Author: rgAdmin

Successful lawyers don’t just build a professional reputation by taking on and winning cases. There is a secondary income stream and prestige to be gained from making better client referrals. Such referrals come with fees, typically around 30% and it can be a profitable practice.

Deciding When to Refer

There are many reasons why you would do this – you don’t have the time to take on a case. Rather than lose them to a competitor, you would refer them to a contact and take a cut. You might also refer if you lack the expertise in that area, or even certification/license for that specialism, or even the right to practice in that state.

Each case should be judged on an individual basis, but there is both prestige and money to be made from a quality referral.

How To Refer Clients

A major reason why lawyers try to avoid referral is lack of clarity. There are concerns about fees, and how and why and when. The ABA provides guidance within Rule 5.4 which allows attorneys to share fees and 7.2b which states attorneys can offer anything of value in commission for a referral. ABA also states that referral fees are fine when divisible by the amount of relative work of each attorney.

Always do so in a manner that will promote and enhance the contact and the working relationship.

How Often Should You Refer

There is no set answer for this. How often you refer should always depend on how busy you presently are or how confident you feel about the case or your ability to take it on. Ensure you research a case fully before passing on the client. You should always pass on whenever you feel the client and their case would be best served by someone else other than yourself.

Lawyers will respond in kind. Every time you refer, you increase the chance that client will refer a case to you in future. However, don’t pass over work that you are able to take on.

Other Considerations

Collaboration and handing over clients is a far easier process when the two firms use the same tools. Record Grabber offers medical record retrieval and storage services to lawyers as well as medical professionals. Between lawyers who both use the same services, a hand over is easy in theory.

Legal case management software and other collaboration tools that adhere to HIPAA and other laws make the process fast and easy for both parties. They facilitate faster decision making on behalf of the referred lawyer too.

Successful lawyers network.  So what are the major contributing factors to word of mouth marketing for successful lawyers? Successful cases are certainly one. Another is being present and a visible force in the local community. The third is networking. However, this is not just about connecting with other lawyers. Just as important is connecting with contractors, local businesses, and even your social group. In an age of social media and conferencing, nothing beats face-to-face networking. That’s because success in this business is about relationships more than anything else.

It’s All About Social Selling

Arguably the outreach method of 2019, social selling is about forging genuine connection. It has gradually replaced other forms of marketing due to its authenticity and driven in part by Influencer Marketing. With social selling, the relationship is the primary engagement. It’s about as soft selling as a business can get. In fact, the financial rewards of traditional marketing are now less important than being seen as a trustworthy and affable contact.

It’s About Being Helpful

Networking is about making contacts, but it’s also about mutual assistance. Offering help over a small matter now could potentially lead to work and clients down the line. You should never help somebody with the expectation of getting something in return of course. Being helpful is part of human’s need for social meaning. Such opportunities can lead to client referrals as a trusted and respected contact.

Networking is Everywhere

Do you believe networking involves going away for a three-day expo and coming back with a large stack of business cards having wasted time and money? Or the local Bar Association social event? That is an outdated view of networking. In fact, every time you talk to somebody, you are potentially networking. Getting into conversation at the golf club or the spa will sometimes lead to professional discussion and a surprising new contact.

Make Time for Everyone

That includes delivery drivers, suppliers, even the office next door. All these measures create a network and could potentially lead to business opportunities. Even if they are not looking for your services, they may know somebody who will. Sometimes, a business relationship comes from personal rapport and goodwill.

Without personal rapport and working relationships, a business in any industry is hampering its ability to attract clients. In the legal profession, that rapport and engagement is critical because we provide a personal service primarily about people. When a lawyer’s focus is on being helpful, knowledgeable, approachable and open, they attract more clients through natural means.

If your reception services and legal intake is like most legal professionals, chances are you’re not as efficient as you could be. That means lost clients to competitors, lost revenue, and lack of organization. Law firms are too focused on work that they fail to capitalize on important leads after spending time, energy and money on outreach.  There may be an answer in Virtual Receptionist services by simply outsourcing and there are three broad advantages.

Cost-Effective

Reception services are time consuming. Busy lawyers don’t have the capacity to do it and usually lack the budget to invest in one or more full-time receptionists. Now is a good time to embrace the digital economy and hire a third-party Virtual Receptionist firm. Not only will you not need to train them, you won’t need to invest in technology, equipment, salary and other benefits. It’s a cost-effective solution and more efficient than having in-house employees.

Delegated Tasks

Your legal professional team are not receptionists. They are not administrators or personal assistants. When they devote too much of their workday doing this kind of work, their skills are being wasted.  The problem is, administration, answering calls in a timely manner, and the sort of work for which you usually employ a receptionist or PA are vital. Hiring third-party Virtual Receptionists is the ideal solution, freeing you up to work cases.

Client Growth

Just 50% of queries are answered in a timely manner, meaning lost business. Virtual Receptionists are fast and efficient, ensuring that most calls are taken immediately. Those that aren’t taken immediately are called back quickly, before the potential client has taken their business elsewhere. Virtual Receptionists represent more clients, increased revenue, and consequently, profit.

Follow these tips for creating a stress-free law business trip.  Some lawyers love traveling to other parts of the country or other countries; others find the process too stressful and rather not travel. Undoubtedly they are stressful but it’s often necessary to travel is for expos, conferences, and to work on a case or to close a deal.

Have a Travel Plan

No matter how far away the trip, it is never to early to start planning. You need to think about accommodation, how to get to the airport. Are you taking a cab? Driving yourself there? Is there a charge for parking? Devise a strategy and a timeline for everything before you leave to what happens when you arrive. Devising an itinerary reduces the stress.

Direct Flights Save Time

Traveling professionals book transportation with one eye on the budget. It is often cheaper to take multiple flights and have a brief layover. A direct flight may be the more expensive option than a layover or a break at one airport but it will save time. The risks of a delay could set you back further. With one flight, a cancellation or delay will impact the trip far less.

Have a Work Plan

Are you the sort of lawyer who tries to do it all before you go?  It isn’t important just to have a travel plan. You also need a work plan. Look at what work you can realistically do before the trip, what you can realistically do while traveling or once there. For everything else, there is only one thing to do: delegate. Trying to do it all leads to unfinished jobs and missed deadlines.

Technology

If your upcoming trip is a working break, there is no better time to look at your workflow and processes. Technology such as cloud storage and connectivity, and cloud-based SAAS (software as a service), PAAS (platform) and IAAS (infrastructure) helps you get work done wherever you are. Trips are stressful for many reasons, don’t let inability to work become an unnecessary stress.

Document While Information is Fresh

No matter what you’re doing it’s important to keep on top of everything. If you document as you go, keep information to hand, type up notes when you have a spare hour and record talks while in the conference room, you are less likely to forget. If you allow weeks to pass, it’s likely you’ll forget the information and lose the benefits of the trip.

Doesn’t it often feel as if we waste too much time while at work? Even when we use task management tools and technology, we still waste time trawling emails and on fake work. Tasks that should take mere moments drag out, reducing productivity and sapping our energy. A recent study by Workfront found that most employees spend just 44% of their working day carrying out their main duties. It doesn’t have to be this way; here are some tips for saving time on those essential office tasks by speeding up non-productive and non-profitable office tasks.

Keyboard Shortcuts

It’s amazing how much time you can save by using keyboard shortcuts. The simple ones are common knowledge such as Ctrl + C for copying, Ctrl + X for cutting, and Ctrl + V for pasting. Did you know about Ctrl + Shift + M for new email in Outlook? Or Ctrl + O to open the most recently received message? Then there is Ctrl + G to group images when creating a PowerPoint presentation, Ctrl + Z to quick undo in Word and Excel. Even if you use a package other than Microsoft Office, it will have shortcuts. Even web browsers have shortcuts which they helpfully include in the menus.

Cloud Storage

Do colleagues still email files to each other? That takes precious minutes, especially when uploading big attachments. If such an email is caught in the server, it can take a while to get through. This wastes time when sending a file to somebody sitting just a few feet away or in the next office. Storing all your files on shareable folders in the cloud such as Dropbox means there is no longer a need to email to colleagues. All you need is a couple of seconds to synchronize the file and it will do this automatically before they’ve even noticed it’s happened.

Cloud Collaboration Tools

We mentioned earlier that people waste time sifting through emails to find assigned tasks. While you may not be able to do much to reduce incoming emails, you can prioritize urgent work by skipping emails altogether. Collaboration tools like Freedcamp and Evernote make assigning tasks fast and easy, with attachments, notes and comments from all involved. Similarly with a task management organizer such as Trello. Bypass emails with a direct message app such as Slack which allows real time collaboration.  Your employees can get more done when they bypass the parts of their job that sap their time.

Right and wrong ways to dealing with negative reviews

Every business and organization will make mistakes that should be rectified to the best of one’s ability. Sometimes, you will encounter a customer that will never be happy no matter what you do or have done to appease them. Inevitably, you will, for whatever reason, experience bad customer reviews on professional sites and on social media. There are right and wrong ways to dealing with such negative reviews.

Address Bad Reviews

You should always acknowledge bad reviews wherever they are. Other potential clients reading the review will realize that there are two sides to every story and expect you to respond. Apologize for the negative experience and address the specific complaints made in the review. If the bad review is unjustified, the experience exaggerated (or worse – they have outright lied), you should respond to protect your business’ reputation.

Invite Them for a Private Discussion

Less than 50% of people who leave reviews expect a response. Ideally, you should acknowledge every review you receive but pay particular attention to the negative review. It is recommended that the offending business ask the customer if they would be willing to return to have a private meeting with a senior employee. Accommodate them as much as you can in meeting at a time suitable for them. In the legal profession, this should be a practice manager or other senior authority who did not work on the case. A customer who has not already decided to take their business elsewhere would, in most cases, be willing to meet.

Nurture a Culture of Reviews

Negative reviews can reflect badly on your business. They are especially impactful when your search engine listings or social media accounts have few reviews generally. Businesses that are active on social media not only have improved outreach, there is also a higher chance of receiving reviews. This means a higher chance of positive reviews. The more positive reviews you have, the less impact negative reviews will have. Prospective clients and customers will simply ignore them. Those that do seek them out will read with an open mind and pay attention to how you addressed the problems

The summer break is almost here. Your employees will soon start taking vacation time – whether they have children or not. As most people’s downtime are scheduled between June and September, it’s traditionally a time when those who aren’t on vacation are overwhelmed. There is no better time for legal practice managers to make important business decisions about reorganizing and streamlining their practices. One of the biggest changes you can make now is to outsource your record retrieval and storage to a specialist third party.

Outsourcing Improves Morale

In most posts, we highlight the cost savings and security benefits of record outsourcing. However, there are many benefits to the employees as well as the business. Employees not on vacation will find they are under less pressure and less stressed when covering vacationing employees. By the time your employees are back in the office, they’ll find a simplified system awaiting them and won’t be overwhelmed with work. Therefore, they aren’t stressed when other employees go away.

Outsourcing Improves Productivity

Even with a full complement, your employees are likely wasting valuable time on tasks that slow them down. Into the fall and winter when everybody has returned from vacation, your employees can do more when your records are outsourced. The practice will find it can spend more time doing other, more productive tasks. Law firms that still practice In-house record retrieval often come to Record Grabber overwhelmed and needing to free up time.

Less Disruption for Clients

If you are prepared for the vacation period and working out a strategy to remain productive, so are your clients. They will expect slower response times but there is no need for this to be the case. If you can maintain your regular high level of service and even improve on it, it leads to improved relations. This means a good reputation which will lead to more clients. Going above and beyond expectation can help drive growth.

The Cloud is the Future

Summer is a period of positivity about the future, especially when on vacation. Business decisions are made while not at work; sometimes they are very good decisions. There is no better decision to make for a business than to future-proof it technologically. Cloud technology now permeates everything we do. It supports our telecommunications, protects our data, and permits easy backup. It’s more secure, more flexible, and better for the environment.

 

Want to test Record Grabber out for the Summer?  Sign up today!

Keeping up with trends and technology in the legal industry can be time-consuming. It may not be one of your top priorities because it sometimes feels like a waste of time. Yet this industry experiences constant change and advancement. Automation, AI and machine learning and Cloud technology all have the power to improve productivity and help ease some of your most common processual burdens. Thankfully, there are many legal technology organizations to help you with your evolving needs.

 

International Legal Technology Association

Do you want to keep up to date with the legal technologies available now? ILTA may be the organization for you. They are a membership group offering interactive events – both live and in the virtual world – as well as an array of tried and tested methods such as networking and formal training. Their written material and video content keep you up to date with what you need to know about technology in your profession.

Visit Website.

 

LegalTechLive

Evidence shows that people learn quicker and retain more information with visual media than with written documents. Legal technology is now all trendy thanks to this popular YouTube channel. It arrived on the scene as recently as 2015, run by Nick Rishwain and Ivan Raiklin. The channel shows live video feeds where they highlight and promote technology in law through interviews with vendors. The place to learn if a certain piece of software or hardware would benefit your business.

Visit Website.

 

Law.com’s Legaltech News

Law.com is the country’s best-known website. Now, the prestigious brand has branched out into helping you keep up to date with technology in the legal profession. The Legaltech News section is a carefully selected resource of curated content from the broad range of journals, professional magazine and other content from the brand. It’s easy to break down the sections into news and content relevant to your specific area of legal, but Law.com is for all areas in the profession.

Visit Website.

 

Legal Mosaic

It is doubtful there is anyone more of an expert on technology for the legal profession than Mark A. Cohen. This is his business which provides direct advice to businesses operating in legal with a focus on technology and training strategies, helping firms keep up with trends. It cuts through the jargon to offer sound advice in language that you will understand, explaining the benefits of upgrading each of your hardware and software systems. Also delivers talks and conferences to professionals.

Visit Website.

 

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