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Sunday, March 30, 2008
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
¶ 1:13 AM 0 comments
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
¶ 1:13 AM 0 comments
