Top Legal Industry News Highlights for August 2022: Law Firm Expansion, Legal Awards and Recognition, and the Latest in Women in Law

Thank you for reading the latest edition of the National Law Review’s bi-weekly legal news roundup! In these last weeks of summer, we hope you are remaining safe and healthy. Read more below for updates on law firm hiring and expansion, industry awards and recognition, and spotlights on women in the field of law.

Law Firm Hiring and Expansion

Moore & Van Allen PLLC has added Julianne Farnsworth as counsel and as a member of the firm’s Litigation practice group. Presently based in the Charleston office, Ms. Farnsworth dedicates her practice to complex civil litigation, representing clients in areas such as business torts, environmental law, employment law, and other areas. She has practiced before state and federal courts across the U.S. and is additionally certified as a mediator in the state circuit and federal courts of South Carolina.

“We are pleased to welcome Julianne who has been a top litigator in the Charleston area for over 30 years,” said Trudy H. Robertson, co-managing member of the firm’s Charleston office. “Julianne’s experience and reputation will be valuable assets for servicing our litigation clients across the full spectrum of business areas and industries.”

Trey Baker, a former senior advisor for public engagement at the White House, has joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP as a partner in the Government Services and Finance Department. In his former role, Mr. Baker specialized in outreach to civil rights organizations and minority communities, focusing on criminal justice and law enforcement reform. He has also served for four years as the city manager for Grenada, Mississippi.

“Trey’s deep well of government experience and strong foundation in the D.C. market will prove invaluable to our clients – both locally and nationally,” said Roscoe Howard, managing partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. “His passion for community engagement, evidenced by the breadth of his work at the local and federal level, brings a unique skill set to our talented group of legal professionals. We’re happy to have him.”

Honigman Law, LLP has advanced its recent growth efforts, announcing the launch of Honigman Law Israel, an Israeli subsidiary focusing its efforts on U.S. mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, venture capital, real estate, and more. For prospective candidates, the subsidiary offers the opportunity to continue practicing complex U.S. legal matters while located in Israel. The HLI team has already added its first five attorneys: Sam Katz, who practices in corporate and capital markets; Inbar Rauchwerger, who practices in mergers and acquisitions; Aviv Avnon, who practices in finance; David Snyder, who practices in tax law; and Rachel Rhodes, who practices in corporate and capital markets.

“We’re honored to bring on these five top-notch attorneys from some of the most prominent law firms in the U.S. and expect to bring in many more highly qualified individuals through this initiative,” said Honigman CEO and Chair David Foltyn. “We have continued to see incredible demand for our transactional counsel, which in turn requires that we continue to grow with the most talented lawyers. With HLI, we have created a win-win opportunity for A+ attorneys who want to reside in Israel for personal reasons but did not have a path to doing so, and for Honigman, which can deepen and expand the great talent we can devote to our clients.”

Much Shelist, P.C. has added three new attorneys: Jonathan FriedlandJeremy Waitzman, and Hajar Jouglaf. Mr. Friedland joins the firm’s Restructuring & Creditors’ Rights group, and Mr. Waitzman and Mr. Jouglaf join the firm’s Corporate & Finance group. The trio has formerly worked together to represent businesses across the U.S., focusing their efforts on mergers and acquisitions, insolvency, and bankruptcy matters. Together, they counsel clients across many industries, including manufacturing, information technology, retail, and hospitality.

“Jonathan, Jeremy, and Hajar impressed us from the very beginning of our conversations,” said the firm’s Managing Partner Mitchell Roth. “They bring legal prowess and business savvy that will be immensely valuable to our clients, and they share our commitment to top-tier service.”

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC has added Jeffery D. Mulrooney as Of Counsel to the firm’s Business Department. Mr. Mulrooney has a great deal of experience managing intellectual property matters, with particular emphasis on patent, trademark, and copyright applications across all industries, including medical devices, material sciences, consumer products, and more. At the firm, he will focus his practice specifically on intellectual property and transactional matters.

“Jeffrey’s focus on copyright, trademark, and patent law is a great addition to our Pittsburgh office,” said Steptoe & Johnson CEO, Christopher L. Slaughter. “We are always looking for the best attorneys to meet our client’s needs and with the explosive growth in technology industries across our footprint, Jeffrey’s background will be a great asset to our clients and our firm.”

Industry Awards and Recognition

Two Romer Debbas partners, Michael R. Feldman and Alison L. Weisman, have been honored by Best Lawyers. The award is based on peer reviews and feedback and acknowledges attorneys at the beginning of their law careers for “upstanding professional standards and excellence in private practice.” Mr. Feldman and Ms. Weisman were specifically recognized as rising industry stars in the field of real estate law.

Michael Feldman is a partner and manager of the residential real estate department at Romer Debbas’ New York office. His practice focuses on residential and commercial real estate transactions. Alison Weisman is a partner in Romer Debbas’ commercial real estate department. She concentrates her practice on representing buyers, sellers, tenants, landlords, and developers in various real estate and lending transactions. She is also a trained mediator.

Greenberg Traurig was nominated by JUVE Verlag, a business law publisher based in Germany, as the Law Firm of the Year in the Labor and Employment category. The firm was nominated for its “positive, dynamic development over the past year.” The award ceremony will take place on Oct. 27 in Frankfurt where the winners will be announced.

197 attorneys at Ballard Spahr received 330 recognitions in this year’s The Best Lawyers in America guide. Of additional note, 58 Ballard Spahr attorneys have been featured in the Ones to Watch category, which is intended for lawyers at the beginning of their careers. Ballard Spahr attorneys also received 7 recognitions for Lawyers of The Year:

Best Lawyers uses annual surveys to assess lawyers in the field, asking attorneys to evaluate their peers based on professionalism, integrity, and legal skill. Lawyers of the Year receive the highest overall peer feedback for a given practice area and region.

Women in Law

Clifford Law Office partner Sarah F. King is scheduled to present “The Power of Visual Persuasion” at the Society of Women Trial Lawyers’ 2022 Fall Conference in Nashville, TN. A medical malpractice attorney based in Chicago, Ms. King will be sharing her insights on technological innovations and visual storytelling in virtual and physical courtrooms. She has previously presented at events such as the Michigan Association of Justice Medical Malpractice Seminar and the American Association for Justice Annual Convention, and is an active member of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

The Society of Women Trial Lawyers conference provides an opportunity for women practitioners across the U.S. to enhance their trial skillset while building valuable professional and personal connections. This year’s event will be at the Thompson Nashville Hotel on Thursday, October 6, 2022.

The Texas Diversity Council will recognize Foley & Lardner partner Michelle Ku as a 2022 Top Women Lawyers Award winner at a virtual ceremony on September 27, 2022. Ms. Ku is a business litigator known for taking on high stakes trials at the local, state, and federal levels, covering issues related to antitrust, government investigations, class actions, tax, and intellectual property. She and her fellow awardees were selected for their professional success, legal industry impact, integrity, and commitment to supporting other women in the field.

Alyson Brown of Hunton Andrews Kurth has been selected for the National Black Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 for the second year in a row. Inclusion on the list provides access to a national network of leading figures in the Black legal community and requires a reputation for professional excellence and leadership as determined through peer nominations and a third-party research process.

Ms. Brown is a Richmond, VA based employment attorney. At Hunton Andrews Kurth, she handles issues related to unfair workplace practices, labor law compliance, and employment litigation. In addition to her experience arguing before the National Labor Relations Board, Brown is a Program Committee Member of the Richmond Bar Association and Board Member of the Downtown Richmond YMCA. She has recently been listed on the 2022 Virginia Access to Justice Pro Bono Honor Roll.

Copyright ©2022 National Law Forum, LLC

August 2022 Legal Industry News Updates: Law Firm Hiring and Expansion, Industry Awards and Recognition, and Women in the Legal Field

Welcome back to another edition of the National Law Review’s legal news roundup! We hope you remain safe, healthy, and cool as the summer winds down. Read on below for the latest in law firm hiring and expansion, industry awards, and a spotlight on women in the legal industry!

Additionally, be sure to check out the latest episode of our podcast, Legal News Reach, featuring Chris Fritsch, founder of CLIENTSFirst Consulting!

Law Firm News and Updates

Sunstein LLP has added attorneys Shane Hunter and T.J. Clark as partners. Previously the founders of Hunter Clark PLLC, an intellectual property law firm, both attorneys focus their practice in this field: Mr. Hunter assists individuals in developing billion-dollar companies and helps to protect their intellectual property. Mr. Clark’s practice focuses on patent prosecution and intellectual property portfolio counseling for software and web-based business methods, biomedical devices, and semiconductor processing.

“Shane and T.J. bring impressive backgrounds as engineers and skills as attorneys that greatly complement our firm’s focus on helping technology clients leverage their diverse IP portfolios,” said Chair of the Sunstein Patent GroupKathryn Noll. “They are a great addition to our team.”

Insurance attorney Graham Pulvere has joined Wilson Elser’s Birmingham office as a partner. Mr. Pulvere’s practice focuses on litigating insurance coverage and bad faith actions. With experience representing clients in areas such as legal malpractice actions, bar disciplinary proceedings, and errors and omissions actions against insurance agents and brokers, he will be joining the Insurance & Reinsurance Coverage and the Professional Liability & Services practice group as well as the London Practice.

London Practice Chair David Holmes said, “Graham has significant experience working with the London market on first-party and bad faith matters and will add to our strong ability to handle complex coverage and bad faith matters not only in Alabama but also in Mississippi and Louisiana.”

Steptoe & Johnson welcomes associate Evan Janc to the business litigation practice group. Practicing in the firm’s Dallas office, Mr. Janc has experience representing clients in construction litigationpublic finance, and real estate in front of Texas state agencies and government entities. Evan also analyzes and drafts construction contracts and real estate agreements.

Sidley Austin LLP added Jay Jariwala, Senior Director, Regulatory Compliance to the firm’s Food, Drug, and Medical Device Compliance and Enforcement practice. Joining the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, he previously served in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and ResearchOffice of Compliance, and Office of Manufacturing Quality. Mr. Jariwala brings more than 13 years of regulatory and leadership experience to Sidley.

Raj Pai, partner and global leader of Sidley’s Food, Drug, and Medical Device Compliance and Enforcement group, said, “We’re happy to welcome Jay to our growing team of former FDA officials who have world-class experience and insights. Jay’s background will strengthen our team’s ability to help clients understand, assess, and address compliance concerns effectively.”

Industry Awards and Recognition

Benjamin F. Wilson, former Chairman of Beveridge & Diamond PC, has been honored with the 2022 Environmental Achievement Award from the Environmental Law Institute. Recognized for his visionary leadership and service to local communities over the span of his entire career, Mr. Wilson has provided representation on a wide range of clients on environmental matters, both at Beveridge & Diamond and in other private practices. He has previously served in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and he established the African American General Counsel and Managing Partner Networks in 2012, as well as founding the Diverse Partners Network in 2008.

“Ben is a remarkable environmental lawyer whose impact reverberates so far beyond his immediate circle. An astounding number of people call him a mentor, and his lasting impacts are felt not only in the legal profession, but across diverse communities nationwide,” said Jordan Diamond, President of the Environmental Law Institute. “He spent a career championing the interplay of environmental and civil rights, and we are all better for it.”

Twelve attorneys at Clifford Law Offices have been recognized by Law Bulletin Media as Leading Lawyers. They are as follows:

According to the Leading Lawyers website, less than five percent of all lawyers licensed in each state have received this prestigious distinction. Recipients are selected based on external attorney surveys that ask which of their peers they would most likely recommend to a family member or friend.

Lawmatics has recently been ranked as a high performer in G2’s Summer 2022 Grid®️ Report for Legal Practice Management Software. G2, formerly known as G2 Crowd, is a peer-to-peer review site that collects information for various types of business software; to qualify for the Grid®️ Report in the Legal Practice Management category, the product must:

  • Manage law firm client information

  • Store relevant legal documents

  • Integrate with or provide functionality similar to legal case management solutions

  • Be designed for independent law firm use

In addition to the high overall satisfaction rating that Lawmatics boasts, the Summer 2022 report also found that 100% of Lawmatics customers rated the service 4 or 5 stars, 92% stated they were likely to recommend Lawmatics to their peers, and 90% believed their quality of support goes “above and beyond.”

Women in the Legal Field

The American Bar Association awarded five legal practitioners with the 2022 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago on August 7th. The prestigious award has been given to numerous pioneers in its more than 30-year history, including former U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This year, the recipients were health law and bioethics innovator Michele Goodwin, IP expert and radio personality Christina L. Martini, AbbVie executive Laura J. Schumacher, corporate executive and DEI leader Wendy Shiba, and Myra C. Selby, the first African-American woman to serve as Associate Justice for the Indiana Supreme Court.

“We are honored to recognize this spectacular group of women who have been trailblazers throughout their careers,” says Maureen Mulligan, chair of the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession. “They are role models for all women in the legal profession.”

Benchmark Litigation has recognized three Bradley attorneys on their 2022 Top 250 Women in Litigation List.  Birmingham’s Leigh Anne Hodge, Nashville’s Lela M. Hollabaugh, and Huntsville’s Kimberly B. Martin were all selected due to their respected positions in the legal community and overwhelmingly positive client feedback.

Ms. Hodge leads Bradley’s Litigation Practice Group and is a member of the Healthcare Practice Group, where she assists clients with matters related to insurance, medical malpractice, licensing board hearings, and product liability. Ms. Hollabaugh is a lead trial lawyer who has worked on dozens of jury and bench trials while helping infrastructure clients with land acquisition, construction, and operations. She recently co-authored an amicus curiae brief for the U.S. Supreme Court related to the Natural Gas Act and 11th Amendment immunity. Ms. Martin handles international health product liability and white-collar claims.

Bradley Chairman of the Board and Managing Partner Jonathan M. Skeeters said, “We are proud of Leigh Anne, Lela, and Kim and congratulate them on their continued recognition as top female litigators. Their inclusion on this prestigious list is well deserved.”

Varnum LLP Partner Maureen Rouse-Ayoub has been featured in Michigan Lawyer Weekly’s 2022 Class of Influential Women of Law. The list celebrates women in the legal profession who have attained excellence in their field and made significant contributions through leadership, mentorship, and volunteering. When she isn’t leading Varnum’s Labor and Employment Practice team out of the Novi office, Ms. Rouse-Ayoub speaks about labor law issues at the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and works with the State Bar of Michigan Labor and Employment Section and Michigan Chamber of Commerce Health and Human Resources Committee. In her spare time, she volunteers with Northern Michigan Adaptive Sports, where she uses special tools and instructions to teach alpine skiing to people with disabilities. Rouse-Ayoub and her fellow awardees will be celebrated at a September 23rd ceremony in Detroit, followed by a September 26th magazine profile.

Copyright ©2022 National Law Forum, LLC

5 Ways Legal Billing Software Increases Law Firm Revenue

In any business, keeping an eye on the bottom line is essential. For law firms, this can be a challenge, as there are many ways that money can be lost throughout a case. From inefficient time-tracking to inaccurate billing, there are many potential pitfalls. However, there is one solution that can help to increase law firm revenue: legal billing software. Choosing the right legal billing software is essential for maximizing its benefits. Consider time-tracking, billing accuracy, and customer service when evaluating different packages. Take a look at solutions built specifically for the legal industry to get the most out of your investment.

3 Common Ways Law Firms Lose Money

Time Tracking Issues

Many lawyers still rely on manual methods of tracking time by using spreadsheets or notepads. This antiquated approach to timekeeping is fraught with problems, including the potential for lost billable time and revenue, vulnerability to billing disputes, and high administrative costs.

With spreadsheet or notepad timekeeping, it is easy for lawyers to forget to record their time or lose track of their records, leading to lost billable hours and ultimately lost revenue for the firm. Manual timekeeping doubles the work since someone must manually enter all data into the system.

Manually keeping track of time leaves attorneys vulnerable to billing disputes. If a client questions a lawyer’s billing records, it can be difficult for the attorney to prove that the charges are accurate without detailed and meticulous records.

Invoicing Frequency

When it comes to law firm revenue, timely billing is everything. The longer you wait to send a bill, the longer you wait to get paid. Clients can’t pay a bill they haven’t received.

Not billing promptly sends the message to your client that prompt payment is not that important to you. Sending your invoices at the end of each month helps to avoid confusion or miscommunication and ensures that you and your clients are on the same page.

Billing Bottlenecks

Getting paid by clients is a significant problem for 61% of small law firms, according to 2019 research conducted by Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute. Law firms that don’t provide clients with various payment options, like online payments and accepting credit card payments, are more vulnerable to decreased law firm revenue due to not getting paid on time.

What is Legal Billing Software?

Legal billing software is downloadable or cloud-based that helps lawyers accurately track their time and invoice their clients. A robust software, like Bill4Time, will have the capability to track time, LEDES billing format, create custom invoices, accept online payments, and meet state bar regulations for billing. Law firms use dedicated legal billing software to improve their bottom line by improving invoicing processes and reducing inaccurate time management and billing bottlenecks.

What Billing Software do Law Firms Use?

Lawyers are always looking for ways to be more efficient and maximize their billable hours, so they prioritize cloud-based software solutions that have integrated time tracking, easy invoice options, and a client portal for online payments.

Law firms need industry-specific features like trust & IOLTA accounting which allows lawyers to reconcile trust accounts without a secondary application. They also look for software that provides LEDES billing, the most widely used e-billing standard for law firms invoicing corporate clients.

Why Does My Law Firm Need Legal Billing Software?

As a law firm, you know that time is money. Every minute spent on administrative tasks is a minute that could be spent on billable hours.

Automate the billing process

You, and your team, enter matter information as time-tracked once, and the software will take care of the rest, generating invoices and sending them out to clients on your behalf.

Manage your cash flow

You will always have a clear record of what has been billed and remains outstanding. You can responsibly allocate your resources to maximize your profits.

Track payments and expenses

Having this information organized and readily available can save you a great deal of time and hassle when it comes time to file taxes or apply for loans or lines of credit.

Billing automation will save you and your team considerable time each month, which can be spent growing your business.

How to Identify the Best Legal Billing Software

When choosing legal billing software, there are a few key factors to keep in mind.

Choosing a program compatible with your firm’s existing tech stack, including your law practice management software, is critical to success. Consider the cost, ease of use, and customer support options. Mobile access is also crucial for lawyers who can access their files on any device — iPhone, iPad, or Android.

And finally, security is always a top priority when it comes to sensitive legal information. Look for software that has industry-standard security protocols in place to protect your data.

By keeping these factors in mind, you’ll choose the best legal billing software for your needs.

Best Practices for Implementing a Legal Billing Software

There are many different types of legal billing software on the market, and it can be challenging to decide which one is right for your law firm.

When choosing new software for your law firm, there are a few important factors to remember:

  • You must ensure that the software is compatible with your existing legal practice management software.

  • Be sure to clearly understand your law firm’s billing policies before setting up the software to ensure everything is billed correctly.

  • The software should be easy to use, but you still need to take time to train your staff on how to use the new software.

  • You want a responsive and helpful company when you run into problems. If you run into issues, you can contact the support team.

A little upfront investment will pay off in the long run by preventing billing mistakes and increasing efficiency. Following these simple tips, you can set your law firm up for success with legal billing software.

Increase Law Firm Revenue with Legal Billing Software

Ultimately, you can improve your firm’s bottom line and the client experience by investing in legal billing software. Here are five ways a legal billing software can help you achieve success:

1 ) Accurate Time Tracking

Time entry and expense tracking are crucial for any organization looking to boost productivity and improve profitability. Yet many organizations struggle with manually tracking time and expenses, leading to inaccuracies and lost data. The software makes tracking time and expenses by the user, client, or project easy.

Move beyond the notepad, and start tracking your time with a cloud-based software solution.

Whether on the go or at the office, easy time entry makes it simple to run timers simultaneously, record multiple time entries on one screen, and automatically convert appointments into time entries. You’ll always know your organization’s productivity and financial status with daily and weekly time summaries.

2 ) Automated Billing

Automated billing and online payments can make it easier for clients to pay their invoices, resulting in quicker payment turnaround times. Clients tend to delay payment if they don’t understand the invoice. Prevent this from happening by providing detailed and informative invoices.

With legal billing software, you can set up invoice templates with custom settings such as your billing policy and payment links to pay online —  you can even perform batch invoice creation to save administrative time.

You can even extend your brand while increasing workflow efficiencies by personalizing and creating branded invoices with your logo.

3 ) Online Payments

Online payments are becoming increasingly popular, and customers expect businesses to offer this option. You may even miss out on potential customers if you don’t offer online payments.

Online payments allow firms to quickly and easily receive payments from clients. This can be done via credit card, debit card, or even PayPal. In addition, online payments are more secure than traditional methods, such as mailing a check.

4 ) Custom Reporting

Real-time data is essential for any growing business and managing cash flow. You’ll want a solution with comprehensive reporting to manage your firm’s financial performance better and identify trends to ensure success—review payment history, balance due, collections, expenses, productivity, and summary reports.

Legal billing software should be able to run user activity reports, so you can get detailed insights into how your team works, including efficiency, expense, schedule, and internal tracked time.  This data can help you identify areas of improvement so your team can work smarter, not harder.

5 ) Enhanced Client Experience

Client portals are a great way to provide your clients with more information and control over their billing. Empower your clients to log in, view their account balances, make payments, and see a detailed fee history.

Grow Your Law Firm Revenue with Legal Billing Software

The legal industry is one of the most competitive and rapidly-changing fields. To succeed, law firms must be cutting edge in all aspects of their business – including billing. With so much at stake, it’s no wonder that more and more law firms are turning to legal billing software to help them stay ahead of the competition.

This article was authored by Dan Bowman of Bill4Time.

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Estate Planning Marketing: Tips & Tricks to Grow Your Practice

To be successful, estate planning law firms must have a comprehensive marketing strategy. We’ll dive into marketing tips that will help you attract new clients and grow your estate planning business. We will begin by addressing estate planning and then discuss the skills required to work in this area. After that, we will dive into a variety of digital marketing tips that you can use to attract more clients. These tips include social media, SEO, email chains, and many others. Finally, we’ll provide a few words about Lawmatics – an online marketing platform designed specifically for lawyers.

As an estate planner, getting in front of as many potential clients as possible is key to a successful practice. But how do you do that? This blog post will discuss tips and tricks for marketing your estate planning law firm. We will begin by addressing estate planning and then discuss how to market your firm using social media, SEO, and email chains. We will also discuss the benefits of using Lawmatics services to help grow your practice!

The rising number of individuals aged has contributed to the increasing demand for estate plan services. Is your estate planning practice effective at attracting more clients? A successful estate planning campaign should incorporate all relevant marketing methods. The best plan for lawyers beginning their clients’ development should be based on a clear plan to leverage their knowledge to gain clients.

Overview of Estate Planning Law

Estate planning is a process that helps individuals and families protect their assets while also ensuring that their wishes are carried out after death. It can encompass various activities, including estate tax planning, drafting wills and trusts, and creating estate administration plans.

A solid estate plan should take into account everything you own. To get you in the proper frame of mind, consider the many forms of property that make up your estate:

  • Real estate and property (e.g., houses, land)
  • Personal property (e.g., cars, artwork, jewelry)
  • Bank accounts
  • Retirement assets, stocks, and securities
  • Life insurance policies

Many individuals overlook all of the aspects that go into a finished estate plan. Estate planning entails more than simply putting your last will and testament in motion. You’ll help families anticipate as many circumstances as possible.

Skills Required to be a Good Estate Planning Lawyer

Estate planning law is a specialization within the legal field that deals with estate-related tasks such as estate tax planning, drafting wills and trusts, and creating estate administration plans. As an estate planning lawyer, you must comprehensively understand these areas to provide sound advice to your clients. In addition, you must also be able to communicate with your clients and understand their needs effectively.

You Think Ahead

Estate planning lawyers must think long-term because they often work with clients for many years. During this time, estate planners are responsible for helping their clients safeguard their assets and ensure their wishes are fulfilled after they die.

You Like to Help People

Some estate planning lawyers work with families through generations. When one client passes away, estate planners may be enlisted by any surviving family members, which means decades of service. Your client relies on you to safeguard their family assets. They entrust you to craft the plan that aligns with local and federal laws, manages taxes, and passes most of the wealth to the beneficiaries upon death.

You Like Dealing with Financial, Trust, and Taxation Issues

You must also communicate with your clients about their financial situation and estate planning goals. Many estate planners need to track a client’s assets, liabilities, and estate taxes.

Why Implement a Marketing Strategy For Estate Planning Attorneys?

Estate planning attorneys face a competitive marketplace that makes attracting clients difficult. An effective marketing program that attracts new business clients will be essential for achieving the company’s objectives and growth.

Beating Out the Old Guard

It can be challenging to break into markets with an “old guard.” Established players in a market often have a decisive advantage, and it can be hard to dislodge them. This is especially true in estate planning, where many attorneys have been practicing for years. Young attorneys must be prepared to work hard and develop creative marketing strategies to attract new business.

Competing Against Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Options

Many individuals may be tempted to take on writing their will themselves to avoid paying for a lawyer’s services. After all, many online resources, like LegalZoom, RocketLawyer, and other DIY kits, are available to help people create a comprehensive estate plan without legal assistance.

Competing with Financial Industry

The financial industry has been increasingly targeting estate planning to expand services. As a result, estate planners must continuously adapt their marketing strategies to stay ahead of the competition. There are many estate planning law firms, but how do you make yours stand out from the rest?

However, we know that estate planning is a complex process that requires the expertise of a qualified lawyer.

Foundations of Marketing Best Practices

A well-crafted marketing strategy can help you attract new clients, expand your client base, and grow your estate planning law firm.

Track Your Leads with Call Tracking

Call tracking is a valuable tool that estate planning law firms can use to track the success of their marketing campaigns. By monitoring the number of calls generated by a campaign, your estate planning law firm can measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Use a call-tracking service that offers local or toll-free number options, call recording, and detailed reporting.

Use a CRM to Manage Relationships

A CRM, or customer relationship management system, is a valuable tool that estate planning law firms can use to manage their qualified leads and clients.

A CRM can support your estate planning law firm’s marketing efforts by helping you keep track of all the essential details about your clients. With detailed information about each client’s assets, liabilities, and estate, your estate planning law firm can more effectively market to them. Additionally, a CRM can help you track the progress of your estate planning services, so you can more effectively measure the success of your marketing campaigns.

You can attract and retain clients more effectively by using a CRM to support your estate planning law firm’s marketing efforts.

Nurture Leads with Email Campaigns

One of the most effective ways to keep potential estate planning clients in mind is through email nurture campaigns. An email nurture campaign involves sending targeted emails to potential clients to persuade them to become clients. Creating a simple birthday email campaign can delight and remind your potential clients.

Each of the three foundations of marketing efforts – call-tracking, CRM, and email nurture – is necessary for estate planning law firms to succeed in attracting new clients.

5 Channels to Market Your Estate Planning Firm

Estate planning law firms have a unique opportunity to market their services in various ways. Networking, Google My Business, Content Marketing, Social Media, and Paid Advertising are five effective methods that estate planning law firms can use to reach more clients and grow their business.

Estate planning law firms should create a marketing plan that encompasses all of these strategies based on your goals, budget, and target audience.

1. Referrals, Online Directories, & Local Involvement

Start your marketing strategy by leaning on and growing your network. You can’t just sit and wait for clients to come to you. You need to be proactive and generate leads by getting the word out about your law firm.

Referrals and Networking

Start your marketing efforts by tapping into your network and community.

One of the best ways to market your estate planning firm is to receive referrals from other professionals. Financial advisers, accountants, insurance agents, and other attorneys are all potential sources of referrals for estate planning law firms.

Get Involved in Local Events

Attending and sponsoring local events allows estate planning law firms to gain exposure and build relationships with the community. Consider sponsoring a Fun Run or 5k that donates to cancer research, a local choir, theater, or museum, or buy a little league’s baseball shirts.

You show that you care and are committed to the community. Sponsoring local events is also a great way to get links to your law firm website.

When another website links to your estate planning law firm’s website, it is called a backlink. This strongly indicates to Google that your website is an authority on the topic and should be ranked. Backlinks are essential to SEO, and estate planning law firms should take advantage of them to improve their website’s ranking.

Online Directories

One of the most effective ways to market your estate planning firm is by listing your firm in online directories. Online directories are websites that allow businesses to list their contact information, products, and services. Listing your estate planning firm’s online directories can help you reach more clients and grow your business.

Some standard legal online directories you should consider are:

  • Avvo
  • Nolo
  • Justia
  • Lawyers.com and Lawyer.com (yes, they are different)
  • HG.org
  • Martindale-Hubbell

2. Google My Business

While, in a sense, Google My Business (GMB) is an online directory, it is also the best way to get in front of your community. It allows you to control your estate planning law firm’s appearance in search results and Google Maps.

The best part about using Google My Business is that it is a free business listing.

Claim & Fill Out Your GMB Profile

Claiming your GMB profile is the first step in taking control of your estate planning law firm’s online presence. To claim your business, you must log in to Google and either claim an existing profile or create a new one. You will need to coordinate with Google to receive a verification code to verify your profile. The default method for obtaining the code is by postcard to the address.

After you have claimed your listing, it is time to fill out your GMB profile. Your GMB profile should include:

  • Your business name
  • Your contact information (i.e., address, phone, website)
  • A description of your estate planning services
  • Your hours of operation
  • Answer questions

When filling out your Google My Business profile, include keywords that people may use to search for your services in the description.

Use GMB Like It’s Social Media

Did you know that you can post on GMB? When you post new content on your GMB profile listing, you provide local customers with helpful information about your company. This contributes to increasing your local authority.

Treat posts as additional ways to answer FAQs, promote your website, and add additional keywords.

Add Photos and Videos to your GMB Listing

Showcase your firm’s office, team, and services by adding pictures to your profile. Adding photos allows potential clients to understand you and your firm better.

Take it one step further and get 360 photography of your law office- think Street View, but indoors. To get 360 photos on your Google My Business, you must work with a Google Trusted Photographer.

3Optimize Your Website

Creating and updating content on your website will increase your authority on Estate Planning in the search results. The more information you provide on your website will help your site appear prominently online.

Practice Area Pages

When we talk about web content, we don’t only mean blogging. Make sure your website details all of your practice areas. Explain your topic and how you would handle that issue, and end with a call-to-action (e.g., “call today for a consultation).

Blogging for Busy Lawyers

An estate planning firm should consider blogging to keep its website up to date with relevant content. Use your blog to answer questions that your clients ask you over and over again. A blog is a great way to show your expertise on the topic and can also act as a resource for potential clients.

Experiment with other forms of content

Once you’ve built your website and started blogging as part of your estate planning marketing strategy, you can experiment with different media.

Estate planning can be a complex process, and many people have questions about it. Try filming a video to answer some of the most common questions. This is a great way to show your expertise and help potential clients understand estate planning better.

You can also create long-form, helpful content like an eBook that people can download. This is a great way to show your expertise and provide potential clients with additional information about estate planning.

4. Social Media and Reviews

Estate planning lawyers can use social media to connect with potential clients and build their businesses. Estate planning lawyers can attract new clients and grow their practices by creating interesting, engaging content.

Go Where Your Clients Already Are

Your prospective clients are online. They are watching videos, reading articles, and checking social media. Social media can be highly effective for keeping in touch with existing clients, reaching new ones, and expanding your referral network. That said, choosing the proper social media channels is important.

It makes sense for estate planning lawyers to be visible on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Lawyers can use these platforms to share blog posts, answer client questions, and connect with potential clients.

Linkedin, Where Everybody Knows Your Game

LinkedIn is the most useful channel for estate planners. LinkedIn users are usually more professional, more established, and better educated, so it’s only natural to have a presence on this platform.

Like most social platforms, you can use it to share analyses or insights about changes in legislation or other timely news. You can promote your new blog articles, share information about your business, and add videos or images to enhance your posts.

Regular posts will help you establish yourself as an estate-planning expert and help you reach more potential clients.

Ask Your Clients for Reviews

Online reviews are incredibly important and give social proof to prospective clients. Make it easy for your clients to leave a review by providing them with a link to your online profiles to leave a review.

In an ideal world, every happy client would leave a 5-star review on Google, but sometimes clients are shy about leaving reviews on Google because it will list their name publicly. If your client feels more comfortable leaving a review on LinkedIn, Facebook, or even an online directory like Avvo—encourage them to do so.

5. Social Media and Reviews

As with all marketing strategies, you want to strike a balance in your approach. SEO and social strategy require consistency over time. Building strong relationships through networking and community involvement also take time.

Paying for advertising is a great way to ensure that your company is always at the top of the search results, and it can keep the phones ringing when your firm is in a slump.

Paid Advertising Campaigns for Estate Planning Attorneys

Law firms can also consider using paid marketing strategies to reach potential estate planning clients. Placing ads in relevant online and offline publications or websites targeting your desired audience can be extremely effective.

Additionally, law firms can use targeted online advertising, such as pay-per-click advertising or display advertising, to reach individuals interested in your services.

Use a Dedicated Landing Page to Track and Convert Leads

If you are investing in paid advertising, you need to take the extra step to include a dedicated landing page for each of your paid campaigns.

If you choose to have your landing page on your website, remove all site navigation so the lead will stay on that page and convert. You can also build out landing pages on platforms that specialize in converting PPC leads.

Your PPC landing page will be specifically designed to capture the contact information of individuals interested in learning more about estate planning services.

The advantage of using a landing page is that you can track how many people are visiting the page and how many are filling out the contact form. This data will be extremely valuable as you assess your ROI for your paid campaigns.

Test Google Local Service Ads

Google Local Service Ads is a relatively new advertising platform that allows you to place ads for their services in the local search results. These ads appear as a sponsored listing at the top of the search results and include a call-to-action button that allows potential clients to contact the law firm quickly.

To be eligible to participate in Google Local Service Ads, all of the attorneys at your firm must meet specific requirements, such as being licensed and insured. Additionally, your firm’s attorneys must undergo a background check conducted by Google.

Despite the effort, Google Local Service Ads can be an extremely effective way to reach potential estate planning clients who are searching for estate planning services in your area because you will appear at the top of search results (even above other PPC ads), and Google will have verified you.

Grow Your Estate Planning Practice With Lawmatics

Some of the most effective marketing strategies for an estate planning practice include creating helpful, optimized website content to address FAQs, sponsoring local teams or charities, and filling out your Google My Business. These strategies will help you reach prospective clients and connect you to the community.

FAQs

? What are the best places for estate lawyers to have an online presence?

There are several great places estate planning lawyers can have an online presence.

A website is a must-have. Your website should accurately represent your practice and what you provide. Consider an search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to optimize your website so that potential consumers may locate you online with ease.

You should also consider social media sites, as they are ideal for establishing connections with potential clients. LinkedIn is a fantastic platform for estate planning professionals to network and develop relationships with new clients.

? How can Google attract clients who need help with wills & estate planning?

You can use Google products like Google My Business and Google Local Service Ads to get in front of prospective clients.

To start, you need to claim and verify a Google My Business listing and optimize it for search engines, making it easier for prospective clients to find you. Once you have your GMB listing, you can write posts related to estate planning.

Google Local Service Ads will display your law firm information at the top of the search results page and push people to call you.

©2022 — Lawmatics

Law Firm Specialization: Why It Matters

While in theory, the idea of casting a wider net may lead you to believe that you’ll catch more fish, the truth is it doesn’t always apply to business. When it comes to catching customers, the more you appeal to one specific kind of customer, the higher your success rate, and the more qualified you’ll be at what you do. Practicing law is no exception. In today’s age, more and more law firms are starting to recognize legal specialization as a necessity for tapping into their target market. Not only does it benefit clients, but it also benefits legal professionals. 

Benefits for Lawyers

Better Client Relationships

When you specialize in an area of law, you intimately know your niche, whether that be corporate law, health law, criminal law, environmental law, or international law.  As such, you can provide the best possible representation to your clients and better pinpoint solutions to their problems as a certified specialist. Exclusively specializing also means that you are well informed of all of the latest updates, news, legal issues, strategies, and changes in that area of law. When compared to having a general understanding of the law, this is a tremendous benefit to your clients since you offer tailored legal guidance unique to their circumstances. A law practice that has handled hundreds of cases similar to their clients’ can anticipate and navigate the nuances of such a case on a much deeper level than someone who doesn’t have the same kind of experience under their belt.

Less Competition

As an expert in a very specific area of law, you effectively position yourself as the easy choice to opt for you over a competing attorney with a more generalized approach. In essence, your competitor pool shrinks significantly. General practice attorneys with a wide breadth of practice areas are going to be competing with every other such law office within a ten-mile (or more) radius. Yet, if your law practice specializes in boat accident cases, you’re likely one of few options, if any, in your respective region, thereby lowering your marketing costs, and potentially increasing client acquisition volume for this legal specialization. Assuming your reputation is top notch, the more specific you can be about your legal services, the more challenging it is for competitors to keep up with you.

Improved Visibility

Law firms that choose to specialize don’t just stand out, but are often featured in publications related to their practice area. The more you can partner with local businesses that are related to or adjacent to your area of expertise, the greater your sphere of influence. For instance, if your practice focuses solely on estate planning for the highly wealthy, you’ll likely opt to leave business cards where the wealthy are bound to spend time, like country clubs, civic clubs or auctions. Get creative with candidates in your referral network; it’ll pay dividends over the lifetime of your business.

Greater Satisfaction

As the saying goes, “do something that you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.” When choosing what you want to specialize in, consider an area that speaks to you on an emotional and even philanthropic level. One of the benefits of choosing a niche is doing something that you truly enjoy day in and day out. Not only will you get a real sense of fulfillment on the best days of your profession but clients can easily sense when your practice area originated from a true passion of yours. Plus, it’s always more advantageous to be a big fish in a small pond as opposed to a small fish in a big one.

Increased Expertise

Expertise involves becoming a thought leader in your area of law. Naturally, mastery requires experience. Attorneys who bounce between different types of cases don’t have the same familiarity with the nuances and challenges as someone who handles the same type of legal representation every time. While it’s always a good idea to have legal malpractice insurance, specializing in one niche area of expertise may also lessen the chances of your law firm having to put it to use. When you are recognized as an expert in your specialization area, you don’t just attract more clients, but you also win more referrals through client trust.

Better Efficiency

Completing the same workflows and legal documents over and over again in quick succession equates to faster completion, since you know them inside and out. As such, specialized lawyers can master the administrative side of running their law firm in a fraction of the time.

In today’s legal climate, more and more legal professionals are turning to automation tools to streamline recurring processes such as client intake and billing. Time-consuming document generation, for instance, can now be done in a matter of seconds rather than hours thanks to automated workflows.

Greater Profitability

When your practice is specialized you’ll increase your value thanks to the power of referrals.  Concentrating on one type of case brings extra knowledge and experience to the table that clients yearn for, who will in turn refer you to their friends and family. Since 80% of a law firm’s business typically comes from referrals, the more targeted you are, the more your practice may benefit from word of mouth.

As a result of your greater understanding of the inner workings of certain cases, you’ll develop a strong reputation for getting clients the results they’re after, ultimately increasing your overall profitability. The more you can offer experience paired with efficiency, the more work you can take on, increasing your overall revenue.

Benefits for Clients

Improved Guidance

When a client seeks out a legal professional that is well versed and focused on their particular needs, they in return receive much better guidance for their specific context. Beyond the legal support that a specialist offers, also comes a deeper understanding of the emotional needs of their client. For more turbulent cases such as divorce cases or immigration, a specialized lawyer can be an enormous benefit to the mental well being of those they have trusted with their case.

Increased Network

Specialists have a wide network of other experts that they can use to the client’s advantage. Because they have a more comprehensive list of contacts to support their case, clients have greater access to leading experts who can provide adjacent services and even strengthen their case.

Better Success Rate

There’s a reason why general practitioners in the medical field typically don’t perform spinal surgery — because it requires unique skills. The same logic can be applied to law. Attorneys specializing in a particular field generally have a higher rate of winning cases in court or settling successfully. Specialized lawyers who see the same case types day in and day out can offer a much higher success rate based on experience and dedication. Those who hire specialized attorneys generally are more at ease knowing they’re in good hands when it comes to their legal proceedings.

When is a Good Time to Consider Specialization?

It can be unnerving to dive into specialization from a generalized legal focus, so it’s important that you read the room first. In order to ensure that whatever you choose to specialize in will deliver the kind of demand that you hope for, answer the following questions using the data at your disposal:

  • What trends are you seeing in the types of cases you currently manage?
  • What is your success rate in those cases?
  • How satisfied were the clients?
  • Which cases have been the most lucrative for you?

If you notice that you take on a considerable amount of one type of case that’s yielding happy clients, then it’s a good indication that it would make a great choice to specialize in. If you don’t feel like you have the experience or know-how to call yourself an authority on one particular niche yet, then allow yourself more time to grow.

Ultimately, there is no defining moment that is the same for every lawyer who chooses to specialize. It all comes down to how much knack and drive you have for one kind of legal resource.

How to Identify Your Specialization Niche

1. Create a Vision

Every achievement starts with a vision. Your vision will be the very foundation of your overall success, and how you are perceived as a brand. When creating your vision, take into account not only your skills but also what drives you. How do you see yourself representing your clients and what do you hope to achieve for them? Are you passionate about one type of law specifically, such as civil rights, intellectual property, or family law? What do you love about practicing law and why? Let these answers be your guiding light when forming a vision for how you hope to stand out.

2. Consider Your Experience

First and foremost, it’s ill-advised to choose a niche that you have no experience in. Choosing to specialize in something that you aren’t well versed in would not only be setting yourself up for failure, but it’s a risk to any potential clients who choose to come your way.

One of the greatest tools you have for narrowing down your choices is consulting with other more experienced lawyers and mentors. Ask them for their advice based on personal stories, recommendations, and experience-based guidance.

Talk to other lawyers that specialize in the area you’re considering and pick their brains. Be direct and ask the questions that matter most like:

  • What are the biggest challenges in this area of law?
  • What are the greatest rewards?
  • What is the success rate?
  • What are the long-term implications?

When you hear about the advantages that law firm specialization can offer, it may be tempting to jump in head first. Yet, it’s important to step back and assess all of your choices. Weigh out the pros and cons, and go back to your overall vision.

Rushing in too quickly can lead to prematurely pigeon-holing yourself into something that ultimately restricts you from your full potential and passions.

Pick a Specialization and Pursue it

There are many advantages to becoming a specialized legal professional. If you can manage to pick a niche and master it, you won’t just find yourself with less competition, but you’ll have a greater devotion to practicing law.

©2022 — Lawmatics

Episode 3: How Law Firms Can Benefit From CRM Technology With Chris Fritsch of CLIENTSFirst Consulting [PODCAST]

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 3 of Legal News Reach! NLR Managing Director Jennifer Schaller speaks with Chris Fritsch, Founder of CLIENTSFirst Consulting, about how law firms can thoughtfully and successfully integrate customer relationship management systems, or CRMs, into their daily operations—boosting contact management, business development, and client service in the process.

We’ve included a transcript of the conversation below, transcribed by artificial intelligence. The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

INTRO  00:02

Hello, and welcome to Legal News Reach, the official podcast for the National Law Review. Stay tuned for a discussion on the latest trends in legal marketing, SEO, law firm best practices, and more.

Jennifer Schaller

Thank you for tuning into the Legal News Reach podcast. My name is Jennifer Schaller, the Managing Director of the National Law Review. In this episode, I’ll be speaking with Chris Fritsch, who’s the CRM and Marketing Technology Success Consultant and Founder of CLIENTSFirst Consulting. She’s going to talk to us about CRM technology, specifically how it impacts law firms. Chris, would you like to introduce yourself?

Chris Fritsch

Happy to do so! I am Chris Fritsch, I’m actually a CRM Success Consultant. And no, that is not an oxymoron. For the last over 15 years, my team at CLIENTSFirst has helped hundreds of top firms succeed with CRM and related and integrated technology. I’m actually a little bit of a recovering attorney, which is sort of how I got into the industry. And it’s just been a great 15 years working together with top law firms.

Jennifer Schaller

What prompted you to start CLIENTSFirst Consulting?

Chris Fritsch

You know, that’s a good question. I actually worked at a CRM company years ago, and those companies are terrific at building and selling and installing and implementing software…not necessarily as great at being able to take the time to get to know each law firm to really understand the firm’s needs, the requirements, the culture in order to really help them succeed with the technology. So I saw that was a real opportunity to be able to help clients succeed. The company’s called CLIENTSFirst. And so we’re really focused on sharing information, ideas, best practices for success gained from years of experience doing this, and it has been a great 15 years of growth. And the most important part is we get to help clients.

Jennifer Schaller

So what are the main reasons that prompt law firms to implement CRM systems?

Chris Fritsch

CRM systems are about communication, coordination, and client service. And of course, business development. Law firms of all types and sizes really are focused on those areas. So I think that’s why CRM has been such an important piece of technology over the years.

Jennifer Schaller

What are the most common uses of CRMs in law firms?

Chris Fritsch

Use in most firms starts with contact management and list and event management. Those are some of the fundamental capabilities that CRM systems provide. You know, in law firms we write, we speak, we do events and webinars and seminars. That’s a really big need, and CRM fills that need very, very well. These are things that are maybe not exciting, but essential. So that’s creating a centralized repository of information that can be clean and correct and easily updated. That’s usually where firms start. Being able to have marketing build and manage the list to be able to get all the events done and managed, to be able to allow the attorneys or assistants to update lists, and just basically making sure that clients and prospects and other contacts are getting the information that the attorneys and the law firm need to put out there. You know, because as attorneys, if we can’t share information about our experience and our expertise and changes in the law and capabilities, then it makes it really challenging to develop business. And so that’s where CRMs start, but what we’re seeing more recently is a focus on more advanced business development features. Business development has taken a little bit longer in legal than in some other professional services, but I think we’re getting there. So we’re seeing a lot more emphasis on those tools right now. A lot of people right now are actually switching CRM systems because they want to get some more of these advanced business development features.

Jennifer Schaller

What are some of the features law firms should be implementing but that aren’t being utilized enough, in your opinion? Or does that kind of piggyback on business development stuff?

Chris Fritsch

Yeah, that’s a big piece of it. The big thing is activity tracking. That’s one of those things that everybody agrees, it would be incredibly valuable to know who’s taking who to lunch, who are we doing proposals with? Who are we having phone calls and meetings with? But the challenge with that is those have to be entered manually. A lot of things in CRM we’ve been able to automate, but that’s one that you really just can’t because the information lives in the attorney’s head, right? So it’s got to be done, and you can’t have computers or even assistants doing that really well. But everybody wants the information. So I think that has been a big challenge. Probably one of the biggest firm challenges is to get attorneys to sort of function that way and think like salespeople, whereas outside of legal, you know, you can mandate behavior and do reporting on activities. In a professional services, specifically, in a law firm model that’s a little more challenging, there’s sort of a hesitancy to mandate anything. So we do have challenges with that. That also sort of turns into adoption. You know, that has always been a challenge as well. In a law firm time is money, literally. And so anything that they have to do in terms of technology that takes away from serving the clients and frankly, billing time, there’s got to be a lot of value there. Any of the features that require them to do data entry are going to be challenging because we have taken a little bit longer to be focused on business development. There are really advanced pipeline features in a lot of the CRMs, outside of legal, and now in some of the ones that are vertically focused for law firms, but getting attorneys to enter data into a pipeline is probably going to be challenging, and it may not be the highest and best use of their time. And so a lot of firms that are dealing with implementing pipelines, they’re having internal business development resources actually do the data entry, and then just getting the information related to reports and pitches and things. Let them give that information to the attorneys to use when they need it.

Jennifer Schaller

These people are billing their time in six-minute increments. What are some of the built-in features of CRMs that help law firms capture the things that lawyers are reluctant to do other than…. obviously, there needs to be a culture change. But what are some of the things that make it smoother?

Chris Fritsch

So there’s actually a tool that I’m a big fan of called ERM, or enterprise relationship management. And it is a technology most of the CRMs in the legal vertical do have built in, but there are also some freestanding systems. And what they do is they create the contacts from the signature blocks of the emails. So the attorneys don’t have to deal with contact data entry and collection and updating. In the past, the systems worked with sort of an Outlook Sync process where the contacts would flow in, but lately, people don’t use Outlook like they used to. I mean they still use it for email and for calendar, but not so much address books. So the problem with address books was people were putting data in but never removing it. And so you just ended up with more and more contacts. And you know, they’re not particularly relevant anymore. These ERM systems will create good contacts, because frankly, if you just got a signature block, the information is probably good. And so you enter that data–it does it automatically. And so attorneys don’t have to do data entry, which is great. But it also creates a who-knows-who relationship, which is something we really want to be able to capture. You know, if you want to pitch some client or get a connection in a corporation, you might want to know who in the firm knows that person. The ERM uses an algorithm based on recency and frequency of communication to tell us not just who, but how well they know that person based on frequency and recency of communication. There are also some calendar capture features that are available; I think ERM is really the one that has changed the game. Also being able to have a connected email and e-marketing and event management tool that allows the data to flow seamlessly between the systems is incredibly important, because otherwise you end up with disconnected databases and double data entry, and I think e-marketing systems are also a really big deal.

Jennifer Schaller

Okay, wow, I didn’t know the depth of that. That’s really interesting. One of the things that you’ve touched on is lawyers and law firms and culture and change, so how large, or substantial or established, does a law firm need to be to benefit from a CRM?

Chris Fritsch

Pretty much any firm can benefit from CRM, because again, it is the fundamental communication coordination, client service, business development that’s important to every firm. So they’re different types of software for different sizes of firms. And I’ve worked with the largest firms in the world, and we help them find systems that meet their needs. But every once in a while, I’ll work with a solo or small firm, and they have different needs, and, of course, different budget requirements. And so they have different types of products that make sense for them. But I think pretty much anybody from the largest firm in the world to a solo can benefit from CRM.

Jennifer Schaller

Knowing that small law firms are not a homogenous group, meaning that intellectual property law firms or even a solo can have different needs than a family law practitioner, what would be some of the core features that even smaller law firms can look for in CRM systems, or should kind of have as, like, table stakes?

Chris Fritsch

Smaller firms for the longest time had challenges trying to implement CRM because they were licensed models, they require a lot of professional services to install and implement, and they required a lot of staff to manage, and that’s contrary to the small firm model. Ideally, in a perfect world, they want a less expensive option that doesn’t require as much training and ongoing sort of care and feeding. And what’s happened is most of the software providers have gone to a subscription model because it makes it easier to budget for the software over time, you don’t have a big upfront cost, and a lot of them have also moved to the cloud.

Jennifer Schaller

You’ve touched a couple different times about large law firms having multiple data stewards and dedicated CRM people, but smaller firms or firms that are not in the select 100 may not have those resources. What type of staff is required to succeed with CRM technology, or what tasks would need to be at a bare minimum assigned to somebody within their teams to get it up and running or to make it a viable option within the firm?

Chris Fritsch

The larger the firm and the more complex the system and processes required, the more staff and the more resources that are going to be needed, the more training that’s going to be needed, the more communication and planning and strategy. That’s always important. But right now we’re working with a firm that has a database with 7 million records. They’re bringing together information from databases all over the world, that’s a big undertaking. Whereas the most essential staff in bigger firms with a bigger implementation, you’re going to need perhaps a CRM manager, whereas a smaller firm with a smaller implementation that’s less complex, you’re not going to need a CRM manager, perhaps you might just need someone part time. The most important staff though, is in the area of data quality, because data degrades rapidly. And now with all the changes taking place, people are changing jobs left and right. So data is degrading faster than ever, and you’ve made this investment in the technology. But as an attorney, I can tell you, if the data is bad, then the system is bad, and I’m not going to use it. So you definitely have to focus on that data to get the return on investment from the technology. And you know, firms don’t necessarily want to hire a data steward, but it’s super important to focus on.

Jennifer Schaller

So firms are stretched, and plus, you touched upon too, everybody’s changing jobs. So it’s really tough for smaller firms to hire, any smaller organization to hire. So how does the firm stretch their existing staff to implement or, you know, make viable a useful CRM system, because as you mentioned, it’s only as good as its data?

Chris Fritsch

You know, one of the biggest trends we’re seeing is the move to outsourcing and having that really escalate. You know, firms have been outsourcing data stewards for decades, well, for at least the 10, 15 years that I’ve been around, because not every firm has the luxury of being able to hire a data steward or an experienced CRM manager who’s done a rollout before. Again, most firms don’t have the ability or even the desire to have their internal people doing data work. And so they’re turning to outsourcing to fill these positions, because the great thing about it is you can get the experience and the expertise, and just the amount of hours that you require. So especially for smaller firms, you wouldn’t want to hire a 40 hour a week data steward anyway. But with outsourcing, you can get you know, 10 hours a week, 20 hours a week, whatever you need during the rollout, and then you want to focus ongoing you might need even less, but you need to dedicate those resources, and you don’t have to do it with internal people, because data quality work is not particularly fun, and a lot of people don’t enjoy doing it. But yeah, we outsource a lot of data stewards. It’s actually our highest growth area right now because of the focus on outsourcing.

Jennifer Schaller

Okay, so a part of lawyers is–speaking lawyer to lawyer—a bit of a control freak. You might not have noticed or heard about it, but you know, anyway. So outsourcing is kind of a scary thing to them, meaning, you know, a smaller firm might be in the devil of not being able to hire somebody or being able to hire too much of somebody, as you indicated. So with outsourcing, what would they look for?

Chris Fritsch

I think number one is experience and reputation. All of our folks that do data work, you know, we try to hire the right people that have the aptitude to actually enjoy the work and then train them, train them and retrain them. We spend a lot of time really getting them to understand not just how to use the CRM tools and how to do the data quality, but also to do the research and how to also understand the law firm. There’s a lot of complex relationships in terms of financial institutions, I think that’s a really big piece of it, you know, having a lot of knowledge and experience doing it. For a lot of our clients, very, very large law firms, they have often significant privacy and security issues, so we have a team of US based people, because that helps them with challenges around GDPR. So you may want to ask, where are your people based? Can they do background checks is a really big important thing.

Jennifer Schaller

Oh, wow. That’s true, yeah, especially if they’re doing government or any type of work. You brought up some really good points there. So you mentioned training, so law firms that would consider outsourcing would be then benefiting from the training not only that they receive from a company like yours, but experience that they’ve picked up from other law firms along the way.

Chris Fritsch

The training is challenging. So you know, you have to train and retrain, you know, things are changing all the time with the software and systems. And it really is a big component, making sure that you have good experienced people. And then we also have a team that does quality checking as well, because I think in law more than any other industry even more than in other professional services, you mentioned earlier, you know, being a little bit of a control freak, we want good data. Outside of legal people are thrilled to have data quality of 70% . “We have automated data sources that’ll get you 70% correct data.” In a law firm 70% would get you fired! Right?

Jennifer Schaller

We got 70% of your lawsuit correct! That tends to not be an acceptable thing for attorneys, and I think they tend to hold anybody else that they work with or any product that they use to similar standards. It’d be really challenging. What are some of the things, not that there’s any silver bullet–and I’m sorry, legal marketers, there isn’t–to kind of overcome some of the, you know, maybe they were at another firm, or they had a friend who had a problem with it. Lawyers actually talk amongst each other and have a tendency to, well, they’ll discount it for their own clients, other people’s experiences, but if they have a lawyer friend who went through something, and it was negative, that’s, you know, good as gold. How do you overcome some lawyers’ reluctance, because of bad data quality, which seems to cause the problems to incrementally kind of chip away at that?

Chris Fritsch

You know, we used to think—and these things are tied together–so bad data is a big challenge. And adoption is a big challenge, getting attorneys to “use” the system, right? So we forever have defined adoption as attorneys would get trained, they would go through their data, they would, you know, mark the ones that they wanted to share or didn’t want to share, the assistants had to get involved and it all sort of fell down because again, we’re busy, and you know, time is money, literally. You know, I think the adoption challenge is tied to the data. Because again, if the data is bad, they don’t want to use the system. So going to these more automated ERM systems that pull in good data, I think it’s time that we really need to redefine adoption from attorneys doing data entry, which is probably not the highest and best use of someone’s time who’s billing $500, $200, $1,000 an hour, whatever it might be, let’s do more automation. And the other thing with the data is, it used to be the researchers would say 30% was degrading each year. Now it’s got to be closer to 50% with, you know, the Great Realignment and you know, staffing and people working from home and hybrid and people are moving and companies are starting and ending and getting acquired. So if you don’t focus on the data, if you don’t have good data, it’s going to hinder adoption, and it’s sort of all tied together. So we have to really sort of think through things, and that’s, again, why we are so focused on the ERM methodology. It minimizes attorney data entry, it maximizes good data, it automates the process, it really just is a very helpful tool.

Jennifer Schaller

That’s really interesting. Anything that can be used to make it simpler to get it off the ground. You mentioned data quality. And you mentioned ERM software implementations or kind of pairing it with the CRM system or having a CRM system that has that built in as a way to help with data quality. What is the part, you mentioned, that’s still gonna leave maybe 20 to 30% of the data in there? How are ways that law firms or outsourcing groups or, maybe I got the statistic wrong, cleaning up the balance of that, or is that, even within law, acceptable?

Chris Fritsch

What we’ve arrived at is a process that I have named True DQ, and it’s a multi-step process. For some firms, it might just be one step, an outsourced data steward. But for some firms, it’s multiple steps. First thing that you need to do is assess the mess. Figure out how bad is your data, if you’re getting a new system, right, you may not want to move, if you’ve had your system, 10, 15 years, you probably don’t want to move all that data, you definitely don’t want to clean all that data, it can cost more than the CRM system. So helping figure out strategically, what are the right contacts to move, key client data, top lists, getting all that data together and getting it cleaned and deduplicated  because, again, as, attorneys, we all know the same people. Some of us have good data, some is bad, and it’s got to be researched but you want to minimize the amount of data so you want to do a really strong assessment process upfront. And that’s if you’re changing systems, or if you’re just trying to clean your existing system, you want to focus your limited time and resources where you can get the most value. So then there’s an automated data quality process. So you know, as I said earlier, automated, you know, only gets you part of the way there. But when you’re doing projects, like, sometimes we’re doing projects, where there’s 7 million records. You couldn’t hire enough people or have enough money or time to clean all that data. So you can take an automated process that will get you quickly and cost effectively part of the way there. And then you know, at each step in the process, you can say that’s good enough, or I want a cleaner, I want it better. And for a lot of law firms, they want it as clean as possible. And so the final step would be to add data stewards to kind of finish off the remaining data that couldn’t be automatically matched. And also we have a quality checking process to quality check the results of the automated process as well. There’s a lot that goes on to keep good data clean and correct and complete, but it’s absolutely imperative and essential to CRM success and people are investing a lot of money in these systems. They should be getting value from them.

Jennifer Schaller

I know you can’t, us lawyers are all profound individuals, lump them all into one group–

Chris Fritsch

We’re all special snowflakes.

Jennifer Schaller

We are all special snowflakes! But if you have noticed one trend, is it if the data is better, there’s more chance of a successful adoption in use, or does that tend to be one of the biggest hurdles to overcome?

Chris Fritsch

A lot of the new systems that are ERM focused, the adoption model changes a little bit. So before with sort of the CRM systems that have been around longer, the idea was an Outlook Sync. And then everybody used Outlook. And so the contacts–you know, in a law firm, things are sort of inside out, we don’t just join the firm and get given the keys to the CRM, here are the contacts and clients. Instead, they come in with the attorney and new lateral joins, and the contacts are with them. And so we’ve had these tools to bring in Outlook data, and that required training and installations at the attorney level, and then the data would sync back. And if it was wrong, and it changed somebody’s Outlook, you’d hear about it. With the new ERM methodology, and or maybe a one-way sync, so we’re not, you know, pushing potentially incorrect or what people think might be incorrect data back into the Outlook for the attorneys to see, instead we’re gathering the data through an electronic process, we’re getting good data from the signature blocks, we’re bringing that data in. For some of us, what we do is we actually enhance the data with things like industries, because industry marketing is a big priority for a lot of firms. And nobody says they do it really well, you either have to spend a lot of money to get subscriptions, or you have an automated process, or you can do it manually. And so we try to help firms think through strategies to enhance the data when their data stewarding it with company information, size of company, industry of company, so then you don’t have to rely as much on the attorneys. Like they’ll come and say, “Hey, we want to pull an energy list. Because we’re doing an energy seminar.” Well, you can’t do that. “We want to pull a list of clients.” But without a time and billing integration, you really can’t do that. So these new tools are really helping automate that process, so suddenly, maybe I can’t pull 100% perfect energy or manufacture or whatever, pharmaceutical industry list, but I can get you at least a really good start, and then you can add individuals to it. These are tools we didn’t have years ago. And they really are taking the attorneys out of the process and taking them out of the data entry role. And instead, let’s give them the data they want. Let them be consumers of the data, let’s get them the reports that they need to do what they need to do and minimize the time required. Sometimes it’s staff that are helping to support these processes as well. So never underestimate the power of having good folks to help the attorneys get what they need. And so we’re going to define it instead of attorneys entering data into the system, it’s going to be attorneys getting value out of the system. And that’s how I think adoption needs to be redefined.

Jennifer Schaller

So once they see the value in it, they begin to adopt and of course they see another attorney getting value out of it.

Chris Fritsch

And while you might use ERM, when you implement a CRM you have to consider both a macro and a micro. So we’ve got to be able to get the contacts to do the list to do the events. That’s sort of a core component of it. And if you don’t get that data, you can’t do the other things like the fundamental who-knows-who and the business development. So a lot of firms are going to, “Okay, let’s do an ERM model and capture the context.” And most of the attorneys then don’t have to be users of the system. Instead, you can give licenses to key business developers or practice group leaders or whoever might need the information. And they have the data that they need to do what they need to do. But the day-to-day work of the attorneys is they can focus on the clients.

Jennifer Schaller

That’s interesting to hear, and good to hear actually, that it’s rolling out a lot better. You founded CLIENTSFirst Consulting 15 years ago. I’m not trying to age you, you must have founded it when you were 15 and, you know, even more of a prodigy. Name some of the ways that not only things have changed over the last 15 or so years, but some of the incremental successes I mean, it might have been a small firm, it might not resonate, but what are some of the wins that you’ve had, or some of the ways that you’ve been able to help firms succeed over the years?

Chris Fritsch

A key thing that we do, I think, that firms have found particularly valuable is called a CRM Success Assessment. And so whether you’re getting your first CRM system or you’re looking to change systems, or just improve your current implementation, we come in really getting to know the firm. So we do meetings with key stakeholders throughout the firm to really understand their different needs and requirements, and document that. The last thing you want to do is oh, we need a CRM, let’s figure out what everybody else is using, because that has proven over time to be a recipe for disaster. Instead, it’s all about your unique firm, your needs, requirements, and culture. And so we document that for the firms and then we help them go through a selection process where we take the information from the assessment and turn that into what we call a vendor demo roadmap that we can provide to the providers so that they can follow a roadmap during the demonstration. “Hey, focus on these things that the firm really cares about. Let’s compare apples to apples. Let’s put together the right proposal and get the right technology.” Because that’s the first thing is making sure you get the right system. The other thing is back many years ago, success was defined as, “We’re going to roll it out all at once and everybody’s going to use it.” Right? All the attorneys are going to log in every day. Well, I think it’s been 20 years, and it hasn’t happened yet. So again, we’re sort of redefining success doing the macro for the whole firm, but then really being able to, and this sounds a little counterintuitive at a big firm, but you really focus on the micro. Let’s get the macro right, you know, lists and events. But then let’s find the strong leader that has a problem to solve or a process to improve. And the beauty of CRM is it can do 1,000 things, the problem has been it can do 1,000 things, you should probably do three, or maybe even one. And so you get all these tools, but you only want to implement one here. And then you know, each group might want to do something a little differently, one group may actually track activities, there’s a big firm, we’ve worked with that one group is really focused on activity tracking. And so then configure the system to support that one thing, build the reports out the processes around it, the training materials around it, and you train that group on that thing, and maybe just that thing. You know, but then you might have, you know, a labor and employment group that does a lot of events, and webinars and seminars. Let’s show them how to manage the invitation process and add people to lists because they care about that. And so you focus on special snowflake scenarios, one group at a time, and you call them a pilot group. I had a smart Managing Partner say to me, you do a pilot group, and you get them success, you communicate that success, and you do another pilot group, and everybody feels like a special snowflake. Everybody gets their needs met. But it’s not quick. But it’s not designed to be quick, because CRM is not a project. It’s not an initiative, it is a fundamental improvement in how the firm manages its most important asset, its relationships. So as a result, it never really ends. And so if you do it in little pilot groups, you know, you’ve got forever to get better at it. You know, a lot of it is sort of daunting, you’re like, “Oh, our data is terrible.” Well, that’s okay you know, you don’t have to clean it up 100% right now, you want to do it in pieces and get successes, do it in increments, focus on top clients, focus on, you know, one group is doing an event, focus on their lists. There are a lot of different ways to do it to be effective, and get incremental successes, because they do they all add up.

Jennifer Schaller

Start with a coalition of the willing. Thank you, Chris, for going through some of the pilot groups at larger law firms, that sounds like a good way to find some early successes and kind of replicate it, but maybe in a customized form with different groups within a firm. But again, the majority of law firms are small. And while it’s great to learn from what the larger firms are doing, are there any initiatives, you know, to help smaller firms, either within your company or industry-wide, to work with CRMs?

Chris Fritsch

There are definitely some products out there for smaller firms. But what I have seen over the years is it’s been a little challenging because of the resource constraints and the staffing constraints. And so for years, smaller firms would come to me and say, you know, can you help us find a system? And you know, now the software is less expensive because of the subscription model. But the professional services has always been $50,000 plus dollars. And for a smaller firm, that’s without integrations. You’re looking at a lot of money to do the professional services. And so we’ve actually come up with a new piece of software we’re about to come out with that, hopefully, is going to make it easier for smaller firms to get a system to do what they need to help capture and augment the data and do lists. And so we’re pretty excited about that.

Jennifer Schaller

Okay, so if I can ask, what are some of the features in the product that CLIENTSFirst has coming out that helps small firms?

Chris Fritsch

As you can imagine, because I talk so much about it, I really think ERM is a fundamental piece of it. And we’re also going to be doing data cleaning, because obviously that’s a big focus for us as well and data augmentation with the things that we talked about, business information and industry information. And we’re going to make sure the data is clean and correct and complete. And we’re also going to have a built-in email functionality too. So it’s all integrated into a single platform to help smaller firms succeed as well. So the largest firms in the world, they need a certain type of software, and we thoroughly enjoy helping them succeed. And we just think that the smaller firms could benefit from some additional options.

Jennifer Schaller

That’s good to hear. Otherwise, a whole portion of the market is underserved. As always, thanks to Chris Fritsch from CLIENTSFirst Consulting for joining us today and for updating us on the nuances of CRM, specifically in the legal world or in the law firm environment. Law firms have such a challenging time to know where to start or what to do with what they already have. And thank you for helping us understand some of those steps or decision trees that go into law firms or especially smaller firms picking a CRM system. Thanks, Chris.

Chris Fritsch

Happy to help and thank you for the invitation to be here.

OUTRO 

Thank you for listening to the National Law Review’s Legal News Reach podcast. Be sure to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts for more episodes. For the latest legal news, or if you’re interested in publishing and advertising with us, visit www.natlawreview.com. We’ll be back soon with our next episode.

Copyright ©2022 National Law Forum, LLC

Between the Legal Lines — Jessica Pfisterer [PODCAST]

With big dreams of helping people, Jessica Pfisterer began her career in public interest law, though she soon realized she wasn’t going to see the change she hoped for at the pace she wanted. Where Jessica truly found her passion was in People Operations and HR, thanks to her GC at the time. In this episode of Between the Legal Lines, Jessica shares with Andrea Bricca the story of how that pivotal role shaped the future of her career and what she has learned as a human resources leader who is also a trained lawyer.

Jessica Pfisterer is an HR leader and dancer, with a background in civil rights law and social justice work. She currently heads the People team at Lively, and dances with Duniya Dance and Drum Company. She is also on the board of TurnOut, a nonprofit that supports LGBTQ+ organizations, support for LGBTQ+ organizations, ensuring they are positioned to succeed and to continue serving the community. She is a Bay Area local and spends her free time traveling and exploring the great outdoors.

©2022 Major, Lindsey & Africa, an Allegis Group Company. All rights reserved.

Three Ways to Use LinkedIn’s Notifications Tab to Build Your Network and Business

Here’s an easy and effective way to leverage LinkedIn for business development and networking – use information and updates about your connections from the Notifications tab to build stronger relationships.

LinkedIn gives you many reasons to reach out to people in your professional network through the Notifications tab

These reasons range from new business, networking, jobs, referrals and branding opportunities.

Prompts from the LinkedIn Notifications tab about your connections’ birthdays, work anniversaries and new jobs can serve as powerful catalysts to get back in touch with your connections.

I have seen these prompts lead to new business and reignited relationships many times.

I call these notifications “low hanging fruit” because they require very little effort on your part and they’re easy to do, and can yield major benefits.

Marketing strategies don’t have to be complicated to be successful. We often overlook them when it’s so basic.

So how do you leverage them?

  1. For a work anniversary notification, you could say, “Hey Jim, I can’t believe it’s been X years since you joined your company! Time sure flies. How are you?” Then take it a step further, suggest an off-line conversation either in person, over the phone or via zoom.

  2. For a new job announcement try, “Congratulations on the new role – how is it going so far?” again offer to take the conversation off-line and have a separate conversation either in-person or virtually.  (Many people don’t send an email when they get a new job anymore – it’s up to us to do the due diligence to find out where they landed and then take the initiative to congratulate them on their job move).

  3. Wish your connections a happy birthday.  Just saying a simple “Happy birthday – I hope you’re having a great day – would love to take you for lunch or a drink to celebrate” is a great way to make someone’s day. Adding your birthday into LinkedIn works – I had about 200 LinkedIn birthday well wishes and one of them actually led to a new client.

Sometimes the basic actions that take just minutes are the most impactful.

Having reasons to reach out to your connections is powerful versus the dreaded “just checking in” email.

LinkedIn has made it even easier now to stay updated on others’ notifications by enabling us to follow certain individuals by clicking the bell on their profile.

No one knows who you are following, so use it strategically and follow your clients, referrals, VIP connections and even your competitors. You should also follow content creators whose information you find useful.

I’d love to hear how the Notifications section has worked for you.

Copyright © 2022, Stefanie M. Marrone. All Rights Reserved.

How to Market Your Firm When You Don’t Need an In-House Hire

Law firms of any size need some level of marketing for long-term growth and sustainability. To be successful, every law firm must focus on its marketing. In an ideal world, lawyers would have the time to do what they do best and also market their business so it can grow. However, lawyers are inherently busy individuals, and it often doesn’t make sense to try to do it all themselves. Trying to do it all alone is overwhelming, and your time is best spent helping clients.

The simple answer to this time crunch dilemma is to hire someone in-house to take over the marketing efforts. But for many firms, that has a laundry list of drawbacks, such as additional time and expense. Perhaps you don’t have the marketing needs or budget to hire someone to market your law firm on a full- or even part-time basis. Hiring someone in-house means you need to have enough work and room in your budget to keep them busy. So, what are your other options?

Do it Yourself

Continuing to market your law firm yourself is one option. But let’s be realistic; you cannot do it all. With your busy schedule, you might only have one to three hours per week to dedicate to your marketing efforts. If this is the case, pick one or two marketing elements to be consistent with. For example, focus on your blogs or social media posts. If you need more help, as this tiny sliver of weekly time is not likely to move the needle or be sustainable, it’s time to outsource.

Hire an Agency or Freelancer

One viable option could be hiring an agency or freelancer to take over all or most of your marketing tasks. Outsourcing can help take some of this pressure off. Leaving your marketing in the hands of an experienced and knowledgeable agency or freelancer gives you peace of mind that it’s being done optimally. It also lets you focus on your clients and practicing law—which is what you went to school for, after all.

Identify Your Marketing Goals

If you decide to go this route, determine what your primary marketing goals are and go from there:

  • Do you want more leads?

  • Do you want to see more conversions?

  • Do you need to get more referrals?

  • Do you need a better ROI for your marketing dollars?

By listing your marketing goals and dreams and what you’re already doing, you can visualize your marketing gap and identify when it’s time to work with a professional. The more significant this gap, the more likely you need to hire a professional as soon as possible. In the meantime, you could be missing out on signing new clients.

Get an Outside Opinion

When you work with a freelancer or marketing agency, you will have a professional on your side who can also audit your marketing plan and tell you what your marketing is missing. Having another person, especially a marketing expert, lay eyes on what you’ve done to market your law firm and your future plans can help you identify your weaknesses and course correct to the right path. Marketing professionals can take what you have already started and turn it into something bigger and more successful.

Benefits of Working with a Marketing Agency or Freelancer

Working with a marketing agency or freelancer can provide your law firm with the following benefits:

  • Increased brand awareness

  • Greater ability to be found on the internet

  • More website traffic

  • Building trust and credibility with your audience

  • Improved online presence and engagement

  • Conversion rate optimization

  • Cost efficiency

  • Tracking and interpreting marketing efforts

  • Strategy and creativity – for example, creating targeted campaigns for niche clients

Last but not least, they allow you to focus on obtaining optimal outcomes for your clients instead of trying to market your law firm.

© 2022 Denver Legal Marketing LLC

Five Ways to Encourage Lawyer Participation With Your CRM System

Lawyers are busy and often resistant to change, so getting them on board with using a new or even your existing CRM system can be challenging.

But if you approach your CRM efforts as a value-added benefit that will support their marketing and business development efforts and is not difficult to use or time-consuming, you can increase CRM adoption and participation by your lawyer population at any size law firm or professional services organization. Here’s how.

  1. Explain what’s in it for them. Spend the time to clearly outline to users how the CRM system will directly benefit them, not just the organiztion as a whole.
  2. Put yourself in their shoes. Overcomplicated systems and non-technical users are a recipe for disaster. The whole point of implementing a CRM system is to improve efficiency and productivity, not hinder it, so make it easy for your lawyers to use it – or they simply won’t. In addition, lawyers use many different systems on a daily basis, such as time and billing, practice management and document management. CRM can become the one place to get all or most of what they need and allow them more time to be lawyers. Tip – look for CRM systems that include customizable dashboards to personalize daily views.
  3. Show lawyers how easy it is to gain value and insights from the information in the CRM on their own. Engage your marketing professionals to regularly meet with lawyers on a regular basis to gather new and updated contact information.
  4. Find a system that makes it easy for lawyers to share appointments and activities with CRM. This way, marketing professionals can provide strategic, proactive support for upcoming prospect and client meetings based on CRM data. For example, let’s say your marketing manager sees a calendar appointment with a prospective client on an attorney’s schedule. She could then reach out to them and proactively create pitch materials and share who-knows-who info, past matters information and other intelligence. After meetings, attorneys can be prompted to add their meeting notes in CRM too.
  5. Maintain clean, updated CRM data. Your CRM is only as useful and strong as the information entered into it, so if its users are inputting inaccurate data, you’ll only distill inaccurate insights from it. Ensure your data is up to date and accurate, and implement a regular data cleaning process which you can outsource if you don’t have internal resources to manage it.

5 Ways to Encourage Lawyer Participation With Your CRM System

While the keys to CRM adoption success will vary for each firm, the common, important thread is always the “value exchange.” If you make it easy for your attorneys to contribute valuable information – and ensure they are getting value out of the CRM – adoption and CRM success will follow.

Increasing CRM adoption and participation takes time, but it is an important investment to make and one that will provide many long-term benefits for your lawyers and your firm.

Another strategy to consider: redefining CRM success by minimizing the need for attorney adoption. Many smart firms are moving away from the traditional model of having attorneys be responsible for data entry. We’ll discuss that in an upcoming post.

© Copyright 2022 CLIENTSFirst Consulting