Volume 19, Number 5
July/August 2002
GP Mentor
Welcome to GP Mentor, GPSolo's new column expressly for law students-but some of you seasoned lawyers may find some helpful information as well. Look for our column in every issue of GPSolo. Want to see a topic covered in GP Mentor? Send an e-mail to mickloa@staff.abanet.org.
Developing an Estate Planning Practice
By Dorcas Gordon and Robert Whitman
If you are considering joining or setting up a small general practice after you graduate, you probably will not have to wait long for your first estate planning clients. Death is an issue everyone faces, and family and friends will likely seek you out for estate advice. Nevertheless, you may want to know a few key ways to develop an estate planning practice. Here are seven building tools that will help you get the business and help you keep it.
- Join local business and charitable
organizations. Local involvement is a great way to
network. People already involved in the Chamber of Commerce or
Rotary Club, for example, often are widely known and well
regarded in the community-making a favorable impression here
could lead to new contacts and business prospects. Aside from
making valuable connections, dedicating time and resources to
local service organizations can be personally fulfilling and
can even contribute to raising the tenor of the community as a
whole.
- Offer free estate planning consultations.
Lawyer advertising is still a contentious issue for some, but a
small, tasteful advertisement in a local newspaper can reach an
audience of potential clients-especially at the opening of your
practice. Offering a free estate planning consultation does
encourage potential clients to set up an initial appointment.
Be sure the local publication has an older readership-call them
for readership survey results.
- Volunteer to speak at adult/senior community
centers. These facilities are often eager to sponsor
programs for their members (of course, you will clarify that
you are not giving "legal advice" during your talk). And your
target audience is guaranteed! A collaborative presentation
with other estate planning professionals like an accountant or
insurance agent can be particularly effective. Be sure your
presentation contains substantive estate planning material.
Remember, people are not attending an advertisement about your
practice; they need practical information they can use. Allow
time for questions at the end.
- Join-and get involved with-professional
organizations. The American Bar Association offers
membership and publications for every area of law practice-as
do many state and local bar associations. In addition to
networking opportunities, membership gives you a regular source
for current estate planning trends. Sign up for paper and
electronic mailings and newsletters; subscribe to relevant
legal literature; and interact electronically via listservs and
web-based conferencing like those available at www.abanet.org.
The clout of an organization like the ABA can give weight to
your professional ideas about legal reform that might otherwise
be ignored from an individual.
- Charge a fair fee. Fees for initial estate
planning work should be reasonable. Be upfront in offering
clients choices and allowing them to decide how costly an
estate planning scheme they want. Also, know when it is
appropriate to pass up a fee. An initial client contact for
estate planning purposes can turn into a long-term relationship
that can lead to other types of legal work. Once you create an
estate plan for a client, she will likely think of you as "her
lawyer" and seek your assistance in other matters: buying
property, appearing before a zoning board, or bringing a
personal injury action.
- Expand as your practice builds. A sharp
paralegal or legal assistant can save you from hours of
redundant drafting of documents and inventorying and accounting
for complicated probate estates. Support staff can help you
with the reams of paper generated by estate planning-and you
can bill paralegal services at lower rates, creating welcome
savings for your clients.
- Know the tax law (and human nature). An understanding of the tax consequences of various actions and arrangements is critical to estate planning. Seemingly insignificant estate planning moves can have big tax consequences, and the practitioner who minimizes this does so at his peril. As your practice grows and the clients you attract have more complicated financial arrangements, you may consider obtaining an LLM degree in estate planning or taxation. You may find your role as "counselor" expanding as you work within complicated family relationships, but in the long run that is what will make you the lawyer of choice in your community.
Dorcas Gordon is a law student and Robert Whitman is
a law professor at University of Connecticut School of Law in
Hartford, Connecticut.
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