The Perfect Practice is focused on extraordinary client service.

Every point of contact with prospects and clients is reviewed and determinations are made as to how to WOW the client at each such point.

Value added service is not just a catch phrase in the Perfect Practice. It is the modus operandi.

Client expectations (related to service, if not results) are exceeded. This, of course, requires that client expectations be documented at the beginning of each engagement.

Client feedback is regularly gathered. There is a client complaint recovery system in place. This is one of the areas where the systems approach referenced in this earlier post comes into play.

The cornerstone to growing any practice must be clients that are willing to tell others how happy they were with the service they received from their lawyer. The fact that so few clients are will make it that much easier to differentiate from your competitors on this point.

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The Perfect Practice is timeless.

That is to say its lawyers do not trade their time for a set hourly rate.  Now, I know this assertion is likely to be controversial.  And, perhaps there are exceptions.  But, in my view, they are exceptions, not the rule.

For many reasons that will be reviewed at length on this site later, I assert that fixed fee/value billing is the way to go.  Many lawyers will claim it cannot be done.  That is simply not the case.  I have a specialty divorce litigation practice.  If there were ever a practice area where one could claim that you can’t set a fixed fee because the nature of the case lends itself to uncertainty, it is mine. 

But, we successfully do it anyway.  I will explore this issue in great detail explaining how and why we do it in subsequent posts on the subject.  For now, understand that utilizing value billing is the single greatest decision I’ve made in my practice.  Don’t be a slave to a time sheet.  You will enjoy the freedom that this approach provides.  You will make more money.  And, your clients will love it because you no longer are expecting them to “write you a blank check” at the start of an engagement.

By the way, for the best resources on value billing in a professional practice buy any of Ron Baker’s books (my favorite to date is The Firm of the Future, but I own and recommend everything he writes).

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The Perfect Practice is systems driven. 

Proper systems will include checklists, scripts, forms and instructions.  Proper systems will lead to a consistently good client experience.  Get the systems in place.  Train the staff and lawyers to use the systems.  Review the systems consistently and improve upon them. 

By the way, allow other team members to help you develop the systems.  Don’t attempt to do this on your own (you can’t anyway).  If you did, the rest of your team would resent it.  You want their involvement in developing the systems so you will have their commitment in executing them.

Its my belief that every law practice should contain at least the following four primary systems:

(1) Financial Systems - These would include things like a dashboard to track important Performance Indicators monthly, a system for making sure there is a written fee agreement in every case, and a system to make sure the firm is paid every dollar it is owed on a timely basis;

(2) Marketing Systems - These would include a referral marketing system, automated lead generation systems, lead conversion systems (i.e. specific steps to convert a prospect into a client), and a publicity system;

(3) Operating Systems - These would cover how the work is completed, how calendars are kept, how deadlines and reminders are maintained, etc.; and 

(4) Staffing Systems - These would cover employee hiring, retention, training, compensation and management, as well as outsourcing.

Don’t feel overwhelmed by this list.  Its not something you do overnight.  In fact it will take several months to get the initial systems in place and even then they will be works in progress.  I’ll give some suggestions on how I’ve implemented such systems into my practice.  But, in the meantime, choose one area and start working on it for an hour or two a week.

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The Perfect Practice serves your life.

We will get to the very practical stuff soon.  But, first we need to look at the forest, not the trees.  And, this is a critical distinction.  You must have a practice that serves your life, not a life that serves your practice.

Too few lawyers get this.  Many of us are so busy putting out fires, billing hours, trying cases, dealing with clients, etc. that we never step back and reassess (or assess for the first time) why we are doing so.  The purpose of starting a law practice (or any business for that matter) should be to create something that then serves as a vehicle to take you where you want to go in your life.

The practice serves you.  You do not serve the practice.  In fact, my definition of a perfect law firm is a one which is no longer dependent on me.  Once you’ve built that, if you want to only work 2 days a week, fine.  If you want to take the summer off, fine.  If you never want to go into the office, fine.  You make these decisions for yourself.  You aren’t trapped into going to the office for fear that everything will implode and cease to exist.  It is about autonomy.  It is about freedom.

How is that possible?  Well, that is precisely the subject of this blog.  Stay tuned!

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As described on the about page of this blog, one of the goals of this site is to help you engineer your perfect law practice. Before we get into some very specific and practical strategies for doing that, I think it would be helpful to define my terms so we are “speaking the same language.”

In this post, I will set out what I contend to be the Seven Components of the Perfect Law Practice. Each component will be discussed in more detail in its own blog entry and categorized under the topic “The Perfect Firm Defined”. This then is a summary and overview of how I define the Perfect Law Practice:

The perfect law practice…

1. is a practice that serves your life.

2. is systems driven.

3. is timeless (i.e. operates on a value pricing model).

4. is focused on extraordinary client service.

5. charges premium fees for premium service.

6. is comprised of a winning team.

7. is the the deliberate and natural product of the efforts of its leader.

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So, now that we have decided that the law is a business (a “for profit” enterprise, hence the name of the blog), let’s get to the business of making our business successful. Before we can do that, though, we have to define success. For each person it may be different. And, in order to play the game well, we have to know how the score is kept.

The best part about this game is that as the owner of a solo or small firm practice, you get to decide how you will keep score. Certainly money will be a factor. But, if money was the only factor, you might be working at BigLaw, Inc. instead of on your own. So, what matters most to you? Consultants call this values clarification. And, its important work.

For the purpose of this post, I’m going to keep it simple. I value my relationship with God and my family. I enjoy traveling and competing in triathlons. I want my work to have meaning. I want to contribute. And, I believe life is too short to stress too much about much of anything.

But, let’s simplify it further because there is great power in focus. There are some common threads here. I’ve narrowed it down to the following three things for me: maximum profit, with minimum time, and minimum stress. That is it. That is how I keep score.

Look closely and you see it hits all my values. Time (and the autonomy I have in my practice) allow me to make my interests a priority in my life. For example, I am still able to train for my Ironman races. I take theology classes to deepen my relationship with God. I have time to travel and be with my family. Time is more important than money to me. I can make more money. I can’t make more time.

But, money is important too. And, its obviously included in the goal: maximum profit. But, I don’t narrowly define profit - my definition is broad enough to include the money I make in the practice as well as the contribution I make to my clients’ lives and to society. Others profit as well as me - my employees, their families, my clients, my vendors, etc.

And, finally, I want to minimize stress. All the money and time in the world would matter little if I wasn’t enjoying my life. I couldn’t do the work I do (divorce and family law) if I wasn’t very intentional about reducing the stress in my practice. And, I’d likely be a poorer husband, father, and friend.

So, that is how I keep score in my practice: maximize profit (to me and other stakeholders) while minimizing my time in the practice and the stress in my life. Sounds great, right? But, how do you do that? Well, that’s precisely what we will be discussing in this blog. And, I do hope it is a discussion: e-mail me or comment on the blog with your feedback and tips. I am a huge proponent of the mastermind principle, and I’d love to benefit from your insights as well.

By the way, I am launching my weekly e-zine, “Profitable Practice” within a matter of weeks. It will allow me to discuss these same issues in more depth and will provide effective and ethical tips and strategies for solos and small firms to create a more profitable practice. If you’d like to get on the subscription list to receive it immediately upon its launch, then shoot me an e-mail at michael@shermanjeffries.com. It’s free.

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Welcome to my new blog. As the name implies, the subject of this blog will be the business of law and how to best profit from it. More specifically, it is about how to effectively market and operate a law practice so that its owner (YOU) profits both financially and by the life your business (the firm) allows you to lead.

I will not spend much time debating the fundamental issue of whether the practice of law is a business or a profession. As the name of my blog implies, I am making the assumption that you operate your law practice in order to profit from it. The same question was discussed recently by John Walker at Minding the Law’s Business here. John is right to wonder why we still are asking this question.

This blog will assume that question answered decisively - yes, a law practice is a profession, but to deny it is also a business is silly and self defeating. And, for those who insist it is not, then send me an e-mail, and I’ll tell you how you can donate your paycheck to me.

For the rest of us, I hope to share some insights I’ve had in starting and growing my own law practice (I’ve now been practicing as the owner of my own firm for 9 of my 12 years in practice). I’m finally understanding what it takes to succeed as a solo or small firm lawyer (why does it take so long, and why didn’t they teach me this stuff in law school?!). And, I hope to share what I’ve learned with you. Of course, I welcome your feedback and suggestions as well.

So, now that we’ve decided that the law is a business, let’s turn our attention to how to make our businesses successful. I’ll explain how I define success in my law practice in my next post.

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