CORONAVIRUS AND YOUR LAW FIRM
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am suffering from “coronavirus overload”. I sit down to watch television and every commercial break has at least two or three commercials, either directly or indirectly, taking about coronavirus. I go to my computer and there are stories everywhere about coronavirus. And one article contradicts another. I do not know who or what to believe. You cannot trust the numbers – we do not know who is telling the truth and who is covering something up at any given time to either inflate or deflate their cases and/or deaths depending on what their goal is.
And now, everybody is giving webinars or podcasts on something having to do with coronavirus:
How to Go Remote/Virtual
How to Market During Coronavirus
How to Hire During Coronavirus
How to Get More Clients During Coronavirus
How to Handle HR Issues During Coronavirus
And the list goes on.
It seems as though everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. There are probably half a dozen or more of these EVERY – SINGLE – DAY!
Instead of practicing law, you can just listen to all these presentations every single day. The problem is, you wouldn’t get any work done then, would you? Meaning you wouldn’t be making any money. And you couldn’t pay your employees – or anything else for that matter. Because you know what – when it is all said and done what you have to keep doing is practicing law or no one gets paid!!
Take a step back and really think to yourself:
Does anyone have the magic answer? NO.
Is working this way new to everyone? YES.
No one has marketed, or hired, or billed – or anything - before through something like this. They don’t have the answers any more than you or I do.
They have also not hired during coronavirus – I have 6 clients that I have helped hire in the past two months
No one has had to see their way through marketing for clients during coronavirus or something similar. Many of my clients have not missed a beat on getting new clients, even with going virtual/remote. Through our continued marketing efforts, some have seen an increase in their new business.
No one has had to handle HR issues through a crisis like this before. I have a client that during this pandemic has put an employee on 30 days’ notice and then terminated them, another 6 clients that hired someone new, and two firms that have implemented a policy and procedure manual.
No one has had to bill clients before through something like this. Is it really that different? No, of course not. Employees need to track their hours. Chances are if they tracked them before they are doing it now. Employees that had problems with tracking hours are probably doing less than they did before. You have money in trust? Get the work done and bill the client. You have a new retainer from a new client – get to work and earn that money.
What are you waiting for?
There is no excuse for not carrying on business as before. Have some things changed? Of course, they have!! But I really don’t believe your time is well spent listening to this every single day. Use your time – do your work, have your staff do their work, keep track of your time, bill your clients and bring in those revenues. Your law firm will survive!!
Law firms that have maintained through this crisis will keep on working. Law firms that have laid back will have to get things going again once we get back to work if they have not closed in the interim.
Believe me, right now there is more than enough misery to go around. But listening to it every day isn’t going to change things. And if your law firm needs to make some changes – do it!
The one thing that pandemic has taught us is that virtual/remote is an option – and it works! Law firms are coming around to the understanding that they do not need a full-time administrator or office manager – because it is not a full-time job! It is sad but this situation has finally brought about the reality that billing, or bookkeeping or payroll – or anything else that everyone thought was a full-time job isn’t!
Take stock of your law firm! Working virtual/remote has given everyone a new perspective on running a law firm – and who to hire. Maybe you don’t need so much office space. Maybe having a few people work from home a few days a week can work. Maybe clients would prefer to do a phone conference or some other type of initial consult without coming in to the office. Many of my clients have found that it turns a 90-minute consult into a 30- minute consult – which is a good thing!
With everything that has come out of the coronavirus crisis, maybe learning how to run an efficient, productive and cost-effective law firm will be a benefit to all of you!
If you have questions, need an evaluation or some help call me at 813-340-9569. Check out my website at: fromlawyertolawfirm.com. We are remote/virtual - we are working and open!! Call us at 813-340-9569.
Check out our website at www.fromlawyertolawfirm.com or my professional profile on LinkedIn or Facebook.
You can contact me at liz.managementconsultant@gmail.com. Come on - let's get to work!!
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