South Carolina Trial Law Blog

What do you need to have a smooth running law office? Other than just working, working, working. How do you become more profitable without working yourself to death? How do you minimize the stress in your life? The answer is planning. Ah… but planning about what? Here’s what I see are the keys to having a smoothly run office:

• Case Plan – How do you handle cases from start to finish? Does everyone in your firm know exactly what to do and how to do it on your cases? Most of the raves that I’ve heard about Needles and TrialWorks are not for their technical abilities as case management programs, but that they force the firm to define and use a case plan for every case. And you know what? Both the lawyers and paralegals love it.
• Financial Plan – How much do you understand your finance? If you’re like most lawyers, the answer is not much.  Do you know when your cash comes in and plan accordingly? Our business is pretty cyclical from the tourist trade. Do you have a ‘big case’ budget and know how much you can afford to spend on your cases? What big purchases are you going to make and when is the best time to make them? Is there going to be any disruptions in your cash flow?
• Marketing Plan – Lawyers often confuse advertising and marketing. What are you doing to let people know you are a good lawyer and out there doing good work? Giving presentations? Participating on listservs? Writing books? Going to conferences? Spending time with other lawyers? I have seen on more than one occasion, an attorney who was one of the top attorneys in his field, who had written several books on a legal subject, had done research and had a Master’s thesis in the subject and had contributed several chapters to other’s books state that he didn’t market. Yes, he does. Being the leading expert in his field and writing books is marketing. Having a plan in place helps.
• Business Plan – What kind of practice do you want to have? If you could design your perfect practice, what kind of cases would you handle? What kind of clients would you have? How many staff members would you have? And how do these goals match what you’re doing today? How do these goals integrate with your case plan, financial plan and marketing plan?
• Life Plan – What kind of life do you want to have? At the end of your days and you look back on your life, what will make you the proudest? What do you want to have accomplished? What role do you want your work to take in your life? What role do you want family, and friends to take? What hobbies do you have? What do you want your legacy to be? What drives you?

Do, I have a written plan for all of these? No. But, I’m working on it. I have two coaches that are assisting me, keeping me on track towards where I want to go and helping me move toward my goals instead of just going forward a day at a time. The hardest part is clearly defining your goals.