Marketing a law firm, as we all know, is tough. And, it’s even tougher, in my opinion, when you are in a major metropolitan area, like I am. As you might imagine, I am not the only Atlanta personal injury lawyer around – there are a lot of us. Because of that, getting people that need our help to know that we exist is a large part of our marketing efforts. We know that once people meet us they’ll see we’re a premier firm – but getting people to find us has always been difficult.

But it’s less difficult than it once was, and that’s because of our marketing efforts. Now, while I typically wouldn’t divulge this kind of information, I thought it would be good on this site, I mean, we’re talking about being a lawyer, right? It’s important to know everything that that entails. So today we’re going to talk a little bit about marketing.

1. You’ve Got to Have Patience

If there’s one lesson I hope everyone that reads this post picks up, it’s that you’ve got to have patience to successfully market anything, but especially a law firm. The reason this is so is that it just takes time for marketing efforts to get put into place. And, once their in place, it takes time to tweak them so they are just right. There’s no such thing as a sure fire hit when you’re marketing, so you’ve got to be ready to tweak once you’re out there based on what you see.

Here’s a great example. I had this friend, who, actually also happens to be an Atlanta personal injury lawyer (although we’re competitors we both know there is plenty of business for the two of us). He hired this guy to help him with his search engine ranking. He wanted to link high when people were searching for personal injury lawyers in Atlanta. And the guy, surprisingly, did what he promised to do. But, there was a problem – no one was calling. And no one called for about a month.

My buddy talked with his guy, who told him, as you might expect, that he was getting the exposure he wanted, but he needed to tweak his website – something on it wasn’t resonating with potential clients. So what did my buddy do? No, he did not tweak his website – he just ended his relationship with the guy he hired! You know that I’ll be calling that dude real soon for help.

But aside from that, the lesson is simple – you’ve got to be patient. You’ve got to be willing to tweak, sit and see if it works, and then tweak again. If you aren’t tweaking you aren’t doing what you need to do to market your personal injury law firm.

2. Know that More Exposure is Better Exposure

One of the things I did when I first started was look around for that golden arrow of marketing. I was looking for that one thing that would make clients come in droves so I could just sit back and be a lawyer. Here’s the problem, though – that doesn’t exist. What works for me is trying to get in front of as many of my ideal clients as possible. That means doing online marketing, offline marketing, promotion, and whatever else I can think of to get people to know me and what I do.

When I sit back and think “where do people look when they need an Atlanta personal injury lawyer?” several things pop up, not just one. Because of that, I’ve got to get out in front of all of those places. I’ve got to be top of mind in all of those circles (and, though this is information for another post – differentiating your marketing efforts makes your firm safer if one should dry up for whatever reason).

There you have it, how I successfully marketed my law firm. Whether you are a personal injury lawyer in a big city or a small, one, these messages will hold true. You need to ask yourself what are you doing that’s consistent with this and what are you doing that’s inconsistent with this? When you’ve identified the problem, fix it.

Now I want to hear from you? What do you think? Do you have anything to add? What works for you?

I know I write a lot of posts like this – “how to be successful” kind of posts. But I write them because they are important, and because I think people like to read them. It’s helpful to have an idea of what makes one successful. And not that many people are talking about it.

Today I want to talk about what it takes to open a successful law firm from the perspective of your innate attributes. Sure a business plan is great and a marketing plan is great, but what about what you need personally to be successful? That’s what we’re going to talk about today.

I got the idea for this article when I was talking to an Atlanta personal injury attorney friend of mine. He’d opened up a practice recently and we were talking about what made one personal injury law firm successful versus another one that wasn’t. We came up with a few of the things that we think set the successful apart from the rest. Here’s what we came up with.

1. Inner Drive

One of the things that people encounter when they open a business is that lull between when the business is open and when people start calling. There is also that lull between when people start calling and when a lot of people start calling. It’s in those lulls that the successful separate themselves from the people that are just treading water.

No matter what anyone tells you, overnight success rarely happens. What makes people successful is a prolonged effort to reach the goals people set for themselves. That often means working hard day in and day out without any specific evidence that the effort is paying off. All you can hope is that the plan comes together like you think it will – essentially that the hard work will pay off.

The other half of the drive part is the “inner” part. My buddy and I know firsthand that it’s easy to become complacent when you are the boss. It’s easy to coast and be comfortable once things even out and you aren’t concerned necessarily with paying the bills every month. The difference between the successful and everyone else is they find that inner drive to continue to push forward, to continue to try to be the best.

2. Willing to Take Risks

When I talk about being willing to take risks, I’m not talking about being willing to go bungy jumping or go skydiving. I’m not talking about climbing a mountain. I’m talking about being open to trying things you may not think will work to see if in fact they will work.

Opening a law firm is all about experimenting. You think about something that might get you some clients and you try it out, measure it to see if it works, and if it does you keep it, if it doesn’t you throw it away. What you can’t do is be so afraid of failure that you don’t try anything. Let me give you an example.

When my buddy first opened his firm he started going around telling everyone he was a personal injury attorney. He also started working on his online presence. But that wasn’t enough. So he came up with some other ideas to try to get business, including putting on a webinar once a month where he presented on the five things you must do if you are injured. When he set that up there was the chance that no one would show up. And there were times when only one or two people showed up. But he pushed on, and over time those webinars paid off.

3. Ability to Not Panic

There comes a time in every law firm’s existence, whether you are a personal injury attorney or a DWI attorney, that you begin to question whether or not you are on the right track. Maybe the phone stops ringing for a couple of weeks, or something happens that throws your business for a loop. Maybe a marketing idea you had doesn’t work out like you thought it would. Whatever it is, those that are successful resist the urge to panic and do something stupid.

Here’s a great example. After my buddy the personal injury lawyer had been open for a while he went through a stretch of a month where the calls just dried up. He didn’t know what happened, but he know people weren’t calling. During that time marketers, as they always do, called pitching their services. It took everything my buddy had not to sign up for these services, because he knew they weren’t going to work. It’s that kind of panic spending that can get a law firm in big trouble.

There you go. Three attributes you need to open a successful law firm. How many of them do you have?

Here’s the thing about personal injury lawyers – there are a lot of them and they aren’t all good. If you’ve been injured in an accident, then you want someone on your side that knows what they are doing and can get the best results for you. And, if you want to be an injury attorney, you should probably make sure you’ve got these characteristics – they’ll help ensure you are successful and providing your clients they kind of representation they deserve.

These qualities aren’t the end all be all of a good personal injury lawyer (or a good attorney of any kind for that matter), but they are things that mark good attorneys. As you read along, ask yourself if you have these characteristics, and if you don’t start working toward gaining them.

1. Experience with and a Focus on Personal Injury Claims

One of the things I see most often are attorneys that are advertising that they know what they are doing with all sorts of different things. I’m a DWI attorney, I’m a bankruptcy attorney, I’m a contract attorney, and I’m a personal injury attorney. The fact is, in the real world, it just doesn’t work like that. Each practice area is specific enough that if you aren’t spending time on it every day, you are doing a disservice to your client, and if you are a potential client, you are likely in for a bad experience.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. I know a guy that is an Atlanta injury attorney. When people ask him what he does, he tells them he helps people who have been injured get money for those injuries. That is it. He doesn’t do wills or anything else. He’s a personal injury attorney. If you need help, that’s the type of person that you need to be looking for.

And, along with the focus needs to come some experience. Now, I will tell you, the level of experience just depends on what you feel comfortable with. I know some attorneys that have been practicing forever that are terrible, and I know some that haven’t been practicing for long that are great. So don’t throw all your weight behind experience.

If I were looking for help from an personal injury lawyer, the one thing I would ask is if they’ve done a case like mine before. That shows that at least they’ve handled something like you’ve experienced before. If they haven’t, that should probably be a red flag.

2. A Good Staff

I’m going to go back to my buddy that’s the Atlanta personal injury lawyer for a second, because he’s a great example of this. I don’t do personal injury work, but I know people that do, and I know it involves a lot of paperwork, a lot of phone calls and correspondence with doctors and insurance adjusters.

If you’re attorney is working on this alone, there’s a big chance he’s not going to be doing everything he should be doing for you. In many ways a good staff can make a firm a good one or a bad one. Ask who will be helping with your case. Ask about what they know. Ask if you can meet the staff if you want – the more you know about them, the better you can gauge the firm.

3. Great Reviews and Testimonials

The best way to figure out if someone is good or not is to hear from people they’ve helped in the past. The best way to do that is scout out if they’ve got any testimonials on the internet. Sites like Yelp and Google Maps are typical places people leave reviews. If you see a bad one, don’t write that firm off – read the review and find out what the problem was. For me, red flags are things like “terrible communication” and things like that.

I know in my own firm and the buddy I have that is the Atlanta injury attorney, we ask for reviews and testimonials from all of our clients when we’re finished. We’re happy with the work that we’ve done and are excited to hear what people have to say. And if, occasionally, a bad review is handed down, we can take the opportunity to address any problems we might have before they become serious.

There you go. Three qualities of a great personal injury lawyer. Like I said, the list is longer than three, but if you find someone with these attributes, they’re likely to do a good job for you.

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a Seattle bankruptcy attorney? Well, today is your lucky day, because I’m going to tell you. When I’m done, hopefully you’ll have a better understanding of exactly what we do each and every day to help our clients with their cases.

7:00 a.m. – rise and shine, it’s time to get the day started. Typically will give a quick glance at my calendar to confirm what I have going on for the day and my email to see if anything has happened over the night. A lot of my clients come from the internet, and people will typically set up consultations with me when they get home for the night. When I check in the morning I’m just looking to see how many new people I’ll be meeting.

8:00 a.m. – at the office. First thing I always do is look and see what filing deadlines we have for the day and make sure that paperwork is getting done. In bankruptcy there are a lot of deadlines that have to met. If you don’t meet those deadlines, you’re in big trouble. It’s not hard to keep track if you’re vigilant about, and we are.

8:30 a.m. – if I don’t have court (which is typically once every two weeks or so) I’ll set up client intake meetings from 8:30 to 10:30, which gets me about two new client intakes. There are a lot of questions to be asked and a lot of documents to compile, and the hour gives us plenty of time to do that.

10:30 a.m. – this time I typically use to make phone calls to current clients, to meet with current clients, to take care of client matters, and to do whatever work needs to be done for the day. This typically is between 3 and 4 hours a day. The thing about being a bankruptcy attorney is, the work never stops, but if you buckle down and do it in chunks, you can knock out what you need to do in pretty short order – it’s all about being organized.

3:00 p.m. – I might try to squeeze in one more client intake if we need to at this time. Otherwise I’ll take this time to look over the work my staff has done for the day, sign whatever needs to be signed, make any phone calls that need to be made, and otherwise take care of the menial tasks that build up on a day to day basis.

4:30 p.m. – This is my winding down time for the day. I make sure I know what’s coming up tomorrow and prepare myself for that. If I’m going to talk to a client I’ll look over their file, if I have court, I’ll make sure everything is ready, and I’ll take care of whatever else I need to take care of.

6:30 p.m. – back home to hang with my family and enjoy the rest of the night.

There you go, what it’s like to be a Seattle bankruptcy attorney. Was it as fun as you thought? Probably not. It is a job, but it’s very rewarding. Bankruptcy law is one of the few areas of practice that actually allow you to truly help someone get back on their feet.

Comments? Questions? I want to hear them!

I’ve been a practicing Salt Lake City DUI attorney for a few years now, and I’ve come to learn some very important lessons. Instead of keeping them all to myself, I thought I’d share them with you. When you’re done reading these lessons, if you have your own opinions, feel free to share them down below in the comments. Have your own lessons? We’d love to hear them!

1. There is No Such Thing as an Unwinnable Case

I’ve seen all kinds of cases in my time as a DUI attorney. Some were very good cases for us, some were very bad cases for us. But in each and every case, there was a way that I could see that we could win, and in many of those cases we did find a way to win.

What I’ve learned is, though, is that the only way you win is to try. The only way you get what you want is to push the envelope (when appropriate) and make the state prove their case.

2. If a Judge Can Find a Way for You to Lose, They Will

With the above being said, however, there are plenty of cases we’ve lost, and in those experiences what I find the most disheartening is if the judge can find a way that we lose they will take advantage of that – and we lose. Believe it or not, there are a lot of close calls in a DUI case – cops make mistakes all the time and open up doors for us DUI attorneys to take advantage. But judges often slam those doors shut, even in cases that I thought were sure winners.

The one saving grace, though, is that we do win from time to time, and sometimes we win in cases we should lose (most of the time because the case is so egregious or the prosecutor royally messes up). Prosecutors don’t like to lose, ever (they’ve been ingrained with that feeling because they win so much). The thought of losing for them is disastrous, so filing motions can often get you a good deal (see lesson number 1).

3. You’ve Got to Take on an Underdog Mentality

If you tear yourself up every time you lose a case, you’re not going to be in the business very long. The life of a DUI attorney is often filled with mediocre results, that’s just the name of the game. The deck is stacked against us. Public opinion is against us, jurors are against us, judges are against us, and the law is against us.

Like an underdog in a basketball game, all we can do is roll the ball out there, do our best, play our hardest, and see what happens. Sure, we may get beat, but we may win too. And there’s something to be said for that.

Those are three of the things I’ve learned as a Salt Lake City DUI attorney. What do you think? Have you learned anything else? I want to hear from you!

I think one of the misconceptions out there are that law firms are always busy, that people are always working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, just taking care of business and rolling in the money. The truth of the matter is, there are times when it’s slow, there are times when the phone doesn’t ring for three or four days and then it rings all day one day. I wanted to talk about some ways to minimize the damage of that.

I’m a DWI attorney, so I’m constantly on the lookout for new clients. When I finish a case for one, the chance that they are coming back isn’t large. Because of that I feel the ebb and flow even more than others. What I mean is, if you’ve got an estate planning practice, for example, you’ve got yearly check ups you can do, life circumstances change and things need to be updated, and on and on and on. That isn’t necessarily the case with a DUI practice.

1. Don’t Freak Out and Do Something Stupid

That’s the first thing you need to remember – don’t freak out and do something stupid. Irrational actions are not good for business. Instead, you should take a look at what you are doing and decide if the action you want to take is really going to help or if you are just trying to do something to feel like you’re doing something.

For example, a few months ago we had a bit of a lull in new clients. It was just about that time I got a call from an internet marketer telling me they could make me the best Houston DWI lawyer out there. They promised the world, and though I was skeptical, I was close to saying yes, just to try something different.

Just say no when someone calls with an idea that you know isn’t going to work.

2. Diversify Your Potential Client Streams

Right now this is one of the biggest things I’m trying to do. Most of my clients come from the internet. When people are looking around for a Houston DWI attorney they are almost certain to find me. I show up everywhere. But that isn’t good enough, because if that goes down, our firm would be in really big trouble.

The key then, is to look around for other potential sources of business. The most obvious source of business is referrals. Building a referral base is completely different from building an internet referral source – it’s taking me out of my comfort zone, so I’m a little nervous to do it. But I know that if I want to avoid the ebbs and flows that come with not only being an attorney but a DWI attorney, I know I need to do this.

Those two things alone won’t make you rich, they won’t stop the ebbs and flows, but they will help. Take my advice try these two things out, and I guarantee you’ll see an uptick in business, and a steadying out of business.

This blog is all about what it’s like to be a lawyer, so why not answer a question that a lot of people have – how to open a law firm right out of law school. I guess there are probably a few questions that come out of a thought like that: (1) is it even possible; (2) how; and (3) where do I start? So let’s just answer those today and then move on to see what else we can talk about.

1. Is it Possible to Start a DUI Law Firm Right Out of Law School?

Short answer, yes. Long answer,yes, but you are going to have to work your ass off and you’re going to have to do a bunch of stuff you never thought you would do, including admitting to yourself that you don’t know everything and occasionally throwing yourself at the mercy of someone that does for some help.

I’m an Atlanta DUI lawyer. When I opened my law firm (not right out of law school but pretty darn close) there were hundreds of other lawyers competing against me. That’s some heavy stuff to overcome some times. But it can be done.

2. How do You Start a DUI Law Firm Right Out of Law School

Honestly, it’s not as hard as you think. You pretty much just have to say “I’m a DUI lawyer, and I’m open for business.” To be successful, though, it takes a little more. It takes some guts, it takes some planning, and it takes some courage.

3. Where do I Start?

Well, if you’re right out of law school you’re going to have to do two very important things at once: (1) you’ve got to learn how to be a DUI lawyer; and (2) you’ve got to learn how to be a businessman. We won’t conquer all of this in this post – it would make it way too long, but at the end of the day the more you think about this and plan it out (both sides of it) the better off you are going to be at the end.

I guess I’d say for now one of the best things you can do is think about what you’d want the practice to be if everything went right. For me, I started thinking about what it would be like to be a prominent Atlanta DUI attorney, with plenty of work and plenty of knowledge about being a DUI attorney – what would that look like? Then I started working back from there. I thought about what my staff would look like, how many attorneys I’d want to have, what responsibilities everyone would have, and how that would all set up and how everyone would work together.

For today, why don’t you just think about that. And think about if it’s possible. As always, I love to hear comments and questions, so let me hear them!

Business cards have probably been around since the beginning of time. There has always been a need to let people know who you are, what you do, and how they can get in touch with you if they need what you want. But just because they’ve been around forever and they should do certain things doesn’t mean you can just sloppily throw something together and be done with it.

In this article I’m going to help you as you decide what to do with your business card. I’m going to give you three things every attorney’s business card should have. Hopefully, by the time your finished reading this you’ll have a good game plan for putting together a great business card.

1. Contact Information

This should be obvious, right? I mean the whole point is to let people know how they can get in touch with you and where you operate from. But, I’ve seen people time and again leave off critical information. For example, I knew this Seattle bankruptcy attorney who thought it would be smart to just have his email address on there. That way he could control how people contacted him. The only problem is, some people don’t use email, and most of those people don’t use email because they can’t afford it. As a bankruptcy attorney this is a bad thing.

Put all of your contact information on your business card. Make it easy to get in touch with you or your office.

2. Some Kind of Critical Information

There are certain things every attorney in every arena would want people to know right of the bat. You should include that information on your business card – giving something away right up front that’s valuable increases your worth in the eyes of your client.

Continuing with our Seattle bankruptcy attorney example, The same guy who only had his email address on there also had the genius idea of listing the 5 main things you get to keep, typically, when you declare bankruptcy. This is information almost everyone who calls his office wants to know, so he gave it away for free.

3. Something That Grabs Your Potential Client’s Attention

One of the great things about a business card is it gives you the ability to leave an impression. That impression can be good or bad, depending on what you do, and grabbing the person’s attention typically is a good thing.

What does that mean to an attorney? How is it possible to be different? It just takes a little bit of time to think of something that connects you to your industry in a cool, exciting, fresh, or fun way. For example, let’s say you’re a bankruptcy attorney. You could just have a regular old stuffy business card, but that’s boring. You could also try to think outside the box, creating an experience with your business card. Instead of having a card that looks like everyone else’s you could have one that is edgy, that shows you’re different. You could make it look and feel just like money, for example. Whatever it is, it just needs to make you stand out from everyone else.

All it takes for you to have an awesome business card is to sit down and think about it a little bit. And that time, while valuable doing other things, is very valuable for this exercise. Your business card is your calling card. Making it be “you” is critical.

That’s right, I said “every.” That means you, working for that criminal defense firm. That means you, working for the public defender’s office. And obviously, yes, that means you, working on your own or owning your own DUI defense firm. Why do we all need a marketing plan? It’s critical to success, that’s why.

When I opened my law firm a few years ago I knew I’d be competing with a ton of other Salt Lake City DUI attorneys out there. That’s just common sense. What I didn’t know, at least at the beginning, was how I was going to compete with them and actually win – taking cases that should have been theirs and making them my own. That’s where the marketing plan comes into play.

1. If You Don’t Have a Plan You’re Like a Ship Without a Rudder

One of the greatest ways to get where you’re going is to have a destination. Without a marketing plan that’s impossible. Without knowing where you are and where you want to be, you can’t create a plan on a day to day basis to move forward. And if you’re not moving forward you’re moving backward.

Your marketing plan serves as your game plan for success. You start out with big goals and break them down until you know what you need to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to reach your goals.

2. Without a Marketing Plan You Won’t Know Who Your Ideal Client Is

Part of successfully marketing a DUI defense practice is identifying the people that you want to help and then putting yourself in front of them at a time and in a place that is conducive to them accepting your help. And, by the way, saying your potential client is “anyone that is charged with a DUI” is not identifying your ideal client. There is no way everyone charged with a DUI is right for your firm. If you’re in private practice, what if they can’t pay you?

3. You Can Have an Idea of What Tactics You’ll Employ and When

When you’re in law school they don’t really talk to you about the business of law – they don’t explain that you don’t just get to rent an office, put up a sign that says you’re a Salt Lake City DUI attorney, and wait for the clients to come banging on your door. And they don’t tell you there are many many different potential ways to try to get in front of clients. But marketers will be more than happy to tell you that once you open your doors.

If you don’t have a plan, as these marketers begin to call you won’t know which ones you need to give a chance to and which ones you need to tell to go fly a kite. And if you don’t know that you’re opening yourself up to spending a lot of money on a lot of things that won’t get you any results.

If you don’t have a marketing plan you aren’t destined for failure necessarily. But if you don’t have a marketing plan you’re going to have a really hard time reaching that level of success that you really want. When I decided I was going to be the best of the best of Salt Lake City DUI attorneys I knew I was going to have to have clients. The marketing plan is what’s put me on the right path to reaching that goal.

Before you start reading this article I want you to do something – imagine you are a person that has recently been arrested for DUI. You need a Houston DWI attorney to help you out and you turn to the internet to try to track someone down. Go online right now and look at the websites of some of the people trying to help you and think about what you are looking for for that kind of help.

Are those websites giving you what you want? Probably not.

This article isn’t proposing that an ebook on your website is going to make people call you over others – it’s not as simple as that. But I can promise you that an ebook will help you and your business in at least three ways, and I hope by the end of this article you’ve got a plan in place to create your ebook and get it up on your website. Being a Houston DWI attorney is competitive, both in the courtroom and out of it. You need to do everything you can to get ahead of the competition.

1. It’s a Great Way to Set Yourself Apart

Writing an ebook isn’t hard, but it does take some time and a little commitment. For most that extra bit of effort is too much – they won’t do it. When your ebook is created, you’ll have a way to instantly set yourself apart from everyone else – and you’ll let them know it. When people go to a website they are looking for something that makes you different from everyone else – they are looking for something that tells them you are a Houston DWI lawyer they can trust. And this ebook is just one of many things that will, even subconsciously, direct them toward your firm.

2. It Will Establish You as an Expert

Most people might not say this, but when they are looking for a criminal attorney, people want a hired gun – they want someone that can get them out of trouble, and they don’t really care how. And, quite honestly, if the reason the case is resolved is some minor technicality (at least in their eyes) then that might be all the better, because then they’ll have a story about the DWI attorney that “got them off.”

An ebook doesn’t establish you as a hired gun, but it will help demonstrate to people that you know what you are talking about and that you get results (it’s definitely okay to include a couple of anecdotes in your ebook to get your point across). People want to know when the chips are down you’ll stand up for them – an ebook can go a long way to doing that.

3. It Allows You to Speak Directly to Potential Clients Before They Come In

Here’s the thing about trying to get someone to sign up with you – people are, by nature, skeptical of lawyers. When they are out there looking for help, they are expecting, in some small way, to get screwed. What an ebook can do for you is give you another opportunity to build some trust with your potential clients.

When you write this ebook, sure, you should include a lot of helpful information – you should write out 15 questions everybody asks and then include 5 things you think everyone needs to know. But interspersed within that information should be a subtle sales pitch – talk about what you do as a Houston DWI attorney that others won’t do – what you do that sets you apart from everyone else. Treat it like subliminal sales copy – talk to the potential client with the idea of persuading them to call you.

There you go – three reasons to create an ebook for your DWI practice. Don’t wait – do it today – the sooner you do, the sooner your business will pick up.