You're running a business that has the potential to help many people and be highly profitable. However, to make your family law firm grow the way you'd like it to, you’ll need a law firm growth strategy that makes sense for your firm.
Creating a law firm growth strategy means coming up with solid firm goals, making a plan to reach those goals, and then following through to make sure you're doing all you can to follow your plan. In short: You need to know where you are today, your future law firm marketing plans, and what you can do to stay on track.
Building your family law practice
Building a law firm from the ground up is a challenge, but it's one that you can overcome. While you're working in a somewhat unique and niche industry, the same principles that apply to building other kinds of businesses apply to yours, too.
That's why the first step toward growth is knowing where you are today and where you'd like to end up in the future. Having a strategy that tells you how you'll grow your business during this time is essential.
To build your growth strategy, you first have to define "growth" and what it means to you. Once you understand exactly what kind of growth you want to see, you'll be in a better position to take the right steps to make it happen.
The many definitions of growth for a family law firm
Family law firms may have different ideas of growth depending on what kind of work they want to pursue or how large they'd like to get. For some, growth comes in the form of higher revenue figures. For others, it looks more like expanding to new locations. And for others? It means adding more variety to the firm’s work.
Your exact definition of growth may be a combination of all three, or you can focus on just one or two specific areas of growth you want to see.
Growth as revenue
One of the primary ways to tell a law firm is growing is through an increase in revenue. For your law firm, you'll need to decide if you want to realize that growth through an intake of more cases, through an intake of higher-value cases, or through other means, such as hiring additional help or expanding to new locations.
How do you generate more revenue? The exact method depends on your capacity and the kinds of cases you can take on, but you can start by:
- Building a reputation of excellence, allowing your firm's name to stand out: When you treat every client as an important individual and have compassion for their circumstances, you can make a great impression that may, in turn, lead to referrals later. More cases? That means the potential for more revenue.
- Maximizing your marketing efforts: Are you new to the area, or do you have strong competition? A marketing campaign that helps you stand out could be the difference between working only a few cases here and there or being booked and busy all year. A good marketing campaign combined with an SEO-focused website will help you get seen and generate the important leads you need to take cases, win them, and get paid.
- Focusing on professional and business development: When you have a strong background in a niche area, you may be the only attorney in the region who can handle cases involving certain laws or situations. Why not take advantage of that opportunity?
With a strong law firm growth strategy plan, you can generate more revenue, market your firm, expand your expertise, and give each of your clients an excellent experience. Even small successes can build up to big wins later on.
Growth as business development and expansion
Another thing to think about is how large you want your law firm to become. A law firm that has only a single attorney practicing family law today could grow to become one that has several attorneys and dozens of clients at a time in the future.
Expansion doesn't have to mean staying in one place, either. Some successful attorneys focused on their areas of expertise while expanding across the nation.
If you feel comfortable taking on a heavier workload, you'll be able to weigh whether or not expanding beyond your initial family law firm office is right for you.
How do you know that it's time to expand?
- You're turning potential clients away. If you could take on more cases with another helping hand, it may be time to expand by hiring another attorney or getting an assistant.
- You feel like you've reached a maximum number of cases in the area. Small cities and towns may not have many people living in them. If you have a stable presence, expanding into another area could help you secure more work.
- You have people who want to work with you. If you're being approached about merging with another firm or have associates who want to collaborate, combining your resources may be an excellent idea.
Expansion can mean something different to everyone, but if you have a plan for when opportunities arise, you'll be in a good position to take advantage of them.
Growth as variety
Variety is the spice of life, and that can be true for a law firm as well. One fantastic way to grow a law firm is by adding other areas of expertise. Instead of offering only family law support, you might bring a personal injury attorney into the fold or decide to work with an attorney who handles medical malpractice cases.
When your firm is the only one that can handle every kind of case (or at least a wide variety of cases), you're more likely to capture potential clients’ attention and end up reeling in new cases when the time comes.
What are the benefits of adding variety to your family law firm?
- You may get to work with the same people again. A couple might go through a divorce only once, but they could come back to your firm for estate planning issues, personal injury claims, or other concerns later on if they know you have experts in your office.
- You get a different perspective on legal service. When people work together and have different approaches to the law, you can gain new perspectives and learn more than you would otherwise. You might specialize in going to trial and fighting difficult divorce or custody cases, but what if you were to add an associate who specializes in cases involving child protective services? Having someone to balance your firm can be a huge advantage.
- You save on marketing efforts. Instead of marketing for a tight niche, you can market to a wider audience. Doing so can be more cost-efficient because you'll need only one ad to publicize a wide range of services.
Variety can be a quick way to expose your firm to more clients, but there may be some risks as well. Add variety slowly, and with your firm's end goal in mind, so you don't end up overextending yourself.
What happens without a growth strategy for your family law firm?
Without a growth plan for your law firm, you simply can't know where you want to go or what steps you need to take to get there.
It's easy to go astray or to allow too much time to pass without moving forward. If you seem to be stuck at a certain number of cases because you can't handle more on your own or feel that you can't expand because your caseload is too low, then it may be time to look into options that can help you grow your firm organically.
You need a strategy to know when it's time to make moves. Your strategy should:
- Be clear about your practice areas
- Offer details on your firm's value proposition and mission
- Indicate how many cases you can handle and when you need to consider hiring more help
- Set short- and long-term revenue goals
- Develop a plan for hiring staff, such as assistants or new attorneys
- Identify key metrics to measure your growth, such as revenue, number of cases, and more
Once you have a growth and business development plan, follow up on that plan by checking in monthly. By reviewing how far you've come in the past month, you can make sure you're not moving backward. You’ll also be able to identify any goals you're not reaching and pull back in areas where you aren't seeing the results you expected. By checking in regularly, you'll stay focused and ready to achieve the growth you want to see.
At Scorpion, we help firms like yours develop the right website and marketing content they need to grow. Get started on your path to growth here.
