Your advice is always worth something

Look, friends, colleagues and others, a licensed, practicing lawyer knows a lot of valuable information. Sure, much of what they know is freely available on the Internet, at Legalzoom, Justia or Google. But how that information affects a person's life, business or money can't usually be determined by the average person.

Legal training makes it possible for a lawyer to determine what information actually matters in a situation, and how to make that info work. That skill is worth paying for and, above all, charging for.

All the information knowable about the workings of a modern automobile is published in shop manuals. Does that mean getting a car problem diagnosed or repaired is, or should be, free? Of course not. How about a pain in the back? There are diagnostic websites, anatomy texts, all the substance of modern medicine available to anyone with an internet connection. Does that mean a medical diagnosis should be had for nothing? Again, the answer is obvious.

The same is true for legal problems. Any person who has ever had a cold can tell if someone else has one. How many people can suggest a case of adverse possession off the top of their head?  Only a lawyer would know.

Please value your education, experience and training. If attorneys keep giving away "free initial consultations" they devalue every other piece of advice they may give, as well as the advice and effort of other lawyers, everywhere.

Good legal advice is worth paying for, and price tells clients that they are getting something of value. Be valuable from the moment you start listening to a set of facts. 

Service

Tony Robbins is a globally recognized author and motivational speaker. He has risen to, and has access to, the highest echelons of society. He appears as avid a student as he is a teacher. More than that, he seems to be a decent, sincere man.


In his recent book "Money: Master the Game" he infrequently and obliquely discusses his own path to success. It is in those passages one finds little nuggets of wisdom. There is no doubt that the success Robbins has had came with some difficulty and challenges. His offhand remarks in that book  provide some useful insight on how to become more valuable.  One observation of his was particularly resonant with me as a seeker of success in life, and in the practice of law.


"How do I serve the greatest number of people?" he asked himself. That is the question that woke me in the wee hours this morning. How can I serve more people as a lawyer?


I have been actively searching for opportunities to make money in my law practice and in other areas of business.  It is a difficult challenge to look for these "opportunities." They are like the fabled jackalopes. There are no obvious markers and they are not easily seen. They take on varying colors and are as wispy as smoke---until you understand what they are at their source. That is where Robbins made the connection and asked the right question: How do I serve the most people?


That is the heart of opportunity. It is providing a service to those in need of a solution.


This focus point makes it far easier to actively seek out opportunities and even stumble upon some. As you look around your practice and the needs of your clients,and those who could be your clients, ask yourself how can you best serve them. That may be all that you need to focus your advice, your marketing efforts and your capital. With this insight in mind, I am going to focus on casting all of my efforts as service. In this mindset, I will be providing value as a matter of course.


It is not enough to ask how can I make money from this contract, dispute or transaction. It is the epitome of value to provide a useful service. If what you provide does not serve your client or customer, then it has little value and will likely be wasted time, or the source of dissatisfaction.

Serve first and serve many.

The low hanging fruit of the FLSA is gone.

I filed my first FLSA collective action in 2001. That was the boom time. The previously unsexy wage and hour claim had come to life. Plaintiffs' counsel were recognizing the great value of statutory attorney fees under a remedial statute coupled with a whole lot of unsuspecting employers.  Life was good and lucrative for more than a decade.


Now though, most employers of any size or sophistication are aware of the risks from unpaid OT or misclassification. Plaintiffs are relegated to rooting around in the cast-off theories of recovery. Big, valuable defendants are mostly gone.  


This well has been worked. Until there is a fracking analogue for FLSA claims, something that can pull more recoveries out of old theories, it is probably time to pull in the pipes and move on.


I know, I know. More than 8,400 FLSA cases were filed in 2012. It's popular. It's booming. How many were filed in 2001? Less than a 1,850. See, http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/660319.txt.  A 450% gain in a decade is quite a run.


But borrowing a phrase from the investment world: When everyone goes to one side of the ship, it's time to go to the other side. The Johnny-come-lately staffing by employer defense firms over the past two or three years seals it for me. By the time the Ogletree Deakins of the legal world got on board big time, the top in FLSA claims was near.


For lawyers looking for valuable practice areas, and I am speaking only from personal experience and my own observation-based opinion, the FLSA is played out. There are better opportunities elsewhere.

Getting Work as a Lawyer

A recently admitted lawyer in Ohio had gone on the Bar Association's Solo and Small Firm list serv and posted a request for tips on how to get work.  This was my response, for what it's worth:

 

"Dear Amy:

 

While marketing your services as a lawyer is a process hampered by ethical land mines and a tradition of waiting to be called, there are some easy, inexpensive ways to get work.  First though, decide what broad kind of work you can do.  You can't take on work that you aren't able to do or aren't reasonably able to get prepared to do.

If you want criminal work, get on the court's appointment list.  It's low paid but filled with opportunities for experience and exposure.

For civil work, the biggest bang for your buck may be the local bar association's lawyer referral service.  Dayton's is 175 a year plus 10% of fees earned.  It is so worth the cost. Hundreds of times over.

Go to bar association events.  Go to the national ABA section events if you can afford it.  If you go, and you introduce yourself and make connections, then you quickly become a nationally known attorney.  Have a quick response to "what do you do?"  Be friendly with other lawyers.  Refer work to them.  Volunteer in a group or groups that do something you like. Speak up and take some leadership.  It isn't always quick, but exposure + competence = work.  Always be grateful for referrals. Call or send thank you cards to your referral sources. Refer back and speak well of them.

Write a blog, get a website that links to your blog, and then use a twitter account and a linkedin profile to mention your blog or website.  Write often and be real.  Read blogs by James Altucher.  Read his book "Choose Yourself".  It's five bucks on Amazon and it may change your life.  

Do good work, bill fairly, and deliver more than you promise.  Always, always do what you say you will.  Don't lie or cheat.  Lawyers and judges will know, and it will kill your career.  Don't chase low profit work or clients.  Analyze your practice areas for the highest profit for the least amount of time and effort, and then do that work most of the time.  Develop an expertise. Love it. For me that is FLSA litigation. For you it will likely be something different.

Charge a fee for consultations too. Make yourself valuable from the very first meeting.  If a potential client balks at 50-100-150 for your initial time, then you don't need them.  Exceptions of course, but charge as a rule.  

Finally, go to Dave Lorenzo's website and follow him on Twitter @TheDaveLorenzo, He is undoubtedly the best legal marketing mind.  Read all that he writes and do just part of it. You will get work and clients.

I do these things.  I believe in them and I have been successfully self employed, with luck and gratitude, since 2001.  

Good luck Amy.  Contact me if you'd like any more info. Although I think that is all that I have."

Professional conferences pay for themselves

Professionals spend years in school learning their trade.  Then after they enter their profession they are often required by their professional licensing organization to keep current in their field.  Keeping current for lawyers means taking ten to fifteen hours per year of continuing education.  It is often expensive and seemingly unproductive.

It does take time, true.  But to those who would call it unproductive, because it can't be billed to a client, I would say think again.

While taking on my first Fair Labor Standards collective action case more than twelve years ago, I was overwhelmed. Fortunately, the National Employment Lawyers Association was holding an FLSA focused conference that year.  Too bad it was in San Francisco.  That was a long way from my little shared office space in Middletown, Ohio.  It appeared too expensive and risky.  I calculated the benefits I hoped for against the clear monetary expense, and got my airline ticket west.

I met some extraordinary people. Authors of practice guides like Janice Kearns, and nationally known litigators like David Borgen.  I also met a super sharp lawyer from NYC named John Bernstein.  Nearly a year after that meeting, which gave me more than enough info to powerfully settle my case in Ohio's southern district, I got a call from a class action lawyer from New York.  He wanted local counsel in Ohio and Mr. Bernstein referred him to me.

Since that time I have done two more class cases with this lawyer, with settlements in the many million dollar range.

I didn't get those kinds of cases because I was in the fray already.  I got them because I took a chance and went to a national lawyers conference and made some friends.  That trip has paid for itself hundreds of time over and has been an inspiration to me ever since.

The American Bar Association's class action and derivative claim committee had its annual class action institute in Boston this past week.  I went for the great agenda and to meet up with some friends I made at a litigation conference earlier this year.  I was thrilled by the quality of the content, but even better than that, I was fortunate to meet some incredible lawyers who work all over the nation and the world.  We may not talk daily or even monthly, but we now have connections built face to face in a forum that allows for real evaluation.  Your MarHub profile or website copy is like smoke in comparison to the quick and certain impression you can take, or present, talking about the law or judges or sports teams with your potential co, or opposing counsel.

Go to your national professional meetings.  Join the players on the biggest stage you can manage.  They are just like you.  It is likely that you will be welcome into the cast just by virtue of showing up with a good attitude.  These conferences bring all attendees up. Sometimes in ways you don't see coming.  Don't wait. Go to the next one.  Do it.