Lawyers, Guns and Money
The cry
for help by Warren Zevon
to send lawyers, guns
and money was
intended to help him.
Today
the cry
is from
the lawyers
and it goes
like this send clients, time
and money.
Maybe the
legal industry
should consider asking Warren
to re-write
his song especially
for them. A song that will help
lawyers obtain
new quality
clients who
can pay their bills
while giving lawyers more time.
The ultra-ultra competitive legal industry
is awash in all kind
of headaches which make the day-to-day life of practicing
law not much fun.
Finding
new quality clients is almost
a full-time
job. There
are so many legal specialties flooded with other lawyers offering the same specialty that the public is taking the Wal-Mart approach
and buying from the lowest-cost provider.
Unfortunately this pattern
just makes
things worse,
as lawyers
feel the pressure to compete
on priceso
they lower their
fees, which causes their competitors to do the same.
Ultimately this produces
a downward
spiral for legal fees which benefits the public (maybe) but hurts law practices.
Todays legal
client has the same problems
as yesterdays legal
client had but
they want more-for-
less and they
dont even want to pay
for it.
These
new clients
are well
informed, theyre internet
savvy, they ask
for discounts and they shop for lawyers
like they shop for a new TV.
When they finally make a
decision to retain a lawyerthey start acting like they are the only client the
lawyer has. They expect their new
lawyer to take their endless phone calls,
get their
case filed
or settled
overnight, balk at retainers and slow pay or no pay on future invoices.
But wait there is
morebecause many lawyers feel forced
into taking these new clients at low fees, they
often find themselves
working on cases which wont make them any money.
Once a
lawyer gets to this pointits not good for the client or the
lawyer. The lawyer realizes that they cant
put anymore time into a
case, as the client is not going to pay
moreso they want to end the case as soon as
possible and get it
off their desk.
The client is still
thinking (hoping) for the
best possible outcome (typically very unreasonable) and the lawyer simply wants the case over. The lawyer feels bad about the case as
its become a financial train wreck and they realize they
should have charged the client a much higher fee.
The bottom
line is most Lawyers are working harder today and making less than they
were 10 years ago. The hourly rates they quote are
often not realized and if they are its because of a huge
amount of personal effort being expended each
hour. Something most lawyers cant keep up for long.
If
youre sick and
tired of cash flow issues, trying to find clients while collecting your billingsthen
you need The Most Magical Skill That
Turns Almost Any Struggling Law Practice Into A Stress-Free, No-Work Profit
Making Machine!
Jack
McDonough is a speaker, author and consultant to
attorneys who desire to make more money while working less
hours. Jack is President of
US Tax Marketing Corp.
http://www.ustax.com