Solo Practice University® » Douglas Greenberg

Generating Business Through Legal Insurance Referral Programs

Douglas Greenberg — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:30:30 +0000

In my most recent posts, I have discussed a variety of attorney marketing methods. But given the uncertainties of marketing, one often wishes there was a better way. What if, instead of marketing, we could rely on a free service guaranteed to bring us clients? All you would need to do is sign up, sit back, and let the business roll in.

Sound too good to be true? It isn’t. It’s called legal insurance.

Legal insurance is a type of insurance that offers its members prepaid or discounted legal services. Companies and organizations purchase the insurance and then offer it to their workers as an employee benefit. When an employee needs an attorney, he or she searches the provider’s listings for a participating lawyer in the area. The employee calls the attorney like any other prospective client. And the relationship ensues normally.

Since the companies seek to offer a wide variety of legal services, all different types of lawyers may apply. So this may be of interest to you regardless of your practice area, whether it’s family law, bankruptcy, real estate, or otherwise. The catch with these plans is that the rates the attorney can charge are pre-set by the insurance company. Often, the pre-set rates are fairly low, and the cases are generally not very lucrative. In some cases, the insurer pays the member’s bill in full. In others, the bill is paid only in part. In still others, the insurer pays nothing at all but pre-negotiates a discounted rate with the attorney.Thus, you will need to inquire into a member’s coverage before taking their case. ( What strikes me about this is in many ways the model is very similar to a RocketLawyer – free signup by the lawyer for an opportunity to get legal business from people seeking legal services but at pre-determined below market rates guaranteed by the provider - just not a pre-defined audience like a union or corporations.)

For a budding solo, these legal insurance referrals offer another source of revenue, a reliable albeit moderate one. With legal insurance plans, at least the paying variety, there are few, if any, collection issues. The attorney submits a claim to the insurance company and the claim is processed as a routine insurance claim. Thus, the attorney is assured of receiving at least some remuneration. Such reliable cash flow can be very important to a fledgling practice by keeping the lights on as you build your book of business. Moreover, by doing good work for these initial clients, you can generate good word-of-mouth and online reviews–as I’ve discussed previously, these are key to building your client base.

Another nice thing about legal insurance companies is that they largely negate the need for expensive referral services. When I first began as a solo, I received numerous sales pitches from paid referral services. All required expensive up-front fees and though many promises were made, none offered any sort of guarantees. In short, I felt the incentives in these arrangements were slanted in favor of the provider. Once you pay the initial cost, what assurances do you have that there will be an adequate number of quality referrals? Indeed, after doing some research I found that these plans generally suffer from a low level of customer satisfaction.

If, keeping all of this in mind, you decide to stick your toe in the pool, there are a large number of legal insurance companies. In truth, I have yet to explore all of them. But, so far I have been most impressed with ARAG. ARAG is one of the larger legal insurance providers and their service is run quite professionally. ARAG’s fees are relatively clear cut. Its website is easy to use. And, if you have any problems, a courteous and helpful operator is only a phone call away.There are other plans as well, though I have less familiarity with them. I have tended to stay away from plans which offer no payment to their members. Not only do these plans strike me as stingy, I have generally gotten little if any business from them after signing up.

Signing up as a network attorney is surprisingly easy, and generally only involves the submission of minor paperwork such as an application and proof of malpractice insurance. Simply look on the provider’s website and click the links for joining as an attorney. There should also be a phone number for this specific department.

Although you may ultimately outgrow the comparatively low compensation associated with legal insurance plans, they are a valuable resource to consider as you’re starting out in solo practice. Until you have enough business to be picky and choosy, it’s hard to ignore a no-cost, guaranteed source of work that pays on time.

Have you worked with through legal insurance referrals? If so, what was your experience. Any recommendations?

Written by Douglas Greenberg

The Referral Power of Positive Reviews on Yelp.

Douglas Greenberg — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:30:56 +0000

In his seminal guide on solo practice, Jay Foonberg predicted that the Internet would change everything about the way consumers shopped for goods and services. And in his opinion, the practice of law was no exception. Today, Foonberg’s vision seems to be materializing more each day. Consumers size up lawyers not just by their artwork and furniture but also by their online reviews at sites like Yelp.com. Indeed, for some potential clients, searching for an attorney may be just like searching for a restaurant: pick up an iPhone and start perusing reviews (perhaps with Siri as a guide.) In fact, Yelp is one of the three main ways that clients come to me (I’ll leave the other two to future posts).

When I first began my practice, I was ambivalent about having a presence on Yelp. On one hand, I knew it was a great (and low-cost) way to gain much-needed exposure. On the other, I feared it because it was entirely outside of my control. Review websites are great for obtaining information, but also largely unregulated. Despite some refinements over the years, users can go on them and say anything about anyone, anonymously, without fear of repercussions. This allows anyone with an internet connection and an agenda (including an unscrupulous competitor) to post a false or unfair reviews and manipulate ratings. And yet, true or untrue, strangers would potentially take those reviews and ratings at face value.

This frightening truth is part of the brave new world that modern lawyers and other business owners confront. Review websites are here to stay. As a result, your control over your reputation may not go much further than your ability to foster positive reviews and ratings on review sites like Yelp. Ultimately, I decided to embrace the inevitable. I encouraged a client to post a review on Yelp and he did. Since then, I have gotten a surprising amount of business from users searching on Yelp. As time has gone on, more reviews have been posted (all of them favorable, thankfully). And if anything, I would like to believe that the site has showcased my honesty and good customer service.

Yet, in reality I know that this view is simplistic. As others have attested, many reviewers are simply unfair and much of the Yelp game may be more about your likability and luck and the inevitable outcome of a legal matter than about your competence and skill. Some businesses have even sued Yelp for poor monitoring of their site. Since I began riding the wave of the modern Internet review site, I have learned a few basic tips that can help make Yelp and other websites a positive experience:

Encourage satisfied clients to post reviews. Personally, I do not believe there is anything unethical about doing this. Indeed, law practices have used testimonials for years in their advertising. Only here, the client is telling their own story, in their own words, which I personally feel is better.

Treat everyone with respect. Perhaps the most lasting influence Yelp will have on the legal industry is the way lawyers treat their clients. Gone are the days when an attorney could chew out a nuisance client and kick them to the curb. Such actions now risk damaging retaliation by way of nasty internet complaints. In my practice, frankly, I am so terrified that this might happen that I treat everyone quite politely and will bite my tongue no matter how unreasonable the person is being. Such is life in the new age. Every call or meeting is a potential review, so do your best to send the person home satisfied (or at very least not unsatisfied).

Lastly, it pays to engage clients who are having issues rather than avoiding them. At the veterinary hospital where my wife works, they have recently begun encouraging people to come to them before posting a Yelp review. The idea is to catch problem cases before they wind up on the Internet. Whether the strategy works remains to be seen, but the concept is important. By addressing the source of dissatisfaction as early as possible, you have the greatest opportunity to fix the problem. And, even if the problems are not fixable, there’s always the possibility that if unhappy clients at least have the opportunity to air their grievances to you, they will be less inclined to do so at home on their computer.

Are you considering using Yelp? What has been your experience on Yelp or other review sites?

Written by Douglas Greenberg

The Marketing Power of Niche Expertise

Douglas Greenberg — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:30:53 +0000

I was lucky enough to learn a bedrock principle of law firm marketing all the way back in law school: niche expertise is valuable if not invaluable. As I’ve pointed out before, there are a lot of good reasons for a solo to cultivate a single are of expertise. It’s even better to be a ‘specialist’ with a unique niche like a DUI lawyer who focuses in on false DUI readings due to medications . If you take the effort to learn a corner of the law ignored by most attorneys, you can quickly position yourself as a go-to person for the people or companies it affects.

An assignment for a marketing class in law school first impressed this point on me. We had to choose a narrow legal issue to research and then an industry to market that niche knowledge to. I started by analyzing a tax case involving a special excise tax on tires. The case was interesting and it was not terribly difficult or time-consuming to become fairly knowledgeable on the surrounding issues. I then identified a number of trade associations and tire industry groups to market my new found knowledge to. Then, I prepared a mock presentation, which I gave using a projector that I watched movies on at home. The presentation looked great and it took maybe 2-3 hours to put together.

That lesson stuck with me and I was able to apply it after graduation. I have employed the same methods several times and each time I have generated interest in my services.

For instance, at a law firm I was once assigned to write a quick commentary on the tax items in the 2009 federal stimulus bill. Remembering my marketing course, I keyed into a couple of special provisions from the bill that benefited gas stations. I found some trade groups and, as luck would have it, a large gas station conference was approaching.

After explaining myself to a trade group representative, he could hardly have been more eager and interested. In fact, even though I ultimately had to politely back out, I received several e-mails from afterwards, expressing his continued interest. I was amazed at how easy all of this had been. Since then, I have continued to use this method to tap into new pools of potential clients.

If you take the time to learn about a highly specialized legal issue, chances are that there is a group of people who could really use your knowledge but whose needs are not being directly catered to. By simply finding those people, identifying yourself and offering to give a short presentation, you might be surprised at the business boost and publicity it could yield.

Written by Douglas Greenberg

How to Get Clients – An Introduction

Douglas Greenberg — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:30:28 +0000

When first starting out, the single biggest issue I dealt with (as do all young solos) was building a client base. At the time, I had very few clients. And unlike an established attorney, I did not have the luxury of sitting back and relying on repeat business or word of mouth (which there was very little to speak of). Building a client base takes time and it’s difficult. And while you are doing it, the bills keep piling in.

Like most lawyers, I had very little training in the ways of marketing. Indeed, marketing and advertising were about the furthest things from my mind when I applied to law school. But suddenly I had to be my own marketing department. I had to figure out a way to generate interest in my business.

In my experience, there really is no silver bullet. But there are a lot of options. As an attorney, you can obtain clients in a number of different ways:

•Networking

•Attorney Referrals

•Local Bar Attorney Referral Programs

•Legal Insurance Providers

•Advertising

•Word of Mouth

•Web Presence

•Direct Mail

•Writing Articles

•Giving Speeches

•Repeat Business

Unfortunately, there is no one-size fits all solution. What works and what doesn’t really depends on the nature of your practice. It requires a lot of trial and error. At some time or another, I did just about every bullet point on the list above. Some worked. Others didn’t.

Over the next several posts I will try to spend some time on this difficult and important issue: As a young attorney, how do you market yourself and generate leads?

Written by Douglas Greenberg

Preparing To Go Solo Mid-Career

Douglas Greenberg — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:30:30 +0000

Last time, I discussed ways of gaining experience if you are an entry level job seeker. But what about those who already have experience? If you work at a medium or large law firm and are thinking of becoming a solo mid-career, you probably need to prepare for a significant shift in your work.

For instance, I recently spoke with a bankruptcy solo. In her previous life as an associate at a white shoe law firm, she handled complex Chapter 11 cases for large companies. The job was great and intellectually demanding, and she was very experienced in these types of bankruptcies, but she had never had control over any major aspects of those cases. Now, as a solo, she handles Chapter 7 and 13 cases for middle-class and even low-income families. She has the pleasure of having total control over her cases, but she also has the associated responsibility to bring expertise to bear on those cases. Sure, it’s the same field. But really, she’s in an entirely different ballgame.

In becoming a solo, it is easy for former large-firm attorneys to scoff at this transition downwards in scale. After all, if you can handle work for large clients, why should you have any problem with work for small clients? Well, you may be surprised. Shifting to smaller cases can be like entering a completely new practice. The central issues, the governing law and the salient facts can all be entirely different. And so can the clients. Nothing about my work in law firms or government ever prepared me for the types of cases I began handling as a solo. In my case, as a tax attorney I ended up handling small tax collection matters and other typical mom-and-pop issues, which were completely new to me.

To prepare for this shift, I relied on four things:

—Non-profits (volunteering).

—Internet message boards.

—Local attorney radio shows.

—And, not least importantly, Nolo Press.

Non-Profits – I touched on these in my last post. As I said before, non-profits provide an excellent training ground for those who wish to become a solo. Non-profits generally need volunteer attorneys to work on cases that are small (but crucially important to clients), the kind you will likely be dealing with in your solo practice. You will gain a better understanding of the issues surrounding these types of cases. And you will learn how to deal with the types of clients you are likely to have as a solo.

For instance, when I worked for law firms all of the clients were wealthy families and/or successful businesspersons. Obviously, their matters were fairly large in scale (requiring them to go to an expensive law firm in the first place). In contrast, my clients from the tax clinic sat at the other end of the income spectrum. Most were low income persons with run-of-the-mill IRS problems. Through my volunteer work, I became much more effective at solving their problems and I really learned how to communicate with ordinary people who were not of the country club set.

Internet Message Boards – Although potentially overlooked, Internet message boards are highly useful if you wish to become familiar with more everyday type legal matters. For instance, before I became a solo I often combed the postings on TaxAlmanac, a message board for tax professionals. The site is mostly frequented by accountants and tax preparers, most of whom are posting questions on issues that have stumped them. This was an excellent way to become familiar with the types of tax issues one might confront as a solo. Since message boards exist for every conceivable topic (and some that aren’t conceivable), one probably exists for your field of practice. Try some Google message board searches to see if you can locate one.

Local Attorney Radio Shows – In the San Francisco area, there is a great radio show on KGO hosted by local attorney Len Tillem, the Radio Lawyer (or in his Brooklyn accent, the Radio ‘Loyya’). The show features neighbor-broke-my-fence type callers whose legal problems are handled on the fly. Virtually all types of questions are answered; criminal issues, family law, personal injury, etc. The show is posted on iTunes and I frequently fill up my iPod with them and listen while taking the dog out for walks.

As a solo (even one with a designated concentration), people will come to you all day long with offbeat legal matters. Even if these matters are entirely outside your field of practice, clients will expect you to understand them anyway. After all, you are a lawyer. You should know everything. Of course, you do not know everything. But by listening to call in radio shows, you can become familiar with a surprisingly wide variety of legal issues. And they are the types of issues that are most likely to affect ordinary people. Truth be told, I have cited knowledge gained from Len Tillem a number of times (sometimes without even realizing it).

Nolo – Perhaps I saved the best for last. I have long suspected that Nolo is the dirty little secret hiding inside every small firm attorney’s desk drawer. I may be the first one to admit it, but I read (and love) Nolo. Sure, the books will never be prominently displayed on my office bookshelf. But of all of the legal texts I have ever read, none have been more useful (or enjoyable) than Frederick Daily’s “Stand Up to the IRS.” For this young tax attorney, Fred Daily’s book was a seminal treatise on everyday tax controversy practice. I must have read his book four times over. I even contacted his office here in San Francisco to say thank you (I learned that he had since moved on, sadly).

Nolo’s other books are great as well. They are generally packed full of practice tips and the kind of useful information that only a time-tested professional would know. Had it not been for Fred Daily’s book, I would have spent years accumulating the same knowledge that he packed into 400 pages. The books are supremely well edited and easy to read. I cannot recommend them enough (and I do so for the pleasure of it. No referral fees come my way!)

Written by Douglas Greenberg

How To Gain Experience As A Young Lawyer

Douglas Greenberg — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:30:30 +0000

After starting this series, I realized that many readers might be fresh out of law school (or perhaps still in it). Not having had a full-time job, you may be short on experience. So how much experience do you really need to become a solo attorney? And in such a poor job market, what do you do to get that experience?

To be honest, becoming a solo with no work experience is not ideal. It’s no secret that law school does not prepare you to start lawyering from Day 1. Some work experience–I would say 2 years, at a minimum–provides an opportunity to learn substantive law and practical lawyering skills in your chosen practice area, without having to continually reinvent the wheel.

Obviously, the best option would be to work at a firm or other organization that can foster your development as a young attorney. Unfortunately, however, this is becoming less of an option. Jobs are scarce, and many employers increasingly prefer to hire experienced attorneys rather than take the time and resources to train new law grads.

It’s a difficult catch-22 , one faced by many entry-level job seekers. I need experience. But without experience, I cannot get a job that will allow me to get experience.

For me, a big part of the solution was volunteering with a non-profit. Non-profits are an excellent place to gain practical experience. Frequently, these organizations do excellent work and do a good job supporting attorney volunteers. And they are always looking for new attorneys because the always-high demand for direct legal services has spiked during the economic crisis.

The great thing about volunteering with a legal non-profit is that the scope of their cases is often small enough for one lawyer to handle. This offers young attorneys a highly valuable, ground-up learning experience. I learned so much in law school about the jurisprudence of tax law, and even did some internships. But I had no clue when I graduated how it all actually worked on the ground.

When I was still a fresh law school grad, hunting for a job, one of the first things I did was locate the nearest low-income tax clinic in our neighborhood. I found a great one, the Chinese Newcomers Center in San Francisco’s Chinatown. The clinic managers were more than happy to receive me. Naturally, they were swamped with cases.

I had such a good experience there that I kept it up even after I got a job at a law firm. Initially, I did it as pro bono work that I could feel good about. But later on I realized that there was a valuable personal benefit, the experience I was gaining. Through the clinic, I was able to handle matters that were far and above what I was ever able to do as a young associate. For instance, I personally tried a case in Tax Court (something no law firm partner would ever have let me do on my own). I also got immediate experience dealing with IRS agents and appeals officers. Only through the clinic did I begin to understand how the IRS really works, which in my field is just as important as knowing the law.

So, for young lawyers seeking a foothold in the profession, I strongly advise finding a law non-profit in your practice area. If they take you on, be appreciative and be reliable. The organization’s staff will come to appreciate you and so will the clients you are helping. It can really be the best of all worlds: you’ll be doing a good deed for others, and for yourself.

Written by Douglas Greenberg

Forget LLC or PC. Simpler is Better

Douglas Greenberg — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:30:38 +0000

Once you actually start a law practice you will have to decide how to operate. What type of tax classification will you choose? Will you be an LLC, a corporation, or a sole proprietorship? When choosing how to operate, people generally have two things in mind – taxes and liability. As a tax lawyer, I deal with these issues quite often. And I have a simple rule of thumb. Simpler is better.

First, let’s discuss liability. People often believe that if they form a corporation or an LLC or LLP, people will no longer be able to sue them. This is false. If only it were so easy!

Unfortunately, anyone can be sued for their own negligence, regardless of whether they were working for a corporation or entity at the time. For instance, if you form David the Lawyer, Inc., your clients can still sue you personally, even for mistakes that you made while working for the business. This is because any conceivable mistake could be attributed to you personally. So your clients could sue you for your own negligence and then seize your personal assets like any other judgment creditor. The same would be true even if your paralegal or assistant had made the mistake. Similarly, the client could sue you personally, for being negligent in hiring or supervising this person.

So what is the solution? In a word, insurance. As a solo attorney, insurance—not an LLC or corporation—is what provides you with real liability protection. This is why I encourage many small business owners to forgo forming a complicated entity and simply act a sole proprietor. It’s a much simpler way of doing business and it is much more cost-effective. Entities require administrative work, incur complicated state taxes and fees and often require you to file additional tax returns, which you may need to hire someone to prepare. While an S-corporation, LLC and sole proprietorship are all treated the same for federal income tax purposes, forming an S-corporation or LLC may require you to make additional filings with the IRS and prepare additional tax returns. There are state tax pitfalls too. Here in California, corporations and LLCs are charged $800 per year, even if they never make a dime. Pennsylvania has a complicated regime of its own, which includes a capital stock and franchise tax (among others).

Trust me, when you are just starting out, you will have enough problems to deal with. Keep your business simple. Save the time and money, form a sole proprietorship and buy some good insurance. To make things even easier, include your full name in the business. This way you don’t even have to file a fictitious business name statement with the county. For instance, I operate as the “Law Office of Douglas Greenberg.” As the Law Office of Douglas Greenberg, I never had to file a fictitious business name statement (there’s nothing fictitious about it). I just went to the bank, got a business account, got some good malpractice insurance, and went on my way.

Written by Douglas Greenberg

Building a Solo Law Practice, Part 2: Choose a Specialty

Douglas Greenberg — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:30:35 +0000

Once you have decided to become a solo, the first step is to determine what your practice is going to be about. How will you distinguish yourself? I highly recommend focusing on cultivating a single area of specialty. (Now, I’m using specialty not in the ‘I’m certified as a specialist’ but only in the context of narrowing the type of work you develop an expertise in. Do not utilize this word in your advertising or marketing unless you are in fact a certified specialist and have the right to do so.) By selecting a specialty, it will be easier to set goals and structure your practice. I say this for a number of reasons:

(1) The law today is, obviously, very complicated. There is just too much out there to learn it all. You can’t be exceptionally good (or even reasonably competent) at all areas of legal practice. So choosing a specialty is the reasonable solution. By specializing you can focus on doing one thing, and doing it really well.

(2) Specializing will also help by giving you an identity. If you market yourself as “Stephanie the Attorney,” you really have no identity. People will have a difficult time remembering you, and you want to be memorable. You will have a better chance of being remembered if people can associate you with something—a problem. For instance, “Stephanie the Employee’s Lawyer” is someone I can associate with a real need. I might call her someday if I have trouble with my boss.

(3) Finally, a specialty gives you a market to target. Once you have a specialty, you can begin targeting potential clients and building a referral network. If your specialty is real estate law, you can start networking with brokers and other relevant professionals. You can draft legal articles on real estate issues and give presentations. Just remember the words of the philosopher, Seneca: If we know not which port we are sailing for, no wind is the right wind.

In my still-young career as a solo, I have already observed a number of attorneys struggling with ‘general’ law practices. They are afraid to specialize because they don’t know what to go into or they fear that specializing will cause them to miss opportunities in other areas. In my experience, this is a mistake.

Specializing won’t necessarily foreclose opportunities to take matters in other areas. People will come to you with diverse needs anyway—if it’s a legal matter, they will assume any lawyer can handle it.

On the other hand, attorneys and others simply won’t take you seriously if you solicit yourself as a generalist. This is like opening a restaurant that promotes itself as serving great “food.” With so much competition and choice out there, being a generalist just doesn’t cut it in today’s market. You have to have a hook, something you do really well. You have a better chance of catching fish with a good line than with a bad net.

Written by Douglas Greenberg

Building a Solo Law Practice, Part 1: Departing From the Herd

Douglas Greenberg — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:30:19 +0000

Please welcome Solo Practice University’s newest columnist, Douglas Greenberg, who will be writing about his experiences going solo. In this first post of a five-part series, he will be discussing how he built his practice. Having seen his columns already, I know you’ll enjoy and learn from what he has to share.

It all begins with the decision to start your own law practice. For many attorneys, this is the most difficult part of the entire process. As human beings, we are always influenced by the expectations of others, and lawyers are no exception. So, becoming a solo is difficult because it feels like a departure from the herd.

When I first entered law school, I had the same general definition of success as most of my classmates: Get into a big law firm, make a large salary, bill lots of hours. I don’t know, maybe join a country club. There were a number of other career options that presented themselves over time. But starting a solo practice certainly wasn’t one of them. As far as career options went, it just wasn’t something that was talked about. The subject seemed almost taboo. I sought general advice numerous times from career services, but I cannot remember a single instance where they so much as mentioned the possibility of becoming a sole practitioner. And this was at a law school that was particularly well-resourced, with many externships, training opportunities and almost constant brown bag lunches. Not one of these extracurricular items was ever devoted to solo practice. Becoming a solo just wasn’t something you were expected to do.

And those expectations weren’t confined to the legal profession. Truth be told, my wife and mother thought I was crazy when I told them I had decided to go solo after putting in some time working firms of various sizes in the San Francisco area. Having invested so much time and money into law school, they acted as if I was throwing it all away. Meanwhile, even I had doubts, even though being my own boss and having complete control over my cases appealed strongly to me. Personally, I wondered if my former colleagues would view me differently. Would they still respect me, even if I was no longer working at an established firm?

Ultimately, I figured that if a colleague stopped respecting me without an affiliation with an established firm, the relationship wasn’t worth preserving in the first place. And I still had the support of my family (if not their complete understanding). I felt that if I didn’t at least try it, I would always look back and regret it. And now that I have done it, I can say that I am alive and well, here on the outside.

Indeed, it has made me realize some things about myself and given me experiences I would have never had otherwise. During the years that I ran with the herd, I was always trying hard to fit in. I tried to be what I thought others wanted me to be. So, I’m happy I gave up traveling with the herd. Today, I do the work that I love to do and I do it on my own terms for my own clients. I make a good living and get satisfaction from doing it. I’m helping people, and I’m doing it all on my own.

Written by Douglas Greenberg