The Law Practice Management Section Council frequently organizes
panel discussions, luncheons and seminars on the topic of "Growing
Your Practice and Increasing Your Client Base." In furtherance of
that topic, I have been speaking with numerous practitioners who
have managed to increase their particular law practices in the last
few years. I have met most of them for meetings in person and
others I interviewed on the telephone. The focus topic I addressed
with the 25 interviewees was how they managed to substantially
increase their practices within the last few years. The
interviewees were selected because they were either already known
to me to have been practitioners who had substantially increased
their practices within the last few years, or they were
practitioners who had substantially increased their practices
within the last few years and were referred to me for an interview
for the purpose of completing this article on behalf of the
Massachusetts Bar Association. The interviewees were also selected
based on geographic diversity, practice areas and size of law firm.
Practitioners interviewed ranged from sole practitioners and small
firm members to mid-sized and large firm members. Their years of
practice ranged from 10 to 30 years.
Hopefully, the following summaries from the meetings/interviews
will provide us with some pragmatic, yet valuable tips to consider
when we contemplate ways in which we may grow our practices. They
appear in no particular order.
Support
Although some practitioners indicated this as a factor, one
particular business litigator expressed that she credited the
substantial growth of her practice to being at a point in her
career where she required a larger firm to accommodate her support
needs (administrative and technical support). Whether you consider
this the leverage theory, the support staff theory, the chicken and
egg theory, or something else, what this business litigator
articulated was that she doubled her practice within a few years
because she was at a point in her career where she did not feel
that the small firm where she practiced could accommodate her
burgeoning business litigation practice. Instead, she moved to a
mid-sized firm where she had not only more associates available to
work on her cases, but also, a sophisticated support and IT staff.
In fact, her firm provides support on nights and weekends. She
expressed that she is able to spend more time rainmaking now that
she has the support her practice requires. She has been able to
manage a higher volume of cases and has been able to obtain and
retain more referrals from existing clients.
Support and Affiliation with Associations
Similar to the business litigator, other interviewees, in
particular the estate planners and the immigration attorneys
indicated that support was important, and in particular having a
more experienced assistant attributed to their practice growth.
Certain fields are more successful when an experienced assistant is
more accustomed to the issues involved, the personal attention
involved, the semantics involved and even the intricate paperwork
involved. Estate planning and immigration are certainly in this
category of legal fields. In addition, the estate planners and the
immigration attorneys expressed that their affiliations in various
associations provided them with substantial practice growth over
time. Not only may they be considered recognized leaders in their
respective fields because of their positions and involvement within
this affiliation, but also they are able to obtain worthwhile
referrals.
Trade Publications
Some interviewees attributed a growth in their practices to their
participation or involvement in various trade publications. A
business organization attorney indicated that he had written
articles in business trade magazines specifically addressing some
present and pertinent issues in his field. Each time an article of
his was published, he would receive inquiries from potential
clients concerning the specific matter. Many times, the potential
client who was inquiring would become a client. Other times, the
inquiring person would refer him clients. In turn, those clients
would refer him more business. Other interviewees indicated this
same result with their blogs. Although not publishing an article in
a trade magazine, a blog may have the same effect by capturing
someone's attention and possibly having that person become a
client.
Succession
A couple of the practitioners interviewed mentioned that they were
in the right place at the right time and took over practices from
retiring attorneys. One attorney had always worked with the more
senior attorney and the succession plan was very gradual, but later
became very deliberate. The other attorney had worked with the more
senior attorney and had later gone on to another small firm. Years
later, the more senior attorney recruited the more junior attorney
and approached him with the succession plan. The more senior
attorney did not have a very experienced attorney working with her
on cases, and at this point, the more junior attorney had developed
a successful practice.
Attorney Referrals
One of the more popular reasons cited for practice growth was
attorney referrals. Many practitioners indicated either that they
still maintain strong referral relationships with colleagues from
law school who usually practice in different fields of law, or that
they have developed strong referral relationships with other
attorneys over the years. Some attorneys mentioned that their
shared office space arrangement promoted client referrals because
their shared office space consisted of practitioners from various
legal fields. This reason was cited for criminal defense
practitioners, personal injury lawyers and family lawyers in
particular. Not only was shared office space a factor expressed by
many interviewees, but also the geographic location of their office
itself seemed to be a strong factor regarding referrals. For
example, some practitioners mentioned that either moving to a
shared office space helped their practice grow, or moving their
office entirely seemed to increase their client base. For example,
this factor was mentioned by attorneys who had moved to office
space with proximity to a courthouse or to a geographical region
where they were obtaining more clients.
Specialty
Similar to the attorney referral feature was the specialty
feature. Practitioners indicated that they had managed to maintain
a strong referral base over the years because of their particular
specialties. For example, a couple of the medical malpractice
attorneys interviewed mentioned that their particular specialty
areas within medical malpractice had largely assisted them with
substantially increasing their practices within the last few years.
A specialty within their field has allowed them to foster strong
working relationships with experts and had provided them with
successful records of cases. The civil litigators indicated that
they managed to grow their respective practices by having
specialties within the rather large field of civil litigation.
Certain attorneys became more successful than others in certain
areas of civil litigation and have been able to experience a
burgeoning specialty practice.
Diversification
On the other hand, some practitioners mentioned that diversifying
their practice, usually by bringing in other attorneys with other
specialties to their firm, has aided them in substantial growth.
For example, a couple of residential closing real estate attorneys
who primarily maintain banks as their firm's clients expressed that
they learned to branch out years ago by bringing in other attorneys
to their small firm who worked in other fields in order to maintain
a thriving practice when the real estate market is suffering.
Together, they have all managed to maintain and achieve substantial
growth overall.
Thomas J. Barbar is a principal with the Family Law
Department at Deutsch Williams and concentrates in the fields of
probate and domestic relations. Barbar is the former chair of the
MBA's Law Practice Management Section Council and has been a panel
participant and chair for probate and family law issues for the
MBA.