The success of any law firm depends upon its efficiency. Organising how enquiries are managed, to ensuring files are digitally stored and ready to be accessed on a moment’s notice all this needs to be handled efficiently. Some law firms depend on technology these days for productive and efficient work but without commitment none of those technologies can also be of any help. There are no specific techniques that work for every organisation but there are some common techniques which have been followed for many years by the most successful law firms in the world and have shown results over the years.
Strong Pillars: The most important aspect are the core team members of any law firm who can run the show in the absence of the authorities. A core team member is someone who has enough experience and has been an active member in the whereabouts of the law firm.Individuals who have specialised knowledge in sales, customer service, management and process/systems development are the assets of the organisation. They are the most important thing in any law firm because the growth of a law firm is proportionate to its team members and their commitment and expertise to the organisation. So building a strong team is very important.
Market focus: Competing with the more experienced, higher-profile, big-spending lawyers will do you no good rather than focus on your target audience and give them quality service so that they would keep coming to you again and again. Find your own “small town” in a big city. You’ll not only find prosperity, but also greater practice satisfaction and balance.
The biggest mistake law firms make is thinking that everyone is their customer but that is not true, in fact the very first step is to identify who your customers are and then marketing to them because there will be only certain types of customers who will buy from them. Marketing needs to be done throughout rather than when you run out of customers. Continuous marketing helps to build a flow of customers and keep the chain going.
Better Client Service: The success of a law firm will depend upon the feedback from his or her clients. Clients decide their feedback on a visceral level if they liked the firm or disliked the firm and its services based on what they have heard from their friend or probably read about on the website. So it is very important to build a reputation for the law firm, in layman terms it is also called the goodwill of the organisation. One of the biggest assets of any firm is its reputation, because people talk to people. And as the saying goes Happy clients tell 3 people but unhappy clients tell 33 people. Keeping this in mind it’s very important that we give the customer a satisfactory service experience.
Good Systems and Procedures: Systems that give consistency, accountability and quality -control is what makes a good, sustainable and growth oriented business system. If the firm is running due to efforts and presence of an individual then the firm is likely to fail or just sustain at the mediocre level. That’s why training team members on the system is essential. A good system has to be tried and tested in all different market scenarios and then be implemented into the law firm. These systems can be incorporated from other organisations and their systems as well just like governments of many countries. Most law firms work on “tribal memory” where the senior simply gives instructions to the juniors and the task is carried out. Instead there should be a strong and scalable system, so the juniors simply have to play their part in the system by following the procedure.
Technological advancements: Choosing and using technology well is essential to an efficient, growing practice with satisfied clients, a happy team — and less stress. If there are no technological advancements in the firm then the firm happens to lose its ground. There are many softwares available for office functions, case management or practice management, time and billing, document automation etc. which make it easier to carry out all the day to day operations of a law firm. So opting these technologies can be really fruitful for the growth of the organisation.
Inculcating these tried and tested techniques of running a law firm successfully can help soar any law business to heights. The key point would still remain that how efficiently these techniques are inculcated than just being put to use