What’s all the fuss about “Typography for Lawyers?

January 22, 2014 by
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So a lot of lawyers are interested in typography. Who knew?

Typography for Lawyers, a book by Matthew Butterick, appears to be selling well, in part no doubt to a big endorsement by legal writing maven Bryan Garner.

I haven’t read the book, but I don’t get it. Why all the fuss?

Don’t we have enough to do to get the words right? Do we now need to be concerned with font choice? Does anyone really care about making their appellate brief visually appealing (pun intended)?

Not I.

The author makes his case against the use of Times New Roman in legal documents:

“When Times New Roman appears in a book, document, or advertisement, it connotes apathy. It says, ‘I submitted to the font of least resistance.’ Times New Roman is not a font choice so much as the absence of a font choice, like the blackness of deep space is not a color. To look at Times New Roman is to gaze into the void.

If you have a choice about using Times New Roman, please stop. Use something else. . . . Times New Roman connotes apathy. You are not apathetic.”

Frankly, unless you’re using something weird, I don’t think font choice matters to most people. If the Court doesn’t specify what you can or can’t use, use what you want.

If you’re going to make a conscious decision about font choice, however, and your primary objective is to communicate your ideas and persuade the reader to your way of thinking, I suggest you choose Times New Roman (or some other common font) precisely because it is so common.

Choosing Times New Roman connotes apathy? Good. You should be apathetic about fonts. You’re not writing to show the court your artistic taste, you’re writing to be heard. You don’t want to call attention to your typography, anymore than an artist wants to call attention to the painting’s frame.

We all wear the same dark suits to court, don’t we? I don’t see anyone suggesting we start dressing more stylishly. We want the judge listening to our arguments, not admiring (or being distracted by) our clothing. The same goes for how we dress our writing.

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Filed Under: Communication, Law office management, Writing Tagged With: ,

Attorney marketing plan: 15 minutes a day or two hour a week?

January 21, 2014 by
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If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you’ve heard me repeatedly say that marketing doesn’t need to take a lot of time. “Just 15 minutes a day is all you need, just make sure you do it every day.”

Why every day?

  • So that it becomes a habit. Because if you instead block out two hours every Friday for marketing and you miss a week, you’ll fall behind and may have trouble getting back in the groove
  • Because doing something every day programs your subconscious mind to to find ideas when you’re doing other things
  • Because marketing should be an integral part of running your practice and something you enjoy doing, not a chore you have to force yourself to do once a week
  • Because the little things we do every day, a quick phone call or email, for example, are not only effective because they involve reaching out to people, they are also efficient, compared to big blocks of time which often involve a lot of waste
  • Because marketing ideas and opportunities present themselves daily, via people you meet, things you read, and ideas that pop into your mind, and if you don’t use them in the moment, they will pass you by

There are times when a big block of time for marketing can be useful, especially when you are working with a team. Planning and developing a new advertising or social media campaign or meeting with a web developer are examples. Of course some things like networking or delivering a seminar require a block of time.

You could also utilize blocks of time to get ahead of the marketing curve. With a little preparation, you could create a month’s worth of weekly blog posts in a single two hour writing session.

Investing 15 minutes a day (weekdays) for marketing is 5.5 hours a month, certainly not to much to ask of even the busiest attorney, especially considering the immense return on that investment. Could you add two more hours to that once a month for bigger projects? Do you need to?

How much time do you spend on marketing? Do you have a fixed schedule?

Need an attorney marketing plan? Get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Productivity, Time Management

Dealing with difficult clients

January 20, 2014 by
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We’ve all had clients who are overly demanding, rude to you or your staff, or complain about things until you want to scream. And let’s not forget the clients who want to micro-manage their case.

Sometimes, you have to sit these clients down and have a heart-to-heart talk. Explain the problem and ask for their cooperation. You do risk embarrassing them, and perhaps losing them, but when things have gone too far, you do what you have to do.

Before things go that far, however, look for less confrontational ways to deliver your message. You may be able to do this by talking about the problem in a letter to all clients or in your newsletter. It’s easier to say things to “everyone” than to confront a misbehaving individual.

When you post an article about “best practices” for working with your office, for example, and discuss which decisions the attorney makes, and why, you allow the micro-managing client to see what they are doing wrong and give them a chance to correct course. If they don’t, you still have the option of speaking to them individually.

Clients need to be trained. You need to tell them what is expected of them. At the same time, tell them what to do if they have a complaint or disagree with something, or want to make a suggestion. Give them a path to follow that allows them to be heard without manhandling you and your staff.

Put your policies in your new client kit and post them on your website. Explain how things work at your first meeting with new clients.

Dealing with difficult clients is easier when you address their difficulties before they occur.

Avoid billing problems and complaints. Get the Check.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Communication, Law office management Tagged With: , ,

Opening a second law office

January 9, 2014 by
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Every four to six weeks I pop over to a small barber shop near my home. Snip snip, buzz buzz, and I’m done.  Its quick, they do good work, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than the fancy places I used to go.

On my last visit, I learned that the owner had opened a second location about ten miles away. Good for him. Entrepreneurship rocks.

He’s got more overhead, responsibilities, and risk, but he’s got the system down and I’m sure the second store will be running smoothly in no time.

He opened the second location, I’m sure, because he understands that there is only so much upside in a barber shop. Men don’t buy a lot of hair care products, we don’t get our nails done or our hair colored (usually), and in a small local shop, if all of the chairs are busy, there’s only so much the owner can do to increase his bottom line.

When I was practicing law, at one time I had three offices. I earned more, but frankly, it wasn’t worth the extra time and headaches. What I should have done, and what you should probably do if you’re considering opening a second (or third) office, is to work on increasing the profits in the first office.

There are lots of ways to increase profit in a law office. You can get bigger cases and better clients. You can get your former clients to hire you again, or hire you for different kinds of work. You can get more new business, from referrals or advertising or through the Internet, and short of needing a bigger office to accommodate additional staff, you can do all of this from one location.

On the other hand, clients will only travel so far to see a lawyer. Opening a second office is tempting. Does it ever make sense?

Theoretically, yes. In southern California, for example, if your office is in Los Angeles, you might want a second office in Orange County, and another in San Diego. Three different markets, with enough population to make the investment worthwhile.

But the investment in a second office encompasses far more than rent and employee expenses. You must hire, train, and supervise the new staff, which is difficult enough when you are present. There are additional liability and ethical risks, not to mention the risk to your reputation if something goes wrong.

If you’re thinking about opening a second law office, consider yourself warned. It’s not for the faint of heart.

If you have the resources and the thick skin, a second office is a viable way to increase your income. But don’t rush into it. A good place to start is to get a shared office arrangements where you can use a conference room to see clients. This will allow you to test both the market and your capacity for operating a satellite office, before you commit to something bigger and more permanent.

Proceed cautiously, limit your downside risk, and if things don’t go the way you had hoped, you won’t have to. . . forgive me. . . take a haircut.

Get more referrals. Quickly. Here’s how.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Increase your income, Law office management, Legal industry Tagged With:

Are you managing your law practice or is it managing you?

January 8, 2014 by
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See the client. Review the document. Write the letter. See the next client. Document the file. Mail the letter. Read. Read some more. Email. Email some more. Prepare the complaint. Prepare the motion. Make the calls. Go to the meeting. Check your email. Check your calendar. Oops, late for court. Out the door. Fight traffic. Wait to be called. Back to the office. Record notes. Send the email. Look at the time. Oops, late for dinner. Fight traffic. Kiss the wife. Eat, read, news, sleep, get up, eat, dress, fight traffic, see the client. . .

Another day. Another week. Another month. Another year.

Who has time for marketing? Thinking about the future? Planning?

You want to, there’s just no time. Too much to do and it never gets done. At the end of the day you’re tired and want to go home.

You aren’t managing your law practice. It’s managing you.

Believe me, I understand.

It’s time for you to take control. Tell your practice who is in charge. Decide what kinds of clients and cases you want instead of taking what shows up. Decide how much you want to earn this year and do what you need to do to earn it.

But to do that, you have stand down from the daily grind, clear your mind, and make some decisions.

What do you have to decide? Start with the end in mind. What do you want your future to be like? What is your long term vision?

What do you want your life to be like five or ten years from today? Imagine things the way you would like them to be. What are you doing? Where are you living? How much are you earning? What is a typical day like?

Write a “vision statement” describing your life, in the present tense, five years in the future. One page is all you need. The only rule is there are no rules. Describe the life you want, not the life you think you might have.

Your vision statement is where you want to go. From this point forward, you can make choices that are consistent with your vision. You’ll do things that move you towards your vision. You’ll reject activities that don’t.

Instead of being pushed through life by circumstance, you’ll be pulled forward by your vision.

Once you have a vision statement, the next step is yearly goals. What do you want to happen in the next 12 months that is consistent with your long term vision?

You can set one big goal or a handful of goals in different areas of your life. Goals should be specific and measurable. At the end of the year you should be able to say that yes, you did reach the goal, or no you did not.

Goals should be bold and exciting. They should require you to stretch and grow, but not be so far out of reach that you don’t have a chance of achieving them.

Once you have yearly goals, the next step is to write monthly plans. What will you focus on this month? What projects will you work on? When will you start? When will you be done? What will you do after that?

Schedule your monthly plans in your calendar. Set up files to collect information and track your progress.

While you’ve got your calendar handy, also schedule a recurring weekly review. Once a week, take an hour or two to review what you have done during the week and what you will do the following week. This keeps you focused and accountable. This is you managing your practice instead of it managing you.

Finally, from you yearly goals, monthly plans, and weekly review, you choose your daily activities. What will you do today to move you forward? Choose a few things but make sure they are important.

It’s best to write down your daily activities the night before. “Plan your day before your day begins,” one of my mentors taught me.

A well-lived life is a well-planned life. If your law practice is managing you, it’s time to show it who’s boss.

The Attorney Marketing Formula will help you plan your future. Click here for details.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Goal Setting, Law office management, Personal development Tagged With: , , ,

Slowing down to speed up: getting ready for the new year

December 30, 2013 by
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It’s time. The last few days of the year when the holiday craziness is nearly over, the tree and the lights are coming down, but the new year has not begun. This is the time when I tie up loose ends from the current year and get ready for the new one.

I’m sure you’re doing something similar. Or you will in the next few days. Much like we do in the days leading up to a vacation.

It’s called “slowing down to speed up”. We shut off the flow of regular business and look at things from a different perspective. Because we’re not consumed with taking care of clients and projects, we can better see where we are and make plans for where we want to be.

In addition to doing some goal setting and planning, I’m getting caught up on CLE and learning some new software I plan to use extensively next year. I’m also cleaning up my computer workspace, catching up on email, consolidating files and folders in “my documents,” and consolidating my Evernote tags.

Not difficult stuff. Kinda fun, actually. But important, because it will allow me to start the new year with fresh eyes and fewer distractions and, therefore, be more productive with “real” work.

At least it feels that way. And that’s why we do this year-end ritual, isn’t it? So that we’ll feel refreshed and empowered?

So, how about you? How are you getting ready for the new year?

If you’re planning to upgrade your Internet presence next year, you need this.

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Filed Under: Goal Setting, Law office management, Productivity Tagged With: ,

How to make next year better

December 26, 2013 by
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If you want to make next year better than this year, start by taking a look back at your practice over the last 12 months. Look at every new case or client and figure out where they came from.

Who referred them? How did they get on your list? What did you do to get them to call?

Do the same thing for repeat clients.

Also look at the quality of those clients. Some clients are better than others. They hire you more often, pay higher fees, and provide more referrals. Which of your new and repeat clients fall into the category of “better”? Where did they come from?

Grab your calendar, your bank statements, your website statistics, your notes and records, and take a mile high look at what you did last year and your results.

Look at your networking, speaking, writing, and blogging. Look at your keywords, your content, your offers.

What worked for you? What worked better? What worked best?

Look at your professional relationships. Who provided referrals or other help? Who referred more or better clients? Who provided you with important intangibles–support, ideas, friendship?

(Note to self: “Make sure to keep better records next year so the next time I do this analysis I’ll have everything in front of me.”)

You can see that some things you did this year worked great, many didn’t work at all, and most fell somewhere in the middle. The same with your relationships.

If you look hard enough, you will see that although a lot of things produced a lot of results (clients, money, subscribers), a few things produced the majority of your results. You may find that

  • Eighty percent of your results came from just twenty percent of your activities
  • Eighty percent of your referrals came from twenty percent of your clients and professional contacts
  • Eighty percent of your income came from twenty percent of your cases
  • Eighty percent of your new subscribers came from twenty percent of your posts, keywords, speaking gigs, ads, (etc.)

Or not. It doesn’t have to be eighty percent and twenty percent. But it is almost certain that a big percentage of your results came from a small percentage of efforts or sources.

Identify the activities that produced most of your results so you can do more of them. Identify the handful of referral sources that sent you most of your referrals or your best referrals, so you can strengthen your relationship with them and leverage those relationships to meet their counterparts.

If you want next year to be better than this year, you need to find what worked best and do more of it. To find the time and resources to do that, cut down on or eliminate things that didn’t work, or that didn’t work as well.

For me, one thing worked better than any other. My twenty percent activity was writing. The books, courses, and blog posts I produced brought me more traffic, subscribers, and revenue than anything else I did. Knowing this means I can make next year a better year by being more prolific.

I know where to focus. I know my priorities. I know where to spend my time.

How about you? What will you do more of next year? What can you cut down on or eliminate? How will you make next year better?

The Attorney Marketing Formula comes with a simple marketing plan that works. Check it out here.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , ,

A high school class that has earned me a fortune

December 5, 2013 by
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I took a typing class in high school. I think we learned on Remingtons, ancient mechanical monsters that made typing a labor-intensive chore. The keys would get stuck, corrections were slow and frustrating, and typing line after line of “f-f-f-space, j-j-j-space” barked out by our instructor made the experience anything but enjoyable. But I learned to type.

Still, in my practice, I used a dictation machine and had a secretary do the typing. Even on a fast and forgiving IBM Selectric, typing was frustrating and it was better to let someone else do it.

Not anymore.

Today, with the computer I am able to type quickly and errors are no bother at all. I can get the words down “on paper” as soon as I think them. There’s no need to have someone else do the typing. In the time it would take to dictate, I can have it done myself.

I think that’s true of many attorneys today. But not all. Many attorneys never learned how to type, or if they did, they don’t do it well. If that’s you, I encourage you to do something about it. Take a typing class. There are many available online. Increase your speed and accuracy.

For the record, we’re talking about “touch typing” here–typing without looking at the keyboard. The two-finger jab, no matter how fast you are, doesn’t cut it.

The other day, I wrote about the value of practice for improving our skills. Typing is a skill with a huge return on time invested. The thought of spending 40 hours practicing typing may seem ridiculous when you bill $400 an hour, but it’s not ridiculous at all if it allows you to save 30 minutes a day for the rest of your career. You’ll be in the black in less than 90 days.

And, what if improving your typing skills allows you to lower your secretarial costs?

The idea is to “slow down so you can speed up.” Invest time to learn, practice, and improve. There is a cost, but there is a greater return.

I bought a new laptop last week and it arrived a few minutes ago. It’s my first experience with Windows 8 which I hear is not very intuitive. If I can’t figure it out, I’ll go online and learn what I need to know. I’ll take a class if I have to. Or. . . I might just trade that sucker in on a Mac.

Want more referrals? Quickly? Here’s what to do.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Leverage, Personal development Tagged With: ,

5 simple steps for improving productivity

November 19, 2013 by
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I’m going to give you a simple checklist for improving productivity. To use it, first make a list of everything you do in your work day. Do this over the course of a week so you don’t leave anything out.

Include everything: seeing clients, paperwork, calls, meetings, administrative. Include your commute and errands. Also include things you do during work hours that aren’t work related (e.g., playing games on your phone, coffee breaks, watching videos, etc.)

Once you have your list, go through every item. Look at the checklist and make notes. For best results, go through the list several times.

CHECKLIST FOR IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY

1. Eliminate. Ruthlessly purge anything that is unnecessary or does not contribute enough value to continue doing. Peter Drucker wisely said, “There is nothing less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”

2. Delegate. Just because something must be done doesn’t mean you are the one who must do it. Assign these tasks someone in house or outsource them, so that you can do, “only those things that only you can do.”

3. Do it less. What could you do less frequently? If you do something daily, could you do it once a week? Once a month? What can you consolidate with other tasks? For example, can you do some of your reading or dictation during your commute?

4. Do it faster. What could you do in shorter chunks of time? If you routinely take an hour to do something, find ways to do it in 30 or 45 minutes. How? Eliminate or delegate parts, use forms and checklists, improve your skills, or get help (i.e., do it with a partner).

5. Do it later. Are you doing anything during prime time you could do after hours? What can you do when your energy is lower? Which tasks are routine or low priority and don’t require your full attention?

Improving productivity means improving effectiveness (doing the right things) and efficiency (doing things right). 80% of your improvement will come from steps 1 and 2 which focus on effectiveness. Eliminating and delegating things that don’t need to be done or could be done by someone else frees you up to do more high value tasks. The remaining steps will help you become more efficient at everything else.

The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you how to earn more by working smarter, not harder.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , , ,

How to deliver a great presentation

November 7, 2013 by
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If you’ve never seen Simon Sinek’s TED Talk on inspiring action you’re in for a treat. In it, Sinek explains why companies like Apple captivate and dominate their market when legions of other companies sell boxes that do essentially the same thing. He tells us why the Wright Brothers were first to flight with no funding or credentials that would have predicted their success.

Sinek also helps us to understand the difference between a leader and those who lead, and why great ideas and great products often languish while smaller ideas catch fire.

His talk is filled with wisdom. In a few minutes, he will help you understand the key to success in marketing your services and building a firm that sustains and grows. I heartily recommend that you take the time to watch his presentation and learn why it is the second most popular TED Talk with more than 12 million views.

But there’s another reason to watch it. Not only will you learn great insights about marketing and business, you’ll also see a great presentation. As you know, a presentation isn’t just what you say, it’s how you say it. It’s how the information you deliver is packaged and staged. A great presentation connects with the minds and emotions of the audience, and this is a great presentation.

If you want to know how to deliver a great presentation, study this one. See how he packages and presents his information. Learn how you can make your next presentation more effective.

This post makes it easier. It analyzes the structure, style, and delivery of Sinek’s talk, helping us to understand why in a world of presentations, this is one of the greats.

Do you know The Attorney Marketing Formula? Check it out here.

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Filed Under: Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Personal development, Presentations, Writing Tagged With: ,
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