November 1, 2006
Leaving BigLaw -Times Are Favorable for Starting Your Own Firm
Some of the transformations in the operating environment that give rise to the Long Tail economic theory have already begun to change the prospects of small and midsized firms.
- Law departments know the economic and service quality benefits of using midsized law firms versus the usual mega firm suspects.
- The traditional barrier to using midsized firms has to do with demographics. There are only 250 BigLaw firms, but how can a law department know anything about the next 10,000 or 30,000 law firms, let alone the 300,000 below that?
- While midsized and small firms have traditionally been thought to represent individuals and small to midsized businesses, the Corporate Counsel® publication reports that 25 percent of surveyed Fortune 250 corporations had law firms of 40 or less attorneys on their “go to” law firms list.
- Make the right moves and prospective clients worldwide can now find you easily; even large corporations are starting to shop the Internet for niche players in legal specialties. A survey by Alyn-Weiss & Associates, Inc. disclosed that law firm web sites are now the single most effective marketing tool employed by law firms engaged in corporate, transactional, and defense work. The Alyn-Weiss report surmised “that purchase patterns for legal services are clearly shifting, [and] Internet inquiry and research, whether a personal referral occurred or not, is increasingly commonplace for counsel and executives.” The survey found that 82 percent of surveyed law firms now get business over the Web. In the June 2006 issue of Law Office Management & Administration Report, IOMA noted that the data suggests the shift toward the growing importance of the Internet, and the firm’s visibility on it will only continue.
The times favor new law firm start-ups. But make no mistake; leaving a large firm environment to do so is a risky business. Don’t expect all your clients to follow you. They never do. You have to transition from a lawyer to a business person or, as some put it, from being a grinder to being a finder and minder. Succeeding takes time and you need the financial reserves to stay the course. If you or your “to be” partners don’t have the interest or disposition to be a business manager, you best stay put where you are. Second, if you can’t bring in new business, you will be spiraling down rather than up.
If you do start your own law firm, look for vendors like Juris who offer start-up packages to work with young and growing firms.
Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
Related posts
Filed under Blog by Tom Collins