Whether you’re in the early or later stages of your legal career, lawyer retirement is a natural part of the attorney’s journey. A solid lawyer retirement plan is necessary and beneficial for any lawyer’s future.

We know that preparing for lawyer retirement is a challenging and complex task. But as with any legal matter you work on, having a plan can make the process smoother and more manageable. In the following post, we’ll guide you through how to prepare for lawyer retirement—from reviewing ethical rules to financial considerations and lawyer retirement benefits. We’ll also include what you should keep in mind now to help you be ready for life after retirement. 

The average lawyer retirement age varies depending on factors ranging from a lawyer’s state and mandatory retirement policies at the lawyer’s firm.

Ethical considerations and rules for lawyer retirement

As with every aspect of your legal career, you need to know the ethical considerations and applicable rules for lawyer retirement.

While the exact rules may vary depending on your jurisdiction, you should review and learn the applicable ethical rules for retiring. 

In general, you should consider:

• Handling client files and data. Where will you store client information when you retire? How will you deal with sensitive and confidential information?
• Client communication. As outlined in ABA Rule 1.4, lawyers have an obligation to communicate relevant information to clients. When and how must you notify your clients of your retirement plans? How will you document this communication? If you are transferring a client file, you must inform your client.
• Leaving or selling your law practice. You need to follow some rules if you plan to transfer your firm to a successor or sell your law practice. If you are closing your law practice, how will you close your accounts?
• Insurance. Will you need to maintain your malpractice insurance once you’re retired?
• Maintaining your law license and registration. Depending on if you’re fully or semi-retiring, you may need to keep your registration and CLE requirements. 

Start researching with your local state bar. Some states may offer resources for attorneys making lawyer retirement plans. For example, the California State Bar, has a Senior Lawyers Ethics Resources page online that collects links to applicable rules and statutes, ethics opinions, and other useful resources.

How to prepare for lawyer retirement

No matter how close or how far you are from retirement, you can take steps to better enjoy lawyer retirement in the future. Consider the following:

Take part in your 401(k) plan

It’s easy to put retirement savings plans on the back-burner while you’re working. But that’s the time where it’s most important to focus on them. For example, if you have a 401(k) plan, are you making the most of it? Take advantage of any employer matching contributions available to you and make more contributions where possible. 

Savings and investments

If you have other retirement savings and investments, don’t ignore them. Take the time to get a clear understanding of your financial situation now, so you can better gauge how much you’ll need to retire. You’ll also have a better idea of whether you might need to explore more savings options prior to retirement.

Create or update your retirement budget

Your living expenses in retirement will be different than what they are today. In addition to understanding what financial resources you’ll have when you retire, you’ll want to understand how much money you’ll need for the lifestyle you want (and can lead). If you have a spouse or partner, include them in this process.

While you won’t be able to predict your exact retirement living expenses, you can create an updated budget. Treat this budgeting process as an exercise to give yourself a clearer picture of your retirement finances. Include expenses like:

• Essential costs like housing, taxes, utilities, insurance, food, transportation, clothing, and healthcare.
• Possible post-retirement costs like additional healthcare and retirement home fees.
• Non-essential costs like travel, entertainment, subscriptions, donations, hobbies, sports and recreation, gifts, etc.

You can also create a few alternative versions of your future budget that reflect different styles of living. For example, you can create a basic cost-of-living budget and another that includes higher expenses like travel.

Understand your lawyer retirement benefits

What lawyer retirement benefits will you have access to? Familiarize yourself with what you’ll have available to you, so you can make better financial decisions and plan in advance. 

Medicare’s federal health insurance benefits typically begin at age 65, so you should explore your options. For example, you might want a combination of Medicare and supplemental health insurance. 

Similarly, Social Security can offer lawyers retirement benefits, which will vary based on age. For most, the earliest age for Social Security benefits to begin is 62. 

Organize your clients and referrals

As mentioned earlier, informing your clients about your retirement plans—and what will happen to their case and file when you retire—is a key ethical obligation as you move into retirement. Make sure you follow the rules in your area. Additionally, be prepared in advance with a plan for how you’ll carry your communication plan out. 

Law firm succession or exit planning

Whether you’re planning to retire imminently or in the future, you should have a thorough exit plan so you’re prepared for retirement and unpredictable events.

If you don’t have one already, creating a law firm succession plan—which could include finding a suitable successor—is an important step. Our guide can walk you through how to develop a robust law firm succession plan.

Selling your law practice is another option to consider when you’re ready to retire, which also requires careful planning and preparation.  

Estate planning

Having an estate plan now is important, even before you need to execute it. Your estate plan should include the following documents:

• A will. Be sure that your will is up-to-date to ensure you can dispose of your property and assets properly. You may also want to create a living will or health care directive.
• A General Durable Power of Attorney (GPOA). This will authorize a specific individual to act on your behalf if you are incapacitated.  

Remember to communicate with your estate executor or a trusted family member (who will be involved in administering your estate). They should know where to find and how to access these important documents, as well as things like bank information, safe deposit boxes, and client files. 

Communicate with family and loved ones

Preparing for lawyer retirement is a complex task, but you don’t have to—and shouldn’t—do it alone. Communicate with your family throughout the planning process. After all, your goal is to enjoy your retirement with your loved ones after you bring your successful career to a close.

Life after retirement

When making lawyer retirement plans, it’s important to think beyond the day of your retirement party: How do you want your life to look after retirement? Consider the following:

Maintain good health

In order to fully enjoy your life after retirement, you’ll want to be as healthy as possible. However, the legal profession can be stressful, and it can tax your health. Make taking care of your physical and mental health part of your plan now. Prioritize having a healthy diet, exercise, and regular medical checkups and care so you can feel your best after you’ve retired. 

Consider doing some pro bono work

Once you’ve retired, there are still ways to put your knowledge and experience to good use. 

One avenue to consider is pro bono work, thanks to emeritus and pro bono practice rules. These rules make it easier for retired or inactive attorneys who agree to limit their practice to pro bono cases by easing some of the licensing burdens.

Rules vary by state, so check what applies to your jurisdiction. The California State Bar, for example, has a Pro Bono Practice Program that allows retired lawyers to assist low-income individuals in the state on a pro bono basis.

Consider joining a non-profit organization

Senior lawyers may also find opportunities to contribute pro bono and volunteer services to non-profit organizations.

For example, the International Senior Lawyers Project, is a non-profit organization that uses the skills and expertise of retired attorneys to offer volunteer legal assistance to non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and governmental agencies. 

Pursue current and new hobbies

After dedicating yourself to a challenging and rewarding legal career, it can feel strange to suddenly not have work to turn to. Whether you want to maintain a connection to the legal profession after retirement or you want to end that chapter completely, it’s important to find purpose. 

Think about what you really want to do. Is there a much-loved hobby that you couldn’t fully dedicate yourself to when you were a full-time attorney? Is there something that you’ve always wanted to pursue but never had the time to try? 

Whatever brings you joy and purpose, find it.

Lawyer retirement can be less stressful with proper planning

No matter what, transitioning towards lawyer retirement is a significant life event—but it doesn’t have to be overly stressful. By researching your ethical obligations, having important discussions with loved ones, and creating a lawyer retirement plan that fits your practice and your lifestyle, you can approach retirement as a positive new chapter in your life. 

Running or starting a law practice is a complex task. But having a well-crafted law firm mission statement is essential—it’s a handy way to remind you of your ultimate vision. A mission statement also keeps you on track when you get lost and helps you decide which turn to take next.

How can a simple statement be so powerful? 

When you can clearly articulate your firm’s core mission, you establish a strong foundation and point of reference. And your law firm’s core mission boils down to being able to state your firm’s purpose, what sets it apart, and how it strives to operate. Your mission statement serves as a  foundation that guides your firm’s decision-making and strategy—so that you can better serve your clients.

In the following guide, we’ll cover what you need to know to create an effective law firm mission statement for your practice. We’ll start by exploring the difference between your law firm’s mission statement and vision, and why you need both. We’ll also outline the different components of a great law firm mission statement, offer best practices to follow, and provide some law firm mission statement examples for inspiration. Read on to get started.

What are law firm mission statements?

The statement articulates your firm’s purpose, what you strive to do for clients, and how you will achieve those outcomes in just a few sentences.

While you can certainly practice law without a mission statement, having a law firm mission statement is a small but valuable exercise for firms. A mission statement can help guide your business strategies, govern how you do business, and connect you with the right clients.

Law firm mission statement vs. vision

Defining your law firm’s vision is important to your law firm’s success, but it’s not quite the same as creating a law firm mission statement. Here is the basic difference between the two types of statements:

• Law firm vision: As the name suggests, your law firm’s vision focuses on your big-picture “vision” for your law firm. This vision describes how you see your firm in the future—in its best form. 
• Law firm mission: If a law firm’s vision focuses more on the firm’s future, your mission statement focuses more on your clients. Specifically, your mission should indicate what you set out to do for clients today, and how you will go about doing it. 

It’s essential to consider your law firm’s vision when creating your law firm mission statement. The vision’s long-term goals will impact what you strive to do in your mission.

Learn how to define your law firm’s vision.

What are the different parts of a law firm mission statement?

The recipe for an effective law firm mission statement includes three key ingredients: your law firm’s core purpose, business, and values.

Your firm’s core purpose

This is your firm’s “why.” Your “why” may seem obvious at a surface level—your firm exists so that you can practice law. But your firm’s core purpose requires deeper reflection to pinpoint your firm’s “why.” 

To identify your firm’s purpose, consider how you would answer questions such as:

• Why do you practice law?
• What do you want to help your clients achieve?
• Why should clients come to your firm?

With these answers in hand, you can then focus on a purpose for your firm. For example, if you practice immigration law, your broad core purpose could be to help clients in your community navigate the immigration process and become citizens.

Your firm’s business

This is your firm’s “what.” What sets your firm apart from the competition? Is your firm client-centered? Do you use technology to drive innovation with your legal services? The answer to these questions can help you describe your firm’s business—your answer should be a description of what kind of legal services you strive to provide clients. 

Building on our previous example, an immigration law firm could be set apart from competitors by offering alternative fee arrangements like sliding scale fees to accommodate a range of client financial situations.

Your firm’s values

This is your firm’s “how.” What values does your firm stand for? Your firm’s values should reflect how your firm operates—such as the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that you want to define your firm.  

To help uncover the key values at your firm, consider questions like:

• How would our peers describe our firm’s reputation?
• If you could describe the work culture at the firm in three words, what would they be?
• What makes you most proud when it comes to work?
• Why do clients come to the firm? What are the common reasons why people refer cases to you?
• Which behaviors are rewarded or celebrated at the firm?
• What behaviors are discouraged at the firm?

Using these questions, you can look for patterns to reveal the values that you want to prioritize and promote at your firm. For example, you may identify values like respect, teamwork, and persistence.

For our immigration firm example, the firm may identify its top values as communication and empathy. With these values as guiding principles, they may then strive to actively listen to client concerns to create an affordable, custom legal plan in every case.

Law firm mission statement examples

Using a firm’s purpose, business, and values, we can then create a law firm mission statement. You can look at other law firm’s mission statements for examples. We’ve also created two law firm mission statement examples below for you to reference. Note that you should create an original mission statement for your firm. 

Mission statement example 1

First, let’s look at the example of an immigration law firm that we walked through earlier:

The mission of XYZ Law is to help clients navigate the immigration process and become citizens [purpose]. We are committed to listening to each unique client situation [values] and providing customized, affordable legal services [business].

Mission statement example 2

Next, let’s consider a family law firm that strives to help divorce clients conclude their marriages without unnecessary delays or antagonism.

Example Law Firm LLP strives to guide separated couples through the processes of ending their marriages [purpose]. By offering experienced legal services in a timely manner [business], we help clients move forward with their lives with a fair resolution for all parties [values].

Best practices for effective law firm mission statements

Make it short but personal

While your brainstorming session might come up with a lot of ideas, it’s important to whittle your ideas down into a concise and clear mission statement. Aim to capture your mission in one or three sentences. 

Since your law firm mission statement should be brief, don’t waste your words on any vague or general language. Customize your mission statement to include specific, personalized language that conveys your firm’s unique purpose, business, and values.

You can update your law firm mission statement

Your law firm mission statement isn’t set in stone, so don’t be afraid to revisit and revise it as your firm evolves. Reviewing your mission statement periodically—or whenever your firm experiences a major change or growth—is an excellent way to ensure it stays relevant and up-to-date. 

Consider brainstorming with team members

If you’re a solo practitioner, crafting your lawyer mission statement is a personal exercise you can work on by yourself. However, if your firm has more than one staff member, it’s a good idea to get input from the team. While one person can ultimately write the actual statement, discussing things like your firm’s values with team members can help you create a mission statement that everyone can stand behind.

Communicate with your team

Similarly, once you’ve created an effective law firm mission statement, be sure to share it with your team. It’s crucial to ensure everyone at your firm is on the same page when it comes to your mission—after all, this is part of why creating a law firm mission statement is so important. Team members may also have useful feedback.

Don’t just send one memo about the firm’s mission statement and forget about it, either. If your firm has more than one employee, you can refer back to the mission statement regularly. One way to do this would be in law firm strategy meetings. This repetition will help ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Publish and share it online

Once you’ve written your mission statement, make it available for the world (and your clients) to see. Publishing your mission statement—one’s law firm’s website is a great place for this—allows potential clients to see how your firm operates. Also, publishing your mission statement helps to hold you and your team accountable to the mission you’ve defined. 

You’re ready to create a great law firm mission statement

More than just a bio section on your law firm’s website, a law firm mission statement is an opportunity to capture and define your firm’s identity. The ability to articulate your firm’s mission—from the practice’s purpose to what it does to how it strives to operate—is a powerful way to guide your business strategy and attract best-fit clients.

You should personalize your law firm mission statement to your practice, vision, and values. But if you need inspiration, you could read the mission statements of other law firms that you respect. Many law firms post their mission statements on their websites.

The process of drafting a mission statement takes some introspection and brainstorming. But the exercise can be enlightening, rewarding, and effective for helping your firm focus on its goals, values, and clients.

Regularly engaging with informative, thought-provoking legal blogs is one of the best ways to stay on top of industry news, emerging legal trends, innovations in technology, and more. 

As a lawyer, you have a lot of choice when it comes to law blogs. What you may not have is a lot of time to find the best ones. We’re here to help. 

Below, you’ll find the best legal blogs to read in 2021, covering multiple practice areas and topics of interest.

The best legal blogs focusing on technology

Technology continues to revolutionize the legal industry. Legal tech solutions help law firms and solo attorneys optimize everything from case updates and client management to legal billing and payments. These advancements are possible thanks to cloud software and seamless app integrations designed precisely for legal professionals. 

But technology changes quickly. Thus, it’s imperative to stay in the know about tech-related legal news. The following are the best legal blogs with a tech focus. 

The Clio Blog

Clio’s cloud-based legal practice management software helps legal professionals run their firms, organize cases, and collaborate with clients, all from one central location. The Clio Blog is a trusted resource for the latest ideas on running a more efficient, profitable law firm. 

What makes it unique: Our legal blog offers innovative ideas and new solutions to age-old hindrances. You’ll find great reads about disrupting the traditional way of doing business, including modern marketing best practices and how running a client-centered firm can benefit you, your teams, and of course, your clients. 

Lawsites

Lawsites describes itself as a legal blog focused on tracking technology and innovation for the legal profession, and it does precisely that. Content ranges from business resources for lawyers to reporting on impactful acquisitions. Lawsites also hosts a weekly podcast, Lawnext. 

What makes it unique: The mastermind behind the Lawsites legal blog, Robert Ambrogi, is a  lawyer, journalist, and media consultant. He’s well known and highly-regarded in the legal industry. His esteemed career and experience inform his coverage of all things impacting the legal tech world. 

Legal IT Insider

If you’re in the world of legal IT, this law blog is for you. Known as legal IT’s leading news source, Legal IT Insider is a one-stop-shop for noteworthy updates, news, and deep dives into the unchartered waters of legal IT.  

What makes it unique: Legal IT Insider’s Editor-in-Chief is Former City Solicitor Caroline Hill, and the site’s articles benefit from her practiced eye. Legal IT Insider’s reporting is trustworthy and accurate to the attorney experience. 

Law Technology Today

Law Technology Today prepares you for tomorrow by covering automation, remote work in the legal field, and more. They even offer a specific blog section for security, including an in-depth look at NFTs. 

What makes it unique: Their heavy-hitting lineup of all-star contributors ensures reporting comes from varying perspectives in an array of legal disciplines, from business and marketing to software. 

Artificial Lawyer

At their core, Artificial Lawyer is devoted to helping legal professionals improve and optimize their processes through technology. Their articles offer comprehensive legal tech conference coverage, product walkthroughs, and more. 

What makes it unique: Their legal tech education guide can’t be beaten. With a myriad of available global course offerings, all legal professionals can find a learning opportunity here.

The best general legal blogs

Look no further for the best legal blogs on general news impacting legal professionals. These expansive websites offer pieces on a variety of topics, practice areas, and more. They’re perfect for those wanting an ear to the ground for all note-worthy law happenings. 

ABA Journal

Every legal professional should bookmark The American Bar Association (ABA) Journal law blog. The ABA curates analysis from more than 4,000 legal blogs. And with content written by lawyers who are experts in their fields, it’s trusted and highly regarded by professionals in law from coast to coast. 

What makes it unique: The ABA has an impressive team of editors, writers, and contributors. They also welcome news tips and letters to the editor to hear as many voices as possible. 

Above the Law

News, insights, and opinions on law firms is how Above the Law describes itself. Attorneys and legal professionals alike will find intriguing, informative reads. Content is thoughtfully divided into small law and big law, making it perfect for solo attorneys or those practicing at big firms—and everyone in between.  

What makes it unique: One notable offering is Above the Law’s career center, which supplies career blogs, insight, and other curated content specifically for the three stages in the legal professional’s journey; pre-law, law student, and lawyer. 

LexBlog

LexBlog sports a legal blog community of over 30,00 blog publishers worldwide. Undoubtedly one of the best legal blogs, one could point to their early start in the game as a reason for their success and trust among readers. CEO and Founder Kevin O’Keefe saw a need for legal blogs 16 years ago, and LexBlog is still trusted by old and new readers alike. That loyalty speaks volumes to LexBlogs’s commitment to delivering top-notch legal news. 

What makes it unique: LexBlog’s resource center is a treasure trove brimming with business blogs. It’s a hidden gem ideal for attorneys on the hunt for social media support, blogging basics for their firms, and more. 

FindLaw Legal Blogs

FindLaw’s mission is to make the law accessible and understandable for everyone. Their legal blog offers detailed articles, news updates, and statutes on various legal topics and practice areas. 

What makes it unique: FindLaw debunks the myth that quality online legal information is confusing, expensive, and hard to find. FindLaw offers insights for both legal professionals and their clients; attorneys can exercise their client-centered muscles as they peruse reads curated from the client’s perspective. 

Legal Mosaic

With 40 years of global legal experience, it should come as no surprise that Legal Mosaic has one of the best legal blogs around. The site lives up to its name in a literal sense, arranging difficult-to-understand pieces into an articulate picture that legal professionals are eager to take in. 

What makes it unique: Legal Mosaic is philosophical inside and out. Their articles embrace thought leadership and pose fundamental, altruistic questions. When in need of inspiration, Legal Mosaic should be on your itinerary. 

Bonus—Legal Podcast: Matters, Season Two

Is it fair to call Matters a blog for the ears? Clio’s podcast is thriving in its second season. With a focus on the client-centered legal practice, disruptive episodes challenge stagnant norms which no longer serve attorneys or their clients. 

What makes it unique: Hosts Jack Newton, CEO of Clio and author of the best-selling legal book The Client-Centered Law Firm, and Nefra MacDonald, national speaker on the future of law, don’t shy away from controversial topics. They stoically welcome the uncomfortable and promote unconventional change, which benefits legal professionals and their clients. 

The best legal blogs for news and current events

News informs everything we do. Stay on top of current events in the world of law by reading these top legal blogs focusing on breaking and developing news. 

SCOTUSblog

Focusing on the U.S. Supreme Court, SCOTUSblog provides insights on what petitions to watch. One can sort cases by name or sitting, and examine the site’s newsfeed for emerging updates. The blog usually reports on every merits case before the court three times: before argument, after argument, and after the decision. 

What makes it unique: Every weekday morning, SCOTUSblog shares a “morning read” list of news articles, commentary, and other notable pieces related to the Supreme Court. It’s the perfect start to a busy attorney’s day. 

Law.com

From coveted global coverage to reporting on local matters, Law.com is a trusted source for legal news. Law.com covers news in the U.S., U.K., Continental Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and Canada. No matter your time zone or where you practice, Law.com has you covered. 

What makes it unique: Law.com runs over 18 online U.S. national and regional award-winning legal publications. Their prowess for breaking stories and developments is unrivaled. 

JURIST

JURIST is a public service project powered by over 80 law students at 30 law schools across five continents. Working under the guidance of professional staff and academic leadership, writers offer commentary about emerging issues in the legal world. 

What makes it unique: Most JURIST contributors are law students, recent graduates, or professors, giving the site a unique academic lens. They’re also a non-profit organization; readers face no financial barriers, such as subscriptions and advertisements. 

JDSupra

With a focus on business, JDSupra posts content created daily by leading experts in the business world. Read about cannabis banking, mandatory vaccinations in healthcare, blockchain, and more. 

What makes it unique:  Insight, commentary, and more are broken down into three distinctions to serve readers best: corporate, small business, and personal matters. 

JD Journal

JDJournal delivers legal news for all law professionals. Articles range from following the career moves of big-time attorneys to roundups on the best energy sector law firms to work for. 

What makes it unique: Backed by their parent company—the Employment Research Institute—the flavor of labor and the study of law pepper JD Journal’s articles. This is most notable in JD Journal’s news section for law students. 

Reuters Legal

Bringing readers breaking legal news from around the world, Reuters Legal is highly regarded as one of the best legal blogs for news. You’ll find coverage of government lawmaking, litigation, transactions, and more. 

What makes it unique: Reuters doesn’t just cover the legal world. Sports, business, tech, and global news are all at readers’ fingertips. 

The best legal blogs for legal practice management

When it comes to managing your legal practice, it’s crucial to stay in-the-know about emerging tools, trends, and available resources. Below are our top picks for the best law blogs on legal practice management. 

The Clio Blog

The award-winning Clio Blog is one of the best legal blogs for getting and understanding information on running your legal practice. 

What makes it unique: We might be biased, but as the leader in cloud-based technology solutions, including legal practice management software, we feel we have a bit of an upper hand when it comes to keeping our audience current on LPM best practices. 

Attorney at Work

Attorney at Work aims to give readers the information and inspiration needed to create a law practice and a life they love. Their contributors include hundreds of industry experts who write about well-being at work, firm management, marketing, tech, and more. 

What makes it unique: Their practical guides cover a fascinating array of topics such as crisis evaluation and messaging checklists. 

The best legal blogs with a focus on ethics

Legal ethics is at the heart of being a lawyer. Below you’ll find the best legal blogs covering all areas of ethics. 

Law360

Law360 touts 1.5 million daily newsletter recipients, a good indicator that the site is a trusted news source for legal professionals, business leaders, and government officials. Articles on intellectual property, securities, employment, and more offer readers plenty to consume in the world of legal ethics. 

What makes it unique: Law360 delivers fast coverage, with a goal to report on most events within 24 hours. 

The Ethical Investigator

The Ethical Investigator covers asset search, due diligence, and other private corporate investigative matters. Blog topics include explaining ethics in investigations, data privacy, online security, and more.

What makes it unique: The Ethical Investigator is operated by Charles Griffin Intelligence, a consulting company specializing in business intelligence. As lawyers themselves, the firm understands the ins and outs of litigation, and the ethics investigators must follow.

Ethicking.com

Powered by Stacie H. Rosenzweig—an attorney with Halling & Cayo S.C.—Ethicking offers engaging, no-fluff blogs about the realities of attorney life and legal ethics. Blogs include warning readers about trust fund fraud and pondering if diligent representation means attorneys have to answer client emails on weekends. 

What makes it unique: Blogs are written in a fun, casual manner, with comedic tones that poke fun at the not-so-glamorous side of legal ethics and law practice in general. 

How to keep up with content from multiple blogs

From tech and general legal blogs to area-specific articles, your head might be spinning when thinking about how to keep up with it all. The good news is you can utilize a free RSS app to organize and read all of your go-to blogs in one spot. Here are five of the best RSS feeder applications.

Another option is subscribing to your favorite blogs’ newsletters so you never miss out on new content; we definitely recommend subscribing to the Clio Blog newsletter!

Legal blogs can enrich your career

It’s impossible to have infinite mastery of all the goings-on in the legal world. Attorneys are not newsrooms. But if you’re looking for ways to keep up with the news,  build and grow your practice, better serve your clients, or take the next step in your legal career, identifying and engaging with the most right legal blogs can make a huge difference in your professional journey. 

A Chat with Tucker Cottingham, Founder and General Manager of Lawyaw

With the announcement of Clio’s acquisition of Lawyaw, I had the chance to sit down with Tucker Cottingham—Founder and now General Manager of Lawyaw—to learn a little more about the acquisition, what “smart technology” is, and why it’s so important for legal professionals to adopt.

Interested in adding Lawyaw to your tech stack? Visit Lawyaw.com or email hello@lawyaw.com.

Carissa Tham (CT): Thanks for sitting down with me today.

Tucker Cottingham (TC): Thanks for having me. 

CT: Let’s start at the beginning. What inspired you to work on solving the challenges of legal document automation?

TC: My own experience as an attorney, working at a transactional firm, was the starting point. I started out in mitigation and then spent several years building a small firm as a Clio customer. We used Clio for our time and billing. 

I realized there were a lot of opportunities—particularly with small businesses and consumer legal issues—that could be streamlined. Things that machines could optimize, in theory. There was also a real blocker in the ability to put documents into digital workflows. So much of the legal system is built on documentation. It’s absolutely critical. It’s the work product that we show to the court or the client, so how it looks is important. Attorneys have a lot of pride in their documents, and that was the starting point for us.

CT: What were those early days like?

TC: We implemented a lot of efficiencies, but we kept getting stuck when we tried to have information that a client fills out, trigger all the right form fills in documents, and assemble the right packages of documents. Even though we knew, logically, how it would work, there was a gap in our ability to execute on it. So I had a lot of firsthand experience with that and that led me to start exploring solutions.

CT: Awesome. Where did the name Lawyaw come from?

TC: Great question. Many times people think that we’re saying lawyer with a funny accent, but the idea is that the “yaw” comes from “pitch and yaw.” So pitch being up and down and yaw being turning on a vertical axis. So our thinking was that Lawyaw was turning the law. We saw Lawyaw as a catalyst for change in the legal industry.

CT: So as software designed specifically for legal documents, what are some of the unique benefits that Lawyaw offers its users?

TC: We have two main components. First, we have content, so we have large libraries of up-to-date free automated court forms. Currently, we’re in California and so we have all the counties in California, and we also host the US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) immigration forms. We’re actively expanding that library to cover all the states in the U.S. 

Second, we have no-code tools for lawyers to build their own workflows. We believe with a lot of conviction that the workflows come from the documents, so we have a no-code Template Builder inside of Microsoft Word that makes it easy to set up conditional logic statements and trigger certain clauses, or change pronouns, or subject-verb agreement based on certain inputs. 

So, those are the two core pieces. Then we have some additional functionality, such as our built-in e-signature tool, that’s very convenient and mobile-friendly.

CT: Is there a specific firm size or practice area that benefits most from Lawyaw, who are the users of Lawyaw?

TC: The users of Lawyaw cover the entire legal industry. But as you can imagine, it breaks down similar to how the legal industry itself breakdown breaks down. Almost half of all lawyers in the United States are solos, so a lot of solo attorneys that use Lawyaw are happy with it and they can benefit very practically from the efficiency that they get from Lawyaw. We’ve got a lot of firms in that two to 20 range, where you have multiple attorneys and paralegal support. And, especially with the pandemic, people working remotely and trying to collaborate. So that’s the sweet spot for Lawyaw. But then we also have a bunch of legal aid organizations, sometimes with more than 100 attorneys. So bigger firms and larger legal aid organizations also get a lot of value out of Lawyaw.

CT: How has the company evolved since you started it? Looking back to this point, what are some of the milestones that really stand out?

TC: Well, I remember when we had 50,000 documents total drafted on the platform. That was a pretty big milestone for us. I think now we’re doing more than 40,000 documents a day, so that’s been a big jump. 

CT: Did I hear that you’re about to cross two million documents drafted?

TC: That’s right. Yeah, two million unique documents is pretty neat. That’s a big milestone. From a company perspective, I think when we rolled out the Template Builder, that was also a big milestone, the Microsoft Word add-in. Some of the other Lawyaw Labs projects that we’ve done have been interesting and exciting, and have given us the chance to get closer to how Lawyaw is implemented and used. Especially in those cases where Lawyaw can improve access to justice and improve people’s lives. That’s been meaningful for the company.

CT: For those who aren’t familiar, can you tell us more about Lawyaw Labs, and how it fits into the larger company?

TC: Lawyaw Labs is our innovation arm. It’s one of the ways that we get direct feedback from customers who we work with really closely, hand in glove on implementing specific applications of Lawyaw. So that might be a divorce workflow, or that might be an eviction flow, or we have a product initiative and partnership working on expungements, a low-cost efficient way to expunge criminal records from people’s criminal backgrounds. We try to bring a social benefit bend to it. So we are thinking about, in this new paradigm where legal services are convenient and affordable and accessible, and people are able to benefit from the protections that they’re entitled to under the law. What does that mean for society? It makes society better and it makes it more equal and accessible. That’s something that we think a lot about and find motivating.

The Lawyaw Labs initiatives are a way for Lawyaw employees to be close to some of those projects and understand the impact that it’s having, for example, on somebody who is trying to get a job and they can’t because they have a criminal record. Then we get to help see how that criminal record getting expunged affects them. Or someone who might be in danger of losing their house during the pandemic—we can see how Lawyaw can help them stay in their home, and their kids stay in their home and have a place to sleep. So it’s one of the most special things I think that we do is being able to follow the product through all the way to its impact in actual people’s lives.

Of course, the law firms and the legal service providers that are using Lawyaw in a lot of the lawyer initiatives, we get to spend time with too and understand how we can make their lives better as well. What their pain points are, and what the little frustrating things are that they come across day-to-day. So Lawyaw Labs is a special part of Lawyaw that focuses on how Lawyaw can be the most impactful for society, I guess, would be the broadest description.

CT: So you’ve gone from being a lawyer who was a Clio user, to building a software company that had an integration with Clio, to being the first document automation company with an app in Clio’s app store. How did you first start to develop a working relationship with the company?

TC: That’s a good question. I had used Clio as an attorney and so I was familiar with it, and I knew where Lawyaw could benefit Clio users, because we were focusing on functionality that wasn’t available in Clio. So it just naturally fit together in my mind when thinking about it. I’ve also gotten to know Jack over the years as well, and we have a pretty shared vision for sort of the future of legal services, and ways that that technology can improve legal services.

So, over years of talking with him and getting to know the team, I started to have more conviction that this was a great partner to have— and a longterm partner, and one that we thought we could be impactful with by joining forces.

CT: It’s a pretty amazing journey. And now that we’ve joined forces, what are you most excited about?

TC: I think it’s the idea that Lawyaw can help bring about a change in the way that legal services are provided. We play this critical role in streamlining a lot of specifically consumer and small business legal services, such as estate planning, and family and personal injury law. By being able to play this critical role and allow documents to be part of these digital workflows, we open up new possibilities in the ways legal services are accessed and delivered. 

So the thing that I’m most excited about is how, together, we’re going to be able to bring into view this new paradigm of legal services. Which is much more focused on helping people where they are, when they need the help, and increasing convenient access to affordable legal services. I think that we’ve seen a lot of different examples of that so far, and I’ve got a lot of theories about that. I don’t know if we should go into embedded legal services now, but that’s where I see obviously the big future. So that’s what we’re going towards and really excited about.

CT: Since you brought it up—can you briefly explain what the term embedded legal services means to you?

TC: Embedded legal services is a term that we started talking about a few years ago at Lawyaw. It’s been instrumental in how I think about the future of legal services. In its simplest form, what it means is that the best way to provide convenient access to legal services is to meet people where they are, when they need help. In a digital world that means that people might be on a job application form, applying for a job when they realize that they have a criminal record and have been denied the job. So the best way to provide somebody access to expunge your record, that they’re legally entitled to have expunged, would be to meet them right there where they are and help them to do that thing. 

Other examples might be Visa applications when booking travel, or accessing certain legal agreements when you’re scheduling services, or accessing certain types of financial agreements when you’re doing specific financial transactions. A good example might be when you’re investing in real estate you might have legal documents that you need to sign to be able to invest. Rather than have a separate offline process where you have to drive to the lawyer’s office, meet with somebody, do all this stuff, what if we could just put that in front of somebody when they need it, in a way that’s convenient and seamless.

That’s where I think a really big part of the future of legal services is going to live. I think that we have a lot of conviction in the fact that it’s sort of an inevitable future. People want to use technology to maximize their convenience. So we think about Lawyaw as a significant enabling function for the future of embedded legal services. And now, with Clio and the way that Clio is able to work with time and billing, not to mention their great group of customers—Clio and Lawyaw complement each other super nicely. 

To learn more, or to get started today, readers can visit lawyaw.com/lawyaw-clio-integration.  

As a law firm owner, you may consider selling a law practice for many reasons. And there’s a lot to consider to properly put a value on a business that you’ve built with your time, talent, and passion over the years.

You may be thinking of pursuing a new career, moving, or retiring. Sometimes, putting a law practice for sale is the best choice for a law firm owner. But that doesn’t mean that it’s a simple decision. If you’re thinking of selling a law firm, you must have a plan, follow your jurisdiction’s rules, and ask for help when you need it. 

In the following post, we’ll cover key things to consider when selling a law practice. From establishing a transition plan to ensuring you properly serve your clients, and accurately pricing your practice and more, read on to start strategizing. 

What documents do you need to sell a law firm business? 

When selling a law firm, you’ll need documents to value your practice. Also, you’ll need any legal documents related to selling a business for your jurisdiction. 

While the exact documents you need will vary depending on your situation and location, you’ll likely need—at minimum—the following:

• An offer-to-purchase agreement
• A note of seller financing
• Current and past financial statements (often two to three years)
• A statement of seller’s discretionary earnings
• Cash flow statements

Consider these 8 things before selling a law practice

Just as a firm owner has to carefully plan and execute a strategy to close a law practice, you need to think about multiple factors before selling a law practice. Here are eight important elements to consider:

Familiarize yourself with the rules

Start the process of selling your law firm by researching and investigating any ethical considerations, applicable laws, and rules in your area. 

For example, Rule 1.17 on the Sale of Law Practice from the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which applies to most states, outlines the conditions necessary for a lawyer or law firm to sell or purchase a law practice or area of a law practice (including good will). In brief, the rules state that the seller:

• Cannot engage in the private practice of law, or in the area of practice, in the geographic area or jurisdiction of the law firm being sold.
• Must sell the entire practice or area of practice to one or more lawyers or law firms.
• Must notify their firm’s clients with a detailed written notice of the proposed sale. The law firm seller must also state the client’s rights to retain other counsel or to take possession of their file. In addition, the law firm seller must include how they will transfer the client’s files if the client doesn’t take action or respond within 90 days of receiving the notice. 

Rule 1.17 also states what should happen if the seller cannot give their clients notice. The rule also asserts that the law firm seller should not stop charging clients the relevant legal fees because of the firm’s sale. You can read Rule 1.17 in detail.

Check applicable state rules 

In addition to checking how Rule 1.17 applies to you, if you’re planning to sell a law firm, you should also check for applicable state rules.  

While it’s your duty to learn and abide by the rules of selling a law firm, you don’t have to navigate the process alone. And the process of selling a law practice is long—from understanding the rules to managing the emotional aspects of making such a large transition. Bearing in mind confidentiality issues, reach out to a former colleague, contact, or legal mentor if possible. Someone who has been through the process of selling their law practice themselves can provide helpful support.

Invest in the evaluation process

One of the most challenging aspects of selling a law practice is determining what it’s worth.

As the firm’s owner, assessing your firm for its fair value is challenging. It’s also natural to struggle to accurately value your firm because of all the time, energy, and money you’ve invested. 

Some firms use a straightforward revenue-based strategy to assign value. This revenue-based strategy usually means assigning a multiplier such as 0.5 or 1.2 to a firm’s average annual revenues. Or, some firms look to comparable firm sales to get a number.  However,c omparing with other firm sales doesn’t account for tangible and intangible elements driving the value of a practice. Comparing with other firms sales also ordoesn’t account for firms in practice areas with less predictable revenue streams.

Some factors that impact a firm’s value

• Overall historical and projected financials—including the firm’s net worth and profitability.
• Practice composition—including the firm’s practice size, practice area, and employees.
• Client base—a firm with many repeat clients will have a higher potential value.
• Firm reputation—a firm’s established reputation and brand recognition can be a valuable asset.
• Terms of sale—the particulars of the deal (such as how long the seller will stay on to assist during the transition) can impact the firm’s valuation.
• Location—As outlined in Appendix A of the 2020 Legal Trends Report, a firm’s geographical location can make a difference in hourly rates, as certain states can charge higher hourly rates.

Due to the complexity and variability of assigning value to a firm you are thinking of selling, consider hiring a consultant who specializes in firm valuation. This type of expert, outside perspective, can help ensure you get a fair market value for your law firm business. 

Turning to experts to help you determine a fair firm appraisal when needed is also smart. Experienced law firm appraisers can walk you through the overall process of selling a law practice as well. A team of professionals with expert knowledge can make the process of selling a law practice easier and more efficient for you as a seller. They can also help you follow the rules and avoid potential issues with the selling process. This team could include:

• A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to help with tax considerations 
• A transactional attorney to assist with the sale
• An insurance advisor, as you’ll want to ensure you have proper legal practice insurance coverage as long as necessary in case of malpractice claims
• A financial advisor to assist with financial planning through the sale, and after

You may also want to check with your state’s bar association for resources to support you through the process of valuing and selling your law practice. For example, the North Carolina Bar Association has a Transitioning Lawyers Commission. This commission offers resources and services for lawyers moving away from their practice through succession planning or selling a law practice.

Seek out potential buyers

Once you’ve decided to put your legal practice for sale, gathered a team of experts, and have valued your firm, the next step is to find potential buyers.

What should you look for in a potential buyer? This depends on your goals, but consider factors such as:

• Finances. Can the buyer financially afford your sale price? Do you and the buyer agree on the value of your firm?
• Personality fit. You know your staff and clients best—so you want to find a buyer that is committed and capable of serving the firm.
• Timelines. Do your transition timeline and the buyer’s transition timelines agree? 

If you don’t already have a buyer in mind, finding a serious buyer who is a good fit for your firm may take time. If you’re not sure where to start, consider working with a law firm brokerage company. A law firm brokerage company can help market your law firm. A firm brokerage company may also be able to support you in communicating with potential buyers. 

Keep tax considerations top of  mind

When considering selling your law practice, you need to consider the tax implications that will come with this sale. With this in mind, it’s wise to work with a CPA throughout the process to ensure you meet all tax requirements.

In addition to helping  navigate the tax requirements, a CPA can also assist with collecting necessary business documentation for selling your law practice business.

Take care of your team

One of the challenges of selling a law practice is that it impacts people—you, your clients, and your team.

Unless you’re a solo attorney working, your dedicated employees are part of the foundation of the firm. That’s why it’s important to take steps to support your law firm’s staff and ensure you provide a smooth transition. 

A detailed exit plan (more on this below) with staff input, where applicable,  helps ensure that your team will have a smooth transition once you’ve left the firm.

Create a comprehensive exit plan 

Just as you made a business plan when starting your law firm, having a thoughtful transition plan when selling a law firm is essential. A transition plan ensures all parties involved—you, your employees, the firm’s clients, and your buyer—can transition fairly and smoothly. 

Your exit plan should include many of the same elements as a law firm succession plan while accounting for the elements specific to selling a law practice.

If you’re a solo attorney, you can develop your plan by yourself. However, you may want to seek the help of an expert team you’ve assembled (such as your CPA or insurance advisor). 

If you own a firm with employees, consider working with them to develop the plan. Including senior staff members in the succession planning process can help ensure your transition covers all your bases. At the same time,it  ensures you address all daily operations.

Critical elements of your exit plan

While the exact details of your plan will depend on your situation and your area’s ethical rules, consider planning for:

1. A transition timeline. How long will you stay on after the sale? Plan the steps in detail and project the time you’ll need to transition from your ownership to the buyer’s.
2. Essential law firm information. Just as with a succession plan, you should have a plan to responsibly pass on key information about your firm (like account details, passwords, insurance details, and vendor contacts).
3. Training. Will you need to train the new owner or staff? Account for this in your plan.

Prioritize your clients

Also, prioritize current and past clients in your plan. In addition to ensuring you maintain proper client notification and consent (as per ABA Model Rule 1.17 discussed earlier), you need to consider how to handle closed client files and confidentiality issues. 

For guidance on this, it may be useful to consult ABA Model Rule 1.6(b)(7), which allows you to disclose client information in a limited way due to changes in the ownership of a firm. You can do this as long as disclosures do not compromise attorney-client privilege or prejudice the client’s interests. Entering a non-disclosure agreement with the buyer can help protect clients’ interests during the process of selling a law firm.

If time permits—make your practice more valuable 

Taking steps to improve your firm’s financial health and get it in the best possible shape before selling is always a good idea. After all, to achieve the best financial result, you want to make your firm as attractive as possible to potential buyers. However, the depth and breadth of  these steps depends on how much time you have. 

Consider how a potential buyer may perceive your law firm: Are there areas that you could improve now to make it more valuable before you put it for sale?

If time permits and you don’t need to sell the practice urgenty, look at key areas of the  firm that may impact its value. Such areas include billing and realization rates, employee management, and client management. Assess if there are ways to improve or optimize procedures and results.

Consider these to make your legal practice more valuable

• Ask for advice. If you have a consultant to help determine the value of your firm, they may be able to identify strategies to increase the firm’s value before you try to sell it. Working with financial professionals (such as a CPA) can also help you identify ways to optimize your practice.
• Use technology to optimize operations. Technology like legal practice management software can improve your firm’s efficiency prior to selling. Legal technology can also make your firm more attractive to buyers. For example, if your firm’s collections rates are low, using Clio Manage can help increase collection rates and improve cash flow. Clio Manage can help by letting you offer more flexible payment plans and accept online credit card payments.

Learn more about how Clio can help you increase your firm’s value prior to selling.

Get clear on your needs

You want to get the best possible result when selling a law firm—financially and for yourself, staff, and clients. That’s why it’s important to identify what you value the most. Is money for retirement your priority? Or are you most concerned with your rapport with clients and employees? Is the most important factor for you the person buying your firm? Or is it important that they’re equipped with the necessary skills to keep it running proficiently?

Getting clear on your ultimate needs as a law firm owner can help you stay focused throughout the process. Having a good understanding of your needs can also help guide your timelines. You’re also more likely able to strike an advantageous deal.

While selling a law practice is likely new to you, the process is actually similar to buying or selling a home. If you were looking to sell your house, you would communicate your deal-breakers. This might include informing real estate agents of the minimum price or a move-in date. By communicating these points, you could make a deal that gets you what you want and need. In many ways, this is no different.

Also, don’t underestimate the potential heightened stress that comes with selling a law firm—even under the best of circumstances. Whatever your reason may be to sell, letting go of the entity that you’ve dedicated your time and talent to is difficult. With this in mind, remember to prioritize your own needs and wellness throughout the process. 

For more on prioritizing lawyer wellness—at any point in your legal career—listen to this episode of our Matters podcast.

Selling a law practice isn’t easy

Selling a law firm is never an easy (or simple) decision, but there are times when it’s the right decision. 

If you’re considering putting your law practice for sale, take proactive steps. These steps include recruiting a team, knowing the rules, and getting your firm in the best possible shape prior to selling. Doing so can make the journey as smooth as possible. When done right, selling a law practice can be a win for both the buyer and the seller. While ensuring that the seller is fairly rewarded for the practice that they worked so hard to build.

Note: The information in this article applies only to US practices. This post is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, business, or accounting advice.

Being a lawyer isn’t easy. From intaking new clients to juggling open legal cases and keeping up with administrative work, being a great lawyer requires careful management, patience, and dedication. The great news is: Chatbots for lawyers can help with all aspects of a lawyer’s day-to-day. 

Typically, chatbots are best known as a precursor to a legal professional. A chatbot presents a client with a few questions so the chatbot can direct them to the right person. However, there’s more to legal chatbots than meets the eye. 

In addition to being a client directory, chatbots can answer questions on their own, automate manual processes, book consultations, and more. Read on to learn more about how you can get the most out of chatbots for lawyers.

What are chatbots for lawyers?

Chatbots for lawyers are a time-saving automation tool that’s hosted on a law firm website and available 24/7. There are simple and complex chatbots. But all chatbots help visitors find information on a website or direct them to the appropriate contact. As chatbots direct website visitors to the right person, they also send a summary of the visitor’s questions and any additional information (like contact details).

Having legal live chat is becoming increasingly common for law firms. But chatbots for lawyers can help create even better client-centered experiences for potential new clients with automated, instant responses. The need for chatbots came from one of live chat’s pain points—specifically the “live” part. Clients expect live chat to be instantaneous. But sometimes, a legal professional isn’t available to answer questions right away. For example, a lawyer can’t answer queries from website visitors when they’re in court, with another client, or on the go). Chatbots for lawyers remedy all of these issues by being available to answer 24/7.

Benefits of chatbots for lawyers

The 2020 Legal Trends Report found that 79% of potential new clients expect a response within 24 hours of reaching out. Through the power of automation, a chatbot could respond within seconds, cutting out the need for a lawyer to sift through their email, see the correspondence, and respond manually. Here are a few other benefits that chatbots bring to your law firm.

Save time and money with automation

With legal chatbots, lawyers don’t need to spend their time answering simple client questions. By automating these easy, but time-consuming tasks, lawyers can focus on completing more billable hours. For virtual law firms, chatbots also act as the front desk receptionist. With law firm chatbots, firms don’t need to hire a virtual assistant or dedicate an employee to answering basic inquiries from website visitors.

Improve efficiency and profitability

Answering questions isn’t the only thing a chatbot can do. Lawyers can program chatbots to perform client intake and book legal consultations. Instead of having a lawyer take a prospective client call and going back and forth with a potential client, a chatbot streamlines this client intake process. A law firm chatbot can automate the client intake process for a more efficient and ultimately more profitable way to engage clients.

Stand out from the competition

When experiencing a legal problem, clients usually reach out to more than one law firm to see which one best meets their needs. According to the 2020 Legal Trends Report, new clients cited law firm responsiveness as a key factor when choosing a law firm to work with. Chatbots help lawyers stand out from the competition by providing quick answers. Also, with automated booking, clients can get instant responses instead of waiting for an actual person to respond.

Provide a better client-centered experience

Chatbots can provide a holistic, client-centered experience beyond being the first contact with potential clients. Also, law firm chatbots can retain information on returning clients. You can also program chatbots to provide quick case updates, answer case-related FAQs, and book follow-up appointments. This way, chatbots can give clients more flexibility for a truly client-centered experience.

Applications of chatbots for lawyers

Depending on the type of chatbot you have and how you use it, you can customize chatbots to be incredibly complex or handle simple, manual tasks. Some bots even have artificial intelligence (AI) built-in, allowing them to learn as they interact with more people. Below are a few examples of what chatbots can do for law firms.

Client communication

Answering questions is the most common application of a chatbot for lawyers. Most chatbots can handle simple yes or no questions, with a few FAQs built-in. These built-in FAQs use simple keyword detection workflows. For example, if a question contains “what are your operating hours,” then the chatbot will answer “9 a.m. – 5 p.m.”. However, other advanced chatbots built with AI can handle much more complex questions.

Become a client communication expert with these tips and best practices.

Client intake

Chatbots for lawyers can function as a substitute for a client intake form. A chatbot can make the client intake experience more interactive. For example, a potential client can ask for clarification on certain questions.

Learn how Clio can help streamline your client intake process. If you’re ready to use Clio to engage and retain new clients, you can try Clio for free.

Legal research

Keyword detection is a fundamental feature built into every single chatbot. With this functionality, chatbots make going through hundreds of pages of conversation records, transcripts, and more, a lot easier and faster. That way, lawyers can find what they need and perform legal research more efficiently.

Legal documents

Creating contracts and other legal documents manually from templates is tedious and time-consuming for legal professionals. Legal chatbots free up a lawyer’s time by automating and generating contracts, NDAs, and other types of legal documents using keyword detection.

Learn more about document automation for lawyers and how Clio can help you work securely and efficiently from anywhere.

Time tracking

Not all time is equal in the legal industry—for example, billable versus non-billable hours. Lawyers can use legal chatbots as a time tracking tool to help lawyers track their utilization rates and see exactly how much time they’re spending on non-billable tasks.

Due diligence

Using due diligence to confirm facts and figures within a case is especially tedious and time-consuming for lawyers. Advanced chatbots for lawyers with built-in AI help automate and speed up this process by reviewing hundreds of documents at once and providing key summaries for legal professionals.

Lead generation and qualification

Lawyers can’t work around the clock, but cases can come in at all hours. With automated booking, legal chatbots can qualify a prospective client and set up legal consultations whenever somebody new comes in, giving law firms the power to generate leads 24/7.

Ethical considerations for using chatbots for lawyers

As with any new technology that stores client information, when using chatbots for lawyers, you need to be aware of some ethical considerations. Unless you build and host your own chatbot, lawyers need to do their best to ensure the security of a chatbot’s input and output databases. 

Clients need to know that the questions they ask and information they share with your law firm chatbot will remain private and secure. Before a chatbot collects client data, law firms also need to let clients know exactly what the data is going to be used for.

There are other nuances that you need to be mindful of, depending on your jurisdiction. For example, California has a specific law that requires chatbots to disclose they’re not human to clients.

Try these legal chatbots

Not all chatbots are equal. You may want a simple bot that answers yes or no questions. Or you may want an advanced chatbot with many additional features. Take a look at the chatbots for lawyers below to help get you started.

LawDroid

LawDroid’s consultants work with you to help create a bot that is suited for your law firm’s needs and comes free to Clio customers. Their simple, no-code legal chatbots help automate manual, tedious tasks and free up more time to do billable work. LawDroid can also be integrated with other tools such as Acuity Scheduling, Calendly, WordPress, Keap, and Clio Grow.

Chatfuel

Chatfuel is a Facebook Messenger bot. That means the chatbot is built using the Facebook Messenger Platform and can be integrated into your websites along with your other social channels. It’s completely free for up to 50 users, meaning the chatbot can respond to 50 clients at one time. Also, you can create the chatbot in a do-it-yourself, no-code, drag-and-drop builder.

Create your own chatbot

If you have custom needs or want complex capabilities, you can hire a developer to help create your own chatbot. Building your own legal chatbot means you can program it to behave and function exactly the way you want. However, building your own chatbot can require more time and investment.

If you decide to create your own law firm chatbot, you need to understand the structure of chatbots and how they’re built. Also, you need to go into the chatbot creation process knowing exactly what you want.

How to make the most of chatbots for lawyers

Advanced AI chatbots for lawyers work best for firms generating a high volume of web traffic or often get queries to common questions. This type of advanced chatbot will free the firm’s time by automating and delegating tedious, manual tasks to the chatbot.

For smaller law firms or solo practitioners, having a chatbot that can book consultations and answer simple questions outside of business hours will be most impactful. Even if you’re a solo practitioner without a website, a Facebook messenger bot can help field queries on your social media platforms.

Your law firm can benefit from using chatbots

In the past, lawyers inevitably had to sit down and work their way through tedious paperwork and answering the same questions repeatedly. Thanks to the rise of new technology like chatbots that help automate and streamline their workflows, lawyers can focus on what matters most—helping their clients.

Note: The information in this article applies only to US practices. This post is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, business, or accounting advice.

As an attorney, no one expects you to be an accountant. But efficient, accurate accounting is still key to your firm’s success. The right accounting software—like QuickBooks for lawyers—can help. 

QuickBooks is a useful accounting software for lawyers on its own. But its advantages multiply when you pair it with Clio Manage’s practice management software. The two tools can take care of everything from tracking revenue and expenses to billing clients—especially when you use them together.

Clio Manage and QuickBooks Online integrate to create a streamlined, end-to-end legal accounting solution. This integration goes a long way towards better supporting clients and offering a more client-centered approach to legal services. 

When you team QuickBooks Online up with Clio Manage, you can keep client and financial data in sync. At the same time, you can reduce time spent on bookkeeping and reactive time tracking. Using QuickBooks Online with Clio Manage empowers lawyers to save time, maintain more accurate financial data, and focus on ensuring the client is cared for. 

In addition to improving efficiency, QuickBooks also makes it easier for lawyers to stay organized. A more organized lawyer means more peace of mind regarding cash flow, client information, and invoice and payment automation.

Read on to learn more about how Clio and QuickBooks work together to support attorney’s unique needs. Also, learn how to use Clio and QuickBooks for lawyers to gain time and focus on your clients while bringing in more revenue for your law firm.

Learn more about how Clio streamlines legal case management and how QuickBooks streamlines law firm accounting. 

How does Clio work with QuickBooks? 

To understand how the Clio and QuickBooks work together for lawyers, let’s first look at some of their individual advantages:

Think of Clio Manage’s practice management software as your firm’s revenue tool. Clio Manage’s legal billing features let firms:

• Track their time and expenses
• Manage trust transactions and bills
• Accept bill payments towards a client’s matter

Think of QuickBooks Online’s accounting software for lawyers as your firm’s expense tool. It allows firms to:

• Pay vendors
• Record firm expenses
• Perform accounting through the use of a full general ledger

So, while each program offers benefits, when used in tandem, Clio Manage and QuickBooks Online together can simplify your firm’s legal case management and accounting.

Time tracking made easy

For attorneys, accurately tracking time is a key part of an effective law firm billing process—and to ensure you capture every minute of billable work. Whether you’re using a PC or a Mac for your legal billing, with Clio Manage with QuickBooks, attorneys have multiple time-tracking capabilities that they can use on both mobile and web apps.

To learn more about new Clio features for law firm billing, watch this webinar.

Financials are a breeze 

If your firm uses checks for transferring funds out of trust accounts, the Clio Manage and QuickBooks integration simplifies the process. At the same time, the integration eliminates time-consuming repeat data entry and manual check writing. 

With Clio Manage and QuickBooks, it’s simple to sync financial information and print checks securely. With the integration, you can enter trust records once in Clio Manage. The trust records will automatically sync with QuickBooks Online. Then, you can quickly print trust check disbursements.

The integration allows users to use an automated trust workflow—which helps keep client trust transactions in sync, account for disbursements, and maintain visibility into trust and operating accounts.

Client information syncs securely and easily 

Client information is sensitive and important. Keeping client information organized and synced securely and easily goes a long way towards giving lawyers peace of mind. With QuickBooks Online and Clio, approved bills, bill payments, and transactions made in Clio Manage synced to QuickBooks Online. 

When it comes to protecting data, you’ll enjoy Clio’s industry-leading security. QuickBooks Online uses encryption to help protect client information.  

QuickBooks for lawyers equals more billable hours

When you simplify or automate manual tasks, lawyers save time. They’ll also gain hours that they can use on billable hours and increasing revenue. To this end, Clio Manage and QuickBooks Online streamline legal accounting and the management of client funds, which means more time and energy for billable hours and client care.

Additionally, Clio Manage and QuickBooks Online work in tandem to do more than just simplify legal accounting: They also streamline client fund management. 

Lawyers who use QuickBooks and Clio together can offer client-first features such as payment plans, customizable invoices, and online credit card payments. With QuickBook and Clio, lawyers can increase transparency when they provide clients with legal services.

The Clio and QuickBooks integration can also help your firm manage financials beyond traditional billable hours. The integration can support your firm in offering diverse fee arrangements to fit clients’ different needs.

Financial management software can save you time and make you money

Manually inputting financial data and managing transactions takes time and puts you at risk of unnecessary error. That’s why using the right financial management software saves time. Notably, QuickBooks states that it saves customers an average of 40 hours per month).

With Clio Manage, QuickBooks for lawyers can also help you make the most of the money you’re already earning by making it easier to stay organized and account for everything. 

Specifically, QuickBooks lets you connect the appropriate bank account to sync and categorize trust transactions automatically. With this feature, you can avoid lost or forgotten invoices and receipts.

You can also quickly and securely take photos of receipts to ensure no expense goes untracked.

QuickBooks competitors 

As we’ve outlined, finding the right accounting software for lawyers is an excellent way to save time. You can also simultaneously be more accurate and productive when it comes to law firm financials. But as with any technology you choose for your firm—it’s important to carefully vet your options first.

If you’re contemplating adopting accounting software for your firm, you can consider alternatives to QuickBooks Online. When assessing accounting software for lawyers, look for the following traits:

• Ease of use. Because lawyers and legal staff aren’t accountants, potential legal software must be simple enough for your firm to learn and use.

Connectivity. As discussed, part of the real value of tools like QuickBooks Online comes from its ability to connect with your firm’s other business tools. When new tools can connect with your existing technology stack, you can streamline workflows instead of adding unnecessary, additional work. Ask: Can the software sync invoices and financial information with your practice management software? Can it help you better manage trust transactions and disbursements? 

• Security. Protecting firm and client data is essential. Be sure to vet potential accounting tools, too. 

With these factors in mind, QuickBooks Online is the optimal choice for attorneys. The full-featured accounting tool is simple to use, secure, and syncs with Clio Manage for an end-to-end solution.

For more on data security for law firms, read our guide here.

Get started with QuickBooks for lawyers by integrating with Clio

Integrating your QuickBooks Online with Clio isn’t complicated. A few tips to consider:

• Make sure you have an account. To sync your Clio with QuickBooks, you must first have a QuickBooks Online account.
• Choose your subscription level. QuickBooks offers multiple subscription levels to choose from. You can learn more about QuickBooks Online subscription levels, or try a free trial, here. 
• Be prepared for the first sync. Once you’re set up, it can take up to 24 hours for the initial sync to complete. But the sync will occur periodically every five minutes.

For more detailed guidance, Clio’s Help Center guide outlines how to set up your QuickBooks Online integration here.

Conclusion 

Teamwork is valuable, and Clio Manage and QuickBooks Online make an excellent team for law firms. By working in sync, Clio Manage and QuickBooks Online create a comprehensive legal accounting solution that supports lawyers in offering client-centred care by staying organized and up-to-date on all things billing and finance related. Attorneys can free up more of their time to care for—and dedicate their time—to clients’ needs and bringing in more revenue for their firms. 

Note: The information in this article applies only to US practices. This post is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, business, or accounting advice.

Law firm profit sharing formulas are a complex and often controversial topic. In fact, any discussion of law firm compensation models can turn contentious. Many legal professionals have their own opinions about “the best way” to do things, based on their own experiences. 

In addition, many firms operate using traditional, origination-based compensation systems and profit sharing formulas. These methods can cause problems such as burnout. Not to mention creating a toxic work environment. If employees feel undervalued and underpaid the risk for turnover is substantial. 

The truth is, there is no single “best” formula that will work for every firm. Some formulas are purely subjective, some are structured, but most are a mix of the two. In this post, we’ll discuss profit sharing formulas in detail, and alternatives to the traditional (and outdated) compensation models. 

Traditional law firm profit sharing formulas

Let’s look at an example. If there are 10 equity partners involved in a firm, and the firm made $1 million in net profit, the following would be the calculation per partner: 

$1,000,000 net profit / 10 equity partners = $100,000 profit per partner

However, this only works if the partnership agreement between the partners divides profit equally. Partnership agreements often contain a different division formula for dividing up profits.

For example, a firm with 10 equity partners may have two senior equity partners that get a 2x share of profit. The calculation would then be:

• $1,000,000 net profit / 8 equity partners + 2 senior equity partners = $83,333 profit per partner and $166,666 profit per senior partner

It all comes down to accounting.

Firms will handle the accounting differently, but most profit distributions are paid from expected profits, either on a monthly or quarterly basis. As a result, most firms also make quarterly tax payments on their expected annual income.

It’s common for firms to use a fiscal calendar that aligns with the actual calendar. The accounting records Day 1 for the year as Jan. 1., and it ends on Dec. 31. That means firms at the beginning of the year may not have a lot of expected profits, but a partner will still have to make quarterly tax payments on March 15 based on their estimated income for the whole year.

Some partnership agreements will also have a minimum distribution amount as a part of the contract. A firm might agree to pay partners $10k a month, regardless of the firm’s current profitability. These payments are advances on future profits. This would  subtract them from the PPP they owe to the partner at the end of the year.

A firm might have to incur debt to pay minimum distribution amounts, so it can be risky to agree to either too high or too frequent an advance.

Challenges with law firm profit sharing formulas

Traditional law firm profit sharing formulas have the tendency to have negative effects on your employees: 

• Burnout. Because this model focuses on billable hours and bringing in new business, employees are pressed to work incredibly long hours in order to reach goals. Many firms set annual hourly billing targets for non-profit sharing lawyers. Meaning they only receive bonuses, or in some cases larger bonuses, if targets are met. Clio’s Legal Trends Report found that 75% of lawyers frequently work outside of regular business hours. Additionally, the report found that lawyers work, on average, 140 unplanned hours a year. These statistics prove that lawyers are willing to do whatever it takes in order to meet hourly billing targets, even if it leads to complete exhaustion and burnout.  
• Toxic work environment. A compensation system that is purely revenue-based can cause an overly competitive work environment. This can have negative effects on your employees’ mental health and work-life balance. It also only recognizes and rewards the individual who accomplishes these items—which discourages collaboration and creates silos within your organization.  

As a result, these effects bleed into the overall performance of your law firm: 

Profit sharing prioritizes getting clients over providing a client-centered experience.

Billable hours and bringing on new clients are vital for a law firm’s success. However, only focusing on these two items can hinder the performance of your firm. Many other aspects contribute to a well-rounded and successful law firm, one of which is creating client-centered experiences—which is impossible to accomplish if your firm is strictly focused on bringing in new clients. Building client relationships and experiences that exceed expectations are essential to retaining lifelong clients, which in the long-term aids in revenue and business growth. 

Profit sharing focuses on money instead of the firm’s mission and values

Similar to the above, there is more to your firm than profits. By only rewarding employees who bring on new clients and rack up billable hours, you’re not encouraging them to uphold and promote any of your firm’s values and mission statement. 

This can manifest itself into the way employees treat clients, each other, and conduct themselves in professional settings such as networking events. 

Non-lawyer staff are left behind.

Traditional models reward attorneys that bring in the most work. This fails to recognize non-attorney employees who have helped the firm meet its goals. Additionally, this might cause members of your firm to feel undervalued. Resulting in a high turnover rate. 

Alternatives to traditional law firm profit sharing formulas

Here are a few ways you can avoid the downfalls of traditional profit sharing:

Tie compensation to your law firm’s goals, mission, and values.

Crafting a mission and stating your values and goals is an essential part of your firm’s business strategy. If you’ve already documented your mission and values—you’re off to a great start! But they must be living throughout your organization. 

Ensure that every staff member—lawyers and non-lawyers—understands how their role impacts these goals. You can do this by reviewing how their day-to-day responsibilities relate to the firm’s overall mission and values. 

From there, you can align bonuses with your firm’s values, goals, and mission. Again, this motivates each team member to uphold these items and lends a hand in creating a successful law firm. Furthermore, include these KPIs (key performance indicators) into your compensation model for each employee. 

Consider non-partner and non-lawyer staff.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct state that lawyers cannot share legal fees. However, it is essential to encourage non-partner and non-lawyer staff to do their best in their roles to contribute to impacting your firm’s business strategy. 

Provide fair, market-value salaries and bonuses.

Offering fair, market-value salaries to employees will ensure they feel valued and motivated to accomplish the duties required of their position. Therefore, when researching what fair compensation would be, consider the following: 

• Position 
• Industry/practice law area
• Location 

Reward staff for providing a client-centered experience.

Providing a client-centered experience means truly putting yourself in your client’s shoes and looking at the experience of going through a legal matter from their perspective—and creating a positive, memorable experience for clients is efficient for your firm. This does not mean sacrificing profitability—just the opposite, in fact. Providing a client-centered experience encourages repeat business, increased referrals, and can boost awareness of your firm. 

One way to encourage employees to provide client-centered experiences is by linking client reviews to bonus calculations. Measure team members that create documented positive client experiences, like high Net Promoter Scores, referred clients, and positive public reviews. High-scoring employees can have those contributions recognized by the firm with increases in their bonuses.   

Clio is extremely passionate about creating client-centered experiences in law—in fact,  our CEO, Jack Newton, wrote an entire book on it. You can order a copy here. Or, if you prefer podcasts, the second season of our Matters podcast is focused on creating client-centered experiences—check it out!

Compensation is part of your firm’s strategic plan

Adding anything new to the way your business operates can be difficult, and takes time. Profit sharing models are no exception. The difficulty only increases when there are multiple partners making the decisions. To prepare for these conversations, and to start implementing these items in your firm’s strategic plan, remember: 

• The traditional profit sharing formula is detrimental to your firm. It typically leads to a higher likelihood of burnout, hyper-competitiveness, and poor customer service. These are not qualities of a successful law firm, after all.
• Tying compensation and bonuses to your mission, your values, and your goals is a great way to ensure your employees feel valued.
• Providing a profit sharing model that embodies a “client-centered experience” increases profits and delights your clients—without compromising efficiency.

Note: The information in this article applies only to US practices. This post is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, business, or accounting advice.

Revenue is key to the sustainability and success of any business. It’s also an important metric for law firm owners to track—especially if you want to grow your firm and improve your profitability. 

Positive revenue is obviously a good sign. But how do you know if your law firm’s revenue is enough to grow and scale your business? How does your firm’s revenue stack up against the average law firm revenue?

In this blog post, we’ll cover what you need to know about average law firm revenue. We’ll include the average amount of compensation that attorneys bring in, the key factors affecting law firm revenue and ways you can increase revenue at your firm. You can use the guide to help you measure your firm’s success and increase its revenue—and set your firm’s revenue goals more accurately. 

What is the average law firm revenue?

The concept of “average law firm revenue” is, by nature, somewhat ambiguous. Your firm’s revenue depends on your firm’s unique situation (more on some  revenue contributing factors later). However, to gain insight on the average revenue for a solo law firm, we can look at how solo attorneys get compensated. 

How much revenue does a small law firm make?

According to the 2020 Martindale-Avvo Attorney Compensation Report, the average 2019 compensation for providing billable legal services for a solo law firm was $150,000 per year. This compensation is down slightly from the previous year, where the average compensation for a solo practitioner was $159,000.

If you’re wondering what the average small law firm revenue potential is, the same report found that lawyers who worked in-house at a small law firm earned an average of $210,000 in 2019.

However, when assessing average law firm revenue, you also need to consider the impact of factors like practice area, location, client type, and more.

What affects law firm revenue?

While each situation is unique, the following factors and lawyer statistics commonly impact the average law firm revenue:

Gender

Unfortunately, as the Martindale-Avvo Attorney Compensation Report notes, female lawyers receive less compensation than male lawyers. Specifically, female attorneys reported bringing in 35% less income than male counterparts in 2019. 

Location

Because of factors like cost of living, certain states demand higher hourly rates for attorneys. Higher rates mean that lawyers in certain areas can bring in more revenue per hour than others. For example, lawyers in New York can charge as much as $485 an hour. However, the highest average hourly rate for a lawyer in Indiana is only $331 an hour. 

Practice area

Even within the same region, the amount of potential revenue a law firm can bring in depends heavily on the practice area. For example, intellectual property law firms—according to average hourly rates reported in the 2020 Legal Trends Report—charge the most at $324 an hour. However, juvenile law firms charge the least at just $87 per hour.

Client type

The composition of a law firm’s client base directly impacts the potential income a lawyer can earn, and the firm’s potential revenue.  A firm’s clients could be mainly consumers, businesses, or a combination of the two. 

Specifically, according to the Martindale-Avvo Attorney Compensation Report, attorneys focused on providing legal services to consumers earned an average of $181,000 in 2019. However, lawyers serving businesses reported earning an average of $238,000. Lawyers serving both consumers and businesses reported an average income of $175,000 in 2019. 

Billing structure

77% of attorneys in the Martindale-Avvo Attorney Compensation Report bill hourly. While hourly billing is the most common billing structure, other billing structures like fixed-fee billing can make revenue more predictable. Law firms’ billing structures could be a contributing factor in determining the average revenue for solo law firms, with the Martindale report noting that 60% of solo practitioners use fixed fee billing.

Learn more about projecting revenue and law firm budgeting. 

How much do the largest law firms earn on average?

According to the 2021 Am Law 100 Report, the largest law firms in the US earned $111 billion in total revenue in 2020. This number marks an increase of 6.6% from 2019. For this group, the average revenue per lawyer was $1.05 million.

How much revenue did the top law firm in the US bring in? Kirkland & Ellis topped the list with $4.83 billion in gross revenue in 2020. 

How you can increase your law firm revenue

If improving your firm’s top-line growth (your firm’s revenues) is a goal for your firm, consider the following strategies:

1. Automate your processes with technology.

Treblaw LLC’s Chris Trebatoski can attest to how his firm grew from $250,000 in revenue to a firm that will have $1 million in revenue in just four years. Chris Trebatoski understands technology that improves efficiency and streamlines processes is a key factor in boosting law firm revenue.

Automating your law office makes it faster and easier for law firms to take care of non-billable work. This way, lawyers can focus more on billable and revenue-generating work. For example, you can use software like Clio Grow to automate your firm’s client intake process.

Data from the 2020 Legal Trends Report builds on this idea—showing that firms using a combination of legal technology solutions brought in more revenue. Specifically, firms using multiple legal technology solutions—like online payments, client portals, and CRMs—collected $19,541 more revenue per lawyer in 2019. The 2020 Legal Trends Report also projected that lawyers using multiple legal technology software would collect $37,622 more in 2020. 

2. Make payments easier by accepting credit cards.

It’s simple: The more convenient it is for clients to pay you, the more likely you’ll get paid. The more you get paid, the more revenue you’ll bring in. But what’s the best way to make it easier for clients to pay you? Accept credit cards and online payments.

According to our 2019 Legal Trends Report, law firms that accept electronic payments get paid faster. In fact, 57% of electronic payments get paid within the same day they are billed and 85% get paid within a week.

Learn how Clio Payments can help your law firm get paid faster and collect more, or you can also see Clio in action.

3. Track (and optimize) your law firm’s key metrics.

Knowledge is power. If you want to increase your law firm’s revenue, you must keep track of certain key metrics that show how much your firm is actualizing its revenue potential. You should track how much billable time your firm is tracking, billing, and collecting on. Track and optimize your firm’s:

• Utilization rate: The number of billable hours worked divided by the number of hours in the workday.
• Realization rate: The number of billable hours invoiced divided by the number of billable hours worked.
• Collection rate: The number of hours collected divided by the number of hours invoiced).

How do these metrics tie in with your firm’s revenue? According to the 2020 Legal Trends Report, the average collection rate is just 88%. This statistic means firms don’t collect on 12% of work completed and billed to clients. A low collection rate strongly indicates you need to focus on improving your firm’s collections to increase revenue. Similarly, a low realization rate indicates that your firm is losing revenue on hours already worked—but unbilled. Also, a low utilization rate shows you need to streamline non-billable work to generate more revenue.

4. Put your clients first. 

While these metrics are important, however, revenue is not all just about hard numbers. If you want to increase your firm’s revenue over the long term, you need to prioritize your clients. As this episode of our Matters podcast discusses, client feedback matters. 

By regularly collecting, analyzing, then using client feedback to improve your firm’s workflows and find new opportunities, you can grow your firm in a way that works for the people you serve. You’ll also likely enjoy increased revenue.

Conclusion 

Whether you’re a solo practitioner or you run a law firm with many attorneys, revenue is crucial for your firm to succeed. While the exact figure for average law firm revenue varies depending on many factors affecting your law firm’s revenue, you can still work towards a revenue goal.

Consider factors like your current revenue, comparable attorney revenues and average hourly rates in your state and practice area to help create revenue goals. Then, consider steps you can take to improve your firm’s revenues and meet those goals. 

By focusing on revenue and taking steps to improve it over time, you can set your firm up for success, growth, and, ultimately, increased profitability. 

Note: The information in this article applies only to US practices. This post is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, business, or accounting advice.

Figuring out the best laptops for lawyers can get overwhelming.  With nearly-endless options for size, configuration, style, and price, picking the best laptop to buy is challenging. And it’s not a decision to be taken lightly—you want to invest your money into a computer that will meet your long-term needs.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through some of the key considerations to help you find the best laptop. We’ll also include some recommendations to help you make the best decision.

What to look for when choosing the best laptop for lawyers

The best laptop for lawyers isn’t necessarily the most expensive or the most technologically advanced. You need to consider multiple factors when choosing a laptop, including screen size, weight, battery life, and the types of ports and inputs it offers.

Specifications

As laptops become increasingly commoditized, the difference between each laptop model is smaller than before. Looking at actual specifications is also arguably less important than ever. Also, most computer manufacturers use similar parts from a small handful of component manufacturers. 

Still, it’s not a bad idea to have a general understanding of a few key specs before choosing the best laptops for lawyers.

CPU

The central processing unit is your computer’s brain. Intel or AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) make most CPUs , although Apple recently introduced its own. For a Windows PC, look for an Intel Core i5 or i7 model. i3s are becoming outdated and i9s are high-end units reserved for advanced gaming machines. Any AMD Ryzen CPU should perform well, and early reviews on Apple’s M1 are highly positive.

CPU Speed

The speed of your computer’s central processing unit generally measures how fast the computer is—the faster, the better. CPU speed is typically measured in “clock speed,” measured in Megahertz (MHz; one million cycles per second) or Gigahertz (GHz; one billion cycles per second, equal to 1,000 MHz). The more cycles a CPU can complete per second, the more operations it can execute. 2 GHz is good; 2.4 GHz is better.

Memory

Also known as random access memory (RAM), this number is typically measured in Gigabytes (GB). For example, a computer may have 4GB RAM. RAM is a temporary space where your computer processes and executes commands. The greater the amount of RAM, the more data your laptop can process at a greater speed. We recommend purchasing a laptop with at least 8GB RAM. 

Storage

Sometimes also called memory, but not to be confused with RAM, this specification tells you how much room you have to save information on your computer. Although storage space is also measured in GB, it’s different from RAM. As the average laptop memory capacity grows,  you’ll start to see laptop storage measured in Terabytes (TB, or 1,000 GB). Although most people tend to use the cloud to store information and documents, internal or on-device storage space is still essential. On-device storage is especially critical when you do not have internet access. We recommend a laptop with at least 256GB of storage.

Solid-state drive

The best laptops for lawyers contain a solid-state drive, or SSD. Traditionally, internal laptop storage came in the form of the hard disk drive, or HDD. In recent years, however, SSDs have replaced disk drives in speed and performance. Though SSDs are still more expensive than HDDs, the tradeoff for speed and performance is well worth it. Avoid any laptop still using a traditional spinning hard disk drive.

Screen resolution

Screen resolution is different from your laptop’s physical screen size, which we’ll get into below. Screen resolution is typically measured in pixels—the more pixels, the better. 1920 x 1080 pixels is considered full high-definition (HD), and we don’t recommend going any lower. 

Size and portability

The first and easiest way to measure the size of a laptop is by its screen size, which typically ranges from 11″ to 17″. The smaller the screen, the lighter and more portable the laptop is—except you can’t see as much on a smaller screen. If you’re on the go a lot, like to work in different locations, or your workspace or desk is on the smaller side, consider a smaller screen. If you think you’ll leave your laptop in your office most of the time or you’re concerned about eye strain, aim for something bigger.  

The best laptop size for lawyers is 13″ or 14″. Laptops with a 13” screen are more comfortable on the eyes than an 11″ screen, but more portable than a 15″ or bigger screen.

Battery life

If you’re on the go more often, battery life is another key specification to pay attention to. Battery life isn’t always the easiest thing to measure—the manufacturer might say “12 hours,” but a laptop’s actual battery life depends on what and how you use it. Also, different applications use different amounts of power. If you expect to stay plugged in most of the time, you’ll be fine with eight-hour battery life. But for busy lawyers on the go, we recommend 10-hour battery life or greater. 

Connectivity

Wired and wireless connectivity options are another gray area. What to look for here will come down to what accessories and peripherals you already have and how old they are. For example, if you are a lawyer with an older monitor, the monitor will connect to your laptop with an HDMI or even a VGA cable. Even a relatively new “wireless” mouse might need a small USB receiver plugged into the laptop. 

Make an inventory of any accessories you have and look for a laptop or an adaptor that will allow you to use them. 

But if you intend to start from scratch and don’t have any accessories to worry about, then you’ll want a machine with at least one Thunderbolt/USB-C port. These ports are increasingly becoming the go-to wired connectivity option. In addition, for wireless connectivity, aim for a computer that meets the current Bluetooth wireless spec (5.0 or greater). 

Durability

Another hard-to-measure quality is durability. If you work remotely a lot, use your laptop as a personal and work device, or share your machine with someone else, you’ll want something built to withstand a lot of handling.

Durability isn’t something you’ll typically see on manufacturer specifications, so we recommend reading reviews of any machine you’re interested in to see what others say. Seeing the laptop in person also helps, as holding it in your hands can help you determine if it appears solid and well-built.

What type of laptop is best for lawyers: Mac or PC?

There’s very little a Windows-based PC can do that a Mac can’t, or vice-versa. That’s why deciding to use a Mac or PC today is very much a personal choice. Apple’s MacBooks are typically more expensive than PC laptops with similar specifications. But MacBooks usually have longer lifespans and better resale value. More PCs are available in each budget range. PCs also generally have more input/output options and more opportunities to configure the machine to your needs.

Practical considerations for Mac-using lawyers

If you’re a longtime Mac or iPhone/iOS user and are already familiar with Apple’s ecosystem, then a MacBook is a straightforward choice. As long as a MacBook fits within your budget, Apple products work very well together.

While some older on-premises legal software solutions didn’t work well with Macs in the past, your MacBook will work well with the systems and processes you already use or plan to use today. Software compatibility between Mac and PC isn’t quite 1:1, but all of the major programs and tools are available on Mac and PC. Cloud-based systems, including Clio, work equally well on both systems. People also consider Macs to have top-of-the-line privacy and security.

What brand of PC should a lawyer buy?

Pop into a Best Buy or search on Amazon for a laptop PC, and you’ll face dozens of manufacturers and brands. An unknown brand isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But for peace of mind and reliability, a well-known brand name can make a difference. It can certainly be easier to get support and help, both from the manufacturer or by simply searching Google and finding user communities. 

It’s hard to go wrong with a laptop PC from the following manufacturers:

Dell

Still the biggest name in Windows-based computers, Dell has made great strides with form as well as function in recent years. Their current laptop lineups are sleek and well-designed. You can even customize them to fit your budget and needs. And Dell’s customer service consistently receives high marks.

Lenovo (ThinkPad)

The former IBM ThinkPad brand remains incredibly popular among business users. Lenovo has retained the black, boxy shape that IBM began. Functionally, chances are you can find a ThinkPad with everything you need. Lenovo is also well-known for its support.

Hewlett-Packard

The longtime computer and printer manufacturer may not be as popular as Lenovo and Dell today, but it still offers many affordable options for PC users. However, HP support doesn’t have quite the same reputation as Dell and Lenovo.

Microsoft

Although more known for its Windows OS and Office software, Microsoft has been making Surface Laptop computers for a few years. Microsoft’s modern laptops models are very well-received. Surface Laptops are hybrid tablet-computer models that offer both hardware keyboards and touchscreens, offering additional flexibility. Also, Surface Laptops come in a variety of stylish colors. 

Regardless of what brand or model you select, be sure to follow best practices when it comes to data security.

The best MacBook for lawyers

If you decide to purchase one of Apple’s laptops, you have fewer options to consider than a PC. In a way, it’s easier to decide that way. And you can’t go wrong with a 13″ MacBook Pro with Apple’s new M1 CPU, which is Apple’s all-new powerful computer processing chip.

13″ MacBook Pro

Apple’s latest MacBook Pros, the company’s first with its new M1 chips, received lots of great reviews when it was released. The base 13″ model ($1,300) comes with:

• 8GB RAM
• 256GB SSD storage
• A 2560×1600 display
• Bluetooth 5.0
• Two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports

At just 3 lbs. with 17 hours of battery life, the 13″ MacBook Pro is great for lawyers who often work remotely. You can configure the base model with extra RAM and storage at additional cost. You can also opt for the larger, more powerful 16″ model, which starts at $2,400.

The best Windows PC laptop for lawyers

With Windows-based PCs, your options are nearly endless, but a Dell XPS 13 should meet most any lawyer’s day-to-day needs.

Dell XPS 13

Dell’s XPS laptops are sleek, budget-friendly, and powerful. The 13″ XPS 13 base model ($950) features: 

• An Intel i3 CPU, which can be upgraded to a 4.2 GHz i5 for just $50 more. 
• 8GB RAM
• 256GB SSD storage
• A 1920×1200 display
• Bluetooth 5.1
• Two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports
• An SD card slot

Battery life goes for 14 hours, and the device weighs 2.64 lbs. Dell offers multiple configurations, including a touchscreen option for an additional cost. You can get the 15″ model for under $1,300.

Beyond Mac or PC: Laptop alternatives for lawyers

If neither Mac nor PC seems right for you, don’t despair. Other available alternatives  might meet your needs better. You may even find that the best laptop for you isn’t actually a laptop at all.

Is a Chromebook a good laptop for lawyers?

Chromebooks are laptop computers that use Google’s Chrome OS.

Chrome OS doesn’t have as many features as a Mac with macOS. Chromebooks also don’t have the customizable options that a PC with Microsoft Windows does. That’s why Chromebooks are generally less powerful and more affordable. But they’re also often recommended for schools and students. 

With that in mind, we recommend looking at a Mac or PC first. But if you don’t find a model that suits you, you’re on a tight budget, or don’t generally run too many applications at once, then a Chromebook can be a useful alternative. 

Top-of-the-line Chromebooks are fast, have strong battery life, and will let you manage most day-to-day needs. And any cloud-based programs should work on a Chromebook. 

Google’s Pixelbook Go is a premium Chromebook model that comes close to base PC models, specs-wise. However, Google’s Pixelbook Go is one of the more expensive Chromebooks. For a more affordable but still fully-functional alternative, check out the HP Chromebook x360, which you can find for under $300.

Can a lawyer use a tablet instead of a laptop?

Tablet computers such as iPads are becoming increasingly powerful and are closing the gap on traditional computers. Even Apple’s iPadOS now lets you use a mouse with its Pro tablets, making them more computer-like than ever.

For the most part, the gap is still there. When narrowing down the best laptops for lawyers, we wouldn’t recommend using a tablet as your everyday computer for now. Beyond its functionality limits, you’re also looking at additional expenses. Top-performing tablets are expensive, and you’ll likely need to add extra hardware like a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

However, if you have the budget and want to try this approach, then a 12.9″ iPad Pro or a Microsoft Surface Pro 7 are your best bets. 

2-in-1 PCs for lawyers: Best of both worlds? 

There’s one more alternative for you to consider—a 2-in-1 PC that can serve as both a traditional computer and a touchscreen tablet. These 2-in-1 PCs usually have a screen that either detaches completely or rotates (with the keyboard folding away behind it). 

These models offer flexibility over both traditional laptops and tablets and a certain amount of fun, too. But a model that boasts decent specs and a large enough screen can be costly. You can look at HP’s Spectre x360 at the high end, or Microsoft’s more affordable Surface Go. 

Laptop recommendations for lawyers

Factoring in all of the above can make decision-making difficult. To help, we’ve gathered a few recommendations: 

Best high-end, power laptop for lawyers

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

This machine has it all—and at its price ($3,300), it should. The Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1 G8 has a 4.9GHz Intel Core -7 processor, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD storage, a 14″ 1920/1080 touchscreen display, Bluetooth 5.2, two Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, two USB-3 ports, an HDMI port, offers 19 hours of battery life and weighs less than 3 lbs. 

Best laptop for lawyers on the go

Apple MacBook Air

With almost identical specs as its Pro-level companion, but thinner, lighter, and more affordable, you can’t beat the MacBook Air. Apple’s MacBook Air is perfect if you’re often traveling or running from client meetings to court. It features 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD storage, a 2560×1600 display, Bluetooth 5.0, two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, and offers 15-hour battery life, all under 2.8 lbs., with a $999 price tag. 

Learn more about legal billing software that is compatible with Macs. 

Best laptop for lawyers on a budget

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14

With solid performance specs and a starting price of $700, Lenovo’s IdeaPad Flex 14 is a prime choice for lawyers on a budget. It comes with a 2.6 GHz AMD Ryzen chip, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD storage, a 14″ 1920×1080 touchscreen display, Bluetooth 5, two USB-3 ports, one USB-C port, one HDMI port, and a 4-in-1 card reader. Weighing 3.3 lbs., the IdeaPad will get you up to 12 hours of battery life.

Best laptop for lawyers working from home

HP Elitebook x360 1040 G8

If you need a mix of portability and power—something that will last all day as you manage cases and all night as you stream movies with the family—consider HP’s latest EliteBook ($1,800). It features a 4.2 GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB RAM, 256 GB SSD storage, a 14″ 1920×1080 touchscreen display, Bluetooth 5,0, two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, two USB-3 ports, 1 HDMI port, lasts 11 hours, and weighs about 3 lbs.

Take your time and find the best laptop for you

Whatever laptop you end up selecting, remember that you’re likely going to spend many hours every day with it. You want a laptop that’s comfortable, suits you in form and function, and that’s going to last. Take the time to do your due diligence, read user reviews, ask salespeople questions, visit stores, and hold the models in your hands. 

Once you’ve found the right laptop, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much of a difference it makes to your working life.

Most lawyers get into the legal profession to practice law, not handle billing and other administrative tasks. However, according to Clio’s 2020 Legal Trends Report, billable hours only make up 31% of a lawyer’s workday.

The problem with billing is that it’s time-consuming and takes lawyers away from doing actual legal work. Using a legal billing template helps bridge this gap, which means more potential revenue coming in for hours already worked.

With the right workflows in place, billing your clients is quick and easy. In fact, standardizing your process with a legal billing template will help cut down on non-billable hours.  Also, clients will find it easier to know what to expect when processing your invoices.

Read on to understand how to set up an effective billing process. We’ve included a free legal billing template for you to reference.

What goes into a law firm invoice?

Billing processes may look a little different depending on the client and practice area. But all law firm invoices should address the following general elements:

• Law firm details: Your identifying details—including firm name, phone number, email address, and physical address.
• Client details: This will vary depending on your client. Typically an invoice is addressed to your point of contact, but some clients may give you a billing contact.
• Date of issue: The date you are sending the invoice.
• Itemized list of service(s): The breakdown of service(s) you provided to your client.
• Billing rate for each service: How much you are charging for the service line item(s) according to the rate communicated.
• Total due for each service(s): The total amount your client owes based on the itemized list and billing rate for each service(s) you provided.
• Subtotal for all services, plus taxes: The total amount your client owes for each service(s) added up, including the corresponding percentage of services tax.
• Payment due date and late payment consequences: The deadline for payment and repercussions if the client pays late.

If you choose to charge your clients a late fee based on a percentage of the total sum, check your local jurisdiction for potential restrictions. For example, Iowa will not allow you to charge more than 5% of the outstanding balance on a delinquent bill.

Free legal billing template

Use this legal billing template to help you get started. We’ve also included step-by-step instructions below on how to use and personalize the template to your needs. 

How to use the legal billing template

The legal billing template above is actually very straightforward to use. Here’s how to use this template:

• Step 1: Number your invoices. Numbered invoices help you track how many invoices you sent out and which ones your clients have paid.
• Step 2: Change the issue date to the date you’re sending the invoice.
• Step 3: Change the payment due date to the deadline you’d like to set.
• Step 4: Fill out the “Billed to” portion with your client details.
• Step 5: Fill out the “Service provider” portion with your details.
• Step 6: Add a detailed description of the services you provided to the client. You can add or delete rows as needed.
• Step 7: Add how many hours you spent on each service(s).
• Step 8: Add your rate for each service(s).
• Step 9: Total up each row into the Amount column.
• Step 10: Fill out the subtotal row under the Hours column with the total number of hours you worked.
• Step 11: Fill out the subtotal row under the Rate column with your rate. If your rates vary across the services you provide, leave this blank to avoid confusion.
• Step 12: Fill out the subtotal row under the Amount column by adding all the numbers in the Amount column.
• Step 13: Fill in the Subtotal row under Charges with the number you calculated in Step 12.
• Step 14: Fill in the Discount row with any discount(s) you’re giving the client (if applicable)
• Step 15: Fill in the Tax Rate row with the appropriate tax rate.
• Step 16: Fill in the Tax Amount row with your Subtotal amount in Step 13 multiplied by your tax rate in Step 15.
• Step 17: Add up all the rows and fill in the Total Balance.
• Step 18: Add legal disclaimers like late payment consequences.

Benefits of using a legal billing template

Even if you have established a billing process from memory, using a template can reduce redundancies and human error. Here are a few other benefits:

• Create custom invoices for different clients: Depending on the case, billing structure, and client, your invoices may vary. Having a template will ensure your invoices always contain your standard information but are still flexible to customize as needed.
• Sending detailed and accurate invoices becomes easy: Standardizing your billing process means you won’t be scrambling to gather the information you need.
• Save time on non-billable hours: With a legal billing template, you’ll always have a starting point to build on. This way,  you’ll save time and send out invoices faster.
• Get paid faster: Unexpected invoices can lead to unnecessary back-and-forths with a client, which wastes your time. Billing consistently ensures clients know when to expect your invoices and helps you get paid faster.
• Offer a better client experience: Sending consistent invoices helps your client with their accounting processes. When your client knows when and how you’ll bill and precisely what you’re billing with, your client will have an easier time getting their accounting in order. Ultimately, better and consistent invoices help your firm provide clients with a client-centered experience.

Using a template doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch. If you already have a documented billing process, incorporating a legal billing template is easy. A legal billing template also helps you skip the entire invoice creation phase.

Legal billing best practices

Time is especially precious to lawyers. Lawyers already spend too much time creating invoices, tracking hours, or following up on late payments. These activities take up time that you can’t bill for. A legal billing template is only the start of refining your legal billing process. Here are a few best practices to keep in mind:

1. Set expectations up front: Nobody likes to receive a bill that is more than they expected. Ensure your clients know what they can expect to see on invoices, when they’ll receive the invoices, and how they can pay.
2. Track your time: Guessing your hours could potentially lead to underbilling. Keep track of your billable hours with a timer, stopwatch, or whichever method works best and most accurately for you.
3. Be clear and detailed: Adding clarity and details to your legal bill will ensure your client understands the value you provide. With a clear and detailed law firm invoice, your client will understand exactly what they’re paying for.
4. Be consistent: When your clients know when they will receive your law firm bill,  you will not need to send as many (if any) reminders to your clients. With a regular and consistent billing schedule, your clients will also more likely pay their bills on time, which improves your firm’s cash flow.
5. Level up with automation: With tools like Clio Manage, you can schedule and automatically send Outstanding Balances to clients to ensure you never miss a billing deadline.

Building out your legal processes includes so much more than just billing—there’s also reporting, monitoring, and more. Read the Guide to Law Firm Billing for a comprehensive look at creating and refining your legal billing process.

Want to see how Clio can help your law firm simplify running your firm? You can see Clio in action.

Law firm collections best practices

According to Clio’s 2020 Legal Trends Report, lawyers have a collection rate of only 88%. That means lawyers don’t get paid for 12% of the hours they’ve worked and billed to clients. 

When it comes to maintaining cash flow for a law firm, billing is only the first step—getting paid is the ultimate goal. One of the most important ways to improve your law firm’s cash flow is diligent record keeping. Knowing where your time is going and ensuring that it’s appropriately billed to the correct client is the foundation for a healthy collections process.

Ensure your bills are understandable by writing in plain language. Also, you need to send invoices early or right after a case is closed. By making it easy for clients to pay you, you can help streamline your collections processes.

When refining your collections processes, always make sure to do your best to provide clients with a client-centered experience. For example, consider accepting credit cards to make payment easier. People are paying for services differently now, and nearly every major retailer currently accepts credit cards. Giving your clients an easy and convenient payment experience that they expect will reduce friction on both ends.

A legal billing template can benefit your law firm

Building out streamlined billing processes may seem time-consuming at first. But the upfront cost in time and effort will ultimately pay for itself in the long run. Better legal billing means higher efficiency for your firm, a better client-centered experience, and fewer headaches further down the line as you grow and scale. With a legal billing template and our billing and collections best practices, you can cut down on the time you spend chasing down invoices. You’ll also have more time to do what you do best—practicing law.

Note: The information in this article applies only to US practices. This post is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, business, or accounting advice.

When it comes to law firm billing, hourly billing is still a mainstay of the legal industry. But the billable hour is no longer the only option for law firms. Alternative fee arrangements (also known as AFAs) can fill gaps, complement your practice’s billing structure, and benefit your clients and firm.

Law firms can reach more clients by offering hourly billing and setting prices for other services. These might include drafting a will or unbundled fees. Alternative fee arrangements could also help fill the access to justice gap. They do this by helping clients who might otherwise be unable to afford legal services. 

In this blog post, we’ll explore the benefits of incorporating alternative fee structures for law firms. We’ll also dive into the most common types of alternative fee arrangements that could benefit your law firm and clients.

Why should your law firm consider alternative fee arrangements?

Hourly billing continues to be a significant part of law firm billing. But there are many potential benefits to incorporating alternative billing structures into your overall firm strategy, as outlined below.

Improve law firm billing workflows

Although the billable hour is the standard billing method, it’s not always the most transparent billing choice. Alternative fee arrangements provide more price transparency for clients. Because alternative fee arrangements can provide more price clarity upfront, lawyers can set clearer client expectations from the start. By setting clear expectations, lawyers can save time and energy on explaining bills to confused clients. 

Moreover, with alternative fee structures (like flat fees), a lawyer’s value isn’t measured by the number of hours billed. Instead, law firms measure lawyers by the results that they achieve for clients. Asking clients to pay for results instead of process incentivizes legal professionals to work more efficiently. However, for this fee structure to work, attorneys need to identify the resources required to produce a favorable result. 

Lawyers can optimize their billing workflows via a combination of alternative fee arrangements and law practice management software like Clio Manage. Using alternative fee structures and legal software can also improve lawyer wellness and help lawyers achieve long-term success. Billable hours requirements often fuel long lawyer working hours, which can lead to lawyer burnout. By being more efficient and results-oriented, lawyers can focus on serving clients and achieve better work-life balance.

Technology can make it easier for lawyers to track time and offer clients greater clarity and predictability to billing workflows. For example, Clio’s intuitive flat fee feature immediately adds a billable amount under the Work In Progress area of a Matter. In addition, you can also track your time spent. 

Potentially improve on law firm collections

Beyond helping lawyers become more efficient in their workflows, alternative fee arrangements can also benefit law firms financially. When clients can pay more easily, law firms will more likely get paid. 

Clients who face legal problems can’t always afford to take on a large legal invoice. According to the 2017 Legal Trends Report, 44% of firms found that clients don’t pay their bills because they lack the funds to pay all at once. If a client can’t pay, they either won’t seek a lawyer’s help, or won’t pay their bill. Firms then miss out on potential revenue, or clients may not get the help they need.

When law firms can provide a suitable alternative fee arrangement that makes it easier for clients to pay, everyone wins. Finding an alternative fee structure also helps firms increase their revenues. The best part? Offering alternative billing solutions goes a long way to delivering client-centred service.

Provide a better client-centered service

According to the 2020 Legal Trends Report, 78% of consumers say that lawyers should adopt pricing and payment models to make legal services more affordable. But can a law firm have client-centered pricing structures but still be cost-accessible and profitable? With the right mix of fee arrangements, yes.

Alternative fee arrangements can offer clients cost predictability. This cost predictability can be a powerful way for lawyers to increase access to legal services in two key ways:

1. Clients can better assess if they can afford legal assistance. When clients can determine whether they’ll have the funds they need to pursue their legal issue, they can make a more informed cost-benefit evaluation of the situation. Armed with a more accurate cost expectation, clients can better decide if it’s the right time to move forward with a legal issue.
2. Clients want more ways to pay. Today’s legal clients want more payment flexibility. The 2020 Legal Trends Report notes that the majority of consumers (65%) prefer to pay using electronic forms of payment. In addition to wanting more options for how they pay, clients also want options for how law firms structure their billing and services. —

Alternative fee arrangements give clients more flexibility to decide how many services they want to use a lawyer for. For example, clients can use a firm’s unbundled legal services or more structured payment options, such as paying a set monthly subscription fee. These options let clients access legal help in a way that better suits their needs.

While law firms need to prioritize providing value to clients, they don’t have to sacrifice profitability. For example, simply offering discounts may lower final costs to clients in the short-term. But discounts don’t necessarily provide a better client experience. Discounts can also have negative long-term impacts on law firm revenues. 

Alternative fee arrangements benefit clients and your law firm 

Law firms that want to set themselves apart from the competition need to adapt to these changing client needs and expectations. To adapt, law firms need to offer accessible and affordable legal services to clients. As the 2020 Legal Trends Report explains, recent studies indicate 86% of civil legal problems faced by low-income individuals receive either inadequate or no legal help at all.

Offering affordable, flexible billing options is critical for satisfying client needs while maintaining law firm revenue. Specifically, the 2020 Legal Trends Report found that other than positive reviews, customers ranked affordability factors as most important among consumers when asked what makes a lawyer hireable. Affordability factors include pricing, discounts, payment plans, and fixed fee billing structures. These factors are especially true for lower-income clients, who may not be able to afford legal help at regular rates.

Adopting more flexible and transparent legal billing models puts the client experience first. At the same time, underserved consumers can better access legal services. Alternative fee arrangements can benefit clients by helping them find ways to resolve their legal matters while helping lawyers bring in revenue for their firms.

While the above are the most common type of legal fee billing practiced, alternative fee arrangements are increasingly common in the industry and popular among consumers. In the 2020 Legal Trends Report, survey data found that 28% of law firms offer unbundled legal services and 8% of law firms offer subscription-based legal services.

9 examples of alternative fee arrangements

Billing by the hour has its place in law firms, but it shouldn’t be the default. These nine examples of alternative fee arrangements can benefit your firm and, most importantly, your clients.

Fixed or flat fees

Fixed or flat fees are where clients pay a predetermined fee in exchange for a specific legal service. Flat fees empower customers to feel more in control over their purchasing decision. Also, law firms can focus their resources on completing the legal service instead of explaining bill amounts and charges. 

Fixed or flat fees are a better fit for straightforward, repetitive services. Additionally, in some practice areas and types of legal matters, offering this kind of transparent pricing model where possible gives clients a consistent experience.  For example, offering a flat fee of $1,000 for drafting a will can provide both clients and attorneys value. 

Capped fees

Capped fees use the traditional hourly billing model. At the same time, capped fees also provide clients with an agreed-upon maximum cost or “cap” for a specific matter. For example, a litigation attorney who bills $250 per hour could work on a contract dispute for a client with a capped fee agreement. This might stipulate to charge no more than $10,000 total for all services related to the matter.

This cap gives clients peace of mind and lowers their financial risk. Clients know that they can afford services up to the limit and don’t need to worry about an unmanageable, surprise bill. However, this type of legal fee does mean that firms should be able to reasonably predict the maximum cost of a given matter from the beginning. Otherwise, the firm could risk hitting the cap and having to complete work on its own dime.

Blended fees 

Blended fees are another type of alternative fee structure that offer a twist on standard hourly rates. 

When a law firm agrees to a blended hourly rate, they charge one average hourly billable rate for work on a client’s case. For example, the firm may charge $300 per hour regardless of which attorney completes the work. The firm uses this fixed rate: Whether it’s a new attorney who charges $100 per hour, a partner who charges $300 per hour, or a senior partner who charges $500 per hour. 

In this way, a blended rate helps shield clients from a higher-than-expected bill if a senior partner completes much of the billable work on their matter. However, if only lawyers with a lower hourly rate work on their matter, the higher cost could disadvantage clients.

Success or performance incentives

Lawyers always want a good result for clients. But alternative fee arrangements that include predetermined success or performance incentives that reward them for achieving a great result for clients can be extra motivation. With this fee structure, firms can pay lawyers for their strengths while also ensuring clients get what they want.

For example, a success incentive could mean that an attorney will receive a certain agreed-upon amount for their legal services whether they win or lose. However, if they win the case and meet specific predefined criteria, they may receive an additional payment based on that success.

Unbundled legal services 

A client may sometimes face a legal problem but can’t afford to pay for a full scope of necessary legal services. In these cases, offering unbundled legal services can provide more affordable access to legal help in a limited capacity. Unbundled legal services are where clients can choose specific tasks that they can handle and represent themselves. Then, clients can pay for the most pressing legal services they need.

For example, unbundled legal services for a client involved with a divorce case could include an attorney preparing the necessary court documents. At the same time, the client would manage the rest of the case.

Payment plans 

As previously noted, the most common reason clients don’t pay their bills is their inability to afford the whole bill at once. Offering payment plans can help.

Let’s say that you have a client that owes your firm a $5,000 bill. While the client may not have the funds to pay the entire invoice, they may be able to pay in installments of $500 a month. If you set up a mutually agreed-upon payment plan that works for you and your client, your client can pay in a way they can afford. Also, your firm won’t lose out on earned revenue—your firm will receive the payment over an extended period.

While it’s preferable to have clients pay their bill in full, well-structured payment plans offer a solution that makes it easier for them to pay their bills over time. When clients pay their bills on time,  your firm gets paid and can improve its collection rate. 

Payment plans also provide an opportunity for firms to simultaneously deliver a better client experience. This could potentially lead to positive reviews and repeat future business. After all, as survey data in the 2020 Legal Trends Report notes, 72% of consumers would rather pay their legal fees on a payment plan.

Learn more about how to set up payment plans in Clio. 

Sliding scale fees 

Affordability is a common factor when consumers look for an attorney. But affordability can also be the difference-maker for clients looking to access legal services. Sliding scale fees, which are based on a client’s ability to pay—including factors like household income and family size—allow clients to pay lower hourly or flat fees. These fees are more affordable for clients’ specific situations. In short, sliding scale fees are different for different clients. In practice, sliding scale legal fees help narrow the access to justice gap while bringing in more clients to your firm. 

For example, if a client faces a legal problem related to their housing, you might normally charge an hourly rate of $200. For a lower-income client, however, you may instead charge a sliding scale hourly rate of $50 for the legal work. This rate is based on the client’s ability to pay to access your legal services.

Contingency fees

In instances where clients may not be able to afford a lawyer but have a complex or costly case, like a medical malpractice case, contingency fees might be a good solution. Contingency fees are where you’re paid a percentage of a client’s pay out if the case is successful. For example, you may receive 30% of the result if you win your client’s malpractice case. 

While contingency fees can be substantial if you’re successful in a clear-cut case, law firms also have to be careful to stay within legal and ethical boundaries. There are ethical rules to follow, and contingency fees are prohibited in certain types of cases. Lawyers must check and abide by your state and jurisdiction’s ethics rules before deciding to bill via contingency fees.

Subscriptions 

Subscriptions-based fees are where clients pay a set, recurring monthly fee to access services. These fees are similar to how you would pay your gym membership or media streaming service.  

When clients subscribe to a predetermined legal services plan, they can benefit from affordable costs for ongoing legal services. For example, a business client could choose a plan to pay a flat monthly fee in exchange for unlimited legal advice, regular document review, and ongoing brand strategy planning.  Further, a law firm gains more predictable, consistent work and revenue while simultaneously developing an ongoing relationship with their client. 

The idea of offering a subscription fee option may seem scary. But it’s important to note that you can and should tailor the concept of the fee model to solve the specific pain points your firm and clients struggle with. This means you and your firm can decide what this model offers and costs clients.

Note that you should always customize subscription fee structures to consider factors like your firm’s location and practice area, ethics rules, and your clients’ needs. 

Learn more about how to select the best billing structures to serve your clients and your law firm cash flow. 

Alternative fee arrangements are a win-win for everyone

For law firms and clients, finding the best fee arrangements are essential to long-term success. Alternative fee arrangements allow lawyers to serve clients in the most efficient and value-based way. At the same time, lawyers can empower clients to access the legal services that they need. 

However, adopting alternative fee structures doesn’t mean lawyers no longer need to track their time and project progress. In fact, when offering different fee arrangements, it’s more important than ever for firms to be organized and efficient. Legal practice management software can help firms find balance and achieve this.  

Hourly billing isn’t going anywhere. However, incorporating new alternative fee arrangements alongside hourly billing structures may give your firm more flexibility to serve clients. Not to mention a higher chance of getting paid. 

Most people find it difficult to talk about finances. Law firm financing is an especially uncomfortable discussion topic for lawyers and legal professionals. But law firm financing is critical for lawyers and legal professionals to learn and talk about, especially when running and managing a law firm. 

In this blog post, let’s find out why law firm financing is vital to a law firm’s success, what your firm’s financing options are, and the best types of loans for law firms. With this knowledge, let’s take a step together towards financial competency. 

What are the benefits of law firm financing? 

Law firm financing vs. law firm loans

Your accountant or Certified Public Accountant (CPA) friend will tell you law firm financing has the power to improve your firm’s cash flow. They’re right—the benefits of law firm financing are significant, partly because this financing structure is uniquely tailored for lawyers and attorneys. 

For example, banks won’t acknowledge unearned contingency fees as collateral. Bank loans can take a long time for lawyers to secure. But traditional bank loans would not work if your firm needs capital quickly.  

Law firm financing and non-recourse capital

Law firm financing allows attorneys and law firms to get paid for future income by using non-recourse capital, as explained below. 

What is non-recourse capital? It’s also known as non-recourse finance. Non-recourse capital is a type of commercial lending that allows the lender to receive payment only from the project’s profits the loan is funding. The lender can’t receive payment from any other assets of the borrower. Another benefit is the borrower does not make fixed payments. 

When it comes to getting paid, law firms face unique challenges. Depending on the lawyer’s financial situation and area of practice, applying for law firm financing could help solve the problems around law firm collections. 

Grow your law firm faster with law firm financing

Your firm’s growth depends on what resources you have to scale your business. Law firm financing can help. In particular, external law firm funding can provide you with the capital required to invest in practice management software, hire a paralegal, build a virtual law firm, and more. 

Improve your law firm’s cash flow

Your firm requires consistent cash flow for hiring, marketing, client intake and acquisition, and more. Good cash flow is also essential for growing your firm. Pausing marketing campaigns and other business operations due to cash flow problems can have detrimental effects on future business. Law firm financing can help you ensure you have enough funds to maintain revenue-generating activities. 

Reduce financial risk for your law firm

With high interest rates, taking out a more traditional loan can be risky. In fact, interest rates can be anywhere from 27% to 60%. And oftentimes, the interest rate is compounded monthly.  

Offer your clients a better client-centered experience

With more working capital—thanks to law firm financing—you can provide clients with the option of flexible payment options, also known as alternative fee arrangements. Unbundled legal services, subscription-based models, and fixed fee billing structures are all examples of alternative fee arrangements. Specifically, according to the 2020 Legal Trends Report, fixed fee billing structures ranked highly among consumers when asked what makes a lawyer hireable. 

Read on for more information on the best loans for law firms and what your firm’s financing options are.

What are your law firm’s financing options?

Personal cash

Cash savings, retirement funds, and home equity loans are some ways you can financially support your law firm using personal finances. 

Putting personal money—opposed to other forms of financing—into a business has its advantages and disadvantages. If you have the financial means, using personal money is a great option so long as you are careful. No matter your circumstance, you need to carefully assess the risk of putting personal money into your firm. 

You also need to be aware of tax implications if you finance your firm using your own money. We recommend working with a small business financial expert if you do choose to finance your law firm with personal cash. These financial experts can help you take advantage of any grants, low-interest financing, or tax incentives you’re eligible for in your state. 

Revenue-based financing 

Revenue-based financing allows firms to raise capital by pledging a percentage of future revenues in exchange for money invested. Law firms give a portion of earned revenue to investors at a pre-established percentage until the firm pays part of the original investment back. 

What are the pros of revenue-based financing? It’s often faster than other law firm financing options. Also, some revenue-based financing firms will allow you to pay based on monthly cash flows. 

Lines of credit

Like a small business loan, an unsecured line of credit gives a law firm access to money to address any business expense. In comparison, small business loans require law firms to put a lump-sum payment into the account when opening. Then, law firms need to provide monthly payments to the small business loan account. With lines of credit, firms need not necessarily provide monthly payments. 

For example, a small business line of credit involves a credit review and annual renewal. It’s revolving, like a credit card—this means interest starts accumulating once you remove funds. Also, you can borrow up to the amount you pay (except for interest) again as you pay your balance. Similar to a credit card, the lender will set a limit on the amount you can borrow.

Credit cards

Nearly half of all small businesses in the US use personal credit cards. And according to MasterCard® research, many of those small businesses fail to separate business and personal expenses. A significant risk to using a personal credit card to finance your business is that you are personally liable for any debt you acquire. While the lower interest rates of a credit card might be enticing, your firm might not be generating lots of revenue at the start. And racking up credit card debt might exempt you from other options of borrowing in the future. 

Law firm loans

Newer firms might not qualify for business financing. Banks will want proof of business credit and assets as collateral—if you don’t have this, there are other options. Besides the traditional business loan, you can take out a personal loan from a bank. Or asking friends and family is another option, although this is not feasible for many law firm owners.  

Regardless of your financial situation, you can choose from many different loans, each with its unique advantages and disadvantages. Let’s discuss these different loans in more detail below. 

What types of loans are the best loans for law firms?

Small Business Administration (SBA) Loans 

Pros: SBA loans often have the reassurance of interest rate caps. 

Cons: SBA loans can include long loan closing processes and significant collateral requirements. 

Business loans from a financial institution

Pros: If you already have a good relationship with a  bank, they might be able to offer you additional financial services and other perks if you take a loan from them. 

Cons: New business owners can find it tough to qualify for loans through banks. Also, the application processes are usually long. Additionally, your assets are at risk if you can’t pay the loan back. 

Working capital loans

Pros: Borrowing and repaying is quick—you won’t need to plan for repayments for months or years. Cons: Just like acquiring a traditional business loan from a financial institution, you might have to use collateral if you can’t pay the loan back. Additionally, the lender may charge you high interest rates. Shop around to avoid getting trapped with high interest rates. 

Private equity

Pros: Private equity firms can help you assess all areas of your business. Of course, this can also be a con (see below). Additionally, private equity firms have vested interests because they have investors to pay back. Ultimately, these private equity firms will want the best for your firm in terms of revenue generation. You can also often secure much more financing from private equity firms than other institutions. 

Cons: It is up to you to ensure you don’t sacrifice providing a client-centered experience for law firm revenues. Better yet, show the private equity firm how prioritizing the client’s needs will support reliable business growth. 

While securing more funds is a big win, this money comes at a cost. In some instances, you might have to give up management control or ownership stakes. The equity firm might steer you away from your law firm goals based on your values and beliefs.

Short-term loans

Pros: In most cases, you can count on receiving your loan quickly. Another advantage—short-term loans are easier to qualify for and have shorter applications. 

Cons: Short-term loans usually come with high interest rates, creating a higher likelihood of incurring debt and require frequent payments. 

Merchant cash advance (MCA)

Pros: MCAs don’t require you to use collateral to secure funding. The amount you also owe never increases—interest doesn’t accrue, and there are no late fees. 

Cons: Annual percentage rates (APRs) make this loan one of the most expensive borrowing options. APRs are the annual rate of interest that investors charge borrowers. Often, MCA lenders will deduct payments directly from your credit card receipts daily. This daily deduction can significantly harm your cash flow. Firs- time small business owners should especially consider these risks. 

Accounts receivable financing

Pros: Accounts receivable financing doesn’t require you to use collateral to secure money. Additionally, unlike private equity loans, you will maintain complete ownership and control of your business.

Cons: Rates for this kind of financing are likely higher than others. Be sure to go through lengthy contracts for this type of financing thoroughly. 

Business acquisition loans

Pros: This is another financing option that doesn’t require collateral. Business acquisition loans are helpful long-term solutions, unlike some of the fast, short-term financing options mentioned above. You can also get approved fast–sometimes in as little as 24 hours.

Cons: Lenders will require cash flow and credit score checks. Interest rates can vary, so be sure to shop around to get an idea of the average interest rates. Occasionally, business acquisition loans will require you to verify that you’ve pursued other types of financing before. Or they may also require you to prove if there was an owner of the firm before you—you’ll need to show proof that they no longer have any stakes in the business. 

Know your short and long term financial goals

When starting and running a law firm, you need a written financial plan to forecast critical financial aspects of your business. Having a comprehensive law firm business plan will also help you understand your expected cash flow. A business plan may also include information about the financial health of your firm. The more objective and accurate information you have in these plans, the better prepared you are to select the best law firm financing framework for your firm. 

This is a big project, so working with financial advisors and accountants with proven success with small business owners is a great idea. Preferably, you’ll work with financial vendors who’ve worked with attorneys who also started their own firms

Some non-profits or other organizations also offer valuable resources, business plan templates, and even discounted services to lawyers looking to start their own small businesses. 

Law firm financing is integral to expanding your business

When it comes to law firm financing, you need to investigate all of your options. Take your time making the best financial decision for you, your law firm, and clients. This guide to starting your own law will help you identify what you need to do when getting your law firm up and running. 

Get familiar with the various financing options outlined above, and talk to professionals. Finding a legal mentor who has started their own firm is also an excellent way to learn about their challenges and wins. 

Note: The information in this article applies only to US practices. This post is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, business, financial, or accounting advice.

Delegating some routine law firm tasks to a qualified paralegal goes a long way towards improving productivity, enhancing client-service capabilities, and bringing balance to a supervising lawyer’s workload. But paralegals can also boost law firm profitability. By making use of paralegal billing opportunities, paralegals can also improve law firm profitability. At the same time, law firms can pass on cost savings to clients.

In this blog post, we’ll cover what legal professionals need to know about paralegal billing. We’ll also include what paralegals can bill for, the basics of paralegal hourly billing rates, and best practices for law firms to consider. Read on to learn more about how properly integrating paralegal billing can benefit your law firm.

With this in mind, paralegals could potentially bill for certain tasks (which a lawyer would otherwise have to complete), which could include:

• eDiscovery
• Preparing legal documents
• Legal research
• Client communication

Conversely, administrative or clerical tasks that a paralegal completes (like filing or making copies) are considered non-billable.

ABA Model Guidelines for the Utilization of Paralegals outlines the general guidance above. In Guideline 8, the ABA states that a “lawyer may include a charge for the work performed by a paralegal in setting a charge and/or billing for legal services.” 

However, law firms and supervising attorneys need to check with and refer to their jurisdiction and local state bar rules to determine what paralegals can bill for. For example, the ABA Guidelines also note that—in certain jurisdictions—courts have specific requirements for the type of billable paralegal work. 

Paralegals billing hourly must know how to log portions of hours worked accurately. To quickly track and calculate hours without cutting yourself short or padding your time, lawyers (and paralegals) bill in standard time increments. Most lawyers bill by 1/10th of an hour (or six-minute) increments. 

Of course, not all law firms use billable hours exclusively or at all. Firms that price their legal services using an alternative billing structure may consider their paralegal’s work time when setting those fees. These alternative fee arrangements include fixed or flat fees, contingency arrangements, retainer, sliding scale, or subscriptions. 

However, law firms need to know that most state guidelines prohibit paralegals from setting fees.

Learn more about common billing increments and tools to calculate them. 

What is the average paralegal hourly rate in 2021?

Paralegals are not lawyers. But experienced and qualified paralegals can complete substantive legal work on behalf of a supervising attorney at a much lower cost. The average paralegal hourly rates are lower than lawyers’ hourly rates. But how much lower?

Lawyers calculate hourly rates based on several factors. As noted in Guideline 8 of the ABA Model Guidelines for the Utilization of Paralegals, lawyers are permitted to charge “market rates” for paralegal services instead of actual costs. 

With this in mind, lawyers should set their paralegals’ hourly billing rates reasonably. Lawyers should also consider factors like:

• A paralegal’s experience. A highly trained paralegal with many years of experience can complete a legal task more efficiently than a brand-new paralegal, so the rate should reflect that.
• The market rates for paralegal billing in the firm’s geographical location.

• The lawyer’s rate. Paralegal services are typically more cost-effective to the client.

Paralegal hourly billing rate vs. what a paralegal earns per hour

Note that the paralegal hourly billing rate is based on the above factors and is not the same as what a paralegal earns in an hour. However, lawyers can use the average paralegal hourly rate as a point of reference

As with any role at a law firm, the amount a paralegal earns varies based on factors like experience, skill level, and firm location. However, the average paralegal hourly rate of pay for a paralegal in the United States is $21.97. This range is similar to the $25.44 per hour 2020 median hourly pay for paralegals and legal assistants presented by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Paralegal billing tips and best practices

Law firms usually do their best to ensure that their overall law firm billing process is efficient and accurate. Similarly, firm staff also consider the ethical and procedural best practices of paralegal billing. Keep the following paralegal billing tips in mind:

Consider the ethics and standards of paralegal billing

Paralegals work under the supervision of attorneys, so paralegal billing should abide by the same accuracy, clarity, and professionalism standards. For example, Rule 1.5 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct lays out what to consider for setting reasonable fees for lawyers. Lawyers should also keep the same factors in mind when setting paralegal billing fees. 

Law firms also need to differentiate between billable and non-billable paralegal work. Paralegals wear many hats and play numerous critical roles at a law firm. But only substantive legal work that a lawyer would otherwise complete should be billed. Billable paralegal work must also meet the guidelines for billable paralegal work in your area.

Be specific and detailed

Clarity, consistency, and communication are key to effective law firm billing. So it’s best practice for specific and detailed paralegal billing that’s easy for clients to understand. Clients should know when a paralegal completed legal work and precisely what they did. For example, when billing on an hourly basis, paralegals should provide detailed notes for legal work performed on invoices.

Bill promptly

Sending clear, accurate bills promptly and consistently to clients is vital for ensuring healthy law firm collections. But billing promptly is also an excellent way to minimize confusion when it comes to paralegal billing. The longer a firm waits to send a client bill, the more challenging it is for the client to recall what legal services they received. A late bill could result in clients getting confused over their invoices. As previously mentioned, clear notes can help ensure a smooth experience for clients. Billing promptly also makes it easier for clients to read bills. 

Use cloud-based legal billing technology

As Doug Bend of Bend Law Group explains, the right tools and systems can make billing easier and more effective for the whole firm. When multiple people—lawyers and paralegals—are billing, having cloud-based legal technology creates standardized, automated systems that allow everyone to create accurate invoices for clients. 

Clio Manage’s legal billing software lets firms quickly and easily create bills for clients from anywhere. Clio’s legal billing software also contains numerous features that can help paralegals and lawyers bill more efficiently. Here are a few examples of how Clio can help a firm’s billing:

• Custom rates. Custom hourly rates and fees lets you charge clients different hourly rates and flat fees. This way, it’s easy for you to bill clients at different rates depending on who completes the work.
• Easy-to-read invoices. When you’re billing for lawyer and paralegal legal work, clear invoices are crucial for clients. Clio helps firms create professional invoices that can include aggregated or expanded activity lists and detailed statements of accounts.
• Time tracking. Clio Manage’s legal time and expense tracking features let users record their time worked via a time tracker. You can also add time entries directly from things like calendar events, communication logs, or documents.

Seamless paralegal billing makes a difference

Hiring a paralegal can bring numerous benefits to a law firm’s productivity and efficiency.  By knowing what legal tasks paralegals can bill, law firms have more opportunities to increase their law firm profits. Because paralegals can complete certain substantive legal tasks for lawyers at a lower billable hourly rate, delegating billable work to paralegals lets firms lower costs for clients while freeing up more lawyer time.

While there are many advantages to paralegal billing, it’s always important to know the rules for what a paralegal can and cannot bill for in your jurisdiction. If you learn and abide by those rules, paralegals can be a cost-effective way to serve legal clients better. 

What’s a key component of a thriving law firm experiencing ongoing growth and strong revenue? To put it simply, effective law firm billing is essential to a law firm’s success. One of the most effective ways to improve your firm’s billing process is to leverage technology—including legal billing software for Mac computers.

Traditional legal billing is a time-draining task for law firms. If your practice is struggling with a backlog of unpaid client bills, legal billing software can help establish a more efficient, accurate, and automated system. Legal billing software allows firms to get paid faster by streamlining and automating the billing process. At the same time, billing software also makes the payment process easier and more convenient for legal clients. 

When deciding to invest in billing software and weighing the pros and cons of your various options, you need to consider the type of computers your firm uses. In this post, we’ll outline the difference between legal billing software for Macs and PCs. We’ll also provide a list of top options for legal billing software that can help your Mac-based firm manage and track billing better. 

Legal billing software for a Mac vs. PC

When it comes to choosing software, note that the technology that powers a Mac and a PC computer are different. This difference means that some apps and programs aren’t cross compatible between the two computer operating systems.  

Web-based applications can often solve this compatibility problem. But not all billing software options have web-based apps. That’s why you must check if a software is compatible with your computer before you dive into your research. 

Why is legal billing software important?

When you’ve put in the hours, done the legal work, and sent the invoice, you expect your clients to pay you. But that’s not always the case for lawyers. According to the 2020 Legal Trends Report, the average collection rate for lawyers is only 88%. Lawyers also don’t collect on a whopping 12% of the hours that they bill to clients—which means lawyers are leaving earned money behind.

Legal billing software saves firms time, money, and also the risk of error by taking much of the manual work out of the billing process. In addition, legal billing software streamlines the billing process by making tasks like time tracking easier and automating time-consuming tasks. For example, legal billing software lets you generate invoices quickly. Software that allows firms to collect payments online via credit card—like Clio Manage—make it easier and more convenient for clients to pay invoices. Since clients are more likely to pay on time with an easier payment process, law firms are also more likely to increase their collection rates.

If implementing a more efficient and productive collections system via legal billing software can help improve your firm’s collections rate, you can bring in more of the revenue that you’ve already earned. 

How do you choose legal billing software for a Mac?

Once you’ve understood the benefits of legal billing software for your firm, you need to determine which Mac-compatible software can help your firm manage and track billing better. 

To help, we’ve rounded up some top options for legal billing software and tools for Mac users.

Learn how to choose the right technology for your law firm.

Clio

Designed to help law firms get paid faster and to help them bill clients in a way that’s easy and convenient for them, Clio Manage’s web-based legal billing software is compatible with Macs and PCs. 

Key features and benefits of Clio

• Bill securely and efficiently from anywhere. Clio’s cloud-based software lets you securely and remotely create and approve bills, automatically apply interest to late payments, and send bills electronically via a secure client portal. 
• Customizable billing plans and varied billing arrangements. Bill clients the way that works best for you and them. You can bill clients based on hourly rates or with alternative billing arrangements (like flat fee or contingency). 
• Accept credit card payments. Clio’s credit card processing functionality, Clio Payments lets firms offer flexible payment options. Also, Clio Payments syncs transactions to Clio and third party accounting systems.
• Spend less time billing. Features like automated payment plans and the ability to collect outstanding balances and replenish trust accounts with recurring credit card payments reduces collection time.
• Set custom hourly rates and fees. Ensure more accurate and easier billing by charging different set hourly rates for different firm lawyers or different flat fees for certain activities.
• Accept multiple payments at once. To make paying your firm more convenient for clients, Clio lets clients pay their balance for all legal bills online via credit card—in one transaction.
• Personalized software features. Create custom bill themes and invoice templates for clear, professional, and easy-to-read branded bills.
• Easily track time and expenses. Track your time as you work—so no billable hours are lost or forgotten.
• Integrate with other apps. Clio’s App Directory lets you connect your legal billing software with other useful accounting and billing-related applications (we’ll mention some below) to create even more functionality and billing efficiency. 
• Create financial reports. To help your law firm stay on top of billing, Clio also generates useful legal billing and finance reports containing insights into accounts receivables, and more.

QuickBooks Online

Using QuickBooks Online cloud-based accounting platform with Clio’s practice management software is a powerful way to streamline accounting practices at your law firm. You can use QuickBooks Online and Clio to quickly and easily sync your firm’s contacts, bills, and transactions. 

Key features and benefits:

• Seamless syncing. QuickBooks augments the power of legal billing software for Macs like Clio by syncing details like contacts, invoices, financial information, and transactions. With QuickBooks and Clio, you can eliminate unnecessary data entry.
• Account visibility. QuickBooks also helps to ensure you maintain full visibility into trust and operating accounts between your practice management and accounting tools.
• Intuitive time-tracking. When used alongside Clio, you can easily track every moment of billable work remotely—via multiple time-tracking features.

Faster Invoicing

Sending a reminder to clients about an outstanding bill can go a long way to getting an invoice paid. But tracking and sending messages manually is time-consuming. Faster Invoicing integrates with Clio to make it easy to send invoice reminders to your clients in Clio who have outstanding bills. 

Key features and benefits:

• Simplified reminders. Sending a reminder is easy: Simply type up a template and select specific clients and Faster Invoicing will automatically create and send email reminders.

InvoiceTracker

Cut down on manual invoice tracking and follow-ups. Also, you can help improve your law firm’s cash flow with Invoice Tracker by eBillity. This app integrates with Clio and offers cloud access. The app also sends automatic email reminders for unpaid invoices.

Key features and benefits:

• Personalized follow-ups. Customizable email templates let firms add a personal touch to automated reminders for a more client-focused feel. You can also choose templates with different written tones to show the level of urgency for different situations.
• Reporting functionality. Therefore allowing you to generate a report to learn your firm’s best- and worst-paying clients. You can also create multiple reminder schedules to align with how fast or slow a specific client pays.
• Targeted timing. Easily get a better grasp on the best strategy for billing reminders with Invoice Tracker. Invoice Tracker can show you the best time to send email reminders, which day of the week sending a reminder will optimize open rates, and how many emails you need in a reminder set before a client makes payment.
• Connect with accounting software. You can connect Invoice Tracker to your accounting software with only four clicks and your invoices will sync automatically.

InvoiceSherpa

Automating your law office’s accounts receivable is a reliable way to get paid faster. You can also help accelerate your cash flow cycle and boost your bottom line. InvoiceSherpa, which integrates with Clio, offers invoice reminder and collection software to automatically chase late invoices.

Key features and benefits:

• Customized invoice reminders. Therefore allowing you to set up custom reminders for each of your users.
• Get paid directly from reminders. For instance, you can seamlessly accept credit cards and ACH payments directly from the email reminders you send through InvoiceSherpa.
• Spend less time chasing clients. For example, calling customers to ask for outstanding payments takes time and is uncomfortable for everyone. Automated reminders are more efficient and reduce awkward reminder calls.

BillerAssist

Manually reviewing billing entries for invoicing is extremely time-consuming. But BillerAssist can speed up the process—allowing you to review and approve a month’s worth of billing in minutes. With BillerAssist’s Clio integration, you can also import your entries from Clio in one click. The app will flagg any unusual or problematic entries that need special attention. 

Key features and benefits:

• Easy-to-read color codes. Therefore, allowing you to automatically apply convenient color codes based upon your firm’s settings. Color codes make it quick and simple to flag any issues—which makes the reviewing process faster and more efficient. 
• Automatic training on how to bill. For instance, this will help train associates and other timekeepers on how to bill, BillerAssist automatically flags entries in real time, and provides suggested descriptions based on your firm’s billing records. This training also empowers long-term efficiency and reduces potential billing errors. 
• You only need one user account. You can also import new entries for all of your firm’s timekeepers with one click—from a single user account.

Effective law firm billing is essential to a law firm’s success

The right software can help your law firm manage and track billing more efficiently and accurately. But not all software works for all firms (or their computer hardware). 

To find the optimal legal billing software for Mac computers that best fits your law firm, assess your options carefully—as you would with any new technology at your firm—for factors like:

• Ease of use
• Security
• The ability to alleviate pain points at your firm

Next, if you use Mac computers, make sure the legal billing solution is either Mac-compatible or offers a web-based option that works with Macs.

Note: The information in this article applies only to US practices. This post is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, business, or accounting advice.

Everything You Need to Know about Paralegal Automation

If you’re a paralegal, you know just how much important legal work paralegals do at law firms. But it’s still natural to wonder if the increase in technology—especially paralegal automation—at law offices will pose a threat to your role. 

Paralegal automation can and should streamline some manual tasks that traditionally falls on a paralegal’s desk. However, that doesn’t mean that automation is a threat to paralegals’ jobs. It’s actually the opposite: Automating time-consuming routine tasks can free up a paralegal’s workday. With more free time, paralegals can focus on higher-level, client-focused work. Paralegals also need to be well-versed in legal technology and automation workflows to stay competitive in our tech-driven world. 

In this blog post, we’ll explore the essentials of paralegal automation. From what automation means for law firms to how automation can benefit paralegals and the tools paralegals will find useful. Read on to find out more about paralegal automation.

Automation vs. AI

What’s the difference between automation and artificial intelligence (AI)? Both automation and AI use technology to take care of tasks otherwise completed by humans, but there is a difference. 

Artificial intelligence: AI refers to technology that’s used to teach a machine to perform human tasks. AI technology does more than respond to a set pattern or rule. For instance it can learn to recognize patterns and adjust to new inputs. 

Learn more about the benefits (and ethical considerations) of AI in the legal industry. 

Automation: Automation refers to making something happen automatically. With automation, humans use technology to complete repetitive tasks by setting up the technology to follow patterns or rules. For example, lawyers can use automation to automatically send a confirmation email whenever an appointment is booked. Automatically in this case means that clients will receive your email without you having to manually send the email to them.

By using automation to create more efficient workflows and streamline routine tasks, paralegals can free up their time. As a result, paralegals can dedicate this additional time to more complex tasks on behalf of lawyers. These tasks especially include those that require human skill, discretion, and critical thinking. For example, paralegal responsibilities that require an understanding of the law and a high level of mental and emotional intelligence—like interviewing prospective clients—will not be automated anytime soon.

Learn about what legal technology law firms need.

How can automation benefit paralegals?

Embracing paralegal automation can be a win for paralegals, law firms, and clients. Here’s how:

Save time and increase efficiency

Paralegals work hard. They also often work long hours to complete a high volume of tasks to support lawyers, law firms, and legal clients. But heavy workloads can contribute to a stressful work environment and lead to paralegal burnout.

Thankfully, with automation, paralegals can complete many tasks in a simpler and more efficient way. Examples of tasks that paralegals can automate include tasks related to client intake or preparing legal documents. Therefore, by using automation to streamline repetitive tasks, paralegals can free up more time to focus on more substantive, higher-value tasks. 

Watch how to use automation to increase efficiency at your law firm.

Paralegals can drive innovation at law firms

Embracing automation benefits paralegals by reducing the amount of manual, repetitive tasks in their workdays. But automation also presents bigger-picture advantages for law firms. 

Paralegals are often in the unique position of working on client-facing tasks and taking on substantive legal work on behalf of attorneys. Because of this unique position, paralegals tend to have a more in-depth perspective on where there may be gaps in workflows and processes at law firms. 

By keeping up-to-date on the latest technologies and automation opportunities available, paralegals can become drivers of innovation and technology at their firms.

Grow the role of the paralegal

Law firms hire paralegals to benefit from their legal work experience. But paralegal time often gets taken up by repetitive tasks. 

By using technology to automate routine tasks, paralegals can free up more time to focus their skills and attention on higher-value work. By taking on more responsibilities, you can grow your role as a paralegal to include more high-level thinking tasks.

Provide a better client-centered experience

As Nehal Madhani of Alt Legal and Jordan Couch of Palace Law discuss in Clio’s Daily Matters podcast, automating repetitive processes can free legal professionals—like paralegals—to have more time in their day to work on more important things. These things include giving law firm clients exceptional client-centered experiences.  

In addition to having more time to devote to serving and communicating with clients, automation can potentially lower legal costs for clients. When law firms use paralegal automation to empower their paralegals’ efficiency, the whole practice benefits from increased productivity. A more efficient practice can result in cost savings. These cost savings can eventually pass on to clients. 

Paralegal automation tools

To make the most of your work time, selecting the right paralegal automation tools is essential. As our guide to law office automation explains, paralegals can use many tech tools to streamline tasks. Some of the key types of tools for paralegals to consider:

Client intake

Onboarding new clients and collecting client intake information is essential to the legal process. But it can take up a lot of time. This is a great example of where inefficient processes can result in a less-than-stellar first impression with clients. At the same time, inefficient client intake processes can quickly eat away at paralegals’ time. 

Cloud-based client intake software like Clio Grow can streamline the client intake process. Clio Grow helps firms to automate Learn more – client intake by empowering the creation of:

• Shareable online intake forms that can be customized  to suit the needs of a client case—so you can add the fields you need and eliminate irrelevant entry fields.
• A digital client intake process that lets clients fill out applications directly on your law firm’s website—saving clients, paralegals, and firm staff time and redundant, manual filing.
• A Matter Pipeline dashboard for quick, real-time monitoring of the status of prospective clients.

Learn more ways to automate client intake. 

Document automation

Creating and preparing legal documents on behalf of lawyers is one of the most common paralegal tasks. The good news is document automation tools can make this process faster and easier for paralegals. 

Take Clio Manage for example: The practice management software’s document automation features let you pull items from different matter fields into merge fields. This feature lets you automatically create documents from matters. You can also quickly build forms and documents by creating PDFs or Word documents using data from your Clio Manage account. 

Other examples of legal document automation software that can simplify processes for paralegals include WealthCounsel, Lawyaw, and LawCloud. 

Client communications

Benefits of automating client communications

Automated communication can help paralegals give better communication to law firm clients in two key ways:

1. It makes it easier to keep clients in the loop. Certain routine communications between law firms and clients can be automated. For instance, clients can have peace of mind this way, which is key to delivering a positive client experience—without spending as much valuable time.
2. It gives paralegals more time to focus on personalized client communication. Therefore, paralegals can use the time saved on providing high-quality, tailored client communication when necessary. 

Client communications tools

Law firms and paralegals have a few options for client communication automation tools. Again, Clio Grow’s legal client relationship management software offers useful automation options for law firms. By automating redundant tasks, emails, and workflows with Clio Grow, paralegals can have more time to communicate with clients. Therefore, from a client’s perspective, automated client intake forms also offer a more convenient and seamless experience.

Case Status, which integrates with Clio Manage, provides real-time updates to clients on the status of their case. 

If your firm uses Clio, Clio Grow and Clio Manage also integrate with multiple chatbot options (like Smith.ai Live Chat, for example) for additional client communication support. 

Learn about more Clio integrations that help automate a law firm.

Law firm collections

Unpaid hours negatively impact the whole law firm. Yet, according to the 2020 Legal Trends Report, 12% of the hours invoiced to clients are never collected upon. 

Therefore, adopting automated legal credit card payments through Clio Payments can help your firm collect more. An automated payments process also makes it easier and more convenient for clients to pay online or via flexible payment options. At the same time, you can use tools like Clio Payments to automate routine collections processes and data entry. 

Other automation tools that help automate law firm collections and follow-ups include InvoiceSherpa, InvoiceTracker, and Faster Invoicing. 

Client reviews

A positive online reputation is key to law firm success and marketing. Therefore, proactively requesting reviews from clients goes a long way to building that reputation. But reaching out manually to every client can be an extremely time-consuming task for paralegals.

Automation tools designed to gather client reviews can help. For example, Birdeye empowers firms to send fully automated review requests to clients through automated texts or emails. With its integration with Clio, Birdeye connects with your client list in your practice management software. 

Paralegal automation benefits law firms

There’s no need to be wary of paralegal automation. When law firms execute and use automation tools strategically, paralegals, clients, and the entire practice can benefit from these tools.

However, you shouldn’t use every automation tool that crosses your path as a paralegal. Do your homework first. It’s important for paralegals to stay updated with the latest technologies and to be familiar with these tools. By doing so, paralegals can use automation to grow in their roles and value to law firms.

Managing a law firm comes with many challenges. As a law management consultant to firms of just about every practice area and size, I primarily coach in technology and websites (this includes legal website hosting). Did you know that 57% of potential clients looking for lawyers on their own, and many search online? Having a website for your law firm is non-negotiable—regardless of your firm size or practice area.

An aesthetically appealing law firm website is an excellent way to attract potential clients and prove your relevance to prospects, colleagues, your community, and beyond. However, a technically sound website contains e many under-the-surface components. In this blog post, I’ll focus on one essential component of a technically sound website—website hosting. Legal website hosting is a key part of a great law firm website as it can drastically affect the structure, performance, security, and even cost of your website. 

What is website hosting?

You may be familiar with how Dropbox provides remote storage of your client files and case information. Similarly, a legal website host provides remote storage of your firm’s website files. These files include web pages with code, pictures, videos, downloadable PDFs, and more.

In general, a website contains three unique elements. Each element provides a critical function. If any part were missing, you wouldn’t have a properly functioning website. These elements are:

• The domain name (a website’s URL)
• Website host
• Website files

To help answer the question of what a website hosting company does, I find it helpful to compare a website to a home:

• The domain name is the address of your home, which tells people where and how to find you.
• The website host is the foundational structure of your home, including four walls and a roof.
• The website files are all the things inside your home, including the furniture, appliances, carpeting, pictures and more.

In addition to legal website hosting, hosting companies also offer law firms services like email hosting, security features, website building tools, and more.

Why is website hosting important for a legal website?

Regardless of whether you’re a solo attorney working on a new website for your firm or a well-established law firm pursuing a stronger web presence, it’s essential to understand how a good legal website host can affect your bottom line

Arguably, one of the most crucial aspects of a competitive website host is a fast load time. A fast load time refers to the speed at which your law firm’s website page fully loads across both desktop and mobile platforms. 

Many technical factors can affect your website’s load time, including:

• Quality of code
• Amount of resources requested
• The browser you’re using
• Whether the images on your website are compressed

A website host can bear the responsibility of many more load time factors, including: 

• Server location
• Response time
• Equipment
• Amount of other accounts on your shared server
• Content delivery networks
• Caching
• And more

Why is website load time important?

According to Google Research, users take about 15ms (milliseconds, which means 1/1000th of a second) to form an opinion about your website. In fact, every second of delay in response time can reduce conversion rates by up to 7%. Your website’s load time could result in a potential client reaching your intended law firm landing page or immediately losing a  potential website visitor before they can even load your page fully due to poor response time. 

While your website’s load times can vary depending on what you use to test your website, it’s a good idea to understand a good load time vs. a poor one. By understanding what a good website load time is, you can start improving this number. In general, the ideal load time for your law firm’s website is between 0.1 seconds and 2 seconds. We generally regard a poor website load time as any time after 2 seconds.

Another way to understand your website’s performance is to load your website in incognito mode. Doing this can reveal how potential clients are likely to experience your firm’s website for the first time.

While slow load times can undoubtedly be physically frustrating, there are other unseen consequences of slow load times. Leaving slow website load times unaddressed can negatively affect your firm’s website in the eyes of search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play.

Learn more about search engine optimization, including what it is, why SEO is so critical for law firms, and what the top SEO ranking factors are.

How is SEO related to website hosting? 

Your law firm website’s load time can dramatically affect its search engine rankings. By simply improving your website’s load time, you increase the odds of your law firm website appearing higher up in a search. Sometimes, something as simple as switching to a better website hosting company for faster load times can improve your website’s search engine rankings.

What to look for in a website host for your legal website

If you’re looking for a new website host for your law firm, be aware of  a few fundamental must-haves:

Connection times

Arguably one of the most important things to look for is how fast your website’s connection time is. Sometimes this can be challenging to know before setting up your account with a website host. However, I’ve seen success by typing the following in Google: “Example websites hosted by [website host company name].” Keep in mind that if you’ve built your firm’s website on the WordPress platform or another popular website builder, be sure to include that web content platform into your search. In this case, search “example WordPress websites hosted by [website host company name].”

Downtimes

Server downtimes are usually more devastating but tend to occur less than slow connection times. The last thing you want is to leave existing and potential clients hanging with a website that doesn’t work—even occasionally. While shopping for a website host, look for a legal website hosting provider with an uptime guarantee of no less than 99%. If a legal website hosting company cannot guarantee this, consider looking elsewhere.

Easy-to-reach support 

You may plan on maintaining your firm’s website in-house or outsourcing to a web developer. Regardless of who is maintaining your law firm website, you need to choose a legal website hosting provider that’s easy to contact via phone, live chat, or email at any time.

Help with updates and maintenance

Because website hosts will often delay routine updates that affect their users, you need to know how they might communicate that with you. Worse, if disaster strikes and your site happens to go down for unknown reasons, are they willing and able to help an attorney with little to no website experience get it back up and running quickly?

Hidden Fees

I’ve often seen legal website hosting companies charge for services that their competitors offer for free. One example of this is a hosting provider charging for an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate essentially confirms your law firm website’s identity. It also enables an encrypted connection. Having an SSL certificate securing your website became a necessity around 2018. This was when Google started penalizing your website if it didn’t have an SSL certificate. Before Google announced that they would penalize websites that don’t feature SSL certificate security, many website hosts charged extra for this feature. But as SSL certificates became more common, this practice became antiquated. Be aware of website hosts that don’t offer free SSL certificates.

Be wary of free legal website hosting companies

While the idea of a free law firm website host might sound nice, they are rarely worth it. Most free legal website hosts are on overloaded shared servers, which are slow. These providers also often have requirements that will throttle your website’s bandwidth after a certain amount of visits. Throttling means your website will significantly slow down after you receive a fixed number of visitors. You don’t want this happening to your firm’s website as it signals to potential clients that your firm is unreliable. Conversely, if your site is inactive or under a certain threshold of visitors in a given period, then your account is at risk of becoming inactive. Finally, many free website hosts will brand your website with their logo, which can cause potential clients to distrust your law firm brand as they think your firm is being cheap.

Pros and cons of legal website hosts

What to do if you don’t like your current website host

You may find that your current legal website hosting provider is underperforming or isn’t providing you with the fundamentals necessary to host your legal website. In this case, it may be time to consider relocating your website to another legal website hosting company. Be aware of these if you’re thinking of making this change:

• Consider the issue(s) and most significant pain points you’re currently experiencing with your website host. Use the pros and cons list above to determine if a new legal website hosting company will offer a better solution to your problem.
• Understand that there is no ideal time to migrate your website. If you’ve identified performance issues within your website host, chances are it may be affecting your client acquisition. The sooner you act, the better. It may seem like a daunting task to migrate your law firm website, let alone engaging the services of a website migration specialist, but this is non-negotiable. 
• Hire a professional. If you attempt to handle a website migration in-house, you risk losing your website files and disrupting your email communications for hours or possibly days. Always ensure you have appropriate backup measures in place before the migration. Also, try to arrange the migration to take place at night or over the weekend. Scheduling the migration during a low-traffic period is a good idea, just in case the migration results in any email downtime or spike in website visitors.

An excellent website hosting service makes a difference

Website hosts are the foundation of your website. Since potential clients are taking to the web to look for a lawyer, it’s more important than ever to ensure the website’s foundation is equipped with the best industry standards that competitive website hosts offer. These standards include a fast load time, among other things. Slow load times are not only frustrating from a user experience standpoint but can also affect your law firm website’s search engine performance. If you’re not satisfied with your current legal website hosting provider and are considering migrating to another provider, keep the following in mind as you make your decision:

• Connection times
• Downtimes
• Easy to reach support
• Help with updates and maintenance
• Hidden fees
• Be wary of free website hosts

Finally, always make sure you hire a professional to facilitate your move.

With over 2.8 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a powerful tool that lawyers should utilize to boost their law firm’s marketing efforts. However, it’s likely that you never took a “Facebook for lawyers” class in law school. Also, many professionals find the social platform extremely overwhelming. Mastering Facebook advertising, a posting schedule, and what content to post is a complex process, even for lawyers. It’s also important to think about how Facebook will fit into your overall social media marketing strategy. 

In today’s post, we’ll focus on ways lawyers can effectively use Facebook—specifically regarding what to post on the platform and how to optimize their law firm’s Facebook page. 

Learn more: Is Facebook Advertising Right for Your Law Firm?

With this in mind, let’s dive into the seven ways lawyers can use Facebook more effectively.

1. Repurpose content for Facebook

The easiest way for lawyers to use Facebook is to repurpose marketing content. This content might include blog posts, videos, and podcasts that are relevant to your practice area. For example, if you’re blogging or podcasting, you can promote this content through posts on your law firm’s Facebook page. Additionally, you can repost content from other relevant sources (including other social platforms like Twitter) that are valuable to your audience. These sources include law firms in a similar practice area and reputable news and media sites.

When drafting a Facebook post, write thoughtful, yet concise captions. This way, you have a higher likelihood of cutting through the noise and  catching your reader’s attention. Use words that are easy to comprehend, and convey a clear call to action (CTA). 

2. Behind-the-scenes at your law firm

Social connections and authentic conversations are crucial parts of social media. In particular, Facebook for lawyers is a great way to create a unique law firm brand personality. Facebook allows you to bring light to the more human and engaging  elements of your law firm. By creating a unique law firm brand personality,  you will have a higher likelihood of sparking more one-on-one conversations with your audience. You will also help your firm stand out from the competition. 

But how should you create a great brand personality for your firm? 

Sharing behind-the-scenes snippets of your firm is a perfect way to humanize your business and engage with clients. For example, Clio customer Palace Law shares photos of their office pets—a simple and entertaining tactic that encourages higher audience engagement. You can also share news specific to your firm, like events you’re sponsoring or associations you’re a part of. 

3. Legal news and events

As a lawyer, you likely already stay on top of legal news and events, especially if they are related to your practice area. Sharing this information on Facebook is a great way to inform others about the news. You also get the opportunity to comment on how the news affects the legal community and your potential clients. By sharing the latest legal news and events, you can showcase your expertise and provide immense value to your target audience. 

4. Incorporate humour

Bringing a sense of humour to your Facebook content is an excellent way to engage with your target audience. Just ensure the type of humour you use is relevant, engaging, fits your law firm brand’s overall messaging, and isn’t offensive. 

We recommend establishing humour guidelines at your firm, to ensure you deliver a consistent and appropriate message each time. Additionally, you can pepper these types of posts throughout your posting schedule. This is because posting too much humorous content can take away from your firm’s professionalism and overall image. 

When done right, posting humorous, legal-related posts not only humanizes your brand, but also adds an emotional layer to posts—making your firm more memorable. 

5. Answers to common client questions 

A Facebook study found that 66% of people state being able to send a message to a business made them feel more confident in the brand. While face-to-face and email communication can help your law firm build a better client-centered experience, Facebook for lawyers is an excellent communication tool. Facebook for lawyers is also useful for connecting with potential clients. 

As a legal professional, existing and potential clients have likely asked you some common client questions. These common questions may be generic or specific to your practice area. Capitalize on this by creating Facebook posts to answer top legal questions—take this strategy a step further and incorporate visuals to capture the audience’s attention. 

6. Maintain brand consistency

Brand consistency is ensuring that all the content your firm publishes, is inline with a similar message, colour palate, letter font, visual style, and a matching tone across all online and offline channels. Content channels include social media, websites, blogs, etc. Having this unified brand messaging helps people recognize your firm’s brand. In addition, potential clients will better understand what you offer and you can connect with your target audience more easily.  By maintaining brand consistency, you can ensure you don’t post content with contradictory brand messaging on different channels. 

Creating branding guidelines will help your law firm establish clear rules and standards to maintain brand consistency for written and visual materials. These guidelines don’t need to be extensive—here are key items to include:

• Tone and voice: Identify your law firm’s personality as if it were a person. As a law firm, you can adopt a tone and voice that is dependable, approachable, and professional. 
• Fonts: Choose a primary and secondary font and stick to them. This will help audiences identify your firm’s brand and increase recognizability. 
• Images: Outline the type of stock images and illustrations that your firm will use. For example, an ice cream brand may use bright and colourful pictures, and images of happy people. For your firm, think about your target audience and how they would identify with the images chosen. 
• Color palette: Similar to fonts, choose a primary and secondary colour and stick to them. 

7. Optimize your law firm’s Facebook page

Maintain a social media calendar 

It’s tempting to post content on the fly. But having a proper social media calendar and plan will ensure you aren’t posting off-brand content or scrambling to find content to post. Utilizing a social media calendar helps keep your law firm on track with its social media marketing goals. A content calendar also helps ensure you’re posting content regularly and that your content syncs with existing workflows of law firm staff who work collaboratively to bring your firm’s social media to life. 

To build awareness, we recommend creating 2-3 Facebook posts per week. Furthermore, ensure that at least one of these posts is original content—like a blog post, an answer to a common client question, or promoting your firm’s services. 

Set goals and track results

This will help keep your firm accountable for your marketing ROI (return on investment) and ensure you are constantly optimizing  social media marketing efforts. Additionally, tracking results allows you to identify areas of improvement and which types of Facebook posts your target audience is engaging with the most. 

Increase visibility for your law firm’s Facebook page

Posting effectively on Facebook for lawyers is a great way to gain a following from new audiences—but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t leverage your existing clients. To ensure prospective and existing clients can find your social pages easily, add them to your email signatures, website, and printed media. In fact, this is a strategy we use at Clio and highly recommended that your firm implements it too.

Keep essential information updated

It seems basic, but oftentimes, it’s challenging to find essential information on Facebook business pages. The “About” section on Facebook should include: hours of operation, location, website address, social media channels, description of your firm and practice area, and contact information. 

Additionally, ensure your Facebook business category is accurate—this will increase your visibility on Facebook. 

Appoint a community manager

If you find it difficult to manage Facebook and your legal duties, consider appointing a community manager. You can hire for this role internally or externally. The community manager’s duties include reviewing social media posts, engaging with visitors in the comments, and managing direct Facebook messages. Staying on top of your firm’s social media presence is an important part of providing a client-centred experience. 

This person can also be responsible for obtaining positive Facebook reviews, which will boost your firm’s visibility and reputation. 

Clio Manage and Clio Grow’s email automation software makes it a breeze for Community Managers to follow up with clients with Facebook review requests.

Build relationships with local businesses

It may not seem worthwhile to build relationships with local businesses, especially if they aren’t legal focused. However, these types of relationships are beneficial to both businesses, as they increase visibility and open the opportunity for online and offline partnerships. Follow, like, comment and share on their posts on a regular basis. 

Facebook for lawyers is an important part of your marketing strategy

Facebook marketing for lawyers and running a firm’s social media strategy is challenging. But if you keep in mind the seven effective ways for lawyers to use Facebook, this social media channel can boost your law firm’s brand awareness, reputation, and can help your firm gain new clients.

When using Facebook for lawyers, it’s crucial to ensure the content your firm posts is relevant, engaging, and valuable—all while ensuring brand consistency. By doing so, you’re more likely to engage your target audience and increase your law firm’s business. In addition, you can diversify your posts, share original content, news and events, behind-the-scenes tidbits, and pepper in humorous posts. 

If you need help managing the Facebook account for your firm, consider talking to an expert or law firm marketing consultant who can analyze your platform and build an extensive social media strategy. 

The legal industry is constantly evolving—that’s why legal professionals need to find ways to keep learning and growing. While this may seem daunting, the best conferences for lawyers make keeping connected and informed easier and more enjoyable.

Attending a legal conference is an efficient way to elevate your career and law firm to the next level. But with so many legal conference options, determining the best conferences to invest your time, money, and energy in can be overwhelming. 

You can use this guide to help you choose the best conferences for lawyers to attend. To start, we’ll delve a bit deeper into the specific value opportunities in legal conferences. Once you know what to look for, you’re better equipped to make a more informed choice. We’ll also provide tips for how to prepare and get the most from the legal conferences you attend. Most importantly, we’ll offer our picks for the best legal conferences this year.

A roundup of the best legal conferences for 2021 

Why attend a legal conference

To grow and remain competitive in today’s rapidly changing legal industry, lawyers and law firms need to stay on top of the latest trends, technology, and issues in the profession. But it can be challenging to balance ongoing lawyer training with your day-to-day workload. 

The best legal conferences offer a dynamic solution: Quality legal conferences allow lawyers to immerse themselves in the latest training and educational opportunities in just a few days. Over a few days, attorneys can gain valuable insights and ideas on important industry changes and information, in addition to meeting and connecting with like-minded legal professionals.

Notably, attending a legal conference is valuable for:

Continuing Legal Education Opportunities

Ongoing lawyer training is key for staying competitive, but you also need to earn CLE credits. By attending a legal conference that offers CLE credits, you can work towards meeting your CLE requirements while also learning from the conference and upgrading your skills.

If completing CLE courses is a priority when looking for the best legal conference for you, there are a few options.

You can look to large-scale conferences that specify CLE-eligible sessions. For example, at the Clio Cloud Conference, attendees can earn CLE credit by participating in eligible conference sessions. You can also attend state bar conferences put on by your local state bar association. For example, the 2021 Idaho State Bar Annual Meeting offers CLE courses both in-person and virtually via webcast. 

Networking and Building Professional Relationships

Good relationships are key to success for lawyers, but finding the time and opportunity to connect with other legal professionals isn’t always easy. Because legal conferences bring together like-minded people, they’re one of the best, most natural places for attorney networking. 

Marketing and Promotion 

Effective law firm marketing is essential for success, and legal conferences are excellent sources for learning the latest strategies for promoting your practice. Legal conferences are also great for connecting with vendors, other attorneys, and potential clients. 

Additional benefits of virtual legal conferences

Additionally, the need for more physically distant conferences has led to the creation of more flexible, virtual conferences. Virtual legal conferences make attending important legal conferences easier. While legal conferences have traditionally centered around physical gatherings, virtual legal conferences give you the benefits of large-scale legal conferences without having to travel. As the 2020 Clio Cloud Conference showed, the best virtual legal conferences can be as immersive and educational as in-person events—with the bonus of being more accessible and affordable. 

If you’re curious about how a digital conference works, this post covers what you can expect at a virtual legal conference. 

Who should attend a legal conference

It’s simple: Any legal professional who works at a law firm can benefit from attending a legal conference. Here’s why:

Lawyers

All lawyers can benefit from networking, marketing, and gaining insights on the latest in the legal industry. But partners and law firm decision-makers may find added value from attending legal conferences that highlight legal technology and innovation. Law firm leaders who can stay ahead of the curve with useful tools are better equipped to help drive innovation and growth at their firms. 

Paralegals

While paralegals are not lawyers, they take on substantive legal work on behalf of lawyers. That’s why it’s just as important for paralegals to stay updated on the latest opportunities in the legal industry. Moreover, paralegals use the knowledge gained from legal conferences can drive change and innovation at law firms.  

Law firm administrators

Because law firm administrators manage a law firm’s processes and implement new technology, they need to stay up-to-date on the latest in law firm productivity and tech. Attending a legal conference is a useful way for law firm admins to discover new ways to make their law office more efficient. 

How to prepare for a legal conference

Strategizing and orienting your mindset before attending a conference is an excellent way to ensure you get the most value from any legal conference. 

Best practices when attending legal conferences

• Bring an open mind. While you’re not going to change your entire legal practice based on everything you hear at a legal conference, avoid preconceived notions that may limit your experience. 
• Have goals from the get-go. The best legal conferences pack a lot of information and networking opportunities into a condensed period. You most likely won’t be able to attend every single session at the conference either. That’s why it’s a good idea to plan and come prepared with some specific goals for topics that you want to learn about or takeaways you hope to gain. 

Prepare for the conference

Take some time to look through the conference’s agenda and materials before it starts. This way, you’ll be more focused and less likely to miss out on a session or opportunity that’s especially applicable to your firm.

• Participate and be engaged. To get the most out of a legal conference, it’s in your best interest to be active and participate. If you’re attending an in-person conference, attend networking events and speak up. If you’re attending a virtual conference, join breakout rooms or live chats to engage and connect. 
• Clear your calendar. Try to avoid multitasking as much as possible during the conference. Clear your calendar and turn your out-of-office message on so you can focus and stay engaged.
• Set up your virtual space. If you’re attending a virtual legal conference, you can benefit from a more flexible experience. But it’s still important to be able to focus when you need to—so make sure you set aside time in a place where you’ll be comfortable and won’t be distracted.

2021’s Best Conferences for Lawyers

Now that you know why legal conferences are so valuable for legal professionals. You’re equipped with a strategic approach to get the most out of them. Let’s look at the best legal conferences to consider attending in the year ahead.

We’ll start with the essentials—our picks for the most can’t-miss overall choices. Then, we’ll look at the best legal conferences for different categories like solo firm conferences, legal tech-focused conferences, practice-areas-specific conferences, and more. 

The top 3 can’t-miss legal conferences

1. Clio Cloud Conference, October 26-29, 2021

Location: Virtual

Cost: $99 (Until July 30)

Credits: CLE eligible 

As the world’s biggest legal conference, Clio’s annual Cloud Conference brings together thousands of like-minded peers for an experience that touches on all the best things that legal conferences can offer—virtually. 

This year’s virtual conference allows attendees to create a tailor-made conference experience: You can choose from specific tracks and workshops to design an experience customized to your interests, career path, and law firm aspirations.

With a combination of live chats, video meetings, virtual events, and more, this value-packed digital conference empowers you to: 

• Learn from inspiring keynotes and speakers (from the best in the legal industry—and beyond)
• Gain valuable insights from innovative and successful law firms
• Engage with multiple opportunities for networking and connection
• Earn CLE credits 
• Pick up practical skills to help you better operate and grow your law firm

2. ABA TECHSHOW, March 2-4, 2022

Location: Chicago, Illonois

Cost: $325 (member) / $400 (non-member)

Credits: CLE eligible 

The ABA TECHSHOW brings together legal professionals and technology to showcase the latest tools and strategies to help lawyers practice the law more efficiently and effectively (fun fact: Clio debuted at the ABA TECHSHOW in 2008).

While 2021’s virtual conference has already passed, you can look to the 2022 TECHSHOW, which is set to be held in Chicago.

3. Legalweek, through July 13-14, 2021

Location: Virtual (for 2021)

Cost: $399

Credits: CLE eligible 

Legalweek is one of the largest annual conferences for legal professionals and legal leaders.

Normally held in New York, Legalweek became Legalweek(year) with a series of five virtual events for 2021.

The best legal conference for solo and small firm lawyers

The SUMMIT: National Solo and Small Law Firm Conference, November 11-12, 2021

Location: Orlando, Florida

Cost: $895

With content designed to inspire and educate established, growing, and innovative law firms, the SUMMIT is best suited for lawyers at solo and small law firms. It focuses on special interest topics to small law firms and entrepreneurs—like industry trends and hacks, the latest business practices, and strategy. 

Runner up: Missouri Bar Solo & Small Firm Conference, June 9-11, 2021

Location: Virtual (for 2021)

Cost: $290

Credits: MCLE eligible

After 26 years, this annual conference is a leader in legal conferences for small and solo law firms. Ideal for individual lawyers and staff at small law firms, this conference aims to teach skills and deliver the latest information for small firms to improve their law practices. The best legal conference for large firms

Legalweek, through July 13-14, 2021

Location: Virtual (for 2021)

Cost: $399

Credits: CLE eligible 

With a focus on driving the industry forward, Legalweek is an ideal conference for large firms. It has content targeted to a wide range of roles—including law firm CEOs and partners, legal technology leaders, legal operations professionals, inside counsel, marketing professionals, and knowledge management leaders. 

The best legal technology conference

Clio Cloud Conference, October 26-29, 2021

Clio Cloud Conference

Location: Virtual

Cost: $99

Credits: CLE eligible 

When it comes to innovation and future-thinking in legal technology, the Clio Cloud Conference offers a unique blend of cutting-edge and innovation-minded learning along with connections with like-minded professionals. In addition to inspiring keynotes, CLE opportunities, and networking, attendees can learn about the latest solutions from carefully selected legal tech partners—and gain early access to the latest product and feature updates from Clio.

The best legal conference for intellectual property law

American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Annual Meeting, October 28-30, 2021

Location: National Harbor, Maryland

Cost: $TBD

Credits: CLE eligible

This multi-track annual conference is designed to help intellectual property practitioners elevate their careers and skills with sessions focused on pertinent topics like patent prosecution, copyright, trademark, and more. 

For those who cannot attend the in-person conference, a digital experience package will also be available to provide access to select live events, on-demand recordings, and digital networking opportunities. 

The best legal conference for criminal law

Trial Lawyers Summit, January 30-February 2, 2022  

Location: Miami, Florida

Cost: $TBD

Credits: CLE eligible

The annual Trial Lawyers Summit is a unique gathering of America’s most outstanding civil plaintiff and criminal defense lawyers. Offering various 

With networking events, informative sessions, and CLE opportunities focused on trial skills and business management; the Trial Lawyers Summit brings together civil plaintiff and criminal defense lawyers, paralegals, students, and law firm administrators. Topics covered at the summit include criminal defense, digital marketing, women’s leadership, traumatic brain injury litigation, and more.  

The best legal conference for labour and employment law

Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference, November 10-13, 2021  

Location: Los Angeles, California

Cost: $TBD

Credits: CLE eligible

The American Bar Association’s 15th annual Labor and Employment Law Conference offers a mix of networking, CLE opportunities, keynote speakers, and panelists with insights into all aspects of the practice of labor and employment law.

The best legal conference for immigration law

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Annual Conference on Immigration Law, June 9-12, 2021

Location: Virtual

Cost: $545 (members) / $745 (non-member attorneys)

Credits: CLE eligible

This conference is targeted towards practitioners from all immigration practice areas. It’s designed in a multi-track format with a fundamentals-based track for those new to the practice of immigration law and intermediate- and advanced-level programming—allowing attendees to find content that suits their current career path.

The best marketing conference for lawyers

In addition to conferences targeted at lawyers, you can also look for events that can help grow the business side of your firm. Look out for events related to topics like marketing and small business ownership. 

Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference, October 22-24, 2021

Location: Hollywood, Florida

Cost: $1,545 (LMA member) / $2,045 (non-members) before September 10, 2021

$1,645 (LMA member) / $2,145 (non-members) after September 10, 2021

Focused exclusively on legal marketing and business development, this conference offers educational content focused on themes like strategic planning, overcoming current challenges in the industry, and unlocking professional opportunities. Attendees range from managers to administrators to attorneys working at law firms, legal and professional services, marketing and PR firms, and other related industries.

This year, the LMA is also offering a one-day Virtual Extension on October 28, 2021, for those who cannot attend the in-person conference. 

Make time for legal conferences

It’s easy to get caught up with the day-to-day of your legal work. But taking the time to attend the best legal conferences can be incredibly motivating, informative, and valuable for your work as a lawyer.

Whether you choose to attend a conference focused on legal technology or your practice area, it’s important to be prepared. You’ll want to prepare for the legal conference experience by reviewing the agenda, setting some goals, and bringing an open mind.

Some legal conferences offer an immersive in-person experience. But you can also get the networking, information, and inspiration of legal conferences with virtual events. A great example of a rewarding virtual conference is this year’s Clio Cloud Conference.

No matter what point you’re at in your legal career, there’s always room to grow. The best legal conferences for lawyers are an efficient and effective way to invest in your career, your law firm’s future, and yourself.

It’s no secret that most attorneys could use a few extra hours each workday. The 2020 Legal Trends Report affirmed that the average lawyer completes just 2.5 hours of billable work per day. While no one can slow down time, savvy lawyers can increase their capacity by tapping into strategies and tools to improve productivity. These strategies include delegating non-billable tasks to remote paralegals for flexible support when necessary.

By taking on various supervised, substantive legal tasks, experienced paralegals can greatly reduce lawyers’ workloads and increase their availability for billable hours.  At the same time, remote paralegals can help firm costs down because they don’t demand the same higher hourly rates that lawyers do. Lawyers can benefit from working with on-demand, outsourced virtual paralegal services during high-volume periods. This is because lawyers don’t have to bear the ongoing costs of having additional staff during slower business periods.

Wondering if outsourced remote paralegals could be a good fit for your firm? Read on to learn more about virtual paralegal services and how they can help your law firm become more efficient and profitable.

What is a remote paralegal, and how do they compare to virtual legal assistants? 

Virtual paralegals and virtual legal assistants are similar as they both:

• Work remotely (often from home) to help law firms run more efficiently
• Help reduce the workload of lawyers by taking on non-billable tasks

However, the two roles differ in the type and scope of work they can take on.

• Remote paralegals: A paralegal is a legal professional with the skills and experience to take on substantive legal work specifically assigned and supervised by a licenced lawyer. In addition, a remote paralegal is a type of paralegal who works remotely, often as an outsourced, freelance paralegal. A virtual paralegal can potentially review client files, conduct legal research, interview clients, draft certain written documents, and more at the direction of a lawyer.
• Virtual legal assistants: Virtual legal assistants focus on routine administrative tasks on behalf of a law firm. Typical tasks for a virtual legal assistant may include scheduling appointments and meetings, managing client communications, billing, and managing contacts.

What accreditation do remote paralegals have?

Remote paralegals must be paralegals. Remote paralegals can get their experience from learning on the job, formal paralegal training or certification, or both. For example, NALA and NFPA are reputable certification programs for paralegals. 

For more on guidelines for lawyers working with paralegals, you can review the ABA Model Guidelines for the Utilization of Paralegal Services.

Note: Some states do not certify or licence paralegals, while other states require paralegals to be certified. That’s why it’s essential to check and abide by your state’s rules before hiring a virtual paralegal (or any type of paralegal).

How can lawyers benefit from outsourced remote paralegals?

Working with paralegals can help lawyers improve their practice in general.  But outsourced remote paralegals—who offer more flexible support—can benefit attorneys in the following additional ways:

1. Save time and spend more time on billable work

There are only so many hours a lawyer can work in the day. Delegating appropriate substantive legal to qualified paralegals frees up time for an attorney to focus on billable work or clients. Outsourced remote paralegals can take tasks off of a lawyer’s plate to save time during busy periods—where those focused hours are crucial for lawyers. 

2. Save money 

When your firm is busy, supervised paralegals can save your firm money by taking on substantive legal work at a lower rate than lawyers. Paralegals can also improve productivity that ultimately leads to better law firm cash flow.

However, some firms may not need to hire a paralegal full-time—this is where outsourced remote paralegals offer a unique cost-saving opportunity. Turning to outsourced virtual paralegal services instead of hiring a full-time in-house paralegal may be a better financial choice. By paying outsourced contractors on an as-needed basis, you save on full-time expenses. That means you don’t have to worry about your outsourced paralegal’s vacation time. You also don’t pay for slow periods where your paralegal would have little to do.

3. Pass on cost savings to clients 

Saving money by using paralegals isn’t just good for your firm’s bottom line—it can also be an opportunity to deliver a better client journey and experience.

When you use a virtual paralegal to complete non-billable tasks at a lower rate than a lawyer’s, you save money. By passing those savings on to clients with a lower bill, you can deliver the same services at a lower price. Lower lawyer fees ultimately help you provide your customers with a better client experience.

4. Tap into a larger talent pool 

Paralegals are versatile and have a wide range of experience, specialized training, and skills. In addition, paralegals can have an extensive background in a specific practice area or experience working with legal technology. That’s why paralegals’ skills and experience can benefit lawyers and drive innovation at law firms. 

Services like Hire an Esquire can connect law firms with qualified on-demand freelance legal staff like paralegals. At the same time, these outsourced paralegal services can help you tailor talent to your firm’s specific needs.

How to work with a remote paralegal

Working with a paralegal comes with specific challenges and responsibilities for lawyers. Most notably, it’s always the licenced lawyer’s responsibility to assign work to and supervise any paralegal. But lawyers can take steps to make their working relationship with remote paralegals as efficient and productive as possible. Consider these tips:

1. Use cloud-based legal technology

When working with an outsourced virtual paralegal, cloud-based legal technology is crucial for collaborating and communicating smoothly and efficiently when working remotely. 

Cloud-based legal technology can also help facilitate data security when working with a paralegal remotely, which is essential when working with sensitive client documents and data. 

Whenever anyone is working on behalf of your firm, they must use secure encrypted communication channels to keep client information safe and confidential. Passing files through unencrypted emails leaves data vulnerable. Cloud-based software like Clio helps protect client information and firm data through multiple security features and protocols.

2. Make sure your remote paralegal fits your law firm’s needs 

When hiring for an in-house position, you would thoroughly vet a candidate. Hiring an outsourced remote paralegal should be no different. Take the time to consider what specific background and traits a remote paralegal would need for an ideal fit with your firm. Consider technology skills and experience with software, in addition to other needs. For example, experience in your specific practice area. 

3. Consider your work and management style

Since you’ll be working with a remote paralegal, you should also think about your management style so that you can find paralegals that are a good fit. Think about how you prefer to delegate work and how you prefer to communicate with coworkers and staff members.

4. Set clear expectations 

While law firms can benefit from virtual paralegals to cover heavy workloads as needed, the swings between high volume and slow periods can be stressful for paralegals. To maintain a mutually effective and beneficial working relationship with remote paralegals, you need to set clear expectations from the start. After all, a paralegal suffering from paralegal burnout is a loss for all involved.

By clearly outlining your expectations in key areas like timelines and scope of work, you can give remote paralegals a better sense of control and more defined parameters to meet.

5. Establish clear channels of communication

Similarly, clear channels of communication are vital to working with an outsourced paralegal remotely. Establish how you will communicate and how often you expect to communicate with them from the start. For example, through email for check-ins and through a specific video conferencing platform for calls. 

6. Stay organized by establishing processes and workflows

Each law firm may do things differently, so you can’t assume that a remote paralegal will understand your preferred processes automatically. Because an outsourced remote paralegal isn’t a permanent staff member, it’s especially critical to establish clear processes and workflows, so they know how things work at your firm. For example, outlining which apps and tools your law firm uses and for what purposes. 

By taking the time to establish clear processes and onboarding virtual paralegals, you can help create a smoother, more seamless working environment.

7. Give clear instructions

Prioritize clear, detailed instructions for any tasks you assign to an outsourced remote paralegal. Because you’re working in a virtual environment, there is more opportunity for unintentional miscommunication. So, be explicit when assigning paralegal tasks to make it easier for them to complete the task to your standards.

Your law firm can benefit from an outsourced remote paralegal

Achieving success as a lawyer doesn’t have to mean overwhelming yourself with work.  Use the right resources to help your firm become more productive during busy times. 

With the help of modern cloud-based legal technology, lawyers can hire outsourced remote paralegals to assist them with substantive legal work. For firms that don’t require full-time paralegal assistance, an outsourced virtual paralegal can help lawyers complete non-billable legal work as needed. This way, outsourced paralegals can save lawyers time and money—and lawyers can pass those savings on to clients. 

While it’s important to choose remote paralegals carefully to ensure a good fit, virtual paralegal services offer the added benefit of presenting a larger talent pool. You can hire virtual paralegals from varied backgrounds and experience levels to suit your law firm’s unique needs.