“The competition in the legal industry is getting tougher. Perhaps, you have observed how lawyers and associates work together to solve an issue and argue the same in court in legal dramas – such as How to Get Away with Murderer, Suits, and Law and Order.
As you might notice, these fictional narratives mimic real-life scenarios on how law firms work. But in reality, maintaining the fitness of a law firm is a long-term challenge.
Ranking as the 25th industry with the most employed sector, the Legal Industry has prominently employed around 1.1 million workers in 2018, according to the report of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also, in a survey, the American Bar Association revealed that active attorneys in the U.S. have increased by 15.2 percent over the last year.
The total number of lawyers in the United States as of Dec. 31 was 1,338,678. Ten years before that, the total number was 1,162,124.
Meaning, as the number of lawyers increases, so with the rising number of law firms – creating a pool of opportunities, attracting more potential clients, and expanding the market in the global workforce.
No one says your law firm has to be competitive. However, the current market in the legal playground demands you to maintain a stark standard and to sustain your goals. Without a clearer vision, positioning your law firm to the next step will be more difficult.
How are you going to stay competitive as a law firm? Bold Patent list five ways to stay competitive.
Make communications more virtual
Your law firm is a bond of your associates, paralegals, and clients. And the day-to-day operations have to be synchronised with court submissions, client meetings, urgent reports, and things alike. Perhaps, catching up with your clients and sending updates to them require you to communicate in person. Much more than during this pandemic, you have to limit your outdoor activities to keep safe.
Gone are the days that meetings have to be done in person. To optimise your communications with your clients, practice to do Zoom meetings, Skype calls, Slack, or other social communication platforms fit for your law firm.
Manage documents through cloud file
One of the challenges to maintain as a competitive law firm is the management of documents inside the office. In reality, your law firm deals with more than a hundred of bond papers clipped in folders, which contains confidential information for court submission. Not only that, but these documents also would involve signatures, pieces of evidence, affidavits, notarized documents, and agreements from your clients’ cases.
In worst-case scenarios, these documents tend to get lost, torn, or misplaced, requiring you another cost, effort, and time to replace the same.
To operate a cost-effective document system, manage your files through a cloud storage – a smart automation technology that stores your documents, sends file requests for sharing information, notifies receiving activities, reviews snapshots of ongoing workflows.
Optimise Local SEO Searches
Ranking up in the competition has unlimited ways, most especially that the arena of legal industry is an expanded market for aspiring lawyers. In this case, ranking up your law firm can be made possible through search engine optimisations (SEO’s), which can position your law firm’s name in the web presence and visibility.
As your law firm’s marketing strategy, you can help resolve a particular issue and educate a wider audience through relevant content and articles. Here, you have to engage in link building and guest blog posting to improve your credibility as well.
With the right strategy, your readers can potentially be converted as your clients and share your content online. You see, that’s how powerful SEOs can work. By just a click, you can market your law firm without investing too heavily in marketing efforts to stay relevant.
Respond to your leads, ASAP
Bolstering partnerships and investments is one of the reasons why your company should stay competitive. By keeping your contacts, clients, and capital on deck, you sustain and strengthen your law firm through time. Sustainability, in this context, amounts to fostering relationships and communicating with frank conversations, goals, and expectations with your clients.
Don’t leave any messages left un-responded or any missed calls coming from your potential clients. As much as possible, responding to their inquiries, suggestions, complaints, grievances, or remarks for these feedbacks would help you track your progress.
Remember, your clients can help you leverage your business presence.
Provide free consultation
Free consultations can help boost the morale and standard of a law firm. While your clients are looking for a competitive advantage, free consultations are a speedy way to show your commitment to a client-first customer service.
Through providing free consultation, you can funnel your prospective clients and evaluate if you want to work with them. Also, you can generate leads and leverage your market by including them in your email contacts.
While some law firms charge first consultation with clients, always remember to serve with vocation and dedication. In this way, you can portray to your clients how passionate your law firm can serve without a starting fee.
Key Takeaways
In the growing ambitions of youth to become lawyers, the legal industry is not yet dead. It might not position as an in-demand profession, but it poses an equal importance in the nation’s economy.
As the number of lawyers increases, it also poses a challenge to every law firm in maintaining their competitive streak amongst the established and starting ones.
No one says your law firm has to be competitive. However, the current market in the legal playground demands you to maintain a stark standard and to sustain your goals.
Indeed, here are five ways of law firms to stay competitive:
- Make communications more virtual;
- Manage documents through cloud file
- Optimize local SEO searches
- Respond to your leads, ASAP
- Provide free consultation”
Who is Alejandro Cortez?
Alejandro is a creative writer and a frustrated poet. He is a 21-year old millennial who aims to be a Family and IP lawyer. His management and writing skills have led him to help authors publish their books. As a mental health advocate, Alejandro has a semicolon on his right wrist, for he believes that life must keep going, no matter what.
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