility in front of the world. Without using internet marketing techniques and creating your own official website you will lag behind the others.
An official website serves as your face for online people as well as social media customers.
So you must have an official website that should contain all the details about your law firm, as well as have your personal information, contact number, services, geographical location, and area of expertise. You can also tell the people how you deal with the cases and go the extra mile for the satisfaction of your customers. In fact, your website serves as the landing page for the customers to understand what you do and what level of services they can expect from you.
Do not forget to create your own logo, defining your law firm’s services. Hire a talented graphic designer that will create a professional, unique logo for your firm.
Pro Tip:
It’s also important to focus on search engine optimization for your website. This will not only help your site to rank locally but also provide more exposure and credibility. It is an important factor that matters greatly while marketing your business in the online world.
By not establishing a website from the beginning, you lose a lot of opportunities to build your reputation in front of the online audience.
Network with other law firms
It’s important to meet with the other law firm owners in your area and build professional relationships with them. Networking gives you recognition and great connections. For example, if you are a family lawyer and connect with a financial lawyer, he may recommend you to customers in need of your services. In this way, you can make use of the opportunities that you get from experienced lawyers.
These are great insights to consider before starting a law firm. I can relate to the name aspect even with my blogging business. I wish I’d thought about it a little longer!
This will for sure help so many I bet!
Networking is so important. People often forget just how much that means to success.
Picking the right name from the start is so important, but it’s even more important for a company like a law firm. Your reputation starts as soon as you open the door.
These are awesome tips for anyone starting out in a law firm. What I love about these tips is that they actually translate to other businesses, as well.
Central storage is key to any business. It’s hard to conduct your business if you’re constantly struggling to find the documents that you need.
We need to “Stay focused and never go astray”. Many law firms and lawyers lost their way before they even started their journey!
I think it’s really important for any business to network. As a blogger, I owe part of my success to my fellow bloggers who give me tips and refer me to brands for collaboration.
I’m so old school and worry about not having back up copies of things on paper. I do like the idea of having the name int he title. That makes things easier for the consumer!
These are helpful tips! It’s never easy to start from scratch. Having a diverse and extensive network really helps!