Getting more clients to your law firm is so much more complicated than a high ranking in search engines or trying to be the biggest ad spender in your market. We challenge you to try these more organic ways of marketing. The bonus? They will also get you ranked high in search engines but they won’t cost you any money. I know that marketing your law firm can feel overwhelming but I promise that these tips and tricks will work. Try to work on just ONE of these items each month. If you do this, a year from today your law firm will be completely transformed.

Most soft tissue injury cases are pretty straightforward.

1. Your client gets hit by another driver.

2. Indications are that the other driver is at fault.

3. Your client treats, usually with a chiropractor.

4. Defense insurance company accepts liability.

5. Your client finishes treating.

6. You prepare a demand letter and send that demand letter to the defendant insurance company.

7. The case is negotiated and settled.

There are important nuances in each of these steps that are very important to analyze. Let’s take a deeper dive into each of these steps so that you can best assess the value of the case and maximize the recovery of the case.

Handling a personal injury case pre-litigation has its challenges, but it is a great way to increase the cashflow to your business and gain more happy clients.

The quickest simplest way to ensure you get paid your referral fee is to get it in writing. California Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5.1 requires all referral fees to be in writing and that the referral fee must not affect the client’s recovery. The agreement must be signed by the client as well. A change from the old rule is that now the fee agreement must be disclosed to the client and executed at or near the time the attorneys enter into the agreement to divide the fee. The old rule (prior to November 1, 2018) only requires the agreement to be disclosed prior to the disbursement of the fees.

Lots of attorneys think that if they go to trial and get a huge verdict, they will all of a sudden become inundated with new clients and amazing cases to work on. There is nothing further from the truth. The best method for getting new cases revolves around a more direct relationship building approach.

Of course, your success in trial or in your practice, is extremely important. After all, no one wants to refer cases to someone who doesn’t have experience winning or serving their clients in an exceptional manner. Your success as a lawyer serves as the proof needed to convince both clients and other attorneys that you are a trust-worthy person for them to send clients to. That is pretty much all it does. It isn’t going to cause people to come rushing to you with cases.

You need to build credibility through experience and success but then you need to leverage that to get more referrals for your firm. You need to focus your time and energy on building a consistent stream of cases coming your way, through attorney referrals.

Social media, and specifically Instagram, can be an extremely powerful business building tool. It can literally connect you to people on the other side of the globe and you can have access to information, experts and ideas like never before. Never before have we had so much opportunity. We can create and grow a business in any area we desire and we can do it all in the palm of our hand, on our cellphones. Attorneys can, and should, use Instagram to build their brand, connect with other lawyers and showcase their skills for potential clients.

Social media, and specifically Instagram, can be an extremely powerful business building tool. It can literally connect you to people on the other side of the globe and you can have access to information, experts and ideas like never before. Never before have we had so much opportunity. We can create and grow a business in any area we desire and we can do it all in the palm of our hand, on our cellphones. Attorneys can, and should, use Instagram to build their brand, connect with other lawyers and showcase their skills for potential clients.

How you engage with your past clients, friends and family is extremely important. You need to show up and remind them that you exist. They need to see you often and consistently in order to create an association in their minds and remember you as the legal expert that you are.

It’s a little easier to do this with family and friends because you are probably already following each other on social media and see each other in social situations. It must be pointed out though, that you may over estimate their ability to understand what you do. You may lose out on a new case because a family member or friend didn’t realize that you practice that type of law. It’s your job to make it simple and clear for your contacts. They should know what you are an expert in but they should also know that you can help them even when a legal need of theirs falls outside of your area of expertise.

You Landed a Personal Injury Case, Now What?

So…you have positioned yourself as the expert in all things legal in your community. Because of this, you are the go-to resource when people have a legal issue and they need help. A potential personal injury case has crossed your desk, even though you aren’t a personal injury attorney. You know that there are three ways you can handle this situation:

1. You can send the client to a colleague you know and trust who is an expert in accident cases. You will each follow the rules of professional conduct in your state and you will collect referral fees when the case resolves.

   2. You can try to work the case up for settlement (pre-litigation) and keep the entire fee without referring the case out.

   3. You can tell the client you don’t do personal injury and refer them to the state bar hotline or the internet. (This is an option you are too smart to do because you know you are passing up on a referral fee.)

When we say “connect” with your current clients we don’t mean pick up the phone and check-in with them. We mean “connect” on a deep human level. Think about their needs and give them what they want. We love doing exit interviews with our clients. We ask them to be brutally honest about our service and ask them a series of questions that helps us determine our areas of strength and weakness. This in an extremely valuable tool to help you see what really matters to your clients. After all, that is the main thing that you should be focusing on. There are hundreds of talented lawyers for their lawsuit. The good news, for you, is that most of those attorneys neglect their clients’ needs and only focus on the law. This is where you stand out by truly caring about those you serve.

The hugely important shift you need to make is seeing yourself as a “Legal Expert”. This simple shift will open you up to a world of opportunity. Seek to become THE go-to attorney in your community. Teach people that they should come to you any time they have a legal need.

Criminal defense attorneys have quickly realized they could add more than six-figures a year to their practice by literally doing nothing more than sending a client our way. They have continued to send referrals to us and they each now have a passive source of income that keeps them safe and secure, even in a pandemic.