The last post was about marketing ideas that I have already implemented into my practice. Most of that stuff is pretty standard and needs to be done for any new business. As a new practitioner, figuring out how to get new clients in the door is going to make the difference between being a successful solo attorney or starting to apply for jobs at law firms in a couple of months.
So, these are the ideas that I have been kicking around to start. Some of them are things that I am ready to implement, some are things that I have to get comfortable with, and some are just Hail Mary ideas that I am not sure that I want to get involved with.
Planning to do, but haven’t started
Appointment Lists
The county I live in has no dedicated public defender system, instead it uses lists of private practice attorneys who are willing to take on court appointed work for indigent clients. The lists that I know about in this county are basically broken down into criminal appointments, child protective services cases, and probate work.
Getting on the criminal and CPS lists are just a matter of taking a certain number of CLEs in the discipline and signing up for the list.
The criminal list is really multiple lists: adult misdemeanor, adult felony, adult appeals, juvenile misdemeanor, juvenile felony, and juvenile appeals. The first step to doing court appointed criminal work seems to be the adult misdemeanor list, which only requires that the continuous education requirement be filled. The rest require a certain amount of time practicing law or certain experience drafting appeals.
The CPS list is similar in that it takes a certain amount of CLE hours to get on the list. What I understand about the CPS list is that attorneys usually start by representing children in child welfare cases as the required attorney ad litem position, then after getting some experience in the CPS system can be appointed as parent’s representatives.
I’ve done the required CLEs for both of these and just haven’t made the time to get signed up on the lists. Although the paperwork for signing up for the appointments list is all that seems to be statutorily required, it has been suggested by more experienced lawyers that I need to go to the courthouse and introduce myself to the Judges and their coordinators before I try to get this type of work, because although I may be on the list I can’t expect to be successful until I have the blessing of the Judges. I really like the small town feel of our local legal system and want to respect its traditions – I’m not here to make waves or do things differently (in that aspect). I’m hoping to get it together this week to go to the local courthouse and get some face time with the Judges and clerks.
Meeting CPAs and Financial Advisors
Another helpful tip I’ve been given is that I should network with CPAs and Financial Advisors. These professionals work in areas that involve the law and many of them understand the need to refer out certain aspects of their jobs to attorneys to make sure they are not incurring any liability for unlicensed practice of law.
I was thinking of just making a list of local advisors and cold-calling their offices to see if they have a few minutes, but I got a good piece of advice the other day suggesting that I call, ask to talk to the CPA/Financial Advisor, and offer to take them to coffee to talk about how we can help each other. This seems like a more fruitful method than just a straight cold-call. I’m going to spend some time this week making a list of local professionals (I may include insurance agents and real estate agents on the list as well) and spend some time inviting them to coffee.
That said, I’ve also gotten a contact with a local CPA through a client I am doing some small business work for. I’ve got plans to meet up with this CPA this week to talk about some of the work that we’ll be doing together, and I hope to make a pitch to him at the same time asking him to send some clients my way.
Flyers or Brochures
I’ve been kicking the idea around for a while of creating some flyers that talk about common immigration problems and kind of educating people on their rights. I’d like to keep these flyers somewhat “educational” so that they aren’t purely advertising, but instead something useful that people might pick up and give to a friend that they know is in a situation that could use the help of an immigration attorney. I really have to spend some time on this to make it the right product, but I really like the idea. My thought is that I’d create the brochure/pamphlet and leave them in businesses that are frequented by the type of people I see as being my client base. This is something that I will probably spend some time doing in the next month, maybe over the Christmas holiday when I feel less likely to get any productive client work done.
Some Kind of Discount or Special Offer
Although it isn’t extremely common in the legal services business to offer “Specials”, I don’t think that my pride is going to keep me from doing so. I’d like to come up with some sort of legal service offer that I can promote for the New Year, like “New Year, New Business” or “Get your New Year started right by starting to fix your immigration situation!”
That said, I might hold off on this idea until some sort of action is taken on the DACA (Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals). This might be a great opportunity to create a timely discount package that my clients can really use.
Getting new clients is the goal
All of these ideas are just things that I’ve come up with spontaneously. I will probably sit down after getting these things implemented and actually try to come up with some truly unique advertising. I’ve read some books on Guerrilla Advertising and I might try some ideas based on those ideas. I think the thing that I am concerned with most about alternative advertising methods is maintaining a professional look in my business while standing out as a different kind of legal services provider.