LegalMatch Marketing

Legal Process Outsourcing Takes Hold in India.

Outsourcing legal work is nothing new. Secretarial services within the States have been taking on legal paperwork for years, and more than a few overwhelmed lawyers have sent off their legal busywork to LPO[1]-focused legal firms. What is new is the expansion of that legal outsourcing to offshore LPOs in countries like India, many of whom dangle a tempting price tag in front of financially strained attorneys.

While outsourcing in the United States often means paying $7-10 per page for legal work, workers in India are now offering those same services at an average of $1 per page—a nearly 100% decrease[2]. Price differences that extreme add up very quickly for larger, paper-heavy firms, many of whom are now dropping their in-house fees in favor of saving their clients (and themselves) a heavy chunk of change.

More on making outsourcing part of your marketing plan in the next LegalMatch newsletter.

[1] LPO: Legal Process Outsourcing.
[2] Rubenstein, Michael. "Call My Lawer... In India." Time Magazine, April 2008.

Is This Town Too Big For A General Practitioner?

Conventional wisdom says that lawyers need to specialize. Conventional thinking holds that, because there are so many lawyers, the only way to stand out in a crowd is to do one thing and be the best at it. Particularly in a major, metropolitan area like Chicago, with many thousands of attorney-specialists, conventional opinion predicts the decline and fall of the solo, general practitioner. Nevertheless, that is what I have decided to do for a living. Can conventional wisdom be wrong?

Lucky for me, conventional wisdom, like any generalization, is usually wrong! I believe that there will always be room for the general practitioner in any market, Smallville or Metropolis. I have chosen a general practice because I enjoy its variety and challenges; particularly, marketing legal services to the general public, and reading and researching many different areas of the law. I try to use technology and inspiration to help me compete.

I believe that marketing to clients is the hardest business process facing any lawyer, but that marketing to the general public is even harder! Marketing is one area where technology has been of great benefit. I have a web site and try to keep it current and relevant. LegalMatch provided me with a new way to interact with potential clients. It allows me to screen cases without wasting a lot of time on the telephone, and to script a thoughtful response to potential clients. For inspiration, I turn to the many blogs on the subject of marketing, including Tom Kane's "Legal Marketing Blog," Matt Homan's "[non]billable hour," and Carolyn Elefant's "My Shingle," to name just a few. Many of these bloggers feel, as I do, that conventional thinking needs to be challenged, and I am inspired and educated by them on a regular basis.

I also use technology to help me keep up with developments in various areas of the law. I get email updates from the local bar associations on many practice areas, and use on-line legal research extensively. Ever since I have been a solo, I've longed for the resources that I used to enjoy at the big firms. I was inspired to create a pet project named "wiki-PLEAD-ia," in homage to the wonderful www.wikipedia.com, an on-line encyclopedia. My vision is to create an on-line knowledge base, replete with forms, instructions, procedural explanations, and other practical information. The knowledge base would be edited and managed by practicing attorneys, law students, judges, clerks of court, or anyone with knowledge of the subject matter. Ideally, an editorial staff comprised of experts from law schools, the bench, and bar would serve to oversee contributions. With such a resource, it is my hope that solo practitioners and general practitioners could enjoy even more variety in their work, and dare to take on new and different matters with more confidence. Thanks to the good people at Peanut Butter Wiki, you can visit http://johnstarkweather.pbwiki.com/index.php?wiki=FrontPage to get a sense of what shape wikipleadia might take. I hope it inspires attorneys of all stripes to contribute.

Conventional wisdom says that variety is the spice of life (and while I personally agree with that notion, I have just criticized conventional wisdom above, so now I'm in a pickle). I'm grateful to those who challenge the conventions that limit our creativity, independence, and choices. Those of you who have worked to create new ways of communicating, connecting, learning, and inspiring, have given me the confidence to attempt to be a general practitioner in the big city.

John P. Starkweather practices in Chicago, Illinois. You can contact him at john@starkweatherlaw.com or by visiting www.starkweatherlaw.com.

Growing a Law Practice with LegalMatch Financial Services for Attorneys.

Just as with other small businesses, a law practice needs the right financing to grow. Unfortunately there appears to be a deep-seated, unwarranted bias on the part of most banks and lenders against lawyers. It is probable that this bias stems from a perception that, in general, lawyers are okay with defaulting on their contractual obligations, and feel empowered in defending themselves (and thus avoiding out-of-pocket attorney’s fees that would normally defer other potential loan applicants from defaulting). Thus, despite any statistical justification, the lenders feel that their risk is higher. Rather, the opposite is probably true: The sanctity of contract is something familiar to most lawyers from the days of law school, and they generally take their contractual responsibilities more seriously than John. Q. Public does.

So, even though lawyers make good borrowers, this explains why America’s small firms and solo practitioners have a perceived image problem that is an impediment to them easily finding reasonable small business loans and lines of credit needed to grow their law practices.

As a law practice is like any other small business – it needs office space, staff, computers, desks, hardware, software, copiers, fax machines, supplies, and myriad other resources that any small business needs. Additionally, every practice has to constantly and consistently acquire new clients. This requires advertising, marketing, and other out-reach efforts to locate, entertain, and retain new clients – often requiring third party assistance to do this, which in turn, requires money (operating capital).

However, a law practice is at a disadvantage to other small businesses: because of the aforementioned bias, a law practice has a more difficult time finding a good (defined as reasonable rates and terms) business loan to provide that operating capital.

So what are the advantages of a business loan compared to a personal line of credit or a home equity line as a means of financing practice growth?

1. Generally the loan is to the law practice itself and not you personally, and although you may be required to guarantee the loan, it appears as an obligation of the law practice.
2. Interest rates for business loans have a tendency to be lower than personal loans, and typically range from Prime Rate + 2% to Prime Rate + 5% (The current prime rate is hovering around 5% per year).
3. Business loans are available in amounts which are significantly larger than personal lines of credit.
4. Last, a home equity line results in a lien on your real property, whereas most business lines of credit do not require real estate collateral.

How do small firms and solo practitioners go about finding a good business loan? LegalMatch has found that many of its attorney members needed good business loans. Accordingly, LegalMatch created LegalMatch Financial Services, with the goal of helping its Member Attorneys obtain favorable rates and terms for business loans and various financial products and services.

After an extensive search (that underscored that the above theory of bias towards attorneys does exist), LegalMatch Financial Services located a lender who shares our view that lawyers make good borrowers. The lender is Telesis Community Credit Union. LegalMatch has established a relationship with Telesis and its subsidiary Business Partners, LLC, by which Telesis can provide, at favorable terms and rates, both LegalMatch lawyers and non-member attorneys with small business loans and other types of credit lines.