A Founder’s Advice on Starting a Law Firm from $0 to $1 Million

Having a clear plan, structure, and routine is crucial for the success of a law firm. Without these, lawyers can easily lose focus or motivation. 

Even though lawyers have many skills, they frequently struggle in business. Managing a successful company is not the same as being a good lawyer. 

The skills required to run a business and practice law are very different. As you run your firm, you will likely encounter issues and challenges that are not often covered in a legal degree and will require that you come up with different solutions. 

These issues won't go away as your business grows. In fact, growth will challenge you in new ways and push your business in new directions.

We’ll make an educated guess. You’re here because one of the following applies to you: you are in over your head at your current job. You are tired and overworked, and you know there must be a better way. Here are a few ideas that may help.

1. Give Someone Else the Job

A very useful staffing secret is that you do not have to hire full-time employees to get things done at your new family law firm. You cannot hire someone else to step in your shoes or carry out your daily legal responsibilities, but you could outsource many things if you want to, such as:

●     Taking Phone Calls: Many outsourcing solution providers will receive calls, take texts, send them to the right place, and offer simple data management services to a family law firm like yours.

●     Running Social Networks: Contractors who help with online marketing are doing very well in terms of tapping into new customer bases, reducing costs, and scaling your business. This does not have to be done in-house.

●     Job Duties in the Office: You do not even have to check your email or calendar. There is a reason why virtual assistants even exist!

2. Let Technology Help You

If you invest in a new virtual reception desk service or legal practice management software before you know what you want, you will end up wasting your hard-earned money. Therefore, it is vital to plan and do proper research.

To keep costs down and get rid of much manual recordkeeping, you can consider starting a paperless law firm. Paper document filing, organization, and document search take up time that may be used for other beneficial activities. 

Automated operations will not only save money on storage costs and the purchase of paper supplies but also eliminate the burden of repetitive tasks. This reduces the chance of error and minimizes compliance concerns. 

It is less expensive to save everything in a digital format rather than printing it out and storing it on paper, whether that format is on hard drives, flash drives, or cloud-based systems.

It is time to go paperless! 

3. Marketing and Getting Clients

It can be hard to know where to start with legal marketing. As you develop your profession as a divorce or prenuptial agreement lawyer and try to stand out in the legal market, which is already very crowded, you need both unconventional marketing strategies and a killer marketing plan to stay on top of the game. 

When you market your family law services well, you distinguish yourself from others and help clients find you.

You can start with a website. At the very least, your website is a hub for educating your clients about the services you offer. At its best, it should be a tool for building your brand, showcasing your expertise, and targeting and attracting the right clients.

Next is your brand. Your brand is how the rest of the world sees you. It is the promise you make to your customers. By identifying the kind of "ideal client" persona who meshes with your skill sets, priorities, and the local population, you may even be able to prevent the stress of dealing with less-profitable clients.

Own the Next Million-Dollar Firm

Starting a family law firm and growing it from nothing to a million-dollar business requires hard work, a winning plan, proper structures, and a transition in mindset from a divorce lawyer to a successful company owner. 

Understand how to delegate, create a company that can grow, and take care of your clients to see results. But the effort is worth it in the end and can lead to more customers, more money, and a prospective success story.

To get the best possible outcomes, learn how to plan, invest in the brand, and look after your customers. Rest assured that it will all pay off in the end in the form of better visibility, loyal clients, and business success.

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Author Bio: Maxwell Hills is the founder of Hills Law Group, a premier Orange County divorce lawyer law firm with a concentration on high net worth divorces. Max’s entrepreneurial career stretches back to his teenage days when he had his music used in Grey’s Anatomy and ESPN. Today, Max has used that experience to build Hills Law Group with 0 customers and $0 in revenue to a respected firm in the industry.