Solo Law Firms Archives - Back Office Betties

A selection of articles related to navigating the unique struggles and rewards of starting and running your solo law firm.

Tag Archive for: Solo Law Firms

5 Signs It’s Time to Hire a Virtual Legal Assistant

Running a law firm is no small task… sometimes it can feel like you’re being pulled in a million directions. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, it might be time to bring in a Virtual Legal Assistant.

Here are five signs you could benefit from one:

1. You’re missing important details

Accuracy is everything in law. If you’re noticing deadlines slipping or documents getting misfiled, you’re juggling too much.

A Virtual Legal Assistant can ensure your focus stays sharp on high-priority work. They’ll take over day-to-day tasks like document drafting, appointment scheduling, and client follow-ups.

2. You’re burning the midnight oil

Are late nights and weekends in the office slowly becoming your norm? That’s a clear sign that you have too much on your plate and no amount of working harder can solve it.

From billing to CRM management, running a law firm involved plenty of non-legal work. A Virtual Legal Assistant can help you reclaim your time by handling those administrative tasks. Allowing you to focus on the legal work you enjoy—and get your evenings back!

3. Your clients are feeling neglected

Clear communication is key to building trust. If you’re missing calls, slow to respond to emails, or unable to update your clients regularly… you’re on the fast track to negative reviews.

A Virtual Legal Assistant can ensure prompt responses and regular updates. This keeps your clients happy, creates strong relationships, and wins referrals.

4. You’re rushing high-value work

Ever find yourself racing through critical tasks like legal research or case prep? Juggling deadlines and admin work doesn’t leave much space for thoughtful, detailed work.

A Virtual Legal Assistant can take over your lower-priority tasks. Enabling you to slow down and give your high-value work the attention it deserves.

5. You’re missing opportunities to grow

You need to seize opportunities as they arise to grow your law firm. Opportunities like bigger cases, more clients, new practice areas, and partnerships. If your day-to-day grind is already too much to handle, you’ll miss these chances.

A Virtual Legal Assistant can handle the operational tasks keeping you from focusing on growth. This frees up your time and mental energy to pursue bigger goals, like expanding your client base and networking.

It’s time to invest in a Virtual Legal Assistant

If any of those sound familiar, you’re stretching yourself too thin. It’s one thing to take on extra work to save a dollar, but losing money by spending all your time on unbillable work is a whole other thing.

Delegating your administrative work to a Virtual Legal Assistant can:

Improve reputation
Increase profit
Reduce stress
Empower you to focus on growing your law firm

Ready to unlock your law firm’s full potential? Schedule a free call today and discover what Virtual Legal Assistants can do for your law firm.

Unicorns don’t exist (stop trying to hire one)

Hiring a single “unicorn” employee who excels at everything is unrealistic. Instead, consider fractional staffing, where legal-specialized employees work part-time for multiple law firms and offer high-quality support in their areas of expertise.

You’re finally ready to hire a staff member at your law firm. You can’t do it all yourself anymore and have the budget for one assistant. Congratulations!

What’s the first thing you do?

You write a job description filled with all the work you want your assistant to take off your plate. Tasks range from new client intakes to social media posting to drafting legal documents. But it’s only a little bit of everything—so one person is all you need, right?

Wrong.

If you’re struggling to find a social butterfly who turns clients’ frowns upside down one minute and diligently completes paralegal tasks the next… that’s not surprising.

Because unicorns don’t exist.

What is a unicorn employee?

A unicorn employee is an expert at every random task you need help with. They are everything below:

A laser-focused, detail-oriented paralegal who dots every I and crosses every t
A warm, bubbly client coordinator who makes your clients feel cared for and valued
A creative marketer with copywriting and design skills who manages your social media and updates your website

Like unicorns, this person doesn’t exist.

You may get lucky and find someone willing to try their best at anything you throw their way. But tasks that go against their natural skillset and personality will be draining, leading to poor retention and performance.

An introverted specialist will draft documents with a smile on their face all day long. But put that same person on the phone with a frustrated client for 30 minutes, and they’re ready to clock out for the day.

It’s not sustainable. It’s not practical. And it certainly won’t produce the high-quality results you’re looking for.

“But I only have the budget and workload for one person!”

Here’s what you do: Hire fractional.

The fractional staffing solution

What is fractional staffing?

In simple terms, fraction staffing is hiring someone for a fraction of their total time. Fraction legal employees work for several law firms at once to fill their time and make a full salary.

A fractional legal employee’s workload may look something like this:

20 hours a month with law firm A
60 hours a month with law firm B
40 hours a month with law firm C
10 hours a month with law firm D

Fractional staffing allows attorneys to maximize the return on their investment by hiring multiple experts for a fraction of the cost.

So you can get your detail-oriented paralegal, warm and fuzzy client coordinator, and skilled marketing implementor for even less than you were planning to spend on that unicorn employee you’ve been looking for.

How to hire fractional legal staff

Getting started with Back Office Betties fractional legal assistants is easy:

Select your monthly plan
Fill out your setup form (tell us the work you want help with, the tech tools/software your law firm uses, the practice area(s) you handle, and any specific qualities you’d like to see in your assistants)
We’ll match you with the expert legal assistants you’ve been looking for

That’s it! We handle recruiting, hiring, benefits, and employee management, so all that’s left for you to do is delegate.

Schedule a free discovery call today to see what fractional legal staff can do for your law firm.

Technology & Small Law Firm Management: Beyond LPM Software

In today’s fast-paced, tech-driven world, integrating cutting-edge solutions into your small law firm’s operations can be the difference between thriving and surviving. That’s because harnessing the power of technology can significantly enhance your firm’s efficiency, client satisfaction, and overall success.

In this post, we’ll explore the role of technology in small law firm management, from legal practice management software to virtual employees.

Embracing Your Digital Options

Gone are the days of relying solely on paper documents, manual research, and in-person appointments. As a small law firm attorney, leveraging technology allows you to level the playing field and compete with larger firms while maintaining your personalized service. Here’s how:

Streamlined Case Management

A robust case management software keeps track of all your cases, deadlines, appointments, and documents in one centralized location. Eliminating the risk of crucial information falling through the cracks and ensuring that you’re able to provide consistent, high-quality service to your clients.

Enhanced Communication

Consistent communication should be a top priority for any successful law practice. Automated emails, video conferencing, and secure messaging platforms enable you to communicate with your clients, colleagues, and opposing counsel more frequently and effectively. Staying connected builds strong relationships that foster trust and loyalty. (And helps you avoid a top bar complaint of “lack of communication!”)

Time Tracking and Billing Efficiency

Use technology to streamline your law firm’s billing and invoicing processes in order to accurately track your billable hours and generate invoices with ease. Many LPM software options include these features, but there are also standalone products.

Virtual Legal Assistants & Paralegals

Imagine having a skilled legal assistant who you only pay for the hours you need. Virtual assistants function like contractors – meaning you aren’t responsible for salary, benefits, recruiting, and employee management. Instead, you’ll pay a flat rate based on hours or minutes.

These virtual staff members provide the qualified and experienced help you need – for a fraction of the cost of an in-house employee! Giving you the ability to focus on what you do best: practicing law.

Project & Office Management

Virtual legal assistants can tackle that day-to-day busy work that’s keeping you from your casework:

Calendar Management: Scheduling your appointments, blocking off time for casework or court, and canceling or rescheduling for you when you’re overbooked
Email Management: Finally – inbox 0. Cleaning up your existing mail and folders and monitoring your incoming email.
Finances: Creating invoices for your clients and staying on top of them until payment arrives and meticulously tracking your expenses for you.
CRM Management: Entering new leads, updating client information, and creating automated workflows.
Client Communications: Updating clients on their cases and appointment reminders.

Legal Research

Whether you need case law analysis, precedent research, or legislative updates, virtual legal assistants can conduct thorough legal research to provide you with the information you need, making your job a little bit easier.

Document Preparation

Virtual legal assistants can assist with drafting legal documents, such as contracts, pleadings, and correspondence, saving you valuable time (and ensuring accuracy!).

Virtual Legal Receptionists

Let’s face it: in the legal industry, first impressions matter. Many successful small law firms use virtual legal receptionists as the relentlessly friendly voice of their law firms. Imagine the ability to work in sweet, peaceful silence while virtual legal receptionists deliver an exceptional client experience and maintain your law firm’s professional image.

New Client Intake

Virtual legal receptionists handle initial inquiries from potential new clients, screen your leads, gather essential information, and schedule new client consultations. They’ll manage a smooth and efficient intake process while ensuring no call (aka potential new client) slips through the cracks.

Call Management

The small law firm attorney’s secret to working in silence. Virtual legal receptionists will answer all your incoming calls, and route them accordingly. Transferring the calls that you want to receive and taking messages or scheduling appointments for less urgent matters.

Outbound Calling

Virtual legal receptionists can handle all of your outbound calls for you too. Making following up on your website’s contact forms, rescheduling appointments, appointment reminders, and collecting payments no longer your responsibilities.

Embrace the Tech-Filled Future

By embracing the technology available to you, you’ll position your small law firm for growth, increased efficiency, and an enhanced client experience.

So, take the leap into the digital frontier and watch your small law firm thrive in the modern age!

Want to learn more about how Virtual Legal Assistants & Receptionists can help you grow your law firm? Schedule a Free Discovery Call today.

Reduce Your Staffing Expenses with Virtual Help

In-house employees can put a serious strain on your law firm’s finances. But thanks to tech advancements, virtual help has emerged as a game-changer.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how virtual staffing can revolutionize your law firm’s operations and save you money—all while enhancing efficiency and client satisfaction.

Types of virtual help

Here, virtual help refers to remote professionals who provide various administrative, receptionist, and assistant services from off-site locations. These virtual staff members function like contractors. Meaning you aren’t responsible for salary, benefits, and employee management. Instead, you’ll pay a flat fee based on hours or minutes.

Virtual Receptionists: Saving on first impressions

When a potential new client calls your law firm, that first impression can make or break their decision to hire you. However, for small law firms on a tight budget, the cost of an in-house receptionist often isn’t justifiable. This is where virtual receptionists come into play: A cost-effective alternative that doesn’t compromise on professionalism or quality of service.

Virtual receptionists will:

Answer & route incoming calls
Schedule consultations & appointments
Screen leads
Complete new client intakes
Answer commonly asked questions
Process payments
Represent your law firm in the best light possible

Virtual receptionists are trained to provide exceptional client service, ensuring that every caller is treated with warmth and understanding. Plus, catching every call leads to more new cases and happier clients.

So what’s the cost saving?

According to Salary.com, an in-house legal receptionist will cost you around $46,659 per year in salary alone. When you factor in benefits and taxes, you’re looking at a number closer to $70,637. That’s about 5,886 per month!

With a virtual legal receptionist plan, you can get full-time phone coverage for an average of $350-$1,400 per month, depending on the number of calls your law firm receives.

Virtual Assistants: Streamlining operations

As a small law firm attorney, you know the pain of late nights in the office, bouncing back and forth between administrative tasks and casework. Unfortunately, you likely don’t have the budget for a full-time staff member to provide relief. (You’d probably already have hired one if you did!) Enter virtual assistants and paralegals. Skilled professionals who provide fractional, remote administrative support, allowing you to streamline your operations and decrease the burden of your workload.

Virtual assistants and paralegals will assist with a wide range of tasks, including:

CRM & email management
Client communications
Schedule & appointment management
Document preparation
Client billing & bookkeeping
Lead qualification & detailed client intakes
Translation services
Content writing & SEO
Website & social media management

Outsourcing these tasks to a virtual assistant will free up your time to concentrate on your clients and casework.

Finding a highly qualified, in-house legal assistant who is willing to work part-time is nearly impossible. This is what makes virtual assistants such a unicorn solution for small law firms. You’ll gain an experienced team member who doesn’t need you to provide them with a full-time position because they work with multiple clients at once to fill up their time.

So what’s the cost saving?

According to Salary.com, an in-house legal assistant will cost you around $61,658 per year in salary alone. When you factor in benefits and taxes, you’re looking at a number closer to $91,870. That’s about $7,655 per month!

A virtual legal assistant plan will cost you $420-$2,160 per month.

The benefits of virtual help

Cost savings: Hiring virtual receptionists and assistants significantly reduces your staffing expenses by eliminating the costs associated with recruiting, training, salaries, benefits, and office space.
Flexibility & scalability: Virtual help offers the flexibility to scale your support staff according to your law firm’s needs. Whether you want additional assistance during peak phone hours or want to scale back during the slower months, virtual professionals can adapt your needs seamlessly.
Increased efficiency: Delegating administrative tasks to virtual team members allows you to focus on billable work without the burden of managing and training in-house staff.
Enhanced client service: Having virtual receptionists and assistants available to catch every call, email, web chat, or contact form ensures your clients feel cared for—improving client satisfaction and loyalty.

Conclusion

Hiring virtual help, like virtual receptionists and assistants, allows law firms to:

Streamline operations
Enhance efficiency
Provide exceptional client service
Keep costs in check while growing

Want to learn more about how virtual receptionists and assistants can reduce your staffing costs? Schedule a free Discovery Call today.

10 Ways to Increase Productivity as a Solo Attorney

Running a solo law firm is both rewarding and challenging. While you enjoy the freedom and independence of owning your own practice, you also face immense pressure managing every aspect of running a business on your own (on top of your legal work).

Incorporating productivity-enhancing strategies is crucial to maximize your efficiency and make the most of your time. In this post, we will explore 10 ways solo attorneys can increase productivity.

1. Delegate Administrative Tasks

Virtual legal assistants can be brought on for a fraction of the cost of an in-house employee, making them a popular choice for solo attorneys. These professionals can handle your administrative tasks such as appointment scheduling, document drafting, client communications, and CRM management, allowing you to focus on billable work.

2. Utilize a Virtual Receptionist Service

Another popular solution for solo attorneys is to hire a virtual receptionist service. Virtual receptionists answer your incoming calls, screen leads, complete new client intakes, schedule appointments, answer questions, take messages, and even place outbound calls at your request. Ensuring that your phone is always covered keeps your clients happy and gives you the interrupted time you need to focus on your work.

3. Implement Time Management Techniques

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of work on your plate when running a law firm on your own. Test out different time management methods to see what fits your workstyle and personality best.

Here are some popular techniques:

Pomodoro Technique
Time Blocking
Eisenhower Matrix
Getting Things Done
Eat That Frog Technique

4. Prioritize and Set Clear Goals

Develop a clear roadmap of what needs to be accomplished and when it needs to be accomplished in order to channel your efforts more efficiently. Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals to stay organized and motivated. Prioritize your tasks based on their importance and deadline.

5. Embrace Technology

Utilize tech tools and software specifically designed for law firms. Legal practice management software, document automation tools, scheduling software, and cloud-based storage systems can shave hours off of your workweek.

6. Develop Standard Practices

Create systems and processes for routine tasks. Standardizing the procedures that you do on a regular basis, such as new client intakes, saves time and reduces errors. Develop a call flow blueprint (a specific plan that outlines your call flow process for every call that comes into your law firm) to streamline your call handling.

7. Automate Everything

Identify everything that you can automate, and automate it. Email templates, appointment reminders, document templates, auto-responses, billing processes, etc. Automation frees up your valuable time and ensures a consistent experience for your clients.

Download Time Saving Automations to Make Your Law Firm More Money for a comprehensive automation plan.

8. Outsource Non-Legal Work

As an attorney, you can’t be expected to know the ins and outs of everything that goes into running a business. Consider outsourcing non-legal tasks such as accounting and marketing. You may feel like you’re saving money by tackling everything yourself, but the truth is, you’re going to spend a lot more time for a lot less ideal of an outcome than a professional will.

9. Get Involved in the Legal Community

Stay up to date with the latest legal developments and trends. You never know when the next tech that will end up being a lifesaver for your firm will drop. Attend relevant conferences and participate in the legal community by joining groups on social platforms.

10. Cultivate Work-Life Balance

It may feel impossible, but as a solo attorney, you are directly in charge of forcing yourself to prioritize your work-life balance. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is essential for your long-term productivity and happiness. Set boundaries, schedule breaks, and take time off. Prioritize your self-care and personal time to help you stay energized and focused, and prevent dreaded burnout.

As a solo attorney, maximizing your productivity is vital to your success in the competitive legal landscape. But remember, productivity is not just about working harder, but working smarter.

Want to learn more about how Virtual Legal Assistants and Receptionists will be a lifeline for your solo practice? Schedule a free Discovery Call today.

The Importance of Mental Health for Attorneys

Mental health is an important part of any profession, but it is especially important for attorneys. Attorneys are expected to be able to handle high-pressure situations and make difficult decisions on a daily basis. As such, it is essential that they maintain their mental health in order to be successful in their profession. But roughly half of practicing attorneys are experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety.

In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of mental health for attorneys and how you can maintain yours.

The Stressful Nature of the Legal Profession

The legal profession can be incredibly stressful. Attorneys are expected to juggle multiple cases at once and often have to work long hours in order to meet deadlines and keep their law firms running smoothly (especially solo attorneys and those at small law firms!). This often leads to burnout and other mental health issues when not managed properly.

Additionally, attorneys often have to deal with difficult, frustrated clients or opposing counsels which can add a whole new layer of stress to their lives.

The Impact of Poor Mental Health on Performance

The effects of poor mental health on one’s personal is often the topic of discussion. However, poor mental health can have a significant impact on an attorney’s performance in the courtroom or when dealing with their clients.

When an attorney is feeling overwhelmed or stressed out, they may not be able to think clearly or make sound decisions which could lead to mistakes or poor judgment calls. This could potentially cost them a case or damage their reputation as an attorney.

Tips for Maintaining Mental Health

It is important for attorneys to take steps toward maintaining their mental health in order to ensure that they are able to perform at their best for each case and every client.

Here are some tips that attorneys should consider:
Make time for yourself: It is important for attorneys to take time out from work and dedicate it to activities that help them relax and unwind such as exercise, reading, or spending time with family and friends.
Reach out for help: If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or stressed out, don’t hesitate to reach out for help from a professional such as a therapist or counselor who can provide you with the support you need during difficult times.
Practice self-care: Taking care of your physical and mental well-being should always be a priority so make sure you are getting enough sleep, eating healthy meals, exercising regularly, and taking breaks throughout the day when needed.

Conclusion

Mental health is an important aspect of any profession but it is especially important for attorneys who must handle high-pressure situations on a daily basis.

It is essential that they take steps toward maintaining their mental health in order to ensure that they are able to perform at their best when needed. By following the tips outlined above, attorneys can ensure that they are taking care of themselves both mentally and physically so that they can continue doing what they do best – providing quality legal services!

Struggling to find hours in the day for self-care and mental health? Chat with our Growth Solutions Strategist to discover how Virtual Legal Assistants and Receptionists can give you the time you need to prioritize your mental health.

Why Attorneys Lose Their Passion for Law—and How to Get it Back

No one goes to law school out of a deep love of paperwork (no, not even transactional lawyers). But the practice of law often includes some undesirable tasks, and many of those fall firmly in the administrative realm.

Some degree of administrative tasks will always exist. At least the billable ones offer financial support to your practice. But there are all sorts of things lawyers and law firms need to do just to maintain their businesses that are exhausting and, honestly, can make even the best lawyers lose some passion for law.

The dream (and the reality)

Attorneys decide to enter the legal profession for a number of reasons, but many pursue a law degree because they have a legitimate passion for law. They may want to change the world—or at least a small corner of it.

But a legal career is much more than just lofty ideals and understanding the theory of law. Especially for solo practitioners or small law firms, a law practice involves a lot more than, well, just practicing law. Client acquisition, intake, and communication can take up a huge chunk of time, and it doesn’t contribute directly to the bottom line. And while this may seem like the cost of doing business, it’s also time-consuming and potentially overwhelming.

Even more than that, it can lead to professional burnout and a loss of passion for law.

Rediscovering your passion for law

The minutia of running a business doesn’t have to get in the way of your job satisfaction. Here are a few ways to foster (or reignite) your passion for law:

Develop a reflective mindset. Yes, this sounds a bit out there, but bear with me. Taking even five minutes at the beginning or end of the day to reflect on how things are going can help you see patterns in your practice and your life. Are there common stumbling blocks? What can you do to minimize them? It’s hard to fix what you can’t see, so take a little time each day to reflect on what’s working well and what’s not.
Involve yourself with legal organizations and other lawyers. Your bar association may be a good starting point for this, but it’s definitely not the only option. Look for conferences that spur your interest and include presentations that speak to why you chose the legal profession in the first place. The connections you make at these sorts of events can be as invaluable as the presentations themselves. Look for people who have the same professional values as you do.
Make time for a little joy in your day. I know—with what time? When you’re losing your passion for your profession, the last thing you have time for is fun. But even five or ten minutes carved out to do something you really love can make a difference. So make the time to do something that recharges you as an individual.
Hire help. This is the big one—the secret to giving yourself more time in the day. If you hate the day-to-day administrative tasks of running a practice, hire someone else to do them. Of course, it’s not always feasible to hire someone full-time, especially when you’re just establishing yourself. Luckily, there are other options. Virtual legal receptionists and virtual legal assistants are surprisingly affordable options. Look for a company that specializes in the legal sphere to ensure that you don’t have to spend precious time teaching them about industry practices and standards.

Ready for a break?

If you’re ready to reclaim your time (and your passion for law), we can help. Back Office Betties helps you grow your law firm with virtual receptionists and legal assistants. Contact us today to see how we can help you.

6 Tasks to Delegate to a Virtual Assistant

How much of your time is spent on administrative tasks instead of actual legal work?

More than you’d like to admit, right?

You know that you could use some help. But let’s be honest — it’s expensive and time-consuming to hire a new staff member. And, while the idea of a virtual assistant is appealing, you’re worried they won’t understand the specific needs of law firms.

You need a trained assistant who understands the legal field. Someone you can delegate tasks to with the knowledge that they’ll be handled correctly. And it wouldn’t hurt if you only had to pay for the time that you need.

Enter your new virtual legal assistant. These professionals specialize in working in the legal field. They understand the specific needs of law practices. Here are some areas where a VA can help your practice.

Client Acquisition

Client acquisition is essential (and hugely time-consuming) for the vast majority of law firms. Unfortunately, it’s an area that doesn’t directly generate income. You can spend hours of time looking for new clients without making a dime for your practice.

However, when it’s done well, client acquisition can set your firm up for success — after all, you can’t bill a client you don’t have. Virtual legal assistants are skilled at marketing and outreach. And once you have those new clients, your VA can handle your intake process for you. No more time wasted by you or your staff collecting basic information from clients.

Calendar and Email Management

How much time do you spend wrangling your calendar and replying to emails? If you’re like most lawyers, the answer is ‘too much.’ Your VA can maintain your calendar and screen your email for you, freeing you up for other work.

They can also help maintain your firm’s calendar by scheduling appointments, sending reminders, and following up with clients.

Document Management

Few fields are more document-dependent than law. You need your documents created, organized, and stored in a secure and easily accessible way. You may even have specific software for the task. This is one of those areas where general VAs might run into trouble — they won’t necessarily know best practices around legal document management or be familiar with management software.

With a virtual legal assistant, though, you’ll have someone who understands the importance of document management and can assist you in a cost-effective way.

Billing and Payroll

Is billing a hassle for your firm? Trust me when I tell you you’re not alone. It’s necessary for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s fun. Why not hire a skilled legal assistant to help with billing and/or payroll? You won’t regret handing these time-consuming tasks off to a qualified VA.

Process Documentation

Process documentation is a vital first step in moving away from doing everything yourself. In order to be able to hand tasks off, you need to know what those tasks are and have instructions on how they should be performed. A virtual legal assistant can help document the processes at your firm and create workflows and knowledge bases that allow you to hand the tasks off to others.

Social Media, Content Writing, and Website Management

Most lawyers are familiar with advertising — for years, law firms have relied on billboards, radio and television, and the Yellow Pages to market their services. And these outbound methods of advertising work (at least to an extent). But more and more potential clients are turning to the internet to research and find attorneys. If you aren’t accessible on social media or via a website, you’re missing out on a big source of potential clients.

But who has the time to maintain a social media presence or update a website?

A virtual legal assistant can help with that, too. They can handle your social media platforms and create content for your website that will educate, engage, and appeal to people who are actively looking for legal help. Plus, a legal VA is knowledgeable about legal advertising restrictions, so you’ll receive content that’s written with professional standards in mind.

A Virtual Legal Assistant Can Do So Much More!

This list isn’t exhaustive — a law firm virtual assistant can help you with all sorts of things. Want to learn more? Contact Back Office Betties today for more information on how virtual legal assistants can help your law firm!

Turning Passion into Practice

Would you quit a job you enjoy to start a new venture you’re passionate about?

Alene Anello, a graduate of Harvard Law School and president of Legal Impact for Chickens, faced this very decision. Eventually, she used her entrepreneurial spirit to found a litigation nonprofit that married her passion and purpose with her experience as a lawyer.

Originally inspired to learn about industrial animal agriculture thanks to her beloved pet chicken, Conrad, Alene has turned her lifelong love of animals into a career.

Find out how Alene decided to establish her own organization, what drives her work, and the one tech tool she couldn’t live without as a solo practitioner.

Making Life-Changing Career Decisions

Looking back, Alene’s career path wasn’t much of a surprise.

“My story was basically just that I’ve always been very opinionated,” says Alene.

“I was passionate about animal protection even before law school and I just wanted to keep doing animal protection in some way, Alene shares. “But I never envisioned being an entrepreneur.”

Alene began writing down her ideas and how she wanted to approach cases differently from what she was seeing. Eventually, she had listed so many things that she realized it was time to branch out as a solo practitioner.

The first step? Leave her good job.

“It was almost like my dream job…except I kept having these ideas,” says Alene. “It’s been really scary and really wonderful and exciting.”

How Consumers Can Help

We asked Alene what the average consumer can do to help the cause of Legal Impact for Chickens. She shared that “there are a lot of different things you can do; that depends on what feels right for you.”

People interested in supporting the ethical treatment of the animals should consider:

Trying vegan products that act as meat-free chicken alternatives
Advocating for better treatment of chickens by support organizations like LIC
Researching food companies they purchase from and asking them to pledge to improve the treatment of chickens
Researching how to interpret food labels to find the most ethical products

“I think it’s all about thinking about what feels right for you,” Alene explains. “There are a lot of really easy things you can do to improve animal lives. It should never be something that feels really unpleasant because then you’re not gonna stick with it, but something where you feel good about it. That’s the kind of thing you’re gonna do over and over again.”

The Tool You Can’t Live Without

When Alene was starting Legal Impact for Chickens, she was at first overwhelmed by the many different things that she had to do. She wanted to save money, so case management software was off the table. After trying to track her tasks with a notes document on her computer, Alene started to feel stressed out—until she found the perfect tool.

Now, when it comes to getting things done (and as an entrepreneur, there is a lot to get done), Alene swears by the task management app Todoist.

“It’s basically just like the best to-do list ever,” Alene explains. “You can just set a list of things to do with dates. Then when you’re done with them, you can click them off and it feels very satisfying.”

Stay in Touch With Legal Impact for Chickens

If you’re interested in keeping up with Alene and her work with Legal Impact for Chickens, visit legalimpactforchickens.org and follow LIC on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Putting the Client Experience First

How can firms stand out in a crowded online space and make meaningful connections with clients?

This is the question that drives Gyi Tsakalakis, President of AttorneySync, a legal marketing agency that helps leading lawyers grow their practices through digital marketing. Gyi shares how solo law firms should approach marketing, the client experience, and their digital footprint to gain a competitive advantage.

They Don’t Teach You This in Law School

When it comes to running a firm, most lawyers aren’t prepared for the marketing side of things.

“I’m a licensed lawyer, even though I’m not practicing. And I can tell you when I went to law school, they didn’t teach marketing and business stuff,” says Gyi. “Especially now with all the tools and technology and social networks and all this internet stuff—lawyers get overwhelmed,” he adds.

You went to law school to learn the history of law, not to learn how to create Facebook ads, right?!

“Unless they came from that background or had been an entrepreneur in another context, why would we expect them to know anything about running business marketing, especially when it comes to digital?”

Yet marketing can help attorneys establish a larger client base and grow sustainably…when done right. The key to marketing a solo firm, says Gyi, is looking at the big picture: client experience. This encompasses client engagement, client intake, and client service. If a firm has poor client experience, all the marketing in the world can’t help them grow.

Gyi particularly focuses on the importance of handling client intake, which sets the stage for the rest of the client experience.

An ineffective client intake process might look like this:

A website visitor clicks on the chatbot and asks a question and never receives an answer.
A referral emails the firm using the primary email and doesn’t receive a response for 2 weeks.
A potential client finds the firm’s phone number online, calls, goes through an automated answering service, and gets frustrated when they can’t speak to a person.
A potential client calls the firm and leaves a message, and does not get a call back until the next week.

Despite all of the work done to get clients through the door, this unpleasant client experience will cause drop-offs at an early stage of client intake. “You’ve got to fix that stuff first before you actually spend a single dollar on marketing,” Gyi explains.

How to Stop Wasting Marketing Dollars Through Client Experience

Get more bang for your buck by focusing on the client experience. This approach will help you retain the leads coming in, ensuring that your marketing is pulling in leads that convert rather than leads that drop off during intake.

How can a solo firm put this into practice? First, think about every experience that a potential or current client has with your firm.

Try asking these questions:

What does a potential client see when they search your name online?
What do they see when they arrive at your website?
What happens when they call you?
What happens when they email you?
Where can they reach you?

Everything you set up has to be viewed from their perspective, not just what’s most convenient for you.

The answers to these questions can guide solo law firms in creating client-centric processes. Ultimately, the real goal is to answer client questions and help them identify if your firm is the right fit for them right away. That’s not always realistic, so the next best thing is to set their expectations and stop their search.

Establishing a solid client experience could mean the difference between keeping a lead in your funnel and a lead heading back to Google to find the next lawyer to work with.

The #1 Marketing Tool Every Lawyer Needs

If there’s anything that Gyi wants lawyers to take away from marketing it’s this: you absolutely must sign up for Google My Business.

This goes back to his approach to the client experience. “People are gonna go look for information about you online,” Gyi explains. “Google has the lion’s share of search traffic.”

How you appear in Google is going to make a big difference for those searches. If your firm doesn’t show up on Google, for instance, it’s likely the search will stop there. However, if your firm shows up with a website, reviews, and a phone number, they are more likely to get in touch.

Think of Google My Business as the website before your website…and it’s free! All you have to do is claim the profile and fill it out. This boosts your digital presence and legitimizes the firm for clients. You wouldn’t have a law office without a sign on the building, and you also shouldn’t have a law firm without a digital presence.

Enlist a Marketing Expert

Solo practitioners have a lot on their plate, and running a firm can mean learning on the go. You can’t master everything at once! Get the most out of your marketing with a strategy that maximizes marketing dollars spent by building a digital presence that brings in leads for your firm and turns them into paying clients.

If you’re ready to amp up your digital presence and stand out in a crowded market, you can reach Gyi at attorneysync.com, connect with him on LinkedIn, or follow him on Twitter.

Tag Archive for: Solo Law Firms

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It’s time to invest in a Virtual Legal Assistant

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They Don’t Teach You This in Law School

An ineffective client intake process might look like this:

How to Stop Wasting Marketing Dollars Through Client Experience

The #1 Marketing Tool Every Lawyer Needs

Enlist a Marketing Expert

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