Everyone handles their email inbox differently. Some people have to clear every unread message out at the end of each day, while others let their unread email notifications pile up until there’s no going back. But one thing is for certain, our inboxes today are significantly more overwhelming than they were even just a few years ago.
Before we jump into email management and everything therein, we are going to take a moment to talk about a psychological philosophy called Flow. Essentially, Flow is a state of mind in which a person becomes fully immersed in an activity. While this is a mental state, it is deeply influenced by psychological, environmental, creative, and social responses.
Your chances of reaching this Flow state are greater when you can first focus on single tasks, as opposed to jumping back and forth between activities. Additionally, having clear goals and immediate feedback play into your ability to reach Flow.
Now you may be asking why we are bringing this up now when we’re supposed to be talking about emails. And we will tell you… Emails are huge disrupters to our Flow state because each email we receive acts as a distraction from our current task. Not only are we interrupted to either respond or read the email, but we are given yet one more thing to focus on. Emails are inevitable. They are a great means to communicate, but if unmanaged, they can quickly spin out of control.
Now that you have a brief background on Flow, everything we discuss moving forward is to help you achieve this level of clarity and productivity through your inbox.
To kick this off, let’s look at some numbers. Did you know that the average office worker receives around 121 emails every workday? Roughly 2.5 hours a day are spent on email, which adds up to about 30% of your workweek! That is insane… Nowhere in your job description does it say you have to spend 30% of your time on email, but this is where we are today.
Three things are significantly impacted by our time spent on email: our mood, our focus, and our to-do list. These three things are both negatively and positively impacted by not only the quantity of virtual mail we receive in a day but the quality as well.
The Science Behind Attention
For the past few decades, a lot of studies and work have gone into the science of attention. And because our inbox holds so much of our attention during the day, there are many parallels that can be drawn between our inbox and our phycological response to how we interact with that inbox. Part of why so much our of time is devoted to checking and looking at our email can be attributed to what science calls the Fixed reward vs. the Variable reward system.
Hear us out, this is interesting…
In 1948, a behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner studied what he coined “schedules of reinforcement.” At the time, what Skinner was studying was the relationship between actions (in his case, a hungry rat pressing a lever in a so-called Skinner box) and their associated rewards (pellets of food). During this study, Skinner distinguished between fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement and variable-ratio schedules of reinforcement. Under a fixed schedule, a rat received a reward of food after it pressed the lever a fixed number of times — say 20 times. Under the variable schedule, the rat earned the food pellet after it pressed the lever a random number of times. So for example, if the rat pressed the level 5 times he would get a reward, and sometimes it would take pressing the lever 150 times to get the reward.
Obviously, the predominant difference between the two schedules of reinforcement was this aspect of predictability. Prior to the conclusion of the study, one might expect that the fixed schedules of reinforcement would be more motivating and rewarding because the rat can learn to predict the outcome of his work. Instead, what Skinner found was that the variable schedules were actually more motivating. The most telling result was that when the rewards ceased, the rats that were under the fixed schedules stopped working almost immediately, but those under the variable schedules kept working for a considerable time longer.
So, what do food pellets have to do with e-mail? If you think about it, e-mail is very much like trying to get the pellet rewards. Most of it is junk and the equivalent of pulling the lever and getting nothing in return, but every so often we receive a message that we really want. Maybe it contains good news, some watercooler talk, a note from someone we haven’t heard from in a long time, or maybe just an important piece of information. We are so happy to receive the unexpected e-mail (pellet) that we become addicted to checking, hoping for more such surprises. We just keep pressing that lever, over and over again, until we get our reward. See where we are going?
We are feeling science-y today, so along the lines of this psychological response also comes what is called completion bias. By spending a third of our time on email, it feels like we are being productive, after all, it is our “work-inbox.” Unfortunately, this isn’t really the case. We convince ourselves that we are being productive by checking this work-inbox but really we aren’t producing anything at all, instead, we are being reactive- responding to the needs of whatever the senders are requesting of you. As a result, we spend a tremendous amount of time on short-term priorities that get in the way of completing the bigger tasks on our lists. All of this has resulted in one thing: multitasking. As professionals, we have gotten good at multitasking, which if you think about it, is somewhat of an oxymoron because no one is truly good at multitasking.
Research shows that when we are deeply engrossed in an activity, even minor distractions, like an email, can have a profound effect. According to a University of California-Irvine study, regaining our initial momentum following an interruption can take, on average, upwards of 20 minutes! And that’s after only one interruption… you get where are going with this.
The Three Email Rules
Email is like Tetris
No matter how good you are at playing Tetris, blocks will continue to come, and they will speed up over time. No one has ever won a game of Tetris, and email is the same way, no matter how good you are at clearing the messages, they will not only continue to come, but they will also increase in frequency year after year.
The Solution: You have to change your mindset. You have to use the right tools to be able to consistently keep your emails at a manageable level and you have to set limits and boundaries around when you choose to interact and not interact with your inbox.
Email is not the default priority
For way too many of us, email has become this default, number 1 priority. You wake up and check your inbox. You get to the office and check your inbox. And the problem with this is that your email acts as a to-do list that other people add to. So what happens is other people’s priorities become your own.
The Solution: Scan your inbox for important and or otherwise urgent emails, then close your inbox. You can do this first thing in the morning, or really any time you want, but the key is to scan and then get out. Next, block a 30-60 minute appointment slot every day for “email time.” This is time you designate to spend in your inbox because you say so, not because someone else is requesting something from you. Now depending on the number of emails you receive every day, that time can fluctuate, but the point is that you are setting the time, it shouldn’t be dictated by anyone else. When you get sucked into your inbox, take a minute and ask yourself, is this the best use of your time? Most of the time, it isn’t, so give yourself that moment to decide for yourself.
Not all emails are created equal
Each email commands the same real estate in your inbox, whether it is from the CEO or spam. There are really three types of emails, the unimportant noise, the important and urgent emails, and the important but not urgent emails.
The Solution: Delete and archive all the noise in bulk, handle the important and urgent emails in the moment, and then defer the important but non-urgent emails to your designated email time.
Reaching Inbox Zero
Inbox zero is a method for continually getting to zero emails in your inbox every day. How you can do this is by categorizing your emails into five action buckets.
Delete/archive
Defer
Delegate
Respond
Do
All the noise: newsletters, updates, weekly emails, should be deleted in bulk. You should be giving very minimal time to these emails. The quick fix emails, emails that can be taken care of in 2 minutes or less, can fall into the three middle categories of deferring, delegate, and responding.
When you defer, that simply means moving it out of your inbox into a separate folder. You can create a folder, whether you call it a deferred folder or your snoozed folder, the idea is to just move emails out of your main inbox. Delegating an email(s) simply means you’re forwarding it to someone else on your team who is more suited to answer the specific question or request, and to respond, is well, you respond.
The last bucket, “Do,” are the emails that require more of your time and attention. They are emails that need work or are related to various projects you have on your plate. These are the emails that should be remaining in your inbox that should be worked on throughout your day until a resolution is met. You can prioritize them further by flagging or starring them to ensure they don’t get overlooked.
Email Hacks
Bold Key Phrases
If your email is on the longer side, highlight keywords or sentences in bold. This will make your reader’s job easier and you’ll be a more efficient communicator. It is important here to not bold too much and don’t use all caps because people associate that with yelling.
Don’t Get Hacked
You deal with more sensitive information than most professional people do. Because of this, the legal industry is hit with a lot of security breaches that leave lasting impacts on not only your clients but your firm.
If you’re using the same password for multiple online services, if one of those services gets hacked, that means there’s a good chance that all of them have been compromised. The solution to this is to use individual passwords that are not associated with anything in your day-to-day life. And we know that can be tough to keep up with, so utilize services like 1Password to help you create and then store all your passwords for each of your accounts.
Don’t Fill Out The Recipient’s Address Right Away
Mistakes happen! Wrong email addresses can be attached, misspelled names or titles, etc. Give yourself a chance to proof-read the email prior to hitting that send button. Every email interface typically works from the top-down. You fill out the recipient, then the subject, message, and any related attachments. Instead of working this way, try the reverse. Add your attachments first, then write your message, fill in your subject line, and then once all of this is complete add your recipient(s). Doing this will help mitigate some of those human errors that we are all prone to make!
Choose Your Subject Wisely
Putting a call to action in your subject line will not only get your email read faster, but there is a greater chance the recipient will interact with it. Additionally, the more specific your subject line is, the easier it will be to search for it later on.
Don’t Unsubscribe from Suspicious Emails
Often times, it becomes a reflex to unsubscribe from emails that are either spam or considered irrelevant and otherwise unnecessary for you to be receiving. What happens if you unsubscribe from senders with compromised integrity, is you’ve exposed yourself as 1. Being human, and 2. A human who cares about their inbox. This is a spammer’s best-case scenario. Instead, either move these to a designated spam folder or bulk delete them.
Avoid Open-Ended Questions
Email is a great medium for close-ended questions, not open-ended ones. Emails ending with, “Thoughts?” Is a strong signal that that email should either be a phone conversation or even an in-person one. Knowing what is appropriate to send via email and what is not will save you time during your day and will keep those email distractions to a minimum. Conversely, email is great for unambiguous communication, where decisive answers or choices can be made.
Matter-Centric Emails
If you’re working with a practice management software, some platforms will let you save emails directly to matters from Microsoft Outlook, or let you find emails based on any email property including subject, sent/received date, or email content. With the ability to connect your email correspondence directly to the appropriate matter, you are keeping all your communications matter centric. Having all your communication related to particular matters in one place helps keep your team efficient, in sync, and organized.
Email Smarter
Sometimes it is easy to forget that emails constitute billable time. If you are working, responding, and communicating with your clients, you should be getting paid for that. Technology is advanced enough today to allow you to automatically create a billing entry every time you send an email to your client or create billing entries from your inbox as you’re reviewing emails. Not every software allows you to do this, but the technology is available and with reason- it will help you make and collect the money you deserve!
The Takeaway
Email Zen to Optimize Our Flow State
Phase 1: The Declutter Phase
Creating folders that are labeled for old mail and dragging everything into those folders on a regular basis. Train unwanted emails to go into that folder and if you have time, delete those old emails and make sure relevant emails correspond to the matters they relate to. Delegate emails when necessary and don’t get distracted with the longer, more project-based requests.
Phase 2: The Organization Phase
This is where you figure out how much time you’re going to give yourself and set limits and boundaries on how much time you are willing and able to spend going through your inbox. Avoid mindlessly checking your email when you’re not in a dedicated place to respond or think about next steps. The best way to fall behind with your inbox is to start checking your email while you’re in line at a grocery store, get distracted by the cashier, and then completely forget about that email entirely. So stop doing that! Set numeric goals of how many emails you want left in your inbox at the end of the day. Inbox zero may not always be possible for everyone, so set goals to keep you on track and accountable.
Phase 3: Email Zen and Flow Phase
You now have a clear set of rules to follow, you don’t leave your email open, you don’t get distracted with emails outside of your designated email time, and you’re able to put more focused time back into your day for billable activities.
If your firm doesn’t have a proper intake process, you could be losing a lot of billable time working on administrative and organizational tasks. In, Business Development 101: Online Communication Strategies to Increase Your Billable Hours we discussed how properly utilizing the various communication forms (phone, email, text, and website) can make a huge impact on your productivity and future revenue generation.
Today, we are going to dive deeper into the client intake process and learn how you can not only improve your process but retain better clients.
To start, let’s do a little refresher on how potential new clients are handled.
How To Handle PNCs
Potential clients can be handled by you and your in-house staff or through remote and virtual services like paralegals, bookkeepers, and receptionists.
With software, you have access to resources like call routing and tracking, client intake automation, and calendaring management. All of these tools exist for you to reach as many people as possible with the least amount of leg work.
Responsiveness Through Form and Function
When you think about the form and function of the content and materials that you use to draw in PNCs, you need a combination of human and machine intelligence.
For the human intelligence side, ask yourself these questions:
What goes into your lead nurturing drips?
What does the copy (the actual words on the page) look and sound like?
What are your lead-qualifying questions and intake-form compositions?
What is your caller greeting?
What does your email content look like? (From appointment confirmation to lead conversion drips)
How do you handle 'bad' leads?
How you handle these questions all contribute to your firm’s brand. Not to mention the answers also set the tone for the initial impression you give a PNC.
On the other hand, machine intelligence is necessary to take care of the monotonous, orgnizational tasks. Consider these questions:
Where the human intelligence is used to capture emotion and connection, the machine intelligence is used to speed up your back end logistics and take away some of the manual labor involved in capturing new leads.
Combined effectively, you will achieve fast, friendly, and accurate responses from PNCs which will lead to more qualified leads and a better experience for new clients. If you can keep them happy off the bat, you’re one step ahead of the game. Not to mention, if your current clients are satisfied, they are more likely to refer friends and family.
Lead Conversion Flow
Now that you have a firmer grasp on contact methods, let’s take a look at lead sources. Referrals make up a large source of new clients for firms, but what about cold leads? Where are those people coming from? Let’s take a look:
Technical SEO to increase the visibility of your firm in search results
Link building with other businesses
Now, once a lead has contacted you, spoken to whomever you have in charge of the response methods (whether the response is via a receptionist service, in-house, or directly from an attorney), you qualify that the lead is ready for a consultation, your next step should be scheduling a meeting to collect more information.
This process looks different for firm-to-firm, but at its core, you need to be able to track data efficiently and access it whenever you need it from wherever you are. We have created a great downloadable checklist attached to this blog for you to use as a guide, however, here is a high-level framework outlining what you should be tracking (at a minimum):
Getting started: When a PNC first makes contact with your firm
Confirm the PNCs basic details
Screen the PNC and do a conflict check
Approval: Initial consultation granted or denied
Gather pre-consult information (if you didn’t have enough information prior to do to conduct a conflict check do so now)
Consult
Organize post-consult information
Send a over a new client agreement
Gather necessary documents
Now if you decide this person is not a good potential client, are you making referrals systematically? Referring out clients who are not a good fit with your firm not only highlights your good will, but it also gives you an opportunity to inform people of what your firm does so that in the future they can call reconnect with you. Additionally, if you refer clients to other firms in your area, they will be more likely to reciprocate that business when a PNC who isn’t a great fit for them walks through their doors. Huge takeaway here - don’t underestimate the power of a good first impression.
How to Leave a Good First Impression
Step 1 - Professionally and intelligently manage calls
Set up your phone so you’re not using your personal cell phone number. A huge push back for texting clients is the lack of privacy. Although you would like to be available for your clients 24/7, you don’t necessarily want to give them access to your personal information.
Some software offer services where they will provide you with your own private number. Through this you will have the ability to track text and call communications that will automatically be converted into billable events for you.
Once you have a private work number set up and ready, make sure you establish a professional greeting and menu. If a PNC calls you and wants to leave a message, that voice recording is the first form of communication they will experience with you. Don’t set a bad tone with an unreputable sounding recording.
Next, consider blocking spam calls. In today’s age where solicitors are around every virtual corner, it is important to protect your number as much as possible. You have no idea when or off what number PNCs will call you from, so if you have spam calls blowing up your phone in between client calls, this is a problem.
Keep in mind that PNCs have no boundaries when it comes to respecting your time. So make sure your phone is routed during holidays, vacations, schedule adjustments, and any times throughout the day when you are not available. You will miss out on PNCs if you do not have an action plan to capture their calls or messages when you are unavailable. Also consider having a separate after hours voicemail. For these messages, ask for more specific information and give them a time frame for when you will get back to them. This will encourage a relationship versus a one-off missed call. But, if you promise a call back during a specific window you better keep your word. Nothing will lose you a new client faster than unreliability.
Lastly, track performance! Where did the calls originate from? Did the source yield high quality leads? This information may not seem important in the immediate, but it is. Track this information so you know where your clients are coming from. Having this information will help you determine where to spend your advertising and marketing dollars. The best way to increase non referral based leads is to hone in on target demographic and geographic information. Additionally, know how many answered and missed calls you have. Monitor the number of rings it takes to pick up and keep note of the duration of your calls. It is also important that you have call recordings for performance monitoring. Track what goes well and things that don’t. Your first job is to be an attorney, but your second has to be a business person.
Step 2 - Automate lead capture and qualification
The very first step here, and this is incredibly important, is to have your criteria identified. First think about who the potential clients are that you really want and maybe also the clients you have worked with in the past that you want to avoid. Additionally, who are the clients you missed? Who are the PNCs that you wished you had captured sooner or the people who may have not experienced your best foot forward.
Use this thought process to identify the criteria and systematically put in place either a form or a list of questions which you can then use to screen PNCs. When you determine if the PNC will make a good fit, implement workflows for qualified leads and incorporate new-client call-back or appointment procedures. Think about what form these call-backs will take place in, do you prefer phone call or email, and will you have a template for what you say that will encourage these people to use the most detail in their response?
For initial meetings, determine the policy on consultations. How long will they be? Twenty minutes? An hour? Will you charge for them? What format would you like to host them in? All of these details should be ironed out prior to speaking with anyone. Obviously customer service is important so if you have to make a special accommodation for someone, make it happen! You have no idea who they could be connected to or who they know, so always lead with kindness and consideration. It is important to note here that everyone has a different comfort level, video is very intimate, but not everyone is comfortable with it. Also keep in mind that some video software requires the users to download the app (like Skype). That is not always convenient for people who are either not very tech savvy or who simply don’t want to download it. If you are to conduct in-person consults, consider the time you will lose in the commute and any potential traffic delays or last minute schedule conflicts that could occur.
We all know that attorneys charge for a finite number of billable hours each day, so ensure you’re utilizing your time by automating the monotonous outbound tasks. For example, if you have people completing a contact form on your website, you can automatically forward those to the appropriate team members so that the call-back communication happens immediately. Set up workflows to make data collection and tracking easier for you.
Step 3 - New Client Intake
Following lead capture, begin completing the client intake process. Before you begin, it would be prudent of you to ask them how they heard about you or your firm. This is valuable data! Don’t overlook it. (Your marketing team can thank us later)
Depending on your firm, your intake process may occur before or after booking your first appointment. And similarly to Step 2, identify the required questions you will ask and standardize this process across your firm. Aim for 5-10 questions and make it easy for these individuals to fill out the information.
Some software today will allow you to customize your intake form and when a PNC fills it out and submits it, the information will automatically populate in your system. Not only is this process efficient, but it is professional and allows you to capture the specific information that is pertinent to your firm.
Step 4 - Streamline Appointments
The most efficient and effective way to book appointments is by having a public-facing booking page directly on your website. The idea is to remove the amount of barriers between when a PNC first reaches out to you and when they become a client. Integrate this calendar with your own and make sure once a client submits a time that you are sending them the subsequent next-step information that they need. The sooner you can get this information to the client after they hit “schedule,” the more likely it is that they will not only be on time, but that they will come prepared.
Utilize technology to also trigger workflows for your staff. Once a PNC requests a booking time, what does that mean for your staff? What needs to be done in preparation and who will be involved?
As mentioned in Step 2, consider whether or not you’re going to charge a PNC for the consultation. The upsides to a paid consult include: reduced no shows and more guarantee that the person is a fit for your firm. However, some people see the cost and may raise an eyebrow. These are all things for your firm to consider, there is no right answer!
Step 5 - Bad Leads Out, Good Leads In
If you generate a list of PNCs who are not a great fit for you, but could be for another firm, utilize that to your advantage! However, some state Bar rules will not allow you to monetize referrals, so make sure you review the rules before getting started.
Your firm should have an implemented process for “bad” leads. Think back to potential client qualification criteria and use that to identify unqualified leads to save your time. Make a list of all attorneys and firms you recommend by practice area and share that list with your staff or receptionist service including instructions for identifying the correct firm to recommend to the “bad” leads. This could be based on location, practice area or cost. Think of referring “bad” leads as a service. Systematically earn good will in the community and educate future potential clients and referral sources.
Step 6 - Record, Record, Record
As much as possible, integrate as many of your communications into your existing practice management software as possible. Every text and call should be logged with pre and post consult notes. Activity logs on new appointments need to be documented, and triggered workflows should be assigned as action steps for your staff as a PNC flows through your intake process.
Use project and document management tools to integrate your emails and documents into your system seamlessly and automatically. With some software, you have the ability to build out document templates that can be automatically populated with new PNC information. This not only saves you time but reduces human error as well.
Having robust records of everyone you talk to will not only allow your firm to improve your intake strategy, but pinpoint what is working well for you so that you can continue capitalizing on it.
So What’s Next?
Now that you have all this information, utilize the attached outline to start solidifying and building your intake process. Define what will be standardized across your firm and make it as easy as possible for PNCs to retain your firm!
Lawyers are spread thin, and a lot of time is spent on laboring tasks and not on as many billable tasks. In fact, on average, lawyers only bill for 2.3 hours of their time. After factoring in realization and collection rates, the average lawyer only collects about 1.6 hours of billable time per day. And to go a step further, about 33% of an average lawyer’s time is spent on business development.
The problem here is, these interruptions, emails, calls, not only take time away from you, but there is a recovery time that results in a 2 hours time loss per day. If you’re getting these intake calls, they may not always result in good clients, so at that point, you would have just wasted your time. And without an effective process, you’re losing money. It’s as simple as that.
Before we jump in, it’s important to be able to pinpoint some of the prominent dilemma’s firms face when trying to correct the effects of productivity delays or an overall loss in billable hours.
The Dilemmas
Dilemma 1
Interruptions kill your productivity - You want to minimize interruptions.
But;
Potential clients demand quick response times - You want to maximize responsiveness.
Dilemma 2
Invoicing and chasing down late payments drain your time - You want to minimize time-consuming billing tasks.
But;
You need to get paid. And not after a collections agency takes a 30-50% cut - You want to maximize revenue.
Dilemma 3
Technology (software and services) makes you more efficient - You want to automate and sync tasks, processes, and data.
But;
If you’re with a smaller practice, you may not have or are limited with your IT/admin support. You can’t spend all day learning and configuring technology. You want simple, intelligent tools.
Solutions to the Dilemmas
They say there's a solution for everything. And we agree. They may take some time to implement, but if you can adopt cost-effective and efficient software for the following things, your firm will be solving a lot of the aforementioned dilemmas.
To improve efficiency, decrease interruptions, and increase the reliability of solid PNCs, your firm should have a system that includes:
Routing and Tracking - This means you need to be recording and analyzing how every PNC reaches your website or voicemail. If you can pinpoint the inbound source for calls, emails, and web visitors, you will be able to drive more resources to those given channels and find PNCs who are actually looking for services your firm provides.
Filtering - You need to be able to qualify potential clients and refer out those who are not a good fit to be represented by you/your firm. Don’t waste your time trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole.
Intake System - Your software should be agile enough to conduct preliminary data capture as well as pull exhaustive records.
Scheduling - Setting appointments and call-backs are essential and without the right tools, you will be left with no shows or PNCs who do not fit your firm's criteria.
And on a holistic level, your firm should be considering these factors when researching systems to implement:
You will pay for what you get. Being cheap in the short term will not get you to where you want to be in the long term.
It needs to be customizable for the needs of your firm.
It should be easy to use and monitor.
It should be comprehensive with multiple communication channels within one provider: fewer bills, less management time.
It must integrate with your processes, systems, and other software.
Now you may be thinking, this is all great, but if I cannot get clients through the door, none of those efficiencies will matter. Well, the first step you should be taking is to understand your target audience and their entire journey leading up to signing on that dotted line. You cannot expect to prospect successfully if you don’t understand how people are trying to connect with you. So your next logical question should be...
How Do PNCs Reach You?
If you can understand how potential clients can reach you, you will not only be able to respond to them more often but maximize your time while doing so. The most common forms of communication between a PNC and a firm are typically through:
Phone
Email
Text
Website (Social media included)
With this information in mind, let’s talk about how each of these communication platforms work in the context of a law practice.
Phone Systems: Landline, Cloud/VOIP, and SIP (softphone)
Landline
Pros - Landlines can be bundled with internet service, they’re independent of power grids, and typically result in fewer dropped calls.
Cons - You really have minimal mobility, the carriers are limited, hardware is required for set-up, and you need contracts. The most detrimental factor of relying on a landline is simply the lack of availability outside of the office. And unless you know how to reroute your calls, they won’t magically appear on your mobile device.
Cloud/VOIP (internet-based phone service)
Pros - You will have mobile and texting access and because there is more competition from a wide variety of providers, your costs will be reduced, you don’t have to bundle, it is scalable, and you’re not tied down to contracts.
Cons - Your calls will depend largely on the internet quality. If your wifi goes down, you could be in for some trouble.
SIP (softphone protocol that turns an internet-connected device like a computer into a phone)
Pros - Your computer and tablet can now function like a phone.
Cons - The cost associated is in addition to cloud phone service.
When you’re thinking about phone service, there are different ways to route and track calls with priority so that you can be more efficient in handling them. And when you think about these services, you need to think about them from both the automation side and the outsourcing side. In other words, what services can be done through workflow triggers and minimal human intervention, versus paying outside vendors to handle the relationship.
Forms of Call Routing and Handling
Robots
Call routing/interactive voice response (IVR) allows you to set up certain prompts and greetings that are automated. This handsfree process is incredibly streamlined and you know exactly what you’re going to get upfront because you are the one to program it.
This service can not only make your business sound more professional, but it can help save time by assisting with delegation and routing of calls to the appropriate staff or team member.
The obvious drawback is that these scripted services are only able to handle point-blank calls. They cannot handle discretionary conversations.
Humans
To start, are you using a service that is abroad or domestic? If you’re using call centers that are not based in the US, be sure that their business norms and practices align exactly with that of your firms.
If you’re a smaller firm and someone from overseas answers a PNCs call, will they know right away that you do not have someone in-house doing client intake? Will there be a language or cultural barrier? These are all things to consider.
Is the staff working the phone lines dedicated or distributed?
With a dedicated team, you have a few staff members who are assigned to your matters and are trained on your accounts. So while they know how to specifically handle clients' needs, they become a bottleneck if they’re ever sick or out of the office.
Additionally, if you have a marketing campaign that’s ramping up, you will need to make sure you’re prepared for the influx in call volume. If your dedicated team doesn’t have the bandwidth to manage those inbound inquiries, don’t waste money on a large marketing campaign.
A distributed service is composed of the entire team where everyone is trained to answer calls. Because of this, the volume of calls per staff lessens because you have more people available to answer the phone.
Phone Systems: Potential Issues
Watch for these common complaints and problems that impact leads and clients:
Ring Delays (latency)
You may hear the phone ring once, but what the person is hearing on the other line is multiple rings before they hear you pick up. People are impatient, so this leaves the door open for these PNCs to hang up before you even hear your phone go off. With some systems, a client will experience up to 8 rings before it actually rings on your end. The best thing to do in this situation is audit your phone system. Have someone else from the firm call and check to make sure that one ring on your end is one ring on the caller’s end.
No Tracking or Analytics (how will you track marketing ROI).
If you run marketing campaigns, you have to be able to track who is calling and who is converting from those calls.
Did they convert? And if so, off which source? Were all your marketing channels working for you or did you have some that were underperforming? Were the leads high quality? Did they end up hiring you? You cannot sustain successful campaigns if you don’t track this information from the beginning. You have to be able to pinpoint what works and what doesn’t so you can make adjustments as you move forward.
Receptionists
Receptionist services can have a limited impact and a higher cost if you’re only using them for answering, transferring, or taking messages.
Look at services that can do the lead qualification, that can do the basic intake automation, and lead capture so that you are more informed and not faced with a bunch of decisions at the end of the day as you face each recorded message. Set your criteria and know when to refer bad leads out, and when to begin setting appointments with clients you can and do want to represent.
Email Systems
We are all pretty familiar with email systems, however, the best piece of advice we can give you is to make sure your email is connected to and integrated with your practice management software so they are securely logged and easily pulled for reference.
The perk of this integration is that some practice management software has time tracking apps that allow you to directly bill for the time you spend emailing and corresponding with clients.
Additionally, you can build templates and workflows through third-party vendors that automatically trigger your emails to send out to whomever you want. With this type of automation, it is important that it is standardized and made uniform across the firm. You should not have one group of attorneys sending and tracking emails in one way and another group doing something completely different.
Someone going through a divorce is probably shopping for the right firm that fits their needs. In this case, when multiple firms are in the picture, you want to be able to build trust. To provide expertise without being overbearing and what you can do after a call or consultation is to follow up with them on an automated basis, without your individual input.
Text Messaging Systems
Being able to communicate with your clients whenever, and wherever you are is crucial. In fact, if you’re not already texting your clients, you are falling behind the curve because that is where the rest of the industry is going. “Why you may ask?” Because that is what clients are growing to expect. Don’t believe us, check out, Everything You Need to Know About Communicating With Your Clients Via Text: The Good and the Bad.
Your clients are texting other businesses. Whether they’re messaging their accountant or plumber, it’s becoming the norm, so don’t resist this inevitable movement. Think of it this way… you work hard to meet your client's needs financially and even emotionally. Why not do the same when it comes to communication?
The largest push back we hear regarding text messages is the lack of privacy. How do you communicate with clients the way they expect without sacrificing your personal number? Well, let us tell you…
There are some practice management solutions that will provide you with your own designated cell phone number. This number not only masks your personal line but works via phone, computer or tablet. And the best part? There are timekeeping features within this solution that will track the length of your conversation and automatically create a billable event for you. So, not only are you speeding up communication, you are increasing your earnings too. If that isn’t a win-win, then I don’t know what is.
Web Chat Systems
Put simply, a webchat is an internet online chat system that allows people to communicate in real-time using easily accessible web interfaces. Web chats are commonly used because of their simplicity and accessibility to users who do not wish to take the time to install and learn to use specialized chat software.
These web chat systems can come in many forms. Whether this communication option is on your firm's website, or your Facebook page, anywhere you have an opportunity to connect with a PNC should be capitalized on. Here are three potential options for you to consider.
Robots
AI-powered robots are low-cost alternatives with lightning-fast responses. You can program frequently asked questions with defined answers and you can stem some of those recurring, inbound phone calls and emails (the ones that seem to suck the most time out of your day) with pre-programmed responses. By doing this, you can hopefully reduce the number of interruptions you experience from having to answer them.
Additionally, you can allow PNCs to schedule appointments, interact with links to more information, and form fills, and you can forward direct messages or inquiries to specific members of the team. The goal is to eliminate the extra step it would take for someone to manually sift and sort through messages.
You can also route escalated issues to the appropriate party or offer extensions for the PNC to leave a message.
With chat robots, you’re paying for the access and ability to program the chat. You can have the chatbox appear on specific pages to reduce the cost associated with having one on every page or you can have a box populate on any page a user visits. Chatbots can be very valuable if used correctly and offer a great, friction-free point of connection between your target audience and your firm.
Humans
Costs associated with human labor varies depending on whether your internal team monitors the chat or if you outsource the labor. When you add in the element of human interaction, you can capture much more data, and more directly determine if the PNC is worth your time or not. You have much more control over the conversation and can offer more descriptive responses.
However, watch out for the “self-staffed but unattended” trap. This is a very common problem and what happens is a PNC will message what they think is a monitored channel and they will be left unanswered and unhappy. Your chat box should not become just another “contact” form.
Website Chat Tips
Disclaimer
Add a disclaimer before the chat starts stating that the communication held via the web chat does not constitute a client-attorney relationship, legal advice, and is simply there to help direct a PNC to where they need to be.
Be Proactive
Staff with live agents, and choose “patient” active engagement.
Gatekeeping
Serve as a “gatekeeper” to an online calendar for consultations to reduce no-shows and cancellations.
Lead Qualification & Referrals
Identify leads with your custom criteria and schedule callbacks and appointments with new qualified leads. Also, refer out bad leads as quickly as you can to save time and improve efficiencies.
The Takeaway
Attorneys spend a lot of time managing the communication and business development efforts of PNCs. There are so many communication tools out there to improve this process, but if you do not know how to use them you will not only be creating inefficiencies for yourself, but you will be losing billable hours too.
In late December 2020, Congress approved an additional COVID-19 relief package as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. Included in the $900 billion aid package is funding intended to provide a second round of relief for small businesses that are still struggling in the wake of the worldwide pandemic. A key piece of this legislation is funding earmarked for a second round of the Paycheck Protection Program, or, colloquially, PPP2.
The PPP Second Draw legislation is sure to be met with mixed feelings by small to mid-sized law firms across the country. Many of them are still weary from the first round of PPP; a poorly executed program that was full of uncertainties, constantly changing regulations, and a mixture of dread and uneasiness over the ramifications of improperly complying with rules that were released irregularly and without clear guidance. In fact, up until late December, one of the largest areas of concern – the tax treatment of the funds – left many law firms with cash-based, calendar-year financials with little time to plan or to react.
So now the question on law firm leaders’ minds is, understandably, “Should I even apply for PPP2?” Followed closely by, “If so, what’s in it for me?”
Here’s a quick rundown of what can be expected:
First Things First: Am I Eligible?
In order to be eligible to receive a Second Draw PPP loan, your firm must have experienced a revenue reduction of 25% or greater in 2020 relative to 2019.
This reduction can be calculated by comparing either one individual quarter from 2019 to the same quarter from 2020 or by comparing the calendar year 2019 to the calendar year 2020.
So, for example, if your gross revenue in the 2nd quarter of 2019 was $500,000 your gross revenue in the 2nd quarter of 2020 would need to be less than $375,000.
By giving firms the flexibility to compare one quarter versus another, even if you ended 2020 without a significant revenue reduction compared to 2019, you may still be eligible based on the performance of a single quarter.
Please also note that the maximum amount of any loan is $2 million and loans less than $150,000 will have easier paths to approval.
Next: What is the Same?
If you lived and breathed the first round of PPP Loans, many of the characteristics of the Second Draw PPP Loan will look very familiar to you:
Calculating Your Loan Amount
The formula for calculating the amount of your loan will be 2.5 times your average monthly costs. Average monthly payroll costs can be calculated using the 12 months prior to your loan for either the 2019 or 2020 calendar year. Payroll costs above $100,000 for any one employee (on a prorated, monthly basis) must still be excluded;
Substantiating Payroll Amounts
The documentation required to substantiate your firm’s payroll cost will generally be the same as what was required for your first PPP loan.
Maintaining Operations
Employee and compensation levels are maintained in the same manner as required for the First Draw PPP loan.
Forgiveness Terms
If your loan is not forgiven it will carry an interest rate of 1%, a maturity of 5 years, and payment deferrals.
Usage of Funds
At least 60% of the proceeds must be spent on qualifying payroll costs.
What has Changed?
While there have been a few changes there are a few unique terms of PPP2 which many law firms will find very favorable.
Covered Period Changes
Due to the top-heavy compensation models of most law firms many found themselves at a disadvantage when the 8-week covered period was first announced. Conversely, the 24-week covered period became administratively burdensome and left outstanding debt on the financials longer than many firms were comfortable with. However, the CAA now allows the borrower to select their own covered period as long as it is more than 8 weeks and less than 24 weeks from the loan origination date;
Eligible Expenditures
While PPP2 does still require borrowers to use at least 60% of the proceeds on payroll costs, the CAA has expanded the list of qualifying expenses that can result in forgiveness. In addition to items such as coverage for property damage, allowance of expenditures associated with costs outlaid for adapting your offices to meet enhanced safety standards or purchasing PPE for employees/clients/vendors, recipients can also include costs outlaid for “covered operations expenditures” to their forgiveness applications. This is defined as:
A payment for any business software or cloud computing service that facilitates business operations, product or service delivery, the processing, payment, or tracking of payroll expenses, human resources, sales and billing functions, or accounting or tracking of supplies, inventory, records and expenses;
Further, the CAA does not delineate what time period that software payment may or may not cover. So, for example, it can be assumed that a one-time payment for a year of subscription-based business software would be eligible for forgiveness if it is made during the covered period.
Tax Treatment
Unlike the uncertainty that surrounds the tax treatment of the first round of PPP, the COVID-Related Tax Relief Act of 2020 (COVIDTRA- a piece of the CAA) has stipulated, from the onset, that funds received from the Second Draw PPP will not be taxable income to the recipient and that your firm can deduct expenses that are paid for with the loan’s proceeds. Finally, borrowers will not have to reduce tax attributes (such as the NOL carryover or a capital loss carryover) when the loan is forgiven.
Two more important items to note:
Lender Selection: Even if you were unhappy with your bank’s initial rollout and administration of your first PPP loan, sticking with your original lender may mean you have less paperwork to submit thereby reducing your application time significantly and
Deadline: The last day to apply for and receive a PPP loan is March 31, 2021.
So, while you may not be ready to tackle this “beast” again, it could provide very favorable funding options as you march your firm into 2021.
And we know this process can be daunting, so we have tried to make it a little easier for you to keep your firm organized. Download this prep-list and stay one step ahead!
As an attorney or managing partner, you know what’s needed to practice law – that much is undeniable. However, law firm management is much more than just showing up to court. It’s about staying profitable and keeping legal operations efficient and within the confines of your practicing areas of law. How do you ensure client satisfaction while also maintaining proper recordkeeping? How do you overcome some of the biggest challenges around timing and tasks that aren’t bringing in profit? Covering your tasks well so you can focus on profitability versus tedious admin to-dos is key to improving your day-to-day law firm management. It’ll also keep your staff happy and feeling motivated toward a common goal.
In this blog, we’ll cover the best ways to improve your law firm management – so you can boost profitability and make the most of your operations.
What Makes a Good Law Firm?
The short answer is finding the sweet spot between profitability and quality of client cases. A great law firm can deliver results and resolve cases in a clear, concise, and equitable manner. That said, a good firm also needs a well-structured, organized system that acts as an ecosystem, working together to solve cases. In 2021, you don’t get that without law firm management that’s driven by communication and constant vigilance and upkeep. With how fast things are changing digitally, and how competitive legal services have become, you can’t afford to be complacent. A great law firm must adapt to the changing times, and be willing to constantly improve procedures and processes.
How to Manage a Law Firm
Depending on the size of your firm, there are basic building blocks you’ll need to have in order to start creating these processes. Always work from the top to bottom, with high-level essentials that will be easier to implement and more impactful in the long term.
Organize and Audit Monthly Billing Statements
Having visibility into your funds between accounts and trust funds is a necessity for proper management in your law firm. This happens with proper scheduling and a practice management system that doesn’t follow a “lite,” or freemium trap that nickel and dimes you for every additional feature. The ability to run reports regularly, and with customization options, provide agility and insight when you need it most.
Provide Convenient Payment Options
No one wants to write checks anymore or wait the processing period in the bank for the funds to clear. Offering ways to pay instantly such as credit cards through a secure practice management system means you get paid faster, and easier.
Prioritize Client Satisfaction
Making sure clients feel heard is a big part of dealing with legal cases. This is a collective effort that must be followed by your entire staff, in a systematic and human way. Most people are distressed and uncertain during a legal matter, so practice compassion and be prepared to explain the steps of the case at any point. For larger firms, hiring someone whose sole job is focusing on clients can be a surefire way to keep them heard and informed.
What are the Law Firm Procedures and Hierarchy?
Part of law firm management is knowing what duties are attributed to what department. While these lines can certainly blur in a smaller firm, having a handbook that details these can help be a point of reference in the event things become problematic or missed. It also ensures alignment between everyone, as a collaborative environment is essential.
The below hierarchy gives you a structure for staying organized – but additionally, you’ll want to have procedures that are attributed to each role. Creating an accountability chart will help you delegate appropriately will save you headaches and issues with “too many cooks” later.
Legal Services
Managing Partner: One of the most important things you can do as a partner is to know the financials of your firm, so you have a baseline on how to improve performance and make big picture decisions. You’ll be able to ascertain profit and loss, productivity, and other important KPIs that may need to be adjusted.
Legal Assistants/Paralegals: From scheduling trials to meeting other court deadlines, these employees schedule trials, file paperwork, and meet all deadlines needed for cases (litigation and otherwise).
Attorneys: One step down from the big picture, your attorneys have input on firm operations but also are the conduit between clients and opposing counsel. They go to court, sit with clients during depositions and other meetings, and are the main authority figure for assistants and other support staff.
Accounting and Finance
Accountant: Your billing specialists ensure everything gets paid, and the lights stay on. Whether it’s a single accountant or an entire team, the more efficient your billing cycle and pricing, the more visibility you’ll have into the health of your firm’s financials at any given time. For smaller firms, rather than shelling out money for a full-time employee, look into a contractor or outsourced bookkeeper to track financials until you’re larger and have the budget.
Marketing
Marketers: Whether you function as a marketer in the beginning or hire a freelancer, investing in being seen always pays off. Finding that desired potential clientele and attracting new audiences to your firm is useful as you grow. Having a brand that sets you apart can be critical when people are looking for legal services.
Law Firm File Management
Equally important to your human management is how you store files and client matters. To drive efficient law firm management, utilizing software that has easy data retrieval and organization can save many headaches down the line. While it’s still almost impossible to go completely paperless, there are many digital tools that ease the paper load considerably. Some tips and tricks that you can look out to improve are:
Mobile App
Most law firm management software includes a secure mobile app that clients can access information regarding their case. They’re also able to view invoices and pay any outstanding bills – making it an agile asset in your toolkit. Even better, your attorneys can actively track time on the go so all billable hours are accounted for.
Secure Backups
Cloud-based software keeps your information secure and tiered based on staff permissions assigned. The worst thing that could happen with on-premise hardware – which was largely the standard up until recent years – is losing mission-critical information and documents attributed to a client’s case. As you know, all the digital notes and scanned paperwork must be kept available for a certain amount of time after a case is resolved. Don’t take the risk; have a system that runs daily backups so no power surge or natural disaster puts you in a bind.
Train Staff on File Best Practices
If you’re in the neighborhood for law firm software, having an ambassador who can work with you to use it to its fullest potential will be a big boon moving forward with matters. Having a go-to expert for software, while being able to train everyone else, ensures procedures are followed and there’ll never be any ambiguity when it comes to filing retrieval or recordkeeping. Standardizing simplifies, and saves time, even if it takes a while to adopt across your firm.
Law Firm Time Management
Some of the above-summarized methods to save time, but there are more ways to build on these solutions to help your staff feel more empowered and give minutes and hours back in their day.
Track Billable Time
A mobile app or software like mentioned previously that can automatically track the length of time for certain entries and matter tasks. This will let you know what cases are most profitable for you, so you can make the big picture decisions on which ones you should prioritize. More than not, a more quality case versus taking lots of smaller ones can be more profitable – and easier on your staff.
A team works best and saves time if they’re aligned and communicating on what the biggest priorities are. While billing needs to get done at a certain time, perhaps a legal assistant can help with filing or report retrieval so one of your accountants can focus on getting invoices out on time. Having a team that works closely together will improve management and drive the efficiency of your operations.
Here are 5 Ways to Improve Your Law Firm Management
There are a few things you can examine to manage a firm that’s more successful overall:
Have a vision: This may not seem obvious, but without a common goal and mission, you and your staff may feel unclear on what their ultimate objectives are. Sure, it’s usually “complete the case, get the settlement,” but many employees want a leader whose goals can help boost their goals as your firm expands – and that loyalty will help your firm’s reputation and efficiency excel in the long run.
Know your firm’s baseline: You don’t know what you don’t know. Establishing regular reporting on the past year, quarter, or month (or all of the above) to see where you may have the biggest delays in payments can be a valuable tool in knowing where to improve performance and incoming revenue.
Use digital marketing tools: Many smaller firms may rely on word of mouth and referrals to continue the business, but that’s simply not sustainable on its own anymore. This is especially true since there are so many channels you can advertise through social media and sponsored content. Be sure to take inventory of your clientele and invest in a website and social media strategy that brings you in front of new people for ongoing traffic and cases.
Listen to your staff: You probably aren’t in the day-to-day operations of your firm – but your staff is. Foster an open door policy and meetings that encourage feedback and ways to improve directly from them. After all, you hired them as experts. Billing specialists will have considerable more insight into what may be a bottleneck than you, even from reporting access. You’ll find management will be a much smoother and agreeable process when the staff feels like you’re on their side to help them do their jobs.
Give accolades: Everyone likes feeling appreciated! Most firms are high volume, high-pressure environments, so show them you notice and credit their performance – especially if it’s above and beyond. Without proper acknowledgment, many employees and attorneys will leave and go elsewhere that has a better culture and environment. Law firm management is about just that; managing people, as they are your most prized asset, and should be treated well.
We hope this was a helpful resource for you to reference as you continue to explore law firm management. It’s never a “one and done” duty, and iterative improvements will always need to be made over time. If you’re looking for a way to instantly help streamline processes and payments, consider looking into practice management software that simplifies day-to-day processes and helps keep everyone aligned.
Today, we are going to take a look at how you can use your online web presence to protect and gain referrals, how you can utilize the power that is Google, and how to begin thinking about social media as a point of leverage, not as a pain point.
Importance of Directories
Millennials and other consumers, in general, are looking for third-party validation. They want to see information about your firm that is written from other people outside of your organization for the obvious reason: The reviews will be the God's honest truth. Today, these websites, or directories, are mostly viewed online through sites like State Bar websites, lawyers.com, BBB.com, Google, or even social media (to name a few).
When you think about why you would want to be listed in all of those places, you should be thinking about two things.
Protecting your referrals - A searcher rarely leaves page one of Google, so if they see an entire page of nothing but positive reviews with your name and firm tied to it, you can bet that the odds that they’ll be calling you are pretty high. Make it easy to reinforce their decision.
Protect branded searches- A branded search is when a PNC specifically types in your firm or an attorney’s name into Google (or whichever search engine they’re using). This is important because not only do they know your name, their foot is almost in the door. There is an element of trust and expectation in this type of search because whether they were referred or not, they have made the conscious decision to dig deeper into who you are in the hopes that you can be the firm to help them.
In both of these cases, there is an element of control that you have power over. Is all your information listed correctly? Is the appropriate phone number available? Is your list of attorneys up to date? For all of these details, it is critically important that you make sure they are accurate because many times, it’s the first thing a person will see. Sometimes, these directories will auto-create a review page for you. In these instances, it is your responsibility to check and make sure the information is correct and how you want it to be displayed.
The most important point to walk away with here is that having a presence on as many directories as possible, with good reviews, is crucial.
The Local Search Ecosystem
The internet is crazy. If you put a piece of information in one place, another site or directory may pull from that without warning.
We know, this chart looks crazy but how it can be broken down is simple. The sites boxed in red are comparable to travel sites like Experian. They will pull information about your business, and mind you, this information comes from all different sources (be it business listings you file with the state, yellow page, etc), and they will pull it all together to create what they believe is the true picture for your business.
The yellow boxes represent search engines that smaller sites use to collect data from. For example, Alexa and Siri use a lot of Yelp data, so once Yelp aggregates what they need about your firm, Alexa and Siri will pull what they need from it. If you can stay on top of these four search engines, you will be on top of the game. The idea is to contain and control the information that is at the top so when it is dispersed down the pyramid, you know exactly what is being written.
So now you have all this information and you may be feeling overwhelmed. Don’t start sweating yet. Here is what you need to do…
Start with Google: Knowledge Graph
Google added the Knowledge Graph a few years ago and uses algorithms to determine which search result most accurately reflects the searcher's intent (this graph is presented to users as an infobox on the right side of page one. It is used by Google and its services to enhance its search engine's results with information gathered from a variety of sources).
As Google gets more extensive and complex, they continue to add more and more information to it. In one infobox, you have:
Photos of your firm and links to Google maps
Google’s “rating” of your firm
All information needed to call or visit your firm
Google posts on Google My Business
Questions and answers
More reviews of your firm
This is a lot of information! Control what you can control and make sure your basic information is correct because it matters.
Google Q&A
This feature in the Knowledge Graph is relatively new, google searchers can pose a question in this box, and your firm has a chance to respond to their questions. The worst thing you can do for yourself here is to leave the question unanswered. Even if it is a general inquiry or something your firm does not specifically handle, good customer service goes a long way. Also remember, that future PNCs can see these questions and responses too. So if you leave someone unanswered, that will leave a bad taste in other people’s mouths.
Anyone with a Google account can ask a question on your Google My Business listing and the kicker is someone else can answer. So what should you do? Monitor it! You can set your notifications to be alerted in real-time as inquiries come in. Regardless of whoever is in charge of this platform at your firm, responding as quickly as possible is the best practice. Taking charge of inbound conversations or questions will help you lead where the discussion goes.
Google My Business: Insights
With your Google My Business account, it is easy to either overlook the data you can collect from it, or you may just not know that it is available for you to use.
Google My Business insights come with every account. However, this information does not show up in your Google analytics or whatever analytical tool you use, because this information is not on your website.
What will this information show, you ask? Well to start, these analytics will show how often your firm is shown or brought to attention in various searches, how many people click on the maps, if it led anyone directly to your website, and if it resulted in phone calls. For a free resource, this data does a great job helping you gauge your conversion rate and will indicate to you whether or not you need to pivot your strategy.
Websites
Your firm’s website should still be the center of your web presence. Your website should be on brand and should accurately represent your firm. In many cases, this is the first impression PNCs will get of your firm, so make it a good one!
As for the basics, if you do not have these four things readily available for PNCs to view, you need to take the time to fix that as soon as possible.
What do you do?
What can you do for me?
How can I get in touch with you? And when?
Proof I should call you?
All of these points should be displayed prominently on the first page. The first place your eye goes is to the header of a page, so keep it simple and keep it direct.
The second or third most visited page on a law firm website is the attorney profile. Treat this page as a mini-website that features you. Don’t lead with where you went to school, or what you did prior to law school, because for most people, especially millennials, will not care. Today, people want to know how you can help them, and why you will be the best person for the job.
Also, consider having different pages for each attorney at your firm. That supports the branded search and referrals, and if you have all your attorneys on one page, it will be much harder for one person to show up at the top of that search page. Additionally, consider including client-facing, non-attorneys on your site as well. People like to know who they will be dealing with, and a smiling face never hurts.
Website ethics
We will keep this short and sweet, you should have some form of disclaimer on your site, on every page. And if your site is bilingual, you need to make sure that disclaimer is in the second language as well.
Mobile
On average, millennials spend 3.7 hours a day on their mobile devices - the equivalent of 22.4 hours (almost a whole day) every week. We don’t know what you’re morning routine looks like, but for 24% of millennials, they’re turning on their smartphone as soon as they open their eyes, and then that percentage hikes to 52% after being awake for 5 minutes. That is a lot of screen time… which means there is a ton of time for you to capitalize on being in front of these people.
In a report done by Custom Legal Marketing, they concluded that mobile visitors to law firm’s websites are ahead of the global average by 2%. Over 25% of visitors on lawyers’ websites use a mobile device to search for information. Mobile is definitely on the rise for lawyers and do you know why that is? You guessed it, millennials and the younger generations are always on their phones. So make sure your site is mobile friendly and easy to navigate.
The Way Millennials Want To Interact With Your Firm
In this day and age, you can order pizza from Alexa, change your plane ticket on Twitter, and book appointments at the best rates in a matter of seconds. It is all about removing the friction. How can you use the technology and resources available to you today to seamlessly guide clients to your firm? When it comes down to it, you have to be able to support a generation that has this expectation. An example of this is how they can contact you through their website. Remember, millennials don’t always like picking up the phone, so a Live Chat, or messaging system solves that problem, reduces friction, and increases efficiency.
If you have this Live Chat service, you can update your listing to available 24/7, which will open the door for new leads who don't have time to contact you when you're listed as open. Google is also now allowing potential leads to text message attorneys via Google Adwords.
Social Media Presence
It is no secret that millennials are tied to the satisfaction they receive from the engagement that is created through their social media presence.
And although the legal industry has come a long way, it is also not a secret that most firms and attorneys prefer to maintain a professional standard. In other words, this professional standard means no social media.
This is merely a blog, we can’t tell you what to do, BUT, as far as unsolicited advice goes, don’t turn your back on millions of people on social media who will need legal services one day.
Instead of viewing Instagram and TikTok as channels for the immodest youth, view it as an opportunity to reach an untapped audience. And if you read that and thought to yourself, “I’m not interesting,” or “What would I post about?” look no further than this attorney who has built a following from merely being himself:
Right now, attorneys (your competitors) are taking business away from you because they are engaging in the practices that the young professionals are active on. Remember, if you can speak the language of the people who are looking for representation, you have already won half the battle.
Here are our tips about how you should engage with millennials on social media:
Use social how it was intended to be used
Social media can’t be outsourced - it must come from you
Build an authority, be genuine, and help people
The Takeaway
That was a lot of information thrown your way. You don’t have to become a millennial expert overnight, but you should consider taking these steps. They may seem like extra work now but they will be incredibly rewarding for you and your firm in the future.
When it comes to legal research tools, the internet is the most widespread resource everyone uses, almost without question. Having the savviness to find and use the best free and/or budget-friendly tools gives attorneys an edge – especially at smaller or mid-size practicing firms. As we’ve seen, these tools continue to evolve, providing legal researchers (no matter their role) the agility to find the right information needed for the case. Complete with alerts and filters that prevent endless scrolling and frustrating hours lost sifting through everything but the statute you’re looking for, it’s clear legal research has made life easier – if you know how to access the right tools, that is.
Having hands-on resources for your law firm’s needs will undoubtedly create more meaningful research that drives cases forward. This has been a game-changer for smaller firms who once had to shell out huge expenses for legal research software. Gone are those days; and good riddance, too. Simplifying research will also open up more time for other things, such as organized calendaring and day-to-day operations.
We’ll be covering the following questions:
What are the top legal research tools?
What are some major obstacles and difficult aspects of legal research?
Name some additional tips to make the most of these tools?
What Are Some Online Legal Research Tools?
Although nothing can quite replace a powerful paid tool depending on your needs and area of law, there are some free and more affordable tools available that make top-level research quite easy:
Google Scholar
Why we like it: Instant search information around legal journals and publications
Why it works: A convenient tool for quick searches around legal and scholarly literature, Google Scholar lets you browse legal patents and related articles. The best part? It’s free to use. Under the search bar, simply select the bubble that says “Case law” and you’re well on your way to finding legal opinions and relevant data for your case in no time.
FindLaw
Why we like it: Free case summaries, statutes, and Supreme Court decisions dating back to the 1760s.
Why it works: FindLaw’s practice management database lets you search for cases, contracts, and articles in an effort to make legal information easily accessible. Perfect for smaller firms, it’s a great tool for free research – especially if you’re just starting out and needing to be conscientious about financials. You can easily refine your searches to include codes by state, and it provides relative terms so you can easily go from one topic to another.
Fastcase
Why we like it: Many local bar associations provide Fastcase as a fee subscription, plus you can search state statutes and case law with a Boolean search like other more expensive options such as Lexis. You can check here if you’re in an area and qualify! There’s also a free mobile app available so you can browse whenever, wherever.
Why it works: With a convenient ability to save documents to a “library” of sorts, Fastcase makes it really easy to keep track of documents. There’s also an option to look at your recent search history and search keywords within publications. Just go in with what area you’re looking for – and don’t count on it to keep track of expired or inapplicable laws. In terms of raw data, it’s quite useful and is one of the largest legal libraries available.
Casetext
Why we like it: Crowdsourced by the legal community, this tool only costs $65 a year per license, and has a powerful case analysis research assistant, or CARA A.I. research ability to save time on searching for related cases. For legal research and writing, it’s a useful tool to pool relevant case law together in a shorter amount of time.
Why it works: Modeling itself as an all-inclusive research tool, Casetext’s A.I. is able to extrapolate information from uploading documents directly that relate to your matter, rather than using filters or advanced search queries. Able to gather this information for you automatically can save considerable time and be well worth the yearly fee for Casetext when comparing it to other bigger research tools such as Lexis.
What are the Most Difficult Aspects of Doing Legal Research?
Even the best attorney doesn’t always have all the answers. The best offense in any matter is having a good defense – including knowledge on opposing counsel, and the relevant authorities and cases they’ll be relying on. It can be difficult to navigate strategy when you’re too busy trying to search for the opposite counsel’s angle as well. These obstacles can mount, especially when you’re fighting or are getting blocked and limited on your research attempts. If the research comes easy, so, too, will the brainstorming.
As a smaller firm, the cost analysis could also prove problematic if you’re billing clients for extensive research conducted. It’s important to weigh these options before going into a case that you anticipate will require ample research time, especially for newer attorneys not as well-versed or equipped with as many resources at a smaller firm or solo practice. This is all part of mapping out features that will be user-friendly for you, this time and the next – so clients stay happy, too.
Here Are Some Useful Tips for Improving Your Legal Research
Always diversify resources: There’s no one leader when it comes to legal research databases – it’s important that you diversify your approach, and find multiple avenues to find the necessary information you need based on the area of law and matter with your client. Otherwise, you’ll get stuck doing things the same way, without adapting to new opportunities and research channels.
Organize, organize, organize: For hearings, mediations, trials, and any other discussions for your matter should be compiled digitally and in paper form. Use tabs, the highlight – anything to keep your necessary talking points top-of-mind. This will help make the most of your research and streamline everything going in.
Group related cases together: Although many tools lack the ability to group related cases that are labeled undercurrent “good law,” over time you’ll inevitably start to create your own reference points for cases that have certain outcomes, including negative and positive treatment to related matters. With your many legal research tools in your arsenal now, you can search those cases and find relative case law by date, type, and citations. You can then compare based on authority and clout in reference to the current case.
Ask a peer: Having a mentor to go to for help is so important during the entirety of an attorney’s career. Many have had to navigate much more manual waters and can provide shortcuts they’ve learned over the years to you. If you’re hitting a wall, walking away, and simply sending a note to chat with someone for a few minutes about why you’re feeling blocked could be just the thing to help you think differently about a case. Never underestimate the power of collaborative thinking.
Stay up-to-date on federal appellate courts and 50 state Supreme Courts: There are many law firm digests (Justia being a good one) that can help send you updates, summaries, and relevant opinions that can be customized by practice area. Like many jobs requiring ongoing knowledge, it’s important to stay abreast on recent decisions in your area of law so you’ll know if you should research something else further that affects current matters.
Practice Management to Help Online Legal Research
As we mentioned before, organization begets organization – so adding these online legal research sites and databases to your toolkit is only going to further empower your firm to drive business and spend time brainstorming rather than doing mindless research. The very same can be said about your case management software that’s used day-to-day.
Let’s go back 16 years to 2005. The youngest millennials were what? Around 8 years old? And if you were to take a look at websites and law firm’s online presence 16 years ago, what you would see was an unaesthetic, barebones framework with an ‘About Us’ section, a stock photo (if you were lucky), and a phone number. Having an online presence back then meant really one thing: you had a website.
Fast forward to 3 years ago, and what do we have? An internet that looks wildly different. Being online doesn’t mean you just have a website, it means you are immersed and engaged in the multitude of layers that make up this new age online presence. We know that sounds vague, so don’t stop reading because we’re about to dig in.
Let’s talk about some facts first.
In a 2019 survey, a hypothetical question was posed to the participants stating: “If you were faced with a legal issue, where would you search for help? 64% of those people indicated that they would go to Google before any other platform, resource, or person to get help.
But when the question was posed about where one would go if they actually needed an attorney, as opposed to merely researching, 62% of those people said they would get an attorney or law firm referral from a friend or family member, not google.
Now with this in mind, that same group of people also stated that they would visit a law firm’s website prior to meeting or calling the firm. And this can be true for many service-based industries.
Today, millennials and the younger generations are seeking information on their own, prior to picking up the phone. It is also important to note that while they are making decisions and researching, comparing, and analyzing which of the many firms would fit their needs, they are also reading client reviews. And with the advent of the internet, and everything that has come with it, these online reviews are not only prevalent but incredibly important.
A Generation Raised on the Internet
Millennials
According to the Pew Research Center, millennials are born between 1981-1996, they’re in their 20s and 30s now, and if they are not your current clients, they will be.
We know what you may be thinking, millennials have gotten a bad rap and you would prefer to carry on how you have been and let them involve themselves elsewhere, but we are telling you now, don’t do that! Don’t believe us? Keep reading.
This demographic grew up with the internet and mobile phones, they are digital natives. To put bluntly, this age group knew more about Amazon the company than they did about Amazon the river when they grew up. And not only are millennials the largest generation, but they are also the largest population when it comes to the workforce.
What makes a millennial unique?
Millennials communicate very differently than other generations. They do not prefer to talk on the phone, rather they prefer communicating via text or with images. This is important to note because many people (millennials included), will look for alternatives if the organizations they originally searched for do not communicate the way they do. That isn’t a threat, it is simply just the way it is. Think of it as a relationship. If your partner only communicated with you one way, but you preferred another and there was no compromise or change of action, the likelihood of them becoming your spouse is very low. It’s the same with communicating with your clients.
Additionally, millennials are “addicted” to social media and the happiness and overall validation it provides. Now, if you don’t think social media is important or relevant to your business, let’s take a look at why you may be wrong. Visual Capitalist’s conducted “A Minute on the Internet in 2020” where they estimated the amount of data created on the internet in one minute. Here is some of what they found:
41.7 million text messages are shared
500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube
347,222 Instagram stories are posted
319 new users join Twitter
And this is all in 60 seconds, that is crazy! It took longer than 60 seconds to even type that information out…
Reviews
We’re in a numbers kind of mood today, so without further ado: 91% of people between the ages of 18-36 (cough millennials), trust strangers reviews online as much as personal recommendations, and 93% of those consumers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions.
And for the bad news bear, a 3.3-star rating is the minimum for what business consumers would feel okay engaging with, where only 13% of people will consider buying from a business that has only a 1 or 2-star rating. 94% say an online review has convinced them to avoid a business, and you risk losing as many as 22% of customers when just one negative article is found by users considering buying their product.
Now for Millennials specifically, a study showed that 8 out of 10 millennials will never buy anything without reading a review first and 77% trust reviews they read on brand websites. So what is the takeaway here? Reviews are crucial.
And from an SEO standpoint, Google places a high priority on them. Reviews provide value, Google knows this, so these reviews will take up real estate on the first page before even paid ad content. The better your reviews are, the higher you will rank on this search engine.
Now if you’re wondering how to get reviews the answer is simple! Ask your current clients. If they’re using Gmail, leaving a review will be quick and painless. You can create surveys and provide your clients with all the information they would need to take 3 minutes of their time to write about how their experience was. Firms obviously handle a lot of sensitive information, you may have clients who are reluctant to publicly disclose their stories, but fortunately, millennials are very open, honest, and very straightforward. A study showed that 25- 34 year olds are the most vocal when it comes to reviews. Roughly 23% of reviews are left by people are in that age category. Let’s dig deeper.
Building a culture of reviews within your firm
The first thing you need to do is establish that your firm takes reviews seriously. And how do you do this? You communicate it with your staff. If your team doesn’t know that it is important for them to ask their clients for reviews, they probably won’t do it. Once everyone is aligned on expectations, you need to have a very clear system on how to get a successful review from your client.
Here are some things you should be asking yourself in order to build a system of reviews and ensuring you’re getting the best possible reviews from your clients:
Standardize your post-case procedure across the firm.
What is your timeline for follow-up and or asking your client for a review?
Will you send follow-up emails or calls?
Will you offer a referral program?
Will you offer an incentive to your team?
Will you send your clients a survey or have them write whatever comes to mind?
Will you have an internal paper review or an online platform set up on your website to collect the information?
Will this be available via mobile?
Will you provide guidance on what to or what not to say?
Will you follow up with your review requests?
Will you follow up with your clients whether they leave a good or bad review?
A good rule of thumb for asking for reviews is to ask as soon as possible. If you leave too much time between when you ask and the close of the case, the likelihood of getting a ‘yes’ will be lower.
Practice management software will allow you to automate the follow-up process so that you can create workflows that will trigger a specified email template to be sent to your client following the conclusion of their case (or whenever you set it in the system to be sent). Survey’s are beneficial because you can control the questions being asked and they are relatively fast for your clients to respond to. Keep in mind that you can control some of this conversation. Make it as easy as possible for your clients by giving them guidelines of what they should stay away from (specific case details), and what it is okay to talk about (their experience with your firm, attorney responsiveness, customer service, etc.)
Make referrals easier. 62% of all legal clients are asking their friends and family for firm recommendations. In your intake process, you should be tracking where referrals are coming from and at the close of a matter, you can have referral forms automatically generated and emailed out for your clients to fill out.
Uh oh. You got a bad review. Now what?
First of all, it is important to remember that bad reviews happen! I you get one, it may not be an accurate indication of the actual services your team provided, your client could just be having a bad day. So don’t sweat it. Also, we all know there is “that person,” the person who is never happy or just prides themselves on leaving tough critiques. So take it in stride and don’t take it personally!
If you do get a bad review, the first things you should do are:
Take a deep breath and relax. If you the kind of person to get angry, just take a step back and realize that this happens.
Step away from the issue and do not reply right away until your emotions are level-set. Your responses to all reviews are read by the next client and or reviewer, so make sure you respond appropriately and calmly.
Offer and apology. A sincere apology goes a very long way. Don’t every forget that
Don’t offer specifics. Make it known that you are sorry and ask if you could correspond with them privately to figure out a solution or hear more about their complaints.
It is important that you follow up with your clients after the review has been written, especially if it is not favorable. Doing this will provide you with the opportunity to speak with that client and ask if there is anything you can do to improve their experience. Always lead with asking “What can I do better?” or “How can I fix this?” Instead of, “I’m sorry you had a bad experience, but do you think you could write a better review?” Also, a bad review can simply be taken as a learning experience.
Review Ethics - Confidentiality
The rule here is simple...
Do not respond to a review in which you disclose confidential information. End of story.
And we are just going to throw this one out there too - don’t pay for reviews.
The Takeaway
If you walk away with one thing from reading this, it should be that reviews are important. And as the adage goes: “Closed mouths don’t get fed,” so ask your clients! You’ll be surprised at how willing they will be to help you.
Prior to 2020, if your firm paid freelancers, contractors, or other non-employees $600 or more during the year, a 1099-MISC would be issued and sent to the payee.
In 2020, the IRS released form 1099-NEC, a new form that will change the way 1099-MISC reporting has been handled for years.
This 1099-NEC was added specifically for reporting non-employee compensation. This will include payments to individuals who are not employees, as well as payments for services to partnerships, estates, or, in some cases, corporations (such as attorneys and law firms).
Yes, the 1099-MISC is still being used, however, it has been redesigned, so it will be especially important to pay close attention to how payments are being reported in early 2021.
Let's take a look!
New Changes
To start, let's talk about what exactly has changed. To help give you a better visual, below is a chart indicating what exactly has changed between the 2019 form and the 2020 forms:
Any payments in 2020 to attorneys and/or law firms for services rendered should now be entered in Line Item or Box 1 of form 1099-NEC. Gross proceeds, such as settlements paid to attorneys/law firms, should now be recorded in Box 10 of 1099-MISC.
It will be more important than ever to review all vendor settings to ensure that 1099 vendor payments are reported in the correct box and on the correct form in 2020.
Form 1099-MISC must be filed by March 1, 2021, if filed on paper, or by March 31, 2021, if filed electronically. But vendor record review should begin as soon as possible because the 2020 accelerated due date for filing form 1099-NEC with the IRS is on or before February 1, 2021, whether you're using paper or electronic filing procedures.
A best practice to prevent the beginning of the year scramble to obtain missing information from vendors is to require a current W-9 prior to issuing any payments to vendors. This will ensure that each vendor record is set up properly in the accounting system. Further, an updated W-9 should be requested at the beginning of each year, prior to issuing any additional payments, to confirm that the information contained in the vendor record is accurate from year to year.
If you're using a legal practice management software, records and data may look different, but in Centerbase, each vendor has its own record where settings specific to that vendor are located. This makes reviewing and editing the vendor’s 1099 settings a very simple process. Additionally, documents such as the current W-9s can be attached and notes can be entered on a vendor record, making verification of 1099 information quick and easy.
Remember that any credit or debit card payments to vendors should be excluded in what is reported to the IRS since each credit card company (payment settlement entity) reports payments via credit card to vendors on form 1099-K. If credit card payments were to be included in the amounts reported on 1099-MISC or 1099-NEC, it would result in the reporting of the vendor’s income to the IRS twice. This may ultimately result in the necessity of filing corrected 1099’s if requested by the vendor. Centerbase provides the ability to filter out credit card payments from the 1099 vendor report, eliminating the necessity of manually reviewing all vendor payments. This report can be downloaded and used to prepare 1099’s each year.
The Takeaway
Preparing for filing 1099’s is going to take some additional effort in early 2021, specifically as it relates to legal settlement accounting. With the filing deadline for form 1099-NEC only 31 days into the new year, getting started on vendor review as soon as possible will be essential.
Now that you are armed with the knowledge of the changes to 1099-MISC and what is to be reported on the new form 1099-NEC, you should be able to accurately conduct 1099 reporting for 2020.
For more detailed information regarding 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC reporting for 2020, check out the IRS instructions.
For many firms, accounting is a huge pain point. It’s time-consuming and tedious, but it’s crucial to any business’s operations.
But before we get into the nitty-gritty, what does it even mean to close out a firm’s books? Keep reading and we’ll tell you!
Closing a firm’s books is the process of finishing up all accounting activity for an accounting period and ensuring that the general ledger accurately reflects the financial activities of the firm.
There are many closing procedures that should be followed on a regular basis throughout the year, but there are also additional procedures to include at year-end. We know, that’s just adding more to your plate, but these year-end procedures should be given special attention prior to closing the books for the fiscal year and we’ll tell you why.
Profit distribution can occur at any time during the year, so it is critical to maintaining a complete and accurate financial picture so that appropriate projections of net income and cash flow can be made whenever required. By establishing regular month-end procedures, your firm can better maintain an accurate financial picture throughout the year and, in turn, will ensure a smoother year-end closing of the books.
Of course, each firm is different and the procedures that are put in place will vary from firm-to-firm, but we have tried to make it as easy as possible for you and compiled a list that includes some basic, monthly procedures that your firm may find useful.
Accounting Procedures to Consider Following
1. Distribute a list of outstanding, unpaid accounts receivable that are 90 or more days past due to the responsible attorney for collection efforts.
The older the receivable, the less likely it will be collectible.
2. Ensure that all timekeepers are current with their time entries by the end of each month so that billing will not be delayed.
3. Record all incoming cash.
Ask yourself: Have all electronic and credit card payments been entered?
4. Review the Aged WIP Report to identify fees that can be billed and those that should be written off.
Centerbase Tip 1: If you use Centerbase already, check out our new AR Sweep to apply payments to client bills that have funds available through client overpayment, retainers and/or trust funds.
5. Reconcile all cash and credit card accounts, entering all unrecorded transactions.
A best practice is to reconcile all bank and credit card statements within a few days of having access to the statements to ensure balances include all electronic receipts and expenses, monthly fees, interest income, and interest expense.
6. Review and reconcile petty cash.
7. Record month-end payroll journal entries.
8. Review the Payment/Credit Allocation Details report, filtering for any credits for expenses.
Enter a journal entry for any matter expenses that were written off or discounted during the month to properly account for expenses that the client will not be reimbursing.
This is an important step that is often overlooked.
If a client will not be reimbursing the firm for a matter expense, it is necessary to reduce the Matter Expenses Advanced account (asset account) and increase the Unreimbursed Client Expenses account (expense account) to properly account for what will now be a firm expense.
9. Review liability accounts to ensure accuracy.
Are payables clearing out properly?
10. Review the Comparative P&L Report.
Are there any unusually positive or negative changes from the previous period?
If so, research why this has occurred and make adjustments if necessary.
11. Review the Trial Balance.
Do all accounts have normal balances, i.e. asset and expense accounts have debit balances and income and liability accounts have credit balances.
If not, review accounts with unusual balances for errors.
12. Prepare draft Profit & Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, and Trial Balance and provide to CPA for review and tax planning (and tax preparation at year-end).
A best practice is to submit financials to the CPA for review at least quarterly.
13. Enter any adjusting journal entries per your accountant's instructions.
14. Print and save finalized financial statements.
15. Update the closing date in System Settings to ensure no changes can be made that will affect the financial statements for prior periods.
And if you were thought that was it think again because we have more! In addition to the above, at year-end the items below should also be added to the closing procedures.
Additional Closing Procedures
1. Request that all expense reports be submitted to accounting in plenty of time for processing, so they can be paid prior to year-end.
2. Review IOLTA balances and request replenishment according to the firm’s policies so there are sufficient funds on hand to apply to client bills at the end of the fiscal year.
3. Update accounts payable.
Have all expenses for the fiscal year been entered? Pay all older vendor bills.
4. Pay down line of credit.
5. Plan for and enter any retirement plan funding.
6. Plan for and enter any year-end bonuses.
7. Budget for sufficient cash on hand and adequate line of credit for the first quarter of the following fiscal year.
8. Account for partner/shareholder distributions.
9. Enter adjusting entries for depreciation, bad debt, etc.
10.Enter final adjusting journal entries per accountant's instructions.
11. Per the Accounting Period End Date set in the Accounting System Settings, Centerbase will process the year-end closing entries to book the current year’s net income to retained earnings.
This will also $0 out all income and expense accounts for the first day of the new fiscal year. It is the final step in the year-end closing process. No prompting is necessary as it is an automatic procedure that Centerbase performs.
The Finale!
At this point, you’re either thinking “oh boy,” or “wow that was helpful!” Either way, we want to try to make this process as easy as possible for you so we have created an Accounting Period Closing Procedures Checklist to assist you in assigning and tracking the tasks listed above.
End-of-year closing is never fun, but hopefully these steps and checklist will help you keep billing, collections, and your financial records up to date!
Here’s a quick rundown of what can be expected:
