Solo Practice University® » Susan Cartier Liebel

What To Do When Your Solo Practice Isn’t a Success…But It Isn’t a Failure, Either

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:30:36 +0000

Some days don’t you just feel like all the wind has been let out of your sails.

You’ve finally opened the doors to your solo practice, virtual and brick & mortar. You have everything in place. You sweated all the small details in spite of the advice not to, lined up your malpractice insurance, built your website, got your business cards, your practice management software, announced to the world you’re open for business, got on the coveted appointments lists, participate in the local chambers, have lunches set up with mentors, continuing your professional learning, you even have paying clients. You are working round the clock forsaking your family dinners, Johnny’s baseball game, date night. You’re doing it by the book and working harder than you ever have. But you’re also just scraping by emotionally and financially. You’re busy to the point of chronic exhaustion but not feeling particularly productive. You’re even making enough to make those income contingent payments on your student loans as well as meeting all your other bills. You’re not a failure as you certainly aren’t going down in flames tomorrow. But you also don’t feel like a success. And the minute you want to give up believing all your hard work hasn’t paid off, you get yet another paying client who heard about you…even though they can’t remember where!

Today’s businesses (and you are a business) speak of growth in extremes. Either you’re just getting along by the skin of your teeth eating ramen noodles and sleeping on the floor or your increasing by double digits year over year with explosive growth. There’s no consideration that sometimes a new legal business has to simply grow slowly, methodically, and in a way that allows a lawyer to feel some pride and peace with the progress. Sometimes this explosive growth never happens and sometimes it’s okay that it doesn’t (but no one will tell you this because you’re always supposed to be going 100 miles per hour or deemed a failure.) In many ways it’s very similar to the process of getting married. You get engaged and before you can even enjoy the engagement period people want to know when you’ve set the date. You finally get married but you haven’t been married even three minutes before the relatives throwing the rice are asking when you are planning to have your first child. You can’t even savor the moment. The pressure from others pushing you along faster than you desire or are prepared for can be overwhelming.

Not every law firm becomes Baker & McKenzie. There are thousands upon thousands of solo/small firms who are not traditional ‘successes’ but not failures, either. Sometimes it just takes longer to achieve whatever it is you personally are trying to achieve. You’re allowed to be okay with this. You really are. But sometimes you also just hit an emotional wall you can’t get past.

When you hit the wall, and you will, exhausted and dreaming of the alternative, a paycheck from someone else instead of drumming up business yourself day after day, what can you do to get your engines revving again?

Take Time Off

Taking time away from the grind (something Europeans understand as every employee has at least six weeks paid vacation!) helps you to not only relax but get a fresh perspective on your life and how your work integrates into your life. If you’ve been more heavily tilted towards work and other areas of your life, the family you presumably are ‘doing this all for’, have been getting short-changed, now’s the time to realign your priorities. It’s a self-defeating scenario if you tell people you went solo to spend more time with the family only to spend less time with them, right?

If you can’t afford a vacation financially or time-wise, give yourself a spa day, take your son to his first professional basketball game mid-week. Sit on the back porch read and daydream. The point isn’t that you spend discretionary income you may not have. The point is to disengage from work fully for a period of time, to be unplugged. You would be surprised how your legal practice won’t fold up and die because you took some scheduled (or unscheduled) time away. It may just be better for your absence.

De-Clutter: Clean out your office and your mind

Having a cluttered office, cluttered email boxes, a languishing blog and outdated social media professional profiles can all be working against your best efforts. Having some down time for a little soul-searching combined with some manual and administrative labor as well as professionally sprucing up your online appearance can do wonders for your psyche. It’s not only self-help therapy but it can reinvigorate your professional efforts as well as spur creative ways to improve your practice.

Help Another Solo

If a new lawyer has contacted you for some advice and you’ve been putting off speaking with them, call them back. The very act of sharing your experiences as one who has ‘done it’ regardless of how you currently feel about yourself during this period, can help you to look at your accomplishments differently. It may even trigger inspiration, expand your professional network and your referral base and provide unexpected opportunities for growth. If there’s no young lawyer banging on your door, participate in a few select online social groups or listservs or even create one of your own dedicated to your practice or geographic area. You can do this on LinkedIn, Google+ or any number of sites.

Stick Your Neck Out Beyond Your Comfort Zone

When you start a business you develop tunnel-vision. You are so singularly focused on your mission the rest of the world just zooms by with barely any acknowledgment by you. You say you don’t have time. Now would be precisely the time to do something on your bucket list. Do something totally unrelated to being a lawyer and a business owner and just go where it takes you for however long a period of time you can afford to do so. And while you’re doing it, remember you’re able to do it because you have your own practice.

Don’t Quit (unless you get an offer you simply can’t refuse!)

Yes, you are not where you think you want or should be with your practice. Yes, life seems to be firing one challenge after the other at you like a target for destruction in a video game. However, if you are not failing at solo practice, the most important job you have at this moment is to not let your practice die. And this means implementing 1 – 4 to help you move forward toward success.

Not feeling professionally successful? Have you hit a wall? How have you handled it?

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Never Underestimate New Lawyers Who Hang A Shingle

Susan Cartier Liebel — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:56:53 +0000

Chicago Katie Kizer and Amanda Graham brushed off a miserable employment market for new law school grads. They hired themselves after graduating last spring from DePaul University College of Law. With summa diplomas, they were qualified for Big Law—just temperamentally unsuited for it.

I want to meet these two women. I really do. Katie Kizer and Amanda Graham (or Kamanda) epitomize the determination, work ethic, and passion every lawyer who wishes to hang a shingle should aspire to….especially upon passing the bar. Most importantly, they highlight their secret weapon which many will showcase as a negative – youth and supposed inexperience. It is their very youth (translate to ‘energy’) and lack of years under their belt (translate to ‘leaving no stone unturned until they find the answer’) which makes them more formidable.

What are you going to do?

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Being a Lawyer Is Not Worth Sacrificing Your Life

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:00:54 +0000

A few month’s ago I connected with a lovely and determined woman from Stetson University, Cynthia Clark. She has committed herself to creating the Stetson Law Solo and Small Firm Society. She has had her challenges with the school administration which I won’t detail because ultimately she is garnering a lot of interest in what she is trying to do.

During the course of our conversations she mentioned she was putting together a meet and greet-type networking event for all the students who were contemplating the solo option. I offered to provide a scholarship to SPU to potentially increase the draw and to show support for her efforts. I looked forward to welcoming the lucky winner. On April 11th I received the following email:

Well, we had a wonderful event last night – thank you so much for the door prize!

The winner is a 3L graduating next month: Kimberly Clark. I was glad she won – I know her personally. She’s from the Sarasota area, like me, and was a part-time student. She actually had a third child earlier this year – I can’t even imagine doing that while going to law school. She wants to practice in Elder Law/Estate Planning in a small firm, and then hopes to eventually go solo.

I patiently waited for Kimberly to contact me so Solo Practice University could welcome her. Instead I received this email last week:

I don’t know whether Kimberly Clark ever got in touch with you, but I just found out that she passed away yesterday. I was shocked. Apparently she didn’t seek treatment for bacterial pneumonia until it was too late. Like all mothers and law students, she was “too busy” to care for herself. She got a septic infection and suffered a brain stem stroke on Mother’s Day. Thankfully, she was able to see her 2 oldest children for 15 minutes earlier in the day. She was declared brain dead, and her family pulled the plug yesterday. She was supposed to graduate from Stetson Law this (past) Saturday.

I only knew Kim through school, but I liked her so much and we had planned to stay in touch after she graduated since we live in the same area and were both interested in estate planning and elder law. We even talked about starting a Stetson Law alumni group in this area. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I’ll never see this smart, funny, vibrant young woman again.

This is the Caringbridge website her family started. I thought you should know.

When I was in law school, although I wasn’t even married never mind giving birth to my third child, I conducted a one month trial supervised through our clinic which went straight through Christmas Eve Day. I, too, developed bacterial pneumonia and refused to walk away from the trial until the judge ordered me home. I, too, remember being so committed to everything around me that taking care of myself wasn’t as important. Now add in taking care of a household and two small kids, giving birth to a third child, not wanting to miss classes and studying for finals so you can graduate on time and you have a recipe for disaster.

This is what women traditionally do, put themselves last. Here was an important milestone and this mother was determined to not let giving birth to her third child or pneumonia stop her from achieving her goals. It cost Kimberly her life.

I never met Kimberly or even talked with her on the phone or exchanged a single email mail. I’m sure if I had I wouldn’t feel any more upset than I already do.

This is for all of you out there whether lawyer or law student, mother or father, who puts themselves last. You know who you are. You put off going to the doctor for that chronic cough while you rush your child to the pediatrician for a hang nail. You eat your cold dinner out of a jar standing up and talking on the phone while you make sure your child’s meal is hot and she’s seated lest she choke on her food. You do so because ‘you can handle it’. Well, here’s the truth. You can’t. You can’t care for your kids if you break down physically. You can’t care for your clients if you don’t take time to reinvigorate and refresh. None of us are superhuman and to the best of my knowledge, none of us are immortal. There is nothing more important than your health, no final, no brief, no exam, no trial, no event. Remember this the next time you get no sleep or ignore that persistent cough or inexplicable pain in your side because ‘you don’t have time’ to slow down. And remember, you can break down, too. Remember Kimberly. Then make the time.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Faculty Announcement – Trippe Fried – Outsourced General Counsel

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:00:37 +0000

Trippe Fried will teach a course called “Outsourced General Counsel” at Solo Practice University®.

Trippe Fried has been a practicing attorney for seventeen years. He works exclusively with entrepreneurs and businesses and often as an outsourced general counsel. Trippe functions both as part of the management team assessing and addressing potential risks and as the company’s legal representative. His work includes case and legal services management, transactions, mergers and acquisitions, company development, contracts, employee relations, intellectual property protection, corporate governance, and dispute resolution.

Trippe has worked with clients around the country and in numerous industries including technology, health care, manufacturing, professional services, transportation, venture capital, human resources, and social services. He also writes on matters of interest to attorneys and entrepreneurs and has taught several courses on the legal issues businesses face.

The creator of his own successful technology business, the Virtual Legal Department, Trippe knows from experience the challenges of entrepreneurship and what legal services business owners really need to survive in the 21st Century global economy.

Trippe has been published in several law reviews including Transactions and the DePaul Business and Commercial Law Journal. He also hosted his own radio show on issues of interest to small business owners.

Syllabus – Outsourced General Counsel

Introduction: What Is Outsourced General Counsel?
How to Integrate With and Add Value to the Client – Tips for Fitting In
Management Functions – Using Risk Assessment and Management to Troubleshoot
Legal Functions – Providing Legal Services as Part of a Broader Management Team
Multijurisdictional Practice Considerations
Ethical Considerations – Knowing Your Limits, Working within the Rules
Working as OGC with Multiple Clients
Prognostications – Why OGC Is the Wave of the Future

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Are You Having Relations With Your Clients? – Guest Lecture with Jared Correia

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:00:06 +0000

Well, it got your attention didn’t it? The broader question is how do you effectively communicate with your clients before, during and after representation. This is a huge area to cover from a marketing perspective, your ethical obligations, and technological challenges. It’s even bigger when you consider you are a solo/small firm practitioner. But Jared and I tackle the subject and it’s a conversation you don’t want to miss. It just may change the way you do business.

Jared receives countless questions from new solo lawyers and solos who have been in practice for decades but need advice on law practice management. We like to ask Jared what’s on lawyers’ minds as we have several times before.

If you are a new lawyer in Massachusetts or a paying member of the Massachusetts bar, be sure to connect with Jared. LOMAP’s services are free for those who qualify.

The audio is about 44 minutes. Listen or download directly below.

Guest Lecture with Jared Correia

Jared has written a new book called “Twitter in One Hour for Lawyers“. You can learn more about the book or purchase it from the American Bar Association.

Jared D. Correia, Esq. is Law Practice Management Advisor at MassLOMAP (Massachusetts Law Office Management Practice). Prior to joining LOMAP, he was the Publications Attorney for the Massachusetts Bar Association (“MBA”). He was the first Publications Attorney for the MBA, and established the continuing legal education publication protocols and standards. In addition to overseeing the MBA’s CLE Publications, he also managed the MBA’s version of Casemaker, an online legal research product provided free of charge to MBA members. Prior to joining the MBA, Mr. Correia was a private practice attorney, working in the areas of general practice and disability law, in small firms on the Southcoast, North of Boston and just outside of Boston. Mr. Correia’s general practice encompassed a diverse range of legal subjects, including the handling of administrative hearings, personal injury law, family law, tax law and property law matters. Mr. Correia is active in raising funds for cancer research and has founded a charitable organization to benefit autistic children. He is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and Saint Anselm College, where he was a captain of the Saint Anselm College Debate Team that finished second nationally in 2000.

Connect with Jared on Twitter . You can also follow LOMAP on Facebook, visit the website or read the blog.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

You’re Hired! (But I Just Went Solo?)

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:04:12 +0000

This happens more than you know. In the process of planning for a solo practice, building their web presence, letting people know they are going solo, the lawyer gets a job offer she simply can’t decline. Unusual? Not at all. I’ll explain.

When you embark on starting a solo practice you are consciously reframing your own attitude about what it means to be a practicing lawyer. You are shifting from the mindset of ‘employee’ and ‘I need to be trained’ to ‘self-employed’ and “I need to start producing business on my own”. You are no longer asking permission to function in the legal world based upon others’ judgment and acceptance of you. You are now accepting yourself non-judgmentally and giving yourself permission to be a business person, rainmaker and legal services provider. You no longer have your nose pressed up against any sized law firm’s window hoping you will be noticed amongst the crush of others. You have stepped back from the crush. You have decided to build your own career and life.

This is really heady stuff. This radical shift in your attitude about yourself and your relationship to the professional community, colleagues, judges and clients and the non-legal world you live in emanates from you. You are putting yourself out there as an independent, free thinking self-starter. You are now changing the way you connect with colleagues because you no longer view them as future employers but as peers. You are deliberately learning life long marketing skills to promote your capabilities, not sitting back in a job waiting for a senior partner to hand you a file. You are actively defining and methodically seeking out your ideal client, not reacting to the mandates of others. You are building a laser-focused global ‘personal’ brand, not being absorbed by someone else’s vision of you and your place in the legal eco-system or lack thereof.

With this change in perspective and attitude, potential employers will actually start to take notice as you navigate yourself through the legal community both online and off.

I have been approached several times by headhunters specifically asking if I know self-starting solos who may be interested in joining a small firm for advancement and even partnership. Yes, they call me even in this economy.

Recently, I received three separate e-mails from people who started creating their business plans for solo practice, started to connect to colleagues in a different way….getting job offers which they took.

Why were they approached now? It’s a good question. Here’s the answer. They showed confidence, initiative, a sense of how to build a business, understood what they needed to do to build a web presence, had already branded themselves…. and these are all very attractive qualities to prospective employers or those looking to even bring in partners in their small firms. I just helped prep a young lady in the UK for an interview with an attorney. What did she have to do for prep? She had to show him how to improve his website. No kidding. She’s a highly skilled lawyer, top of her class. This is part of her job interview.

You may ask, “if these lawyers were so committed to going solo, why did they accept jobs?” I have a motto: Plant as many seeds as possible…you never know what will grow. Life is about giving yourself options and the flexibility to answer the door when opportunity knocks. By showing they didn’t necessarily need employment, they became desirable and were courted. Yet, everyone is different. What matters is whether or not it was the right choice for them and what the incentives were which made it appealing.

When I consulted I also had many clients accept jobs; jobs which would never have been available to them had they not started the process of going solo. They openly acknowledge this because they are the ones who told me once they repositioned themselves in the community, changed their own perspectives, redirected their energies towards building a business rather than getting a job, they became very attractive to their new employers and the jobs offered were just too perfect to decline.

For some strange reason my clients thought I would be disappointed they got a legal job working for someone else. Absolutely NOT. Life is about options, the best options for each of us. Just because I will help those who want to go solo doesn’t mean I’m unhappy when they don’t. I want lawyers to feel fulfilled with their careers, to understand there are many ways to practice law. There is happiness in all types of practices. The Solo Practice University blog’s focus happens to be with the benefits one can derive practicing law as a solo. But if you are happy practicing law in whatever form you’re doing so, that’s the ultimate gratification, for you and me.

Did you decide to go solo and then get a job offer? Please share.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

When a Legal Conference Has The Guts To Be Different

Susan Cartier Liebel — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:00:36 +0000

Last month I attended a new type of conference created by Lee Burgess and Alison Monahan called Catapult2013. I have to admit I originally agreed to be a speaker because I hadn’t been to San Francisco in decades and it was a good excuse to see an old college friend. I’d lost faith in conferences a long time ago because they seem to be regurgitating the same things over and over, again. Maybe I’m jaded. Maybe I haven’t been to the ‘right’ conferences. However, it’s my opinion and I’ll stick to it until someone proves me wrong.

I also wanted to participate the same as many other speakers did because the idea behind this new conference is important – to empower those with legal degrees to think outside the box instead of being stuffed inside the overcrowded airless box the legal profession has unfortunately become. It really was about breaking free from the traditional stereotypes of what a lawyer should be and instead imagining all the possibilities of what a lawyer can be.

So, with this in the back of my mind you could well imagine how pleasantly surprised and totally inspired I felt starting right from the cocktail hour the evening before, through the conference itself, and still today. It was fantastic. And here’s why it was fantastic.

Both Lee and Alison work with current law students through The Law School Toolbox and The Girl’s Guide to Law School. Therefore, they are much closer to the thoughts and feelings and concerns of current students and recent graduates studying for the bar exam as well as those out a year or so. This conference was in response to their needs, their concerns, and therefore the speakers were selected to not just educate the attendees but also to inspire and help them develop confidence as new legal professionals. This is no easy feat. In fact, it’s seldom addressed at any conference.

Next, the speakers were not the usual fare. There were actual solos taking front and center stage on the marquis! In addition, there were BigLaw defectors, authors, counsel from Google and eBay and more. However, the highlight (at least for me) was the legal entrepreneurs like Dave Raynor: Founder of Accelerate Legal, Raj Abhyanker of LegalForce, Neal Gorenflo: Co-Founder and Publisher of Shareable, April Rinne: Chief Strategy Officer of Collaborative Lab, and Nick Aster: Founder of Triple Pundit.

The panel I was most intrigued with was this one:

Emerging Issues in the Sharing Economy

Some of the most exciting and disruptive companies to emerge in recent years are part of “the sharing economy.” Think collaborative consumption, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer marketplaces, AirBnB, RelayRides, alternative corporate forms, and so on.

But as the sharing economy goes mainstream, the legal issue are proliferating. From complaints about AirBnB users not paying hotel taxes to questions of liability when someone crashes a car they rented for an hour, it’s been a wild ride.

Here is a brand new area of law that is fraught with legal issues, any one of which a daring lawyer can jump into and get in front of the crowd. Their enthusiasm for what is happening in this space was electric and they really demonstrated to the attendees that the legal world is a wide open space if they will just will step forward.

(One a separate note, in keeping with being different…the lunch was to die for! So was the dessert.)

On top of the great education the conference provided, the organizers really worked hard to facilitate connection and they succeeded admirably.

It was also a great opportunity to meet one of SPU’s sponsors, Cathy Sargent from LMIC.

Bottom line: everyone who went there is pushing them to organize an east coast version of Catapult this coming fall. You can check out a photo collage of the day here. If they do organize another conference, I’ll be there. And so should you!

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

The Changing Landscape of Google Search Results for Attorneys

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:58:02 +0000

This post was written by Scott Morgan.

Scott Morgan is a board certified Texas family law attorney and founder of the Morgan Law Firm which has offices in Houston, Austin and Sugar Land. He blogs on Texas divorce and family law issues here. When he is not practicing family law or obsessing over search engine rankings he enjoys spending time with his wife and two young children.

If like many solo and small firm attorneys you depend on the Internet to send you some of your prospective new clients it is probably not news to you that the look and content of Google’ s local search results have changed significantly over the past few years and especially the past 12 months. This article will provide an overview of how Google’s search results have changed and specifically how you can go about improving the results for your own website.

How I Got Into Search Engine Optimization

Like most of you reading this article I am a practicing attorney. In 1999 I looked into having a website built for my family law practice. It seems odd to think of it now but at the time it seemed like a real longshot that a website would ever generate a single client for me. After all, who would look for an attorney on the internet? That was what the yellow pages were for, right? I know, it seems obvious now but it wasn’t so apparent then.

But everyone said the internet was “the next big thing” and not wanting to be left behind I had a website built. It was three pages long and cost me $2,500. Times have changed quite a bit. Today you could probably have the same site built for $100 or just get a template and do it yourself for free in less than an hour.

When the website went up I was actually surprised that it very quickly became an excellent source of new clients. Along the way I began to learn just how important it was to get your site ranked highly on the search engines for phrases that a prospective client might search for. The higher my site ranked for my important keywords the more prospective clients would visit my website and the busier my practice was.

When I first began to examine the search engine results pages I became frustrated that there were competing lawyers I knew whose sites ranked higher than mine. I thought to myself, “doesn’t google know that I’m a better lawyer than them?” Of course, search engines have no way of knowing which is the better lawyer, they are only interested in who has the better website.

So I began studying how search engines determined how to rank websites and discovered that there was a science to getting a website to rank highly for specific keyword phrases. That science is known as search engine optimization or SEO. When I realized that it was possible through SEO to improve your rankings and thereby drive more clients to your practice I became hooked and have been ever since. For years high search engine rankings have been a huge boon to my practice and a significant source of new clients to my practice. Everything was perfect.

That is, until Google decided to change the game…

A Brief Recent History of Google’s Search Results Pages

Let’s start with a comparison of what a local search results page looked like as recently as 2011 as compared to today. When I refer to a “local search results page” I just mean the results for a search phrase that has a local intent, such as “Seattle divorce attorney” or “Los Angeles family law.” Below is a screenshot of a current search result page that is similar in format to what all results pages looked like in past years:

The search was done today for the phrase “divorce Harris County family law.” It was actually a bit of a challenge to find a local phrase that gave the old-style results. As you can see, the page was essentially a list of 10 web pages (the “organic” results) with a few pay per click results on the top and sidebar.

Back then this kind of result page was relatively easy to rank for. All that was required was that the website owner (or the search engine optimization hired gun) obtain links pointing to the website using the anchor text (the words in the link) of whatever phrase they were trying to rank for. So if you wanted to rank for “Houston divorce lawyer” you would get links pointing to your site using “Houston divorce lawyer” as the anchor text. Get enough links like these and you would rank well. Ah, the good old days…

Now let’s compare this to the current state of local search results pages:

As you can see, the results have a very different appearance to them. This search was done for “Houston divorce attorney.” The additional element that Google has inserted into the page is known as the “local” results. The key here is that this is not simply an aesthetic change. The local results are determined by Google in an entirely separate algorithm (the mathematical formula Google uses to rank webpages for different search phrases). This change caused many very highly ranking law firm sites to permanently lose a significant amount of traffic (read: prospective clients) overnight. I know because my firm was one of them.

Google has now given the local results such a prominent position on the results page that the previously all-important organic results are now almost completely irrelevant. In the past a site that ranked number one for an important local phrase would have been at the top of the page and received approximately 25% of the click-throughs. In other words, 25% of the people who did that search would actually have visited that law firm’s website.

That same site may still have a #1 ranking for the phrase but it has been pushed so far down the page that it’s lucky to get a 2% click-through rate. For a high-traffic relevant phrase that might mean that instead of receiving 50 prospective monthly clients from that search phrase they might now get four. Obviously, that is a huge difference.

What Should a Law Firm Website Do Now?

These changes have not been happy events for those websites that in the past consistently ranked highly for their primary keywords. Many have complained but Google does not care. They believe that their new style of results pages creates a better user experience for their searchers (the only thing Google really cares about) and the reality is that the change is here to stay.

So what is a Webmaster to do? There is no overnight fix to improving your results but here are some basic steps you can take right now to improve your chances of succeeding in the new Google local search results:

Claim the Google local listing for your practice and ensure that your business name, address and telephone number are all listed accurately. Google has instructions on how to do that here.
After claiming, add pictures, video, and other details about your practice on your Google local listing.
Similarly, claim your listing on the other key online local directories such as Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, and Citysearch (Google likely uses this data as part of their local ranking algorithm).
Work on your NAP (name, address and phone) consistency across the web. Inconsistent data confuses Google which results in a poor or nonexistent local ranking. You can get a quick check of your firm’s NAP consistency at getlisted.org.

Unless you happen to be a bit of a closet geek (like me) who makes a hobby out of search engine optimization (known as “SEO”) then you may find all of this a bit overwhelming. My recommendation would be to avoid all of the self-proclaimed search engine experts who cold call your office and spam your inbox and instead hire a very reputable local SEO expert to help you.

Note that I said “local SEO expert” and not just “SEO expert.” There is a big difference between regular SEO and local SEO and you want a local specialist (meaning that they specialize in local SEO, not necessarily that they are geographically close to you).

Let me know your experiences and thoughts in the comments below.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Why Law School Professors’ Rankings Are Worse Than USNWR

Susan Cartier Liebel — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:00:48 +0000

I came across this blog post written by an Associate Professor of Law, Derek Muller, wherein he defines and describes law grads based upon what he deems successful and, quite frankly, it really steams my clams.

Real Lawyers (Required bar passage, full-time, long-term)

“Advantaged” Non-Lawyers (JD advantage, full-time, long-term)

The Professionals (Professional, full-time, long-term)

Career Baristas (Non-professional, full-time, long-term)

The Temps (any employed position that’s part-time, short-term, or both)

Giving Up (unemployed, not seeking)

More Debt, Please (graduates pursuing a graduate degree full-time)

Return to Sender (employment status unknown)

I left a comment but they apparently didn’t want to publish it.

Derek Muller, by the way, has been a lawyer for all of six ~~minutes~~ years and by his own definition is ~~not~~ a ‘real lawyer’. In this extrapolation he was trying to be tongue and cheek about his descriptions of law grads based upon the employment status of these same graduates as published by USNWR. But the truth is, it’s offensive to the majority of law grads. Probably the most offensive to me was using the term ‘Real Lawyer’ to describe those he believes to be the elite – those who have long term jobs working for someone else. No one else is described as a ‘Real Lawyer’. This approach showcases in neon lights the incredible prejudices all students face in law school and the profession. No matter what you do, if you are not employed full time by another and performing as a lawyer, you’re not a ‘real lawyer’. Is this really what law schools want to tell their graduates who are struggling? It came across to me like this baby law prof was just sticking out his tongue at everyone else and singing, ‘nanny,nanny, boo,boo. You can’t catch me.’

Check out the list and let me know what you think.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Running the Gauntlet

Susan Cartier Liebel — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:58:35 +0000

I’ve been following people online for more than eight years and blogging myself close to six years. In that time I’ve watched many online acquaintances (and some true friends) run the gauntlet. Today, ‘running the gauntlet’ means to go through a series of criticisms or harsh treatments at the hands of one’s detractors. They’ve suffered the indignities of people telling them they can’t do whatever it is they are trying to accomplish, they are ill-prepared, too many others before them have failed, or they are just plain crazy. Then they run the gauntlet both cheered by some and jeered by most on the sidelines who hope to see a train wreck of epic proportion. When they emerge victoriously on the other side, those who jeered the loudest turn into their greatest fans or they move on to jeer the next person running the gauntlet. It’s human nature.

Given a recent discussion I had with someone who is currently running the gauntlet (and doing very well in spite of the naysayers), I decided to post my favorite movie clip of Richard Gere famously running the gauntlet in the movie First Knight. It couldn’t be more appropriate for so many out there who are currently innovating in the legal space and trying to maintain critical focus. (Pay close attention to what the man in charge of the gauntlet yells to Richard Gere as he begins to run the gauntlet.) I say, ‘keep your eye on the prize’. I’ve had to run the gauntlet, too. Many times, in fact. And I’m here to tell you it can be done.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel