Marketing is a challenge for many lawyers. It can be time-consuming. There are ethical restrictions. People outside of the legal profession usually look at legal problems differently than those trained in law and most lawyers have little or no training in marketing.
My column Tales of Fails in Lawyer Marketing in 2019 was based on several disappointing and perplexing data points I encountered recently from different studies. One of those was the Clio 2019 Legal Trends Report. There was some shocking data about how poorly law firms respond to new client inquiries by email or phone. The data was hard to believe. The people at Clio must have found it difficult to believe, too, since they then commissioned an independent research study, which largely confirmed their initial data. You can download and read a copy of the Clio 2019 Legal Trends Report yourself.
The other “shocker” was in the 2019 Legal Technology Survey Report from American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Resource Center, which reported that 43% of solo lawyers do not have websites. There are obviously different types of solo practices. The “single client” solo practice may not need a website, nor perhaps does the partner who left the large law firm after a long career and took the three clients they wanted to keep in the new solo practice setting. But if you are a solo practitioner who represents primarily individuals, you really, really need a website — a mobile friendly website.
So my column has two primary focus points. Your law firm, every law firm, needs to evaluate the new client vetting and intake process to make sure you are not missing out on new potential clients that your reputation and other marketing efforts have caused to reach out to you. And if you are a solo lawyer with no website, it is time to start the process of reserving a domain name and creating a website. If your firm has a website that hasn’t been updated in the last few years, you probably need to take a look at that, too.
As always, feel free to forward the link to Tales of Fails in Lawyer Marketing in 2019 if you know a solo lawyer who needs a website.