Reboot Your Law Practice

This week we welcome back Elizabeth Dambriunas, the Associate Director of Alumni Advising at the Office of Career Planning at New York Law School. Elizabeth talks to Oscar and Scott about the following topics;

- the changes in the job market for new law school graduates

- the best steps that a law student, who has a specific career path in mind, should take while in law school to help their chances of practicing in that area.

- actions that could be taken by an attorney who would like to move practice areas such as pro bono opportunities or blogging

- when submitting anything to a prospective employer it must be perfect

- remember that networking isn't asking for a job, its asking for advice and info

Maybe you are “in-between” jobs right now. Maybe you graduate law school and can’t find work. Maybe you are stuck in a dead-end job and not practicing the kind of law you would like to practice. Well, maybe you can do something about it besides just sending out resumes and cover letters. This episode looks at ways you can make the most of this “down time” you may be experiencing. The hosts suggest a variety of ways that you can enhance the possibility of you getting that job you want or practicing the kind of law you want to practice. A few of the suggestions:

- Look for per diem or contact work through such websites as Upwork.com

- Find an interesting case in the newspaper in the area of law you want to explore and watch the trial

- Write a law-related article for your local newspaper or your blog if you have one

- Go through your Bar Association or Law School to look for a mentor in the field you want to pursue

The point of the program is that doing one, or some or even all of these things doesn’t guarantee that you will get the job you are looking for, but it will increase your odds and it will help you gain insight into the field and become a better candidate. You have to take the initiative to find avenues to get you where you want to go.

We’ve talked about what happens when your solo practice starts to grow and you need to add your first associate. In this podcast, the hosts talk about managing the delegation of work. The first step is in analyzing the work you need to be done and how to best handle its distribution. Then you need to get organized to make sure the work you distribute is done on time and in the manner you want it done. A good calendaring program and organization system is critical. When it comes to legal matters, it’s important that the associates have training, oversight and are keeping track of their time. Delegation applies not only to actual legal work but to other parts of your practice that you can pass off to others – employees, interns, third parties – in order to free up your time. If you are a solo and are not delegating legal work to others, then your practice will never grow as you only have so many hours in a day. Your clients will understand that you are delegating minor parts of your practice in order to concentrate on the more important, challenging parts of your practice. But that’s only the case if you plan for it:

- Train the associates in the way you want matters handled

- At the beginning, go over each task to make sure the associate understands the full scope of the task

- Bring the associate into client meetings so the client becomes comfortable with someone else occasionally handling the matter

- Call the client well in advance if you are not going to be at an appearance or meeting and go over what is expected to happen

- Use the extra time for practice development and for concentrating on more lucrative and complicated legal matters

Podcast Host Scott shared his experience from a yoga retreat that he went on with his wife this past weekend. He was struck by the genuineness and authenticity of the instructors and how applicable it was to the practice of law. The hosts reflect on how their earlier episodes focused on work-life balance and the need to find time to contemplate your attitude and your law practice. One’s attitude totally affects how one views their work. Scott said the main theme of the weekend that he took away was the need to connect to yourself and others. The hosts talk about how people are reared to kind of belittle or not value connection when in fact making connections is the first step to a relationship with clients and referral partners. “Listening” as opposed to “talking at” people is one important step in building your practice. Another take-away from the weekend was that each yoga instructor had their own individualized website that participants could review. That made it easier to get some detailed information about the instructor’s philosophy and approach. Oscar and Scott then talked about how that same method can work for lawyers in developing their own websites to make them more client-centric and more individualized to your practice and clientele. It’s important to remember that we can learn a lot about how to improve our practices by looking for guidance and insight outside the area of law.Namaste.

Since the early days of TV, there have been many lawyer-themed shows. From “Perry Mason” to “L.A. Law” to “Boston Legal” to today’s “Grinder.” But rarely has a show focused on a character like Saul Goodman in AMC’s “Better Call Saul” a spinoff of “Breaking Bad.” In it, Bob Odenkirk plays a small time criminal defense solo practitioner who goes into and then out of Big Law while trying to get his own practice going. In this podcast, Scott and Oscar talk about many of the issues the show raises about lawyering itself. The various episodes highlight the good and bad differences between solo/small firm life and Big Law; legal marketing; realistic ethical dilemmas; and hustling for clients. In the podcast, the hosts encourage listeners to watch the show and to take away from it some very important messages to building a law practice. None as important as being authentic to who you are and to providing value to your clients

Scott and Oscar discuss the future of legal education as we see the advent of online law schools. The discussion revolves around an article calling for more online law schools to address the imbalance between the debt caused by law schools and the reality of the job market. The hosts also discuss lawsuits brought against law schools by law students who can’t get jobs and blame the inflated job placement numbers posted by law schools that entice them to enroll. The show then focuses on how the important thing to take away from all of this is that the traditional law school model has to change. Law students need to know that there may not be high-paying jobs for them when they graduate and law schools need to prepare them for developing a practice, managing expectations, and how to actually practice law in the real world.

If you have been practicing law for a few years, chances are you have gotten emails or mailers encouraging you to become a member of a number of sites that will promote your name and give you leads for legal work. The two biggest purveyors of this pre-packaged marketing are FindLaw and Avvo but there are a myriad of others. The hosts discuss their personal experiences with some of these companies and the benefits and downsides of joining them. Scott and Oscar all discuss companies that - for a small fee- will declare you one of the “10 Best Lawyers” in your area. A lawyer can take advantage of some of these promotional materials and it’s up to each lawyer to decide what use to make of them. But the hosts remind listeners that in the end, you can do a lot of your own promotion and marketing by spending a little more time on developing your practice and network.

Scott and Oscar continue their discussion with Sage Presence founders Peter Machalek and Dean Hyers by delving into presentations. Presentations are a vital way to meet potential clients and referral partners. The guys at Sage suggest a number of ways to make yourself comfortable to do these: First of all, pick a topic that you are very knowledgable about and in which you can develop valuable information to provide to your audience. Then try to populate the session with people who know you and former clients. Remember that you need to provide value to the group so leave time for a question and answer period. Then practice your presentation several time to gain confidence – and practice making eye contact and speaking clearly in scenarios where you interact with others. Pete and Dean conclude by talking about the value of coaching and how coaches can help lawyers develop the skills necessary to connect with new clients. Dean and Tom can be found at Sagepresence.com where you will find tips and strategies as well as a few short videos that explain what they do and how they can help.

This week Oscar and Scott talk to Dean Hyers and Pete Machalek from Sage Presence. Sage Presence coaches professional service firms on how to market themselves by focusing on their message and their communication skills. They discuss a wide range of topics including;- having to move away from the stereotyped version of a “salesman”- how being in introvert can be an advantage when networking,- the potential benefits of giving the “right” value- building your business on giving presentationsYou can check out Sage Presence on the web athttp://sagepresence.com/

Scott and Oscar continue their chat with Tom Bolt of the ABA’s Law Practice Division. The focus turns to specific thing that law students, new lawyers and lawyers in transition can do to help develop a practice in this new economy. The hosts discuss with Tom the role technology plays to both support and place stress upon new, developing practices. Tom’s position offers him unique insight into what is happening in the legal marketplace across the country. He concludes the discussion talking about the Law Practice Division’s four core focus areas: marketing, management, technology and finance. We would like to let our listeners know that the ABA website offers publications, professional development tools and networking opportunities that provide valuable guidance on those four topics. You can learn more about the ABA’s Law Practice Division by visiting their webpage at: http://www.americanbar.org/groups/law_practice.html