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Back To Work – And How!

For all the complaining and moaning I did about Unbundled Attorney, I’ve got to say that I am pretty glad I signed up.  Since I signed up on Friday, I’ve gotten 6 leads from Unbundled Attorney and pulled in 5 new clients.  The ROI on this is pretty fantastic, so far.  The UA system seems to work, and many of the clients I’ve been able to sign wanted a full representation instead of Unbundled services.

Now, I have to get to work lawyering

So I’ve got clients, now I have to get to work lawyering.  Law school and the bar exam are great for learning the logical methods for lawyering and the actual substance of the law, but actually putting it to use requires practice.  There are already things that have come up that I think, “oh yeah, that is a XXXX”, but actually putting that down and making it fit into a petition or answer that I can file with the courts is a whole other ball game.

And, I’ve got to say that a lot of the logical games and talking out the problems with other lawyers, new or not, seems to help.  Multiple times today I’ve spitballed a problem with another lawyer and with my own research, plus bouncing the ideas off of someone else, gotten to the answer.  The process works, and apparently the logic from law school actually does help, but I do have to say that real lawyering wears me out.

But, I do feel pretty hopeful with the whole thing.  Not to say that I haven’t dealt with imposter syndrome all day, but it is nice to understand the client’s basic need and then just have to drill down on the specific issues as they come up.

Cyclical challenges of new lawyering

The first week of practice I had a feeling of “I’m getting new clients, but what do I do with them?”

Then, after those first weeks, I got the work done and got back to “I don’t have work, I need to find clients!”

Now, I’m back to “I’ve got clients, now how am I going to find time to do all this work?”

I suspect this is going to be an ongoing thing.  I got a chance to spend a good deal of my time with an experienced lawyer yesterday, and he gave me some good “older-lawyer” advice, including “Just do the work, the rest will take care of itself.”  I am going to keep that in mind and just trudge through.  Although I am pretty worn out from talking to new clients and trying to figure out how to help them all day, I do have to say that I am probably happier with my new practice today than I have been yet.  I guess the thrill of signing new engagement letters is a big deal.

I slacked on getting anything written yesterday, so I’m going to have to make up for it later this week, but for now I am worn out and only feel like 500 words are going to come out.

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I Got Bored Before Christmas and Signed Up For Unbundled Attorney

Although we had snow earlier this year, that kind of shenanigans is not typical for Southeast Texas.  For the years that I’ve been here Christmas has been chilly at most, and some years downright warmish. That said, the Courts are still closed and people are still more focused on their holiday preparations than getting any real work done.  I, on the other hand, feel more productive this Christmas season than I have in a while. I remember thinking last year that the majority of the month of December was a waste of payroll for the company that I left to start my law practice, because of everyone’s preoccupation with the holidays.  That said, as a new business owner, I am trying to make the most of the slow time.

Cranking up the marketing for the New Year

Yesterday (Friday the 22nd), I decided at about noon, after getting a message on LinkedIn from the salesbro from Unbundled Attorney about a new Unbundled Attorney podcast featuring someone I’ve corresponded with on LawyerSmack, and listening to that podcast, that I should probably pull the trigger on Unbundled Attorney to start the New Year.  So, I sent an email to Unbundled saying that we should do the deal, and an hour later the salesbro called me from whatever beach he was sitting on (I am pretty sure I heard seagulls in the background of the call).

I’ve said it before, I don’t always like salespeople, and some of the sales tactics this guy have used have bothered me in the past, but he offers a solid product and I don’t fault him for doing his job.  I’ve got to say, he knows his pitch and he does a good job wrangling difficult attorneys (imagine how much work it must be to convince naturally skeptical attorneys of the benefit of a service like this).  That said, once I had decided to just do it, despite my skepticism, a lot of what he said was useful.

You want me to what?

The sales guy told me we were going to role play a script, and I for 30 seconds I thought that he might be mistaken, but he gently convinced me that we needed to practice what I was going to say to prospective clients.  We went through it, and at one point he had to stop me and scold me for not following the script, but we got through it.  At the end of it, I felt better about the whole thing and I am pretty hopeful that this is going to work.

I committed to a larger geographical area than I originally wanted to, but I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing.  Originally, I only wanted to serve Jefferson, Chambers, Hardin and Orange counties, but the sales guy also convinced me to take on Galveston.  I objected to the idea at first because Galveston is practically farther than I’d like to go, even though geographically it isn’t that far – it just takes 2 hours to get there no matter how you go.  Sales guy suggested that I look into virtual office space and if I get multiple leads in Galveston I would just stay the night there.

What have I got to lose?

My initial hesitation and worry about this service still exists, but I have had a couple of conversations now with an attorney in Mississippi who has done very well using this system – she uses it almost exclusively for new business – and her story sort of inspired me to try.

I’ve also talked to an attorney who recently canceled the Unbundled Attorney services after about a week of trying it.  He didn’t have a great conversion rate on the leads, I think he got business from 2 of the 8 leads he paid for, but his ROI was still about 200%.  Unbundled Attorney itself, as well as the attorney I know who is happy with the service, both say that the typical conversion rate on leads is much higher than 25%, but even if I only make 200% ROI, I’ll probably be ok with the service.

Unbundled doesn’t require a contract, but they have asked me to try 15-20 leads before I make any decisions about the service. I was hesitant at first about this, but in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think 15-20 leads is unreasonable.  There are a lot of stories on the Unbundled site about successes by new lawyers with their services, so I’m hoping that I’ll have the same results.

New software service lead

One of the things that Unbundled suggested I try out for my practice was Lexicata, an automated intake service.  I like the idea of the service, and I hope I can make it work in my business regardless of whether I have a smash success with Unbundled. Lexicata lets me send intakes and retainer agreements to clients on their mobile devices, so no print-sign-scan-email process is necessary.  I really like this idea, and for what they charge per month I think the service will pay for itself.

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End of Week Two

At the end of week two, I am feeling pretty good about being a solo attorney.  I don’t have a ton of new work yet, but I knew that I wouldn’t have a bunch in the  first months.  I feel like I’ve done better in these weeks than I expected to.

Clients aren’t beating down the doors, but I’ve got some

I’ve managed to get a few clients already.  I’m not yet to the point where I am meeting with new clients every day and getting new work pinned down on a regular basis, but I do feel like I am at a pretty comfortable spot between getting clients and actually doing the work that they are hiring me to do.

Obviously, I’d like to have more work than I knew what to do with, but at this rate I don’t doubt that the time will come when I am turning away work.  What a glorious problem to have.

Part of being a new lawyer is learning how to efficiently do lawyering

I know the process for a lot of labor law and business law because I was doing that in my previous job.  I can sit down and do that stuff without thinking about it.  But I remember a while ago when I had to think about that stuff.

That thinking about the process and learning what to do is a lot more prevalent in my life right now because I am taking on a lot of work that I have never had the opportunity to do before, which takes up a lot more of my time than what it should.  But that is ok. As a new solo, I don’t have any real issue with taking a lot more time than what I think it really should to do one task or another, because I know that I am figuring out how the process works and I am spending a lot of time in the books looking for the right way to do what I need to do.

Pricing for newbies

It was suggested that while starting out I quote a price that seems reasonable for the work I am doing, either by asking how much another lawyer would charge for the service or by calculating how long I think it should take and charging my hourly rate for that amount of work.  By how long I think it should take, I mean how long would an experienced solo take to do the work.   Once I set a flat fee for the work it doesn’t matter, at least in terms of the client, how long I take to do the job.  I can spend 4 hours reading the Family Code on a case that should really only take 4 hours total if I am charging a flat fee.

The other suggestion I was given with this system is track the time it takes me every time.  By tracking the time I can figure out what I am getting better at and what I need to work on, and what areas of law I might not need to practice because they truly take up more of my time than what I am charging for them.  I like having a good Case Management System to do this so that I can track time easily, without actually charging the client for the time.

Amazed at how nice attorneys seem to be to new attorneys

I had a case come into the office yesterday that was turned away by another attorney.  I called the other attorney and introduced myself and told him I was thinking of taking this case on, and asked him for information about the case.  He was more than willing to help me and to give me his thoughts on the case.  Then we spent another 10 minutes talking and getting to know each other.

This has been my experience with all of the lawyers that I have talked to, even some that were opposing counsel at the time.  I don’t know if it is just Jefferson County or if this is the way the local bar works in every community, but I am really impressed at how lawyers are so willing to be collaborative and kind to other attorneys, especially new attorneys in Jefferson County.

Lawyering support

I got involved with a Slack channel (LawyerSlack) for lawyers a few months ago run by Keith Lee of Associate’s Mind.  The channel has been an enormous help.  Friends that know I am involved with the LawyerSlack, make fun of me for spending time on “Facebook for Lawyers”, but they don’t understand the value of having the collective knowledge and experience of a couple hundred other lawyers from around the country living in my browser.  Before going solo I ran the idea by LawyerSlack and talked to them about the pitfalls of being a new solo.  This group has been a huge help for my new practice, and has probably helped my sanity over the last few months because I’ve had a forum to bounce ideas off of and get tips of the trade from.  Who knew that chatting on the internet would actually be a useful thing?

 

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Almost A Week Solo

Long hours – but finally feeling productive…

I got up this morning, didn’t want to crawl out of my warm bed but convinced myself that I needed to, and went to the gym.  I made it to the office at a decent hour, had no more unpacking or organizing to do, and got to work.

I managed to sit and work for  almost ten hours on a billable project and actually got done what I needed to get done.  After sitting and working like that for myself, I felt slightly delirious, but once I entered my time into my case management software a calm, satisfied feeling came over me.

Now, after writing on stuff for a full day, then coming home for dinner and returning to my computer to work on different projects, I find myself having a tough time getting this post written.  I think the lesson for today, other than how good it feels to get some substantial billable hours in, is that picking the area of the law that I want to practice is going to be really important.

I’m not sure I want to be a trial lawyer

So I sat in my office and had very little interaction with anyone today other than a few client calls to clarify some issues, and a few emails and calls with other attorneys.  I just got to work on my issue and didn’t have to tussle with any of the noise.

I realized that this is probably the ideal situation for my practice.  I’m not saying that I don’t like social interaction, but at the same time I remember in my previous job often thinking that this job wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for all the people.

This realization is probably going to lead me to try to work on cultivating the type of business where I don’t have to leave the office to go to court and deal with lots of procedural issues on a regular basis.

I look at the other lawyers in my office who are constantly in trial and dealing with trial-client issues, and I’m not sure that is for me.  I tend to romanticize the idea of being a great trial lawyer and battling in court to win big for my clients, and even the idea of renouncing that type of advocacy somewhat tugs at my pride, but the more I think about it I’m not sure that kind of career is for me.

That said, I am planning on signing up for some appointments lists next week to get the trial experience.  I am pretty sure I can get some regular income from appointments while I am sorting out getting transactional work.

Endless possibilities

I’ve reached out to a local CPA about meeting up.  I need an accountant and also need to meet with local businesspeople to expand my network.  I also have a lead on meeting up with a financial advisor to talk to him about sending some business my way.  Those sources seem to be reasonable ways to get the kinds of clients I want.

Also, I think doing immigration work will help satisfy my transactional desires.  Most of that kind of work is limited to semi-transactional business with little interaction with the courts.  I need to figure out how to advertise more for immigration work and get my name out in that area.  I’ll probably get referrals from clients that I am working with now, but that area needs to be developed.

At least I have a nice place to work now

Newly situated office

I think a big part of my satisfaction with working all day today in my office is because of how nice it turned out.  It is still a little bit of a mess and needs some work, primarily I need to hang my degrees and licenses, but overall it is a really nice place to spend my day.