Marketing Strategies for Lawyers: Q&A with David Leffler

David Leffler is a member of the New York-based City law firm Leffler Marcus & McCaffrey LLC, where he represents technology clients, women-owned businesses and other entrepreneurial and growing companies.  Leffler contributed two articles to "How to Capture and Keep Clients:  Marketing Strategies for Lawyers," a bestselling ABA book sponsored by the ABA General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division.  The book was developed in response to the question most often asked by solo and small firm lawyers, both new and seasoned, "Where do I find clients?"

Q: First of all, when we're talking about marketing one's firm, what are we really talking about?

David Leffler

Before you decide you're going to "sell" your firm, you have to know what it is you're selling. You first have to think about "what is your firm?" What is your firm from the sense of what area of practice are you engaged in? Sometimes it's not only the area of practice, but the kind of practice – such as, if you want it to be exclusive, you may choose to be very expensive. Or you want it to be affordable, so you charge less. So there are all kinds of variations within variations you can come up with as to a strategy of how you want to position your firm.

Then, marketing one's firm is done almost every day with almost every action you take. In your dealings with clients, for example, the clients can give you more work, they can give you referrals.

In meeting someone -- not just a business situation but a personal situation -- your skills come out one way or another even when you're not directly marketing. Such things as who you are, your personality comes across. So in a sense, you're living and breathing it all the time.

But then you get down to purposeful marketing, saying, "O.K., I'm going to market my firm." And there are all sorts of ways to do that. Which route you choose depends on what kind of practice you have. For example, if you practice consumer law, you may want to take out an ad in the Yellow Pages. If you're a corporate lawyer, obviously you won't want to because business people usually don't look in the Yellow Pages. But people who are declaring personal bankruptcy, for instance, do.

So, what kind of law you practice will define what kind of marketing you do. You might do a mailing, you might be attending events at which you'll meet prospective clients, and then there's a Web site, which we can talk about in minute.

Q: For a lawyer who really hates the thought of marketing, what would you say to allay his or her fears?

Well, I guess those lawyers are mostly into it for what they went to law school for – the dealing with the complexities and subtleties of law. And going to some cocktail party, trying to promote what a great lawyer they are doesn't entice them.

But what I think I'd say to those lawyers is that first of all, the extent to which you have control over your practice and indeed your life is directly related to how many clients you have as your own, as opposed to other people's clients.

If you have enough clients, you can basically pull up and do what you want – if it's a solo firm, for instance, you really have incredible mobility.

The other thing is that lawyers shouldn't look at it as marketing, having to sell themselves. They should look at it as forming relationships, getting to know people – the focus really should be on that. Then it becomes less hateful because almost everyone wants to get out and meet people. Lawyers are naturally curious and so asking other people what they do, about their business – it's not such a terrible thing.

And out of that, out of those relationships, can naturally grow the possibility of business without having to push hard on sales.

So, that's what I would say. Don't spend too much time looking at the sales, but rather in looking at how you're developing these relationships.

Q: How big of a budget are we talking about?

There's a whole galaxy of choices, obviously, in looking at the size of a marketing budget.

You can hire a marketing consultant, and that alone can cost you $5,000 – 10,000, or upwards. Big firms can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that's not what we're talking about here.

And then there's the Web site. You don't have to spend a lot of money here, unless you want something with a lot of bells and whistles and a lot of different functionalities. I don't think most lawyers will be taking credit card payments over the Internet, for instance. So, a law firm could put up a Web site for not a huge amount of money, say $2,000 - $3,000. But you have to find someone who is not part of a huge web design company. Given, it does take a little more time to find those people.

If I had to give you a budget, and now I'm thinking Web site, mailings, spending money attending different functions, I'd say between $5,000 - $10,000, at a minimum. But you can spend a lot more.

But again, it depends on where you practice and what kind of law you practice. For a lawyer who practices in a very small town, their marketing strategy may be remarkably different than someone who practices in a larger town or certainly a city. That lawyer in that very small town may likely know everyone in town. And simply showing up in church or local civic events may be enough to market. By showing up at such community events, you show that you are committed to the town and you remind people that you're there. And that might be it.

Q: What sorts of "tools" are available for law firm marketing?

There are mailings, as we've already discussed. When you do a mailing, you want to make sure it's pertinent to your audience so it actually gets read. You may want to do something like a newsletter, say, four times a year with short articles of interest to the people to whom you're sending it.

In newsletters and beyond, you also may want to announce that you've moved, or you have a new lawyer working for you.

Another tool, which is not necessarily looked at as a tool, is something like sending an article that may be of interest to a client or potential client. It lets them know you're thinking about them and know of their interests. It adds that personal touch.

We've also talked about Web sites, and events, and of course the important thing to know your audience, whether they be potential clients or even gatekeepers, who are individuals – such as accountants – whose clients you are interested in.

Q: Can you hire out the marketing of your small firm, and if you can, when should you? When can't you?

Let me talk about that, because people think they can just hire someone, give them a bunch of money and they're done. It doesn't work that way at all. You still have to be very much involved.

The first thing that consultant is going to want to do is sit down with you and determine who you are. "I have to know who you are and what you're looking for in order to do anything effectively." A lawyer will have to do a fair amount of self-evaluation, what kind of lawyer are they, what market they're looking for, that sort of thing.

From there, the marketing consultant will generally create a marketing plan. But marketing is not something you can just outsource, you have to be an integral part or the consultant won't know what to do. They bring certain skills with them, but they can't divine what kind of practice you have and what you want out of it.

As to who should do it? You might be a solo firm and decide the consultant route is best; you may be part of a small practice of five lawyers and you decide you don't need it. It's an individual decision based on your practice.

Q: Can you market your practice in today's world without the Internet?

Well, I would say that if you're in that small town scenario you might be able to. But in a mid-sized city or larger environment, I think you need a Web site. It's gotten to the point that if you don't have a Web site, people wonder why. You're not as credible, not as impressive.

So I would say, just from that standpoint you need a Web site. But a Web site is important not only from the point of prestige, but also a Web site helps convey information – you can give clients and potential clients updates on the law, demonstrative your expertise, things along those lines.

Q: What are the ethical concerns for lawyers concerning marketing? What's the difference between "marketing" and "solicitation?"

Every state is different.

In New York, for instance, you can send letters to people who you don't know in trying to get business, but you can't call people you don't know, you can't cold call them if you're a lawyer.

And then there's the whole advertising thing and again, states vary. I believe there are some states in which lawyers have to file the advertisement with a regulatory agency. So I would recommend that someone who is about to embark on a significant marketing campaign check for the applicable state laws and regulatory bodies of the state.

Q: Any last tips for someone who has just opened his or her solo firm?

The most helpful suggestion is to go out and meet as many people as you can. When that doesn't generate business right away, in the face of no evidence, keep going out there again and keep doing it because that's how you get business.

Lawyers aren't familiar with this, but in the direct mail business, when thousands of pieces of mail go out, a success rate is considered two to three percent. Now, hopefully that won't be the case for the lawyers who read this column, but what that instructs is that the more people you meet, the greater your odds in getting clients.

The last piece of advice is that, you have to know that, right now, there are people out there who need your services and who don't know how to get in touch with you. It's true. The market is still a fairly inefficient one in terms of the flow of information back and forth with potential clients. So it can take some real work to find those people.

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