Important Techniques to Grow Your Law Firm in the Digital Age
https://www.pexels.com/photo/silver-imac-near-white-ceramic-kettle-205316/
Perhaps the biggest challenge when it comes to running your own law firm lies in the fact that having a ton of experience in the field doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. Why? Well, because being a great lawyer (while definitely a plus), isn’t necessarily the same thing as being a great head of a law firm. The biggest problem with this kind of comparison lies in the fact that you need to start thinking like a businessman instead of an attorney. Now, one such example arises when we come to the issue of technology and its implementation into your firm. Here are several important techniques that you can use to grow your law firm in the digital age.
Improve your website
The first thing you need to do, as a law firm, is to host a high-end website. Why? Well, first of all, you need to understand that it’s a force of habit to look up whoever you’re dealing with online. This is a philosophy that the majority of your target audience will abide by. Therefore, your website needs to be visually engaging, responsive and it needs to contain an abundance of social proof. While making your own website may seem like a good idea, it might be better to look for a professional designer instead.
Host a legal blog
Every great business interaction rests on the fact that both parties are able to generate some value from the interaction. The simplest way to provide some value for your audience is to provide them with free legal counsel on your blog. For this to work, however, you need to start a decent legal blog and fill it with quality content. Ideally, you would have your attorneys offer the advice, even if the post itself is created by a skilled content writer. A collaboration between a marketer and an industry expert usually yields the greatest results.
https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-black-holding-phone-618613/
Outsourcing
While running a legal business, you’ll still be obliged to handle so many aspects of running a company that isn’t necessarily related to law. For instance, you still have the cybersecurity of your website to worry about, as well as the management of all the people on your staff. In other words, you also need an HR department. Then, you need to properly market your firm and have an expert PR consultant on the team. Overall, there are so many functions that require high-end effort on your part.
Specialized tools and platforms
One of the most important things that you need to keep in mind as a small business is a fact that you usually won’t have the privilege of employing an entire department. Instead, you will either have one person in charge of a vital task (HR, IT security, etc.) or outsource this task altogether (something we’ve already discussed). Fortunately, with a specialized tool, even a one-person department can show some remarkable results. We’re talking about investing in high-end HR management software in order to get the most out of your HR team. A similar principle can be applied to any other area of your business that we have mentioned.
Invest in the high-end legal software
https://www.pexels.com/photo/blur-close-up-code-computer-546819/
When it comes to managing your legal affairs, you can achieve much greater efficiency with the help of appropriate legal practice management software. This alone can turn out to be a major boon for your enterprise. First of all, it helps improve your work efficiency by quite a margin. Second, it allows you to keep all your digital files in one place and use them at your own behest. Most importantly, it is incredibly scalable, which is why you can stick to your platform of choice even when your business increases in size and workload.
Online mock trials
The vast majority of cases wrap up in a settlement long before they reach a court. This may sound like a good thing, seeing as how it saves everyone’s money and helps them avoid unnecessary courtroom expenses, however, it has a downside as well. This is due to the fact that the majority of attorneys lack actual courtroom experience. One of the best ways for you to use technology in order to make up for this shortcoming is to look for online mock trials. This way, your staff will be able to see, first-hand, which arguments work and which don’t.
Fiber internet for your office
With so many digital processes running at the same time, it’s absolutely pivotal for your office to introduce fiber internet. This type of internet access is crucial for getting the most out of your conference calls, high-end platforms and collaboration with firms and legal experts that are half a world away. Moreover, as the technology keeps improving, it’s more than realistic to expect that your needs (internet-wise) will grow as well. Why not think about this in time?
Know your business
When running a business, any business really, you’re in a situation where your own familiarity with your business is paramount. Why? Well, knowing that your team is overburdened as it is will prevent you from making promises that you can keep. Being aware of the bottlenecks in your operations will help you improve the overall organization of the business, while knowing the needs of your clients may help you improve your customer service. Keep in mind, nonetheless, that the best way to figure out these things is to become more attentive and start interviewing relevant parties. Numbers can’t reveal everything, regardless of how important the proper analytics are.
Conclusion
Each of the above-listed ideas solves a single problem that you have as a business, which means that you can either use them all at once or dismiss those that you believe you don’t really need. This freedom to customize your own organization and business model through technology is always a huge plus when it comes to making it in the digital age.
AUTHOR BIO
Jacob Wilson is a business consultant, and an organizational psychologist, based in Brisbane. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for Bizzmark blog.