Creating a marketing budget for a small law firm is integral for growth and success. And if you have zero experience building a marketing budget, you’re not alone. An American Bar Association survey found less than half (46%) of law firms and only 14% of solo attorneys reported having a marketing budget. 

It’s a lot of work, and after all, you studied the law, not marketing. Follow the guide below to make this otherwise challenging task straightforward. 

Learn more about the The U.S. Small Business Administration’s marketing budget recommendation for small law firms. You can also learn more about recommendations from law firm management consultants. 

Retention vs. acquisition 

At the most fundamental level, a marketing budget for a small law firm should include allocated resources for two areas of marketing: retention and acquisition. In other words—retaining existing clients and acquiring new ones. 

Client retention 

The budget and resources allocated to retention marketing depend on your area of practice. For example, an injury or divorce lawyer could run a retention campaign through a referral program. Ideally, your clients are so thrilled with your work that they go on to spread the word about your client-centered services. 

You could also make it easy for clients to refer you to their friends by investing in email automation follow-ups or review requests. That way, you can help retain your clients as life-long brand champions. 

Customer acquisition

Acquisition, on the other hand, is all about seeking out new clients. These folks have never heard of you before, and you need to be on the top of their mind when they need a lawyer. When it comes to creating a marketing budget for a small law firm, allocating resources to acquisition marketing will again be dependent on your area of practice and target audience.  

While these two areas of marketing are crucial for every small firm or solo attorney to invest in, your area of practice will help you determine the resources to allocate to each area. If you’re a business lawyer working with entrepreneurs, your retention efforts will likely yield a higher return on investment (ROI). Thus, you should allocate more spending to retention. Whereas with criminal lawyers, you might find your ROI is higher when dollars are spent on acquiring new clients. 

While your budgets should be strategic and measurable, they aren’t set in stone. As you track success, it’s more than okay to modify your budgets based on what works and what doesn’t.   

Listen to Matters Episode 3: Why Client Acquisition Matters, a Clio podcast episode exploring why you need to optimize client acquisition at your law firm, and how you can do so.

We discuss incorporating SEO efforts into your marketing budget for small law firms below, under the awareness stage in the sales funnel.  

How much to spend on digital marketing

It’s crucial to outline and understand your sales funnel before you determine a dollar figure for digital marketing initiatives. 

Don’t let the sales terminology throw you off. The sales funnel is simply the path potential clients take to purchase. For lawyers and firms, it’s the journey a prospective client (lead) takes before signing on to work with you. At its core, a sales funnel has four stages: 

1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Decision
4. Action 

We’ve explained the unique opportunities and challenges of each funnel stage below. We’ve also outlined campaign examples you can run to help leads on their journey. Understanding the four stages will help you confidently determine a feasible budget for efforts in each area. 

Awareness 

Your leads won’t know you exist without brand awareness. Your job is to ensure leads are aware of the services you offer. It might sound simple, but don’t be fooled. At the minimum, this stage requires you to show up wherever they go to find a lawyer. Seeing as how nearly 40% of clients find a lawyer via an online search engine, you should be investing in SEO for your website. Optimizing your overall search rankings will provide numerous ways for leads to discover your firm, click through to your website, and eventually book a consultation. 

When allocating budget to this funnel stage, consider the current levels of awareness you’re generating. Try putting yourself in your leads’ shoes. Google some queries related to looking for a lawyer—be sure to use an incognito tab. If your website or ads pop up, chances are you’re doing the right things, and your budget is adequate. Another clue to help with budget allocation is your website traffic—the number of visits to your website. If you’re not getting consistent traffic every month, you might need to invest more into paid search ads or other SEO initiatives. 

SEO-literate lawyers are at a big advantage when it comes to generating and converting leads. Read our guide: SEO for Lawyers: The Basics (with tips and examples). 

Interest

Now that your lead is aware of your firm, it’s time to capture their interest. You might have a pop-up or landing page that serves as a hook for potential clients and piques their interest in your offerings. Using stories to relate to leads at this stage is one way you can build trust and ultimately form a relationship with leads. They should know a little bit about you and why you’re passionate about helping them through this stressful time in their life. If it’s difficult for you to write about yourself, consider hiring a freelance writer to communicate your work via a compelling story. Whether you write the copy yourself or not, the words and overall story need to serve as a hook to draw users in and ensure they feel empowered to move into the decision stage.

We encourage you to diversify your marketing activities and budget to increase the chances of connecting with as many leads as possible. Consider allocating a budget for business cards to help meet prospective clients and drive interest. 

Decision

Encourage your leads to make the decision to seek more information or work with you. You’ll need to convince them how much they’ll benefit from your services. Displaying customer testimonials is one of the most effective ways to support someone in making a decision to work with you. Showcasing testimonials on your website, landing pages, and retargeting ads is one way to test at this funnel stage. 

As mentioned above, when allocating budget to the various stages, it’s essential to know as much about the client journey as possible. Many factors will determine conversions at every step. For example, if you’re the only divorce lawyer in the city’s northside, you might not have very much keyword competition. Therefore, the awareness stage won’t require substantial spending. If you find your website has high bounce rates, you may want to invest more in the interest stage. High bounce rates indicate that you need to make website improvements to  hold your leads’ attention. 

See how Clio uses Customer Success Stories containing customer testimonials to increase trust online and encourage potential clients to use Clio.

Action

An action a potential client might take on your website could mean submitting their contact information, scheduling a consultation, subscribing to your email newsletter, or using a chatbot to have their initial questions answered. You can measure click-through rates (CTRs) and determine which actions are converting into leads. In this case, a conversion means a potential customer has successfully completed an action on your website, becoming a lead.

At every funnel stage, factors such as your area of practice and market competitiveness will contribute to how eager your website visitors will convert to leads. If they have many lawyers to choose from with intuitive websites, you’ll have to work harder to convert them. 

Allocating spend in your marketing budget for small law firms for investing in lead generation services for lawyers is one way to optimize this funnel stage. 

The American Bar Association does allow lawyers to pay for leads. However, Rule 7.2: Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services outlines some stipulations. The lead generator: 

• Cannot recommend the lawyer 
• Accepts payment consistent with ABA Rules 1.5 (e) and 5.4 
• Communications are consistent with ABA Rule 7.1

While the ABA rules are clear on paying for leads, it’s always a good idea to verify the rules with your state bar association. 

If you’re having trouble getting your leads to take action on your website, it might be worth hiring a law firm marketing consultant to help. 

If you’ve considered starting your own law firm, we’re here to help you take the next step. Set yourself up for success with our free Guide to Starting a Law Firm. 

Define the cost of lead generation

It will be easier to create an effective marketing budget that works and keeps you on track by assigning a dollar value to a lead. It will also become clear which campaigns are delivering positive ROIs. After all, using leads as a measurement tool is an accurate way to measure the impact of your marketing initiatives. 

The simplest way to determine the cost of a lead is to take all of your marketing efforts and divide it by the number of leads generated. It’s natural for this number to be its highest at the beginning of your marketing efforts. The more you invest in marketing and advertising, the more brand awareness you’ll build and the easier (and cheaper) it will be to convert leads. 

Leverage cost-effective marketing strategies 

Social media marketing

The capabilities of social media marketing allow you to run advertising tests in cost-effective ways. Take LinkedIn advertising, for example. The minimum daily budget to run ads on LinkedIn is just $10. You no longer need to invest thousands of dollars in billboards or print ads to test marketing designs and slogans.

It’s tough to compete with social media marketing when it comes to the cheapest way to reach your target market. This includes organic and paid social media. Having a Facebook page for your law firm—that’s updated consistently—is just as important as investing in paid Facebook advertising.  

Outsource work  

As difficult as it might be to delegate and trust others with important work at your firm, you can’t do everything. And as your business grows, you’ll need to get more comfortable with hiring professionals to take on work that’s outside of your domain. 

This is a good thing, though—it allows you to focus on what you’re most passionate about. Let’s say you have a real knack for marketing and have seen positive results that continue to grow. You could bring in a consultant or agency. But you have a ton of research work to do that you don’t enjoy. Perhaps you might consider hiring a paralegal to support you with some of the legal research responsibilities so you can continue growing your brand awareness. That’s just one example—outsourcing will look slightly different for every firm.  

Allocate budget for tools   

When creating a marketing budget for small law firms, it’s essential to factor in the resources required to investigate, buy, and test new tools. For example, you may need a scheduling tool for social media posts or legal CRM software (to help you run automated email campaigns). Investigate the costs and benefits of these tools, and be sure to factor in the price tags when building your budget.  

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

No one expects lawyers to be experts in marketing, finance, accounting, and business. Just as experts in other areas rely on lawyers for legal support, you should feel comfortable doing the same. Consider networking if you don’t have the funds to bring on a financial or marketing expert to give you feedback on your budget. Not only is networking with other lawyers a great way to build relationships and referrals but the same can be said for connecting with like-minded individuals outside of the legal world. Finding your community can lead to lifelong business relationships that will continue to support you throughout your legal (and entrepreneurial) life.  

Budget your time 

Time is money, and therefore time should be included in the marketing budget. While the numbers will vary, one legal consultant explains that you should devote at least four hours to marketing activities every week if you want to grow your business by 15-20% in 12 to 18 months. 

Now that you’re acquainted with everything that should go into your marketing budget for small law firms, it’s time to put pen to paper. Utilize a free marketing budget template to help keep you on track and organized. 

Conclusion 

Crunching numbers and allocating spending might not be a fun way to spend an afternoon. But remember, these activities will help you connect with folks who need your legal expertise. The more time and strategy you put into your marketing activities, the more leads you’ll attract, the more people you’ll be able to help, and ultimately—the more your law firm will grow. 

Finding results-driven, cost-effective ways to increase brand awareness and convert new clients is essential for growth. This is especially for law firms without substantial marketing or advertising budgets. 

While many large firms with deep pockets opt for a diversified promotional mix of online, print, and traditional advertising (e.g., television, radio, billboard), small and medium firms may get better results by focusing on a digital approach to ensure the best return on investment (ROI). 

Compared to offline advertising methods, digital advertising (e.g., pay-per-click campaigns, social media ads) is more cost-effective and flexible. Digital advertising also provides increased transparency for testing engagement and tracking relevant metrics. Even law firms with small budgets can create digital advertising campaigns that deliver strong engagement to drive lead generation and conversion.

Let’s take a look at the range of advertising channels available to law firms and examine the benefits of a digital strategy to increase awareness of your firm, drive new client acquisition, and boost the bottom line. We’ll also present some examples of law firm advertising for inspiration. 

How to start advertising your law firm

Establish a law firm marketing strategy

Advertising is a valuable piece of a law firm’s overall marketing strategy. Make sure you’re clear on the role you want advertising to play in your promotional mix and how it aligns with your marketing goals. (If you’re still struggling to build a marketing strategy for your firm, here are 10 essential steps to help you craft a plan.)

Develop a law firm advertising budget

Budgeting is a crucial step towards creating an effective legal advertising campaign. But according to the ABA 2021 Tech Report, many small- and medium-sized law firms don’t have an annual marketing budget. The survey found that 55% of respondents from firms with 10-49 lawyers, and only 35% of smaller firms with 2-9 lawyers, had a marketing budget. 

How large should your budget be? The short answer is, it depends. Every firm has different marketing goals and available capital. Think about small daily budgets for pay-per-click (PPC) and social media ads, as well as monthly or annual amounts for other advertising channels, such as print or radio ads. Consider setting aside 7-10% of your revenue for your advertising budget as a starting point.

Understand your target audience

Whether your firm specializes in criminal law, commercial litigation, or family law, your target audience has unique needs and wants. Your advertising should respond to those needs.

Start by defining the basic demographic and psychographic characteristics of your target market. Where are clients located? What stage of life are they in? What motivates prospective clients? What media platforms do they regularly engage with? Armed with this data, you’ll be able to focus ads to reach the audience most likely to convert to clients. 

Have clear advertising goals 

Setting advertising objectives is essential for monitoring progress and ROI to ensure you’re choosing the most effective advertising avenues for your law firm. Plus, setting goals will help you determine if you’ve allocated the right portion of the marketing budget to advertising efforts.  

Be clear on what you’re trying to accomplish. Is your firm trying to increase its close rate? Or are you more interested in acquiring 25 new leads every month? Do you need to build brand awareness for your firm?

You can use these goals to guide your advertising strategy. For example, suppose the primary advertising goal of your small practice is to create brand awareness. In that case, your digital advertising campaign should focus on increasing impressions (digital views), reach and frequency, and driving customer engagement by tracking the click-through rate (CTR).  

Test your law firm’s advertising efforts

Testing advertisements and their messages with a select audience before launching to the broader marketplace can help law firms benchmark their advertising activities. You can gather data on which ads are more (and less) successful, how different channels engaged with the ad, and what content audiences engaged with the most. Going forward, you’ll be able to hone your creative to optimize your advertising results. 

Consider A/B testing (aka split testing) for comparing two versions of an ad to learn more about what convinces your target clients to convert. This technique is especially valuable and practical for digital advertising. A/B testing enables you to determine which words, tag lines, calls-to-action (CTA), images, videos, and other elements in your digital ad work best. Even seemingly insignificant characteristics like the text’s color or size can make a big difference in whether a prospect clicks your display ad. 

Track your law firm’s advertising results

Regardless of which advertising vehicles you implement, don’t forget to measure your results. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) help you evaluate your ROI and create improvement plans. Common KPIs for digital advertising platforms include exposure and reach (e.g., visits, views, subscribers), engagement (e.g., clicks, retweets, shares, comments), and actions or conversions (e.g., lead generation forms, content download, new clients).

Digital lawyer advertising campaigns

Digital ads are most effective when a complete campaign is built around them—with a relevant funnel for potential clients to click through. By building tailored landing pages and making sure all the touchpoints flow together, you can create a client-centered experience that drives conversion.

Lawyer advertising examples

Social media advertising for lawyers

According to the ABA Tech Report 2021, 86% of surveyed firms had a presence on social media, including:

• 87% LinkedIn
• 61% Facebook
• 37% Twitter
• 13% Instagram

Law firms don’t need to advertise on all social media platforms; instead, pick the channels most relevant to your target clients. LinkedIn is an effective option if your target audience includes professionals or businesses. In fact, LinkedIn is the second most common marketing channel for lawyers (42% of firms in 2020) after event sponsorship.

LinkedIn advertising enables you to target your audience by location, industry, profession, job title/function, interests, and more to find prospects looking for the specific legal services your firm offers. With 40% of daily active users using LinkedIn daily, the platform is highly effective for corporate, tax, immigration, and other B2B legal practice areas. 

LinkedIn offers Sponsored Content Ads (including video ads), Sponsored Messaging that sends personalized messages directly to the inbox of LinkedIn prospects who might be interested in your legal services, and text and dynamic ads that are displayed on the side of the main feed.  

Facebook advertising—single image, carousel, or video ads—can be very effective if your firm’s area of practice is connected to life events or stages, such as or divorce or retirement. With Facebook’s highly-targeted ads, you can reach users who are more likely to need your services. For example, a wills and estates lawyer could target ads to new parents or newlyweds. 

Social media advertising examples

Example 1: Facebook ad

This Facebook ad indicates that the firm specializes in employment law and provides examples of services offered. The “Contact US” CTA button makes it easy for prospects to connect with the firm. The choice of image is not inspiring, but the colors are bright and engaging and in line with the corporate color palette. Adding the firm’s location would make this Facebook ad even clearer. 

Example 2: Facebook video ad

This Facebook ad includes a short video that communicates the attorneys’ reason for practicing and what differentiates their firm from competitors. The ad uses emotion and personalization to engage the viewer and the video voice over clearly outlines the services offered. The “Learn More” CTA makes it simple for prospective clients to connect with the law firm, while helping the firm track engagement for future ad planning.

Example 3: LinkedIn Ad

When the Final Four was held in Minneapolis, most downtown restaurants were booked up with parties. This LinkedIn ad by a Minnesota law firm targeted local restaurant decision-makers, alerting them to the state’s unique and complicated tip-pooling statute and urging them to comply before they faced a lawsuit (several suits were ongoing at the time). 

Because the law firm defined their niche audience, the ad was shown only to those prospects who would be interested in this legal issue. By creating a sense of urgency for prospects, coupled with visual interest of the image of the basketball with the recognizable March Madness logo, this ad drove a 3.22% average CTR—well above the global average CTR of 0.44%-0.65% for sponsored content.

Search engine advertising for lawyers

Google Ads is a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising system that enables you to create highly-targeted display ads that are shown to Google users fitting your target audience. Placing ads across the Google Display Network helps you find the right audience, with targeting options that strategically show your message to potential customers at the right place and the right time. 

By targeting a hyper-specific audience, paid search ads can help law firms find new customers or engage existing customers using audience segments. Google Ads can also help drive more conversions using automated targeting and bidding to optimize the campaign. PPC ads can be a cost-effective advertising strategy: Google only charges you when a visitor clicks on your ad, and you can set daily spending limits. 

Please note that while Google Ads is the most common paid search advertising, you may decide to consider other search engines, such as Bing, if your target clients are regular users. 

Search engine advertising examples

Example 1

These PPC ads for law firms in the Seattle area specializing in family law appeared during a Google search for “family lawyer seattle.” Hallack Law’s ad is effective because it clearly states what services/specialities they offer, their location, and a CTA of a free initial consultation—all the basics a prospective client is interested in.

Example 2

Available in select verticals in the U.S., Google Screened is a local service ads screening program that provides verification checks; potential clients have added peace of mind knowing that these professionals have been thoroughly vetted. Lawyers with the Google Screened badge have verified active law licenses.

Particularly effective for local targeting, Google Screened ads appear above PPC ads in search engine results pages, increasing the likelihood that potential clients may visit your website or contact your practice for services. In this example, Ryan Montgomery Attorneys at Law appears prominently in a search for personal injury lawyers in Greenville, SC. In addition, highlighting the 5-star rating in the ad lends credibility to the firm. 

Video marketing for lawyers 

Video ads aren’t limited to TV commercials; YouTube and social media are great platforms for video ads that can serve as online billboards for your firm. Video advertising is a great way to convey complex legal concepts, engage with prospective clients, and prove you’re knowledgeable, trustworthy, and able to help.

Video advertising examples

While this series of classic adverts by New York-based personal injury law firm Trolman, Glaser, Corley & Lichtman originally appeared on TV, it demonstrates how humor can be used in video to create engagement and increase brand awareness. 

To complement the Facebook ad campaign noted above, Jan Dils Attorneys at Law has created short 15-second video ads that can be delivered via social media or placed on the firm’s website to build awareness and drive conversion. These video ads are effective because they’re concise, personalized, and authentic.

Print advertising for law firms

While print advertising is showing signs of decline as consumers shift to consuming content online, some lawyers may find traditional offline advertising appropriate for reaching a specific audience. 

Firms may choose to advertise in magazines, newspapers, or trade publications to build brand awareness and target local or niche prospective clients. Directory listings and direct mail strategies (e.g., brochures, flyers) are also useful options, depending on the target market.

TV and radio ads for law firms

Despite the digital transformation sweeping the globe, television advertising is not dead. If you have the budget, advertising on local television effectively boosts brand awareness and builds a law firm persona within your geographical target market. The caveat is that TV campaigns are expensive, especially for small and medium firms that may have modest marketing budgets. 

While the perception is that many people are not in their cars commuting to work due to the pandemic, listening to the radio is still popular. Digital radio, in particular, is helping the industry get back to its pre-COVID ad revenue levels, according to December 2021 research. Industry analysts predict that total radio revenues will climb to $13.54 billion next year, up 5.9% from $12.79 billion in 2021, according to BIA Advisory Services Local Advertising Forecast 2022.

Although the cost may be prohibitive for smaller firms, radio advertising is ideal for targeting local and niche audiences who regularly tune into this medium. Keep in mind that frequency of ad placement is important for increasing your firm’s top-of-mind awareness. In addition to local radio, audio streaming services (e.g., Spotify, Sirius XM Radio) and podcasts are good advertising options for reaching niche prospects. 

Law firm billboards

American drivers spend an average of more than 17,600 minutes behind the wheel each year. This fact might explain why billboards are a long-standing promotional medium for lawyers.

Billboard advertising may be more appropriate for firms with larger budgets. If you decide to pursue this option, keep in mind that advertising a specialty or a single type of legal service (e.g., personal injury or family law) is more effective than a one-size-fits-all marketing message. 

(Wondering what NOT to do for your billboard advertising?)

The power of digital advertising 

Digital advertising—whether you deploy video ads on Facebook, a PPC ad campaign using Google Ads, or small text ads displayed on the LinkedIn sidebar—has the flexibility, expediency, and impact to help your firm meet your advertising objectives and drive meaningful results. 

While traditional, offline advertising channels may still be relevant for large law firms with sizable marketing budgets, small and medium firms can reap the rewards of an effective advertising campaign without the considerable cost of print, radio, tv, or billboards.

What does it take to run a truly successful law firm? For many lawyers, factors like legal talent, a robust client base, and a clear vision are obvious—but well-designed law firm processes are just as important.

Whether they’re intentionally designed or arise naturally, law firm processes underlie how well a legal practice runs. From what you do when a potential client comes in, to how you communicate with them, to what you do when it’s time to invoice a customer, you and your law firm staff engage in a series of processes every day.

And your firm may have processes, but how do you make sure they’re as effective, profitable, and client-centered as they could be?

To best serve your clients and make your firm run efficiently, it’s critical to take the time to design and document the processes at your law firm. By identifying, documenting, and evaluating your firm’s processes, you can turn habitual steps and tasks into intentional, measurable systems that drive quality and performance for your firm and clients.

In the following post, we’ll outline eight steps you can take to establish or improve your law firm’s key processes.

1. Document your existing processes

As mentioned, every firm has processes. Unfortunately, if they aren’t clearly documented, they may be challenging to assess and optimize. If you haven’t recorded your firm’s existing processes, start by writing them down. Do this without judgment or trying to make changes at this stage. You can revise these current processes in subsequent steps to build more purposeful processes.

To make this manageable, make a list of each of the important processes that your firm engages in (which could include everything from invoicing to how you handle a case document). Then, go through the steps in this post, one by one.

For each process:

• Write down what you currently do. Whether you use sticky notes on a wall or create a map on a whiteboard, start by simply writing down every step that takes place for that particular process.
• Note who owns each step. Once you have every step written down, add who usually carries out or is responsible for that step.

Not sure which processes to start with? Your best bet is to start with simpler processes, like your phone call script or how you end a client engagement. Identify aspects of your daily operations that you haven’t been given much thought to before, and then add purpose to it. While it may be tempting to start with your client intake process because it comes at the beginning of a client engagement, it’s a good strategy to practice with low-hanging fruit and tackle more complex processes later.

2. Streamline the steps

The quickest way to improve a process is to trim any unnecessary or redundant steps. So, once you have all the current steps for a particular process written down, look for points that are obviously inefficient or ineffective—and cut them.

While you need certain steps because of outside forces (like clients, courts, or clerks), there are often inefficient areas that are created within the firm. These inefficient areas are more obvious when you write down and look at every step in the process. For example, are there handoffs happening that you could eliminate by having one person own more parts of a process? Are there areas where your firm could use technology to streamline a process?

The goal here is to try to reduce the number of steps in a process by 20%, where possible.

3. Define the purpose of each process

While it’s crucial to look at each of your law firm’s processes at a detailed, step-by-step level, it’s also important to ensure you define the purpose and overarching goal of each process before you move forward. This can be as simple as writing down the key goal of the process at the top of your process document. Make sure the most essential outcome for the process is written in plain language (i.e., avoid overly technical language or jargon) and that everyone on your team can understand it.

By clearly defining the “why” of a process, you can be more effective in determining the ideal steps in the process. That way, you can ensure that everyone is on the same page and is empowered to make decisions if they need to diverge from the specific steps. While these instances should be unusual—especially if you’ve created a documented, repeatable law firm process—they will happen.

4‍. Identify your inputs

Next, determine what you need for the process to be successful.

A process is more than just a series of steps—it requires a variety of inputs (such as information, people, and materials) to create your desired output. Addressing these inputs when setting up your processes is a key way to improve overall process efficiency. After all, if a team member has to get up from their desk or email a manager every time an unknown input is required, then you’re losing time unnecessarily.

With this in mind, for each law firm process, consider the following:

• What inputs do team members need to complete the steps in the process?
• Where (or from whom) do those inputs come from?

By answering these questions, you’ll create a list of inputs needed to successfully complete each process. With this list of inputs in mind, you can then more easily find ways for team members to gather all of the inputs they’ll need in as few steps as possible.

5. Consider the client-facing view

It’s also key to think about your clients when mapping out your law firm’s processes.

Just as a theater audience won’t see the backstage processes when they go to a play, your legal clients won’t necessarily see everything that happens behind the scenes when you work on their case. But ultimately, what the client experiences should still be a critical part of how you design any law firm process.

By taking the time to identify what the client will see for any given process, you can ensure you design it to be more client-centered. Additionally, looking at a process from the client’s perspective may reveal steps that are duplicative or offer no client value—which means you may also be able to unlock more ideas for improving efficiency.

6. Map the internal processes

Once you’ve looked at it from the client’s point of view, the next step is to outline the specific steps you and your team need to successfully complete the process in question—these are the steps most people think of when they think of “processes.”

To do this, take the work you’ve just done and use that information to outline the necessary steps in a new process document. When doing this, use the plainest language possible and avoid being overly formal or too lawyerly. The goal is to communicate clearly so that the process document you create can be a useful resource.

7. Get your team on the same page

Now that you’ve created a process document outlining a process’ purpose, necessary inputs, and steps, ensure that everyone on your team can quickly identify what a process looks like when it’s done right. Just as it’s essential to clearly define the process’ goal, taking the time to ensure everyone knows what success looks like helps empower people to make decisions even during unusual situations.

Once you’ve created a process document, you could share scripts, sample documents, and even offer role-playing opportunities for your team. With their help, you can test out the new process and work out any complications before you put the revised process into practice.

8. Ensure Accountability

If you’ve done the work to select optimal and repeatable processes that matter to your firm’s operations, then you’d want to get them right. However, the unfortunate reality is that even the most well-designed, efficient process map is worthless if no one at your firm uses it, or if they go back to doing things the old way.

As such, the final step of creating accountability is in many ways the most important step. Whether it’s you or another member of your team, someone needs to take responsibility for integrating the new-and-improved process to ensure that the new process sticks. Whoever this is, that person must also be empowered to ensure compliance.

When you’re getting started with changing a long-standing process or implementing a new one, be cognizant of personality types within your law firm. Consider how the process will impact different members of the team. It may be helpful to find ways to try to make it fun, like turning the new process into a contest (with prizes) to encourage team members to work together to make sure everyone is doing their part.‍

Conclusion

Effective systems are the foundation of a successful law firm. But there’s no single recipe for the best way to do things at every law firm. However, by using an intentional, flexible approach to systems and document processes, you can design processes that are more client-focused, efficient, and effective for your law firm. Moreover, documented procedures make it easier for you to evaluate your staff’s work and empower them to make more informed decisions when performing tasks.

Linkedin advertising for law firms is one way to secure prospective clients, advertise job postings at your firm, and more. Though, with a bustling firm to run and clients to support, advertising on LinkedIn is likely an afterthought for most attorneys. However, with over 740 million users and a higher return on investment (ROI) than native ads and Google Adwords, lawyers need to consider LinkedIn advertising. 

How you can benefit from LinkedIn advertising for law firms

When done strategically, LinkedIn advertising can help firms grow their business, generate more targeted leads (through more personalized ads), potentially leading to increased revenue. In fact, you might have more success advertising on LinkedIn than other mediums. Research shows the ROI of LinkedIn marketing is 17.6, beating out native ads—14.9, and Google Adwords—3.1. However, with any advertising opportunity, LinkedIn advertising should be just one piece of your marketing plan.

Get practical advice on marketing your law firm by watching our on-demand webinar—Law Firm Marketing–the Basics. 

When firms know their target audience’s occupations, Linkedin advertising for law firms is a strategic method for finding prospective clients. LinkedIn ads are especially relevant for firms that serve business professionals or entrepreneurs. And if you represent businesses, LinkedIn is full of potential B2B clients. In fact, a Salesforce report found that LinkedIn’s audience has twice the buying power of the average web user.  

With that said, LinkedIn users span across a wide range of industries. So long as firms and attorneys like yourself know a bit about their prospective clients’ roles, titles, and/or industries, you can target “look-alikes” using LinkedIn’s impressive targeting features. We’ll discuss these features in detail below. 

How to get your law firm started with LinkedIn advertising

To get started with Linkedin advertising for law firms, you’ll need a verified email address and LinkedIn account. You’ll also need a LinkedIn Page for your firm to execute Sponsored Content or Sponsored Messaging. You can learn more about the different LinkedIn advertising offerings below. 

Understand your LinkedIn advertising goals

What are you trying to accomplish by advertising your firm or services on LinkedIn? When considering Linkedin advertising for law firms, it’s a good idea to get clear on your goals. Your objective might be to secure a certain number of leads, finding your firm’s next paralegal, or simply building brand awareness. Your goal will depend on your firm’s needs. But no matter what it is, try to make it as specific and quantifiable as possible. You should be able to measure your goal and track your progress. Ultimately, this will make it easier to pinpoint which ads are working and which aren’t. 

Determine your law firm’s advertising budget for LinkedIn ads

Allocating a budget for LinkedIn advertising doesn’t have to be complex or time-consuming. That’s the beauty of social media advertising, as a little goes a long way. 

Let’s start with the basics: The minimum daily budget required to run ads on LinkedIn is $10. That minimum $10 amount is for all ad formats. 

When it comes to default budgets for those new to advertising on the platform, experts at LinkedIn recommend starting with just $25. Slowly testing campaigns in $25 increments will allow you to adjust as you go. Afterall, no good will come of blowing your budget before you even identify what works. 

Identify your target audience for LinkedIn ads

As outlined above, setting a measurable goal is integral to the success of any campaign. Once your objective is clear, you build on that by defining your target audience. This is the ideal LinkedIn user you want to see your ad. Who do you picture scrolling through their phone or sitting at their desk as your ad pops up? Give this step some serious thought. The more specific you can be, the better. If you don’t already have detailed buyer personas, creating them will support all your marketing efforts, especially Linkedin advertising for law firms. 

LinkedIn audience targeting

LinkedIn boasts precise and powerful targeting, but what does that entail? Well, they’re certainly correct about their precise targeting capabilities. You can serve ads to an audience of your choosing by defining the following: 

1. Location: This is the only mandatory field and requires an entry. This should be easy enough for attorneys to enter, since most attorneys only have one state bar license.  
2. Company: This option allows you to target by company connections, industry, size, name, followers, and more.
3. Demographics: Using this field, you can select the age and gender of your audience. 
4. Education: From filtering by what they studied (field of education) to the school they attended, this is a useful targeting option if your firm wants to promote a job posting. 
5. Job experience: Just as with education, this targeting option is beneficial for those promoting job postings. 
6. Interests and Traits: Perhaps the most specific targeting option—interests and traits allow you to target based on groups the user is a part of which share their same interests. 

How to develop great LinkedIn ads

The average American sees anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 ads everyday. There’s more pressure than ever to stand out and capture attention. Here are a few universal tips for social media advertisements: 

• Use a high-quality, eye-catching but relevant image or video. Remember, you’re trying to stop someone from scrolling and capture their attention. 
• Have one obvious call to action (CTA). Keep it short and simple. 
• Include one link that goes to a page with a clear next step. This could be a newsletter sign-up box, a free consultation form, a calendar to book time with you, etc. 

Below we explore each of the LinkedIn advertising options in detail. 

Sponsored InMail

Sponsored InMail is the paid version of regular InMail. It allows advertisers to connect with their target audience by sending personalized, private messages. Best practices for sponsored InMail include: 

• Personalization: Use the recipient’s first name in the message. 
• Succinctness: Ensure your message is concise and relevant. Body texts under 500 characters have 46% higher CTR. 
• Linking: Including a trackable link will not only help you measure click-through rates (CTRs)— it will also provide a next step for recipients. This is integral to any advertisement.   

Different LinkedIn ad options

These are the traditional advertisements you likely see on your own social media feeds. And even when it comes to Linkedin advertising for law firms, there are many different kinds of ads you can run, which will present themselves on users’ LinkedIn feeds. These include: 

• Conversation Ads: Similar to InMail, these are direct messages with your customers. 
• Message Ads: Messages are sent to your prospect’s LinkedIn Messaging experience when they are active. 
• Video Ads: These are an eye-catching way to get noticed by your target audience. 
• Text Ads: These are the sidebar ads you may notice on your own LinkedIn homepage. 
• Dynamic Ads: These are highly-personalized ads tailored to each member based on their own LinkedIn profile data.
• Carousel Ads: As with the video ads, these are the most visually compelling ways to capture your audience’s attention. 

With so many different LinkedIn advertising options available, it might feel overwhelming to choose. Our advice: Start simple. Test just one of the above and don’t feel pressured to try them all. Your goal is to test until you find out what resonates with your audience. 

How to set your LinkedIn campaign budget

When scheduling a campaign, you will be prompted to set a bid, budget, and schedule. These three factors give you control over your spending. 

Bidding strategies: When setting up a LinkedIn advertising campaign for your law firm, you’ll have the option to set up a bid that supports your campaign objective. There are four different bidding strategies to choose from.   

Budget: With budget options of daily, lifetime, and a combination of both, it’s easy to stay in control of your spending. There are also continuous and set schedules for campaigns. Learn more about the different budget capabilities for LinkedIn advertising. 

Scheduling: The scheduling tool allows you to either set a start and finish time for your campaign, or set a start time and run it continuously after that. For more details, take a look at the campaign schedules overview. 

We hope the above information gives you more clarity and context into confidently setting up a budget for your Linkedin advertising for law firms. 

Optimizing your LinkedIn ads

As your campaigns roll out, you’ll begin to notice which images perform better and what CTAs get the most clicks. You’ll want to pause the lowest-performing campaigns and make adjustments accordingly. Once you’ve saved a campaign, you’ll be able to change the below details: 

• Audience
• Audience expansion enablement
• LinkedIn Audience Network enablement
• Budget
• Schedule
• Bidding
• Conversion tracking
• Ads in this campaign

If you don’t yet have the data to understand what’s working, or haven’t had consistent success with any specific elements in your campaign, you might want to consult some outside resources.  When it comes to text ads specifically, LinkedIn has a helpful guide for optimizations.  

Final notes on LinkedIn advertising for lawyers 

While it does require some thoughtful planning initially, LinkedIn advertising for law firms is a relatively low-cost, precise way to capture the attention of prospective clients. It’s highly trackable, easy to pause, adjust, and optimize ads, not to mention the impactful ROI. If you’re not already using LinkedIn to advertise for your law firm, we hope this blog makes the case for you. 

2021 was certainly as trying as it was transformative. Hope and resilience weren’t just themes in our broader culture this past year—they were also pillars in the legal industry. 

In this year-in-review, we’ll take a moment to reflect on the past year at Clio. From hosting the biggest virtual event in legal tech, to launching Clio’s online payments platform in Clio Manage, and so much more. Read on to review one of the most impactful and change-oriented years in the legal industry. 

Together, we can transform the legal experience for all 

At Clio, we believe—on a foundational level—that we have a responsibility to change the world around us with our words, choices, and actions. We envision a world in which our legal and judicial systems promote justice in the truest sense of the word. A world in which everyone who needs legal services has access to them. 

We’ve seen tremendous adoption of cloud-based technology as a means for lawyers to keep their firms running smoothly and continue supporting their clients in a rapidly-changing environment. We’re taking a holistic approach to building cloud-based and client-centered solutions to best support lawyers in running their firms and helping their clients. 

Learn more about the technology that’s enabling legal transformation.

The 2021 Clio Cloud Conference

With a record-breaking 4700+ attendees from over 40 countries connecting remotely, the 9th annual Clio Cloud Conference was our biggest and most exciting event to date. 

2021’s conference emphasized discussion on the present and future growth in the legal industry, including meeting evolving client expectations. Most importantly, this year’s Clio Cloud Conference gave attendees the tools and insights on meeting clients where they are (and where they expect lawyers to be). Ultimately, sessions and key takeaways were rooted in empowering attorneys to run and contribute to outstanding client-centered law firms.

Exploring how legal professionals are adapting to new consumer expectations in the 2021 Legal Trends Report

The 2021 Legal Trends Report is in its sixth edition, and this year’s report includes aggregated responses from 150,000 legal professionals using Clio over the last two years. The report also highlights survey responses from more than 1,000 legal professionals and 1,000 general consumers in the U.S. on what they deem most important to them in today’s post-COVID world. 

Learn how legal professionals are harnessing technology to adapt their services to new consumer expectations while building more successful, resilient firms.

How solo lawyers have overcome difficulties to grow their businesses during the pandemic

Solo law firms have experienced unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Legal Trends for Solo Law Firms report looks in-depth at how solo lawyers have overcome challenges to secure business growth.

For example, some solo attorneys opted to run their firms remotely. This business decision paid off big time—many attorneys who adopted a remote working style out-earned their counterparts who neglected to pivot to the remote setup. In some cases, the difference in earnings was over $50,000. 

Exploring the client-centered legal practice in Matters Podcast: Season 2

Season two of Matters, a podcast from Clio, presented 11 thought-provoking episodes highlighting core themes in the client-centered legal framework. This past season was hosted by Jack Newton—CEO of Clio and author of the best-selling legal book The Client-Centered Law Firm—and Nefra MacDonald, Affinity Partnerships Manager at Clio and national speaker on the future of law. These co-hosts welcomed legal professionals, industry experts, and innovators from complementary sectors to explore why the “lawyer-centered” model of legal practice needs to change. 

Listen to season two of Matters. 

Exciting acquisitions 

Lawyaw joins the Clio family 

2021 harbored some exciting Clio acquisitions, including Lawyaw—the first cloud-based document automation solution to integrate with Clio. 

Lawyaw delivers easy-to-use automated document workflows, including assembly, eSign, information gathering, and knowledge management solutions for solo, small and mid-size legal practices in a web-based platform accessible from anywhere.

Learn more about Lawyaw. 

CalendarRules joins the Clio family 

We’re thrilled to have CalendarRules join Clio—signaling a major leap forward for Clio users everywhere. CalendarRules helps firms manage their court deadlines in three big ways:

1. Set-up calendar events based on jurisdictional court deadlines.
2. The option for firms to create automated reminders.
3. Syncing court dates to calendars in Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar.

Learn more about how to keep track of court deadlines.

Updates and additions to Clio to help law firms succeed

Clio Payments: A new and better way to get paid 

The 2021 Legal Trends Report reported that 81% of consumers say a firm’s ability to offer payment plans influences their hireability. Essentially, this means that most people looking to hire a law firm would hire a firm that offers payment plans over another firm that doesn’t. An online payments platform like Clio Payments helps firms offer payment plans easily. 

With Clio’s all-new payments suite built into Clio Manage, legal professionals can make it easy for clients to pay their bills online with debit, credit, or eCheck. Sending trust payment requests and maintaining evergreen retainers is a breeze. Not to mention attorneys can rest assured knowing they’re maintaining compliance with the most stringent trust accounting rules. 

Learn more about Clio Payments. 

Clio for Clients 

It’s never been easier for clients to communicate and share information with you, no matter where they are. With Clio for Clients, your clients can securely receive updates, share documents, and access their case information from their desktop at home or mobile phone on the go. The best part? Everything is automatically stored to the appropriate matter in Clio Manage for you.

Learn more about Clio for Clients.

Clio Scheduler: Advanced booking settings 

Clio added another exciting feature this year—Clio Scheduler. With advanced booking settings—including minimum advanced booking notice and buffer time between meetings—Clio Scheduler gives legal professionals more control over their calendars. 

We understand that for many attorneys, their calendars are the lifeline to their clients. Forget last-minute surprises, Clio Scheduler empowers and supports lawyers everywhere to show up prepared for every consultation. You can find the right balance in your daily schedule with this impressive addition to Clio Manage. 

Learn more about advanced booking settings with Clio Scheduler.

Text notifications 

Perhaps one of our most requested and celebrated product advancements is the ability to send text notifications. North American Clio users can now notify and set reminders to avoid costly no-shows and unnecessary administrative overhead of organizing client meetings. Clients can confirm if they plan to attend a meeting, so you aren’t left guessing. Also, automated text reminders save you from having to call or email clients. 

Learn more about text notifications in Clio Manage.

Clio Drive

​​Access, edit, and collaborate on files from the familiarity of your desktop. Clio Drive syncs your documents between a virtual drive on your desktop and Clio Manage, making it easier to find and work with your files. At the same time, Clio Drive lets you keep everything and everyone in sync. Clio Drive is available on all PCs, while the desktop app is available for Mac users. 

Learn more about Clio Drive.

New task enhancements

There’s a lot to love about the most recent Clio Tasks refresh. This 2021 release aligns the look of the task lists page with the rest of Clio Manage and introduces new functionality. Easily assign task lists right inside of a matter, duplicate task lists in seconds, and much more.

Learn more about the redesigned task experience.

Billing enhancements

2021 was a big year for streamlining the billing process. We added several new billing features, including Automated Billing Reminders. This feature automatically sends outstanding balance reminders to clients based on a customized cadence that you set. Bill Message Templates allow you to create, save, and pre-populate customized bill messages to be shared with your clients. Bill Timeline is where you can reference all of the activity and communications on a bill for more visibility.

Learn more about Automated Bill Reminders in Clio Manage.

New integration partners

DialPad 

In 2021 we welcomed DialPad, the industry leader in AI-powered communication and collaboration, to our app directory. This integration provides law firms with best-in-class VoIP features, SMS capabilities, detailed call analytics, unlimited audio recordings and real-time transcription for every call and meeting. 

Learn more about the Clio and DialPad integration. 

Levitate 

This past year, we also had the pleasure of bringing Levitate into our app directory. Levitate’s innovative approach to nurturing networks combined with Clio’s practice management platform lends lawyers a clear advantage over old-school marketing approaches. 

Learn more about the Clio and Levitate integration. 

Another impressive showing at this year’s Launch//Code

Congratulations, Fidu! At the ninth annual Clio Cloud Conference, the Fidu team took home the Viewer’s Choice and the $100,000 grand prize for Best New Integration. Fidu is a client experience platform that builds, systematizes, and delivers fixed-fee and subscription legal services to help law firms scale their business.

Learn more about this year’s LaunchCode winners here. 

Inspiring stories from this year’s Reisman Award winners

Clio’s first customer, Catherine Reisman, was our inspiration for delivering an exceptional software platform to meet the needs of all legal professionals. And ever since the awards’ inception five years ago, it has proven to be harder and harder each year to select the winners. 

Cheers to 2021’s winners—firms that found opportunities to transform the legal experience for all by creating new and dynamic ways for firms and clients to work together:

• Best Growth Story – Laurie McLendon  
• Excellence in Client Service – Rebecca Bell 
• Community Champion – Amy Spencer 
• Legal Innovation – Ariadna Godreau Aubert 
• Best New Law Firm – Leonika Charging

Learn more about the 2021 winners of The Reisman Awards.

Clio’s continuing efforts to improving access to justice 

Now, as always, increased access to justice is absolutely crucial. Many of our most vulnerable people—those with important and pressing legal issues—don’t have access to legal services, or true access to justice. We need to create a more equitable and accessible justice system for all.

Clio donated over $40 million 

Through various programs like our academic access program and the COVID-19 Legal Relief Initiative we’ve been able to donate over $40 million dollars in creating a more equitable and accessible justice system for all. We also partnered with the New York State Bar Association and Paladin to help those unsuccessful at filing for unemployment claims, and matching them with pro bono attorneys free of charge. 

Clio named  on Fast Company’s List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for Broadening Access to Justice 

2021’s list of Most Innovative Companies celebrated 463 businesses spanning 29 countries that found a way to be resilient in the past year—by turning challenges into impact-making processes. We were honored to receive such impactful recognition from Fast Company. This award highlighted our ongoing efforts in meeting the critical needs of law firms and their clients during the pandemic. 

Learn more about how Clio was named on Fast Company’s List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for Broadening Access to Justice.

Clio Ventures

Clio Ventures was unveiled this year during the 2021 Clio Cloud Conference keynote speech. This portfolio allows Clio to make direct equity investments in promising early-stage companies advancing legal technology. Look out for more exciting news regarding the technologies Clio will be backing.   

Clio became the first legal tech unicorn globally valued at over $1B

This notable investment establishes Clio as the first legal practice management unicorn globally. “This investment is indicative of the explosive demand for legal technology that empowers lawyers to be cloud-based and client-centered,” Jack Newton, CEO and Founder of Clio. Having secured US$6.6B across over 900 companies globally, legaltech is one of the fastest-growing sectors for investors. 

Learn more about Clio’s milestone investment and what it means for the legal industry.

775 Clions strong—and counting! 

We’ve grown so much this year and aren’t planning to slow down. To honor our mission to transform the legal experience for all, our foundation—our people and culture—need to authentically reflect it. We proudly foster a culture of diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging. And we’ll continue to build our team intentionally, ensuring we have varying perspectives and different skills from a range of backgrounds and experiences. 

Take a look at the new, exciting roles at Clio. 

Outstanding awards and recognitions

We’re proud of our culture, and others are too. Below are a handful of notable distinctions we’re grateful to have received in 2021. 

Clio recognized as Canada’s Top 100 Employers

We were honored this past year to be recognized as a Top 100 Employer in Canada. This award celebrates employers offering the nation’s best workplaces and programs that focus on intentional and meaningful connections. 

Read more about Canada’s Top 100 Employer award.

Clio recognized as the Gold Standard for Privately-Owned Canadian Businesses

This past year we were recognized as the Gold Standard in privately-owned Canadian businesses by the nation’s leading business awards program. Every year, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies apply to Deloitte Canada’s prestigious program and undergo a rigorous application process, but only the best are awarded the title of Canada’s Best Managed Companies. 

Learn more about the Gold Standard for Privately-Owned Canadian Businesses. 

Clio named third on Elpha’s Top 10 Workplaces for Women 

It’s an honor to be named a top inclusive employer and organization committed to the success and development of women leaders in 2021—based on Elpha’s survey of thousands of its members. Read more about this eminent recognition.

Clio announces newly expanded leadership team—positioning for next growth stage

Following substantial growth and record-breaking Series D and E funding rounds, we were thrilled to announce a C-Suite expansion by naming a new COO, CPO, CTO, and CMO in 2021. This coveted team of leaders from varying professional backgrounds will help us extend our capabilities on all fronts. 

Learn more about our exciting new leadership structure. 

Jack Newton recognized as Anchor Tech Leader on the BC500 List

Our CEO and Founder, Jack Newton was named in Business in Vancouver’s inaugural BC500 list—celebrating BC’s 500 most influential business leaders and economic drivers. He has been recognized as a Tech Leader – Anchor, with over a decade of entrepreneurship and community building in BC’s growing tech industry.

Learn more about the Anchor Tech Leader Award and the BC500 List. 

Clio wins 2021 Data Breakthrough Award

We’re honored to be awarded the winner of the Data Breakthrough Awards 2021 Data Solution of the Year in the Legal category. The Data Breakthrough Awards honor excellence and recognize the creativity, hard work, and success of data companies, technologies, and products. Learn more about the 2021 Data Breakthrough Awards. 

Conclusion

Thank you to everyone who helped support us in transforming the legal experience for all this past year. As for 2022, we have lots of exciting and innovative plans in the works, including our annual Clio Cloud Conference—to be hosted virtually and in-person in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Until then, we wish you all the best in planning for success in 2022.  

Want to show the hardworking lawyer-in-the-making in your life how much you appreciate them this holiday season? Finding great gifts for law students doesn’t have to be difficult. Law students are busy and always on the go, so the key is to look for presents that can help relieve stress or help succeed in their new career. 

To make your shopping experience a little easier, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite gift ideas for law students this year. From useful gadgets and inspirational reading to ways to relieve stress, the following gifts for law school students are sure to be a hit this season.

Standing desk converter or desk riser

A standing desk converter or riser is arguably one of the best gifts for law students. From long classes to readings and working on papers, law students spend a lot of time sitting—which can be hard on their physical wellness. While you can’t do much to lessen a law student’s workload, you can make it easier for them to stand up more often with the right desk accessory.

While fixed standing desks were all the rage a few years ago, an adaptable standing desk converter or desk riser is your best bet for today’s law student. By making it easy for them to sit or stand while at work, a standing desk converter allows them to stand more often, but still sit down when they need to.

Cost: FLEXISPOT Standing Desk Converter, $110 at Amazon.

Lap desk

On the other hand, while not ergonomically optimal, the reality is that law students don’t always work at a desk. So why not make it simpler for the law student you’re shopping for to study while still staying comfy? 

A lap desk is also one of the best gifts for law students as it provides a solid surface for resting books or a laptop while working from a couch or bed. With a lap desk, balancing things on your lap becomes easier and more comfortable. If you’re looking to give a lap desk as a gift, opt for a design with some comfort- and convenience-boosting options—like a wrist rest, cushioning, and a built-in mousepad.

Cost: LapGear Home Office Pro Desk, $50 at Best Buy.

Book stand

Losing your page in a textbook may seem like a little inconvenience, but small time-wasters add up. What’s more, holding a heavy textbook up (or, alternatively, craning your neck to look down) can lead to body aches and pains. The easy solution—and a useful, affordable gift for law students—is a book stand.

This simple gadget holds papers and books up, making it easier to focus on the text. Adjustable book stands allow law students to read from different angles. That way, it’s simple to ensure you’re reading at eye level for any situation. Opt for a lightweight, portable option that can tag along to class, the library, and home. 

Cost: Readaeer Portable Book Stand, $16 at Amazon.

Temperature-control mugs

Focus is a good thing when you’re reading through a mountain of cases. But it can often lead to a cold cup of coffee. As with so many parts of a lawyer’s day, technology can help. A high-tech smart mug is designed to keep your coffee at a specific drinking temperature, so it’s always the perfect sip. 

Another bonus? A smart mug is a useful present for 1Ls and a great graduation gift idea for law students—because a hot cup of coffee just might be even more useful once they start to practice.

Cost: 10-oz Ember Mug, $99 at Ember.

Spill-proof travel mugs

Having a warm beverage on hand for a long class or study session is an essential for any law student. But carrying hot coffee while on the go can be a spill and stain hazard. 

An insulated and reusable travel mug is good for the environment. It also helps keep drinks warm. To take your gift to the next level, look for a travel mug featuring a leak and spill-proof lid for added convenience.

Cost: Contigo 16-oz Vacuum-Insulated Travel Mug, $22 at Amazon.

Instant Pot

It’s a classic conundrum: Nutrition is key to fuelling law students through long days. But law students don’t have a lot of time to cook for themselves. The right tool—like a time-saving, all-in-one Instant Pot pressure cooker—can make a big difference.

The exact specs and options vary by model, so you can choose the perfect style for your gift recipient. But all Instant Pot electric pressure cookers take the work and time out of preparing everything from rice to soups to stews. It’s the perfect way to give the gift of home-cooked food (without actually coming in and cooking for them).

Cost: Instant Pot Pro 10-in-1 Pressure Cooker, $80 at Amazon.

Air fryer

Of course, there are also times when busy students just want to indulge in something warm, crispy, and fried. That’s why an air fryer is also one of the best gifts for law students. 

An air fryer is a countertop appliance that uses convection heat (AKA hot air) to “fry” food in a fraction of the time. Perfect for whipping up healthier versions of comfort-food classics, an air fryer is a great gift idea for law students and can be the hero of study-session snacking for law school and beyond.

Cost: Ninja Air Fryer, $120 at Best Buy.

Meal kit plans

Another (delicious) way to make home cooking faster and easier for law students is to take care of the food shopping for them with the gift of a meal kit subscription. 

Today, there are many meal kit delivery options like HelloFresh, Blue Apron, Dinnerly and more. With so many options, you can easily find one that suits anyone’s food preferences or dietary needs. These types of services deliver pre-portioned ingredients and recipes to the home, so all your gift recipient needs to do is put it all together. 

Cost: Varies by plan and service. But typically costs about $4 to $10 per serving (depending on factors like the number of servings in the meal and the number of meals per week).

Noise-cancelling headphones

Focusing with distractions around, while studying at the library or working from home can be challenging. Give the gift of concentration by helping to block out some of that background noise.

Noise-cancelling headphones are a great gift for law students as they cut down on background noise and distractions, making it easier to focus on the task at hand. You can choose from plenty of styles, so think about how your gift recipient will use them most. In general, cushy, comfortable, and cordless over-the-ear designs are usually a safe bet for most law students.

Cost: Jabra Elite 85h Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones, $150 at Amazon.

Portable charger

Just like lawyers, law students are always on the go—and always using their devices. A portable device charger is a great gift for law students that gives them a little extra power while they’re away from home.

Tip: Look for a model that’s compatible with the most-used mobile tech of your gift recipient. For example, if they use a specific model of iPhone, make sure you choose a portable charger that’s compatible with it.

Cost: mophie Powerstation XXL PD 20,000 mAh Portable Charger, $60 at Best Buy.

The Client-Centered Law Firm by Jack Newton

The best gifts for law students are the ones that don’t stop giving. Books on legal topics are a great example of this. Whether you’re shopping for a 1L or a soon-to-be graduate, in today’s experience-driven world, it’s never too early to start learning how to adopt a client-centered mindset. 

In The Client-Centered Law Firm, Clio’s CEO and Co-founder, Jack Newton, explores how today’s lawyers can take a client-centered approach. This approach can lead to happier clients and a more profitable and efficient law firm. It’s an ideal gift to inspire any lawyer-to-be.

Cost: The Client-Centered Law Firm, $12 to $20 at Amazon (depending on format).

You can also find it at an independently-owned bookstore near you or wherever you buy books. 

Gym membership

Law school can be incredibly time-consuming and stressful. But that’s actually even more reason for students to maintain regular physical activity—exercise is one of the best ways to help manage lawyer stress.

If you’re shopping for someone who loves to work out, but has told you they’re prioritizing their budget elsewhere while in law school, a gym membership can be a thoughtful gift. 

Cost: Varies, depending on local gym fees.

Virtual exercise class

Another way to give the gift of movement—without requiring the recipient to leave their home—is a virtual exercise class. From yoga to dance to fitness classes, you have many online options for at-home movement.

For law students who want to try this out, you can look at giving an online subscription (such as to an on-demand service like obé). Or, you can gift equipment (such as a yoga mat) to make it easier for them to try out free online classes at home.

Cost: Varies, with plans starting $19 billed monthly, at obé.

Massage or salt therapy

Self-care and stress relief are key for students’ physical and mental well-being. But fitting relaxation practices into their schedules can be hard for law students.

With this in mind, look for gifts for law students that help them relax and recharge. Booking a massage at a local spa can be a thoughtful gift, or you can look for a device that can bring a little relaxation into their daily routine. Devices include a shoulder massager (to work out tense shoulder muscles at the end of a day) or a salt lamp (to cast a relaxing glow in a room).

Cost: Amazon Basics Shiatsu Neck and Shoulder Massager, $53 at Amazon or Himalayan Glow Salt Lamp, $17 at Amazon.

Coffee subscription or gift cards

Caffeine is like fuel for many law students, so it’s a pretty safe bet that they’ll appreciate a coffee-related gift. Case in point? A subscription to a coffee club (such as the Atlas Coffee Club) gives someone a regular shipment of new types of coffee to try—for the perfect blend of convenience and caffeine.

Alternatively, you can keep things simple with a gift card for your favorite law student’s local cafe or coffee shop.

Cost: Coffee gift subscriptions, starting at $60 for a three-month subscription at Atlas Coffee Club.

Donation to a meaningful cause

When you’re shopping for gifts for law students, you may not usually think about donating in place of the lawyer-to-be. But many law students study law because they want to make a real difference in the world. Donations are a unique but incredibly meaningful gift, especially when you donate to a cause that’s important to the law student in your life. 

Cost: As much as you want to. An example of a great organization to donate to is the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), which is committed to improving access to justice and protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society, and much more.

What to look for when shopping for the best gifts for law students

Still not sure what to give the law student in your life? Your best bet is to look for gifts for law students that answer “yes” to at least one of the following questions:

Is it helpful?

Gag gifts can be funny, but something that’s going to end up in the garbage is a waste of your money and resources. Gag gifts that end up in the landfill are also usually harmful to the environment. Instead of going for a joke gift, look for practical items that will be useful to the recipient. 

Is it stress-relieving?

There’s a reason why many of the gifts on our list focus on cutting down stress—law students are under a lot of pressure. From physical gifts that can help with self-care to services that can save time, stress-relieving gifts are especially thoughtful for people working their way through law school.

Personal or sentimental

Everyone wants to feel cared for and appreciated. When it comes to gifts for law students—or anyone, really—a gift that has deep meaning or shows special thought is always a winner.

Conclusion

Gift-giving is a wonderful way to show someone you care, especially during their busy and high-pressure seasons in life—like the law school years. While we hope that the above ideas regarding gifts for law students help inspire your shopping, try not to let the task stress you out. After all, it really is the thought that counts the most.

Today’s tech-savvy clients expect online payment options—especially the ability to pay by credit card—from the companies they do business with, whether they’re buying a new sweater or hiring a lawyer. In fact, between 2000 and 2018, the use of credit cards grew 392%, while checks declined by 66%, according to the US Federal Reserve.

By offering clients the flexibility and convenience of paying with a credit card, your firm will enjoy multiple benefits, including:

• Getting paid faster.
• Simplifying your billing process.
• Improving collections rate and cash flow. 
• Saving time by avoiding manual check and cash transactions.
• Creating a client-centered experience.

Accepting credit cards also opens up the world of automated payments to your firm. Given the typical size of a legal retainer, clients value the option of breaking up the retainer into several smaller payments. In fact, the 2020 Legal Trends Report found that consumers ranked whether a law firm offered payment plans as one of the most important factors for hiring a law firm. 

As an added benefit, offering payment plans via credit cards has the potential to increase access to justice. By giving clients the flexibility to pay over a longer period of time, you can help make legal services more accessible to those who need them most. 

If you’re new to the online payment ecosystem, accepting credit cards is a good place to start. Adding a credit card option doesn’t have to involve a huge organizational change. Follow these five steps, and you’ll soon be reaping the benefits of accepting credit card payments.

1. Confirm that your firm or practice can accept credit cards

Before you start evaluating credit card processing providers, review your state bar rules and ethics guidelines to confirm that accepting credit cards is in line with the standards and regulations in place for your state.

Depending on the size and structure of your firm, you may require buy-in from partners and firm management. But considering that firms not accepting credit cards are creating a distinct competitive disadvantage for themselves, buy-in isn’t likely to be a stumbling block.

2. Decide how you’ll take credit card payments at your law firm

Credit card payments can be accepted online or in person. The online approach using cloud-based credit card processing software, such as Clio Payments, simplifies bill payment for your clients because they can pay from the comfort of their home, on their laptop, or on-the-go using their smartphone. 

Accepting credit card payments online is also much faster and more efficient for your firm. You can add click-to-pay links to your website and in client communications, including invoices, providing greater flexibility and convenience for clients—and improving your collections rate and cash flow.

If you wish to accept credit cards in person, you’ll need to purchase a credit card reader to process payments. Clients tap or swipe their cards to complete the transaction.

3. Find a payment processing provider

Due to ethics rules, selecting a credit card processing provider involves an extra layer of complexity for lawyers. Law firms need a credit card processing solution that recognizes and accounts for the difference between trust accounts (for retainers) and operating accounts (for bill payments). 

Critically, the card processing system must not allow chargebacks on trust accounts nor take processing fees from trust accounts.

Whether you’re considering legal-specific processors or general credit card processors, make sure you’re confident that your provider of choice will keep you compliant with IOLTA trust accounting rules. 

Integration with your legal practice management system is also a key consideration that should inform your selection process. By integrating your credit card processing solution with your practice management system, you can ensure the collections process is fast, automated, and convenient—for both you and your clients. 

For example, Clio Payments, built within the robust Clio Manage infrastructure, creates a client-centered payment experience by enabling clients to pay their bills via credit card or set up automated payments on their card. Plus, you get paid faster, improve your collection rates, and boost efficiency within the firm.

4. Get your credit card processing solution up and running

With the right provider, setting up your credit card processing software (ideally integrated with your legal practice management software) should be a simple process. For peace of mind, be sure to select a solution provider that offers reliable customer support and training to assist you if you have any questions. 

Once the software is up and running, you can send electronic invoices with “pay now” buttons. Additionally, activating click-to-pay links on your website and in client emails is a breeze. Sophisticated solutions like Clio Payments will automatically post clients’ credit card transactions to the appropriate matter or account, and sync records with your accounting platform to eliminate errors and save time.

5. Inform your clients that your firm now accepts credit cards

Don’t forget to spread the word that your firm is now accepting credit cards. Promote the news via your social media channels, update messaging on your website (be sure to highlight the “pay now” button), and add the credit card option to your invoice template. 

Consider emailing your client list informing them that you’ve expanded payment options to include credit cards. Signage in the reception area of your office is also helpful for alerting clients that you now accept credit cards.

Accepting additional payment methods

The benefits of accepting credit cards extend to other online payment methods, such as debit cards or ACH (eCheck) payments. Accordingly, your ideal payment processing provider will be able to accept multiple payment methods.

Clients appreciate the flexibility and convenience of having multiple options for paying their bills online without having to visit your office. In addition to creating a customer-centered payment experience, you’ll be able to reap the efficiency and cash flow rewards of secure digital payments, whether credit card, debit card, or eCheck.

Clio Payments: The best way for law firms to accept credit cards

By integrating Clio Payments with Clio Manage, we’ve created a secure, efficient, and client-centered billing and collections ecosystem that enables clients to pay with a credit card (or debit or eCheck), while automating back-end processes at the firm, such as updating billing records. 

With the ability to accept credit cards, you can set up flexible payment plans for your clients, accept trust payments, and be confident that you’re compliant with trust accounting rules. 

At Clio, we’ve made things simple with convenient “pay now” buttons and one flat transaction fee, across all forms of payment. Unlike other providers, we’ve opted not to charge additional fees, such as those passed on from credit card networks. 

With our simple setup process, you can get started with Clio Payments in as little as six minutes! And if you have any questions, our 24/5 customer support team with dedicated payment specialists is ready to help.

Start accepting credit cards at your law firm today

Whether you’re a lawyer in a solo practice or a large law firm, it’s impossible to deny the benefits of accepting credit cards—for both you and your clients. And with the right credit card processing provider, the setup doesn’t have to be difficult. Get started with Clio Payments today! 

I still remember the job fair that cemented my decision to go to law school: Every table from a major law school was advertising the average starting salary of one of their graduates in private practice. Not being a lawyer yet, I conveniently ignored those disclaiming words of “private” and “average” and locked it into my brain that I would be making around $180,000 per year when I graduated.

Despite attending an amazing law school, I graduated at the height of The Great Recession. I think I know two or three people who landed $180,000 a year jobs. Instead, I weaved a path through shady solo law firms, legal marketing companies, and one of the largest divorce law firms in Southern California. I’ve even opened my own shop. 

Here is the truth about working at a law firm: It is almost always stressful, it is almost always very long hours, it is sometimes excellent training, and it is almost always a guaranteed salary.

The experience in small law firms is drastically different from one door to the next. One law firm may represent anything that comes in, from defending sex workers on misdemeanor charges to filing civil lawsuits over a piece of plastic in a cookie. The next law firm may be a boom or bust class action law firm, swelling its ranks every time a settlement comes on and laying everybody off when times get lean. I’ve heard every story imaginable, and the weirdest ones come from the smallest firms.

Mid-sized firms provide more stability and less office drama, though it is still present. I’ve worked for somebody who would scream obscenities at everyone from the receptionist to other partners over small mistakes, yet would give generous holiday bonuses and was extremely understanding about family needs. I have friends who have dealt with lecherous creep partners. I also know people who have had amazing experiences in their law firms and have gone from fresh associates to partner ranks and become a true part of a professional family. In mid-sized firms, assuming you find the right fit, there is more room to advance and make an impact on the overall firm structure and strategy.

In “Big Law” firms, I honestly don’t know a single person who walked out of one of those firms thinking they loved the place. I have a couple of friends who made a career out of those firms, and none love their job, though they certainly love the salary and the perks. I have zero firsthand experience with these firms, even though those firms are the ones I dreamed about before going to law school. I have zero regrets about never getting a shot with one of those firms. I’m happier outside of the stressful boiler room environment so universally described by Big Law alums.

The last thing to remember is your practice area also plays a large part in your law firm experience. Criminal law can be a 24/7 job, along with some personal injury law firm practices. On the other hand, corporate law will rarely require middle-of-the-night emergencies, other than the occasional scramble to a deadline.

When I became a lawyer, because of the recession, there were unscrupulous attorneys nationwide advertising embarrassing salaries that were far below what you would pay a grocery store checker. In a better job market, such as the present one, one can expect a lot higher salaries in the solo and small firm market as firms scramble to fill open positions.

Other factors that affect salary usually include your practice area and geography. Expect salaries to be higher in places with a higher cost of living, such as the coasts. And some practice areas pay more handsomely or have more contingency or bonus-based compensation. A good thing to be aware of is whether your firm offers a profit-sharing plan, which can greatly increase your compensation if structured fairly. Other firms may offer an “eat what you kill” arrangement where you get a higher percentage of the take from contingency fee cases that you bring in.

The compensation can be great as well. Of course, in times of recessions or in smaller firms, the compensation may not be great. But the training aspect is still there.

The real caveat I would add here is to go with your gut when it comes to joining or sticking with a law firm. Many associates will stick in a toxic work environment for fear of burning bridges or blame themselves for the abusive partner. Lawyers have to be “tough” and just take the abuse, right? That’s not a proper training environment, and it is not a proper working environment for anybody, no matter their profession. You’ll know quickly whether the firm is providing you with a healthy environment that allows you to grow as a lawyer, and if it is not, you should look elsewhere.

Benefits of working at a law firm

Perhaps the greatest benefit of working at a law firm is the structure. You get training in the actual practice of law from people who have done it, you typically have support staff that can catch your errors, and you get a guaranteed salary. These are all things that you do not get if you try to start a law firm straight out of school.

For many people, their goal is to simply be a lawyer. They went to law school because they wanted to practice law and help others. They are not doing it to maximize their compensation; they are not doing it because they have an entrepreneurial spirit; they are doing it because they want to practice law. A law firm is a perfect environment for them.

On the other hand, some of us are just entrepreneurs. We want to call the shots, own the business, control everything. We aspire to build something different, do things differently, and perhaps provide a higher level of service or lower the cost of our services so that we can help more people. Other lawyers ditch the traditional practice of law entirely to take their skills and throw them into legal technology—aspiring to change the profession and close the access to justice gap.

Law firms are not for everyone, and neither is the traditional practice of law. But if the structure of a guaranteed salary and focusing on the law only is appealing to you, it is probably the right place for you.

Working at a big law firm

Though I can’t provide any firsthand tales of working for one of the nation’s biggest law firms, we have all heard the stories: 80-hour work weeks, years spent doing dry document review before you get more substantive work, and a much more formal and buttoned-down culture than your average small firm.

There are certainly a lot of pros to working at a big law firm: the salaries are insane, for one. If you are leaving law school with six figures in debt, the bloated salaries for associates at these firms would likely clear your debt in a year or two, assuming you live conservatively. It is also a massive resume builder: many of the legal tech startups and the ranks of mid-sized firm partners include alumni of the big firms. I’ve had friends go from working at the most formal firms, like Cravath, to working at a record label and growing a full Jesus beard a year later. The line on the resume opens doors

There are also many cons though—long working hours is a rule. Tales abound of “old boys clubs,” little to no effort at diversity, and downright hostility or harassment, especially sexual harassment. You will also only be working for people who can afford these types of lawyers, which means no standing up for the little guy.

Before you look at the firm, check reviews online at sites like Glassdoor. See if any alumni from your schoolwork there or any friends of friends. LinkedIn is great for this. When doing your interviews, trust your gut with regards to the people you will be working with.

Working at a small or boutique law firm

Small law is where most private practitioners find themselves. And for most people, it is probably where you would be most comfortable. There are many positives to working in a small law firm, from typically a more casual attire and workplace to deeper involvement in more substantive cases and work earlier in your career.

However, smaller law firms also often mean smaller salaries. You may get to stick up for the little guy or take on cases that you are more passionate about, but the corporate clients and people who can afford the largest law firms probably won’t be within reach unless you become a niche or boutique firm that specializes in something companies can’t find at one of the larger firms.

I’d be remiss not to mention that culture, diversity, and harassment issues also exist at smaller firms. I’ve seen lawyers in small firms scream at new associates and verbally and emotionally abuse support staff. And even though the biggest law firms get the reputation as the boiler rooms with work hours that stretch into late nights and long weekends, the same culture of overwork is ever-present in many small law firms as well. 

It can be harder to spot these issues before joining the firm, as most people don’t leave online reviews about the working experience at a firm of two or three people. The best thing you can do is to trust your gut when interviewing with the firm and if the environment is damaging to your health, make the leap to a new firm or your own practice as soon as you are able.

Starting your own law firm

If you have seen my many posts on this blog, you know I’m a big fan of starting your own law firm. I did so after working for a few years in legal marketing. After striking out left and right with law firm interviews during the great recession, I opened a divorce law firm in Southern California before eventually getting absorbed by a larger firm. Later, I reopened my practice as a virtual law firm when my family life required me to move across the country.

Let’s start with the bad thing about owning your own law firm: everything falls on you. The risk, the responsibility, the system building, marketing, and branding—all of that is yours. If your dream is to just be a lawyer and not have any involvement in the business or the marketing, running a law firm is probably not for you. And all of this can be incredibly tedious. I’ve written post after post about the pains of trust accounting, business development, and more.

Another major downside is a lack of mentorship and guidance. This is especially difficult for people who start their own firm out of school. While not impossible, it is challenging. You will be constantly trying to dig through books or email lists, or asking rookie questions to the clerk at the court, screwing up everything and feeling like you are in over your head, until one day, after a year or two, suddenly it all makes sense.

On the bright side, the rewards of owning your own firm are all yours as well. I know people who work 40 hours or more per week for the state as a lawyer and take home a salary that is less than a McDonald’s manager. I know people who work in mid-sized firms and take home barely more than that, and they produce hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in billable hours. I also know plenty of people who started their own practice and within a year or two were making salaries comparable to a big law associate, with more flexibility and freedom and control over their lives.

Here’s what I love most about running my own shop: at a firm, I would have to get buy-in from every single paralegal, associate, and partner if I wanted to change how things are done. With my own firm, I can try things like document automation, electronic signatures, experiment with alternative fee arrangements, and the only person I have to answer to is myself. (And the clients of course.)

How to land your dream job at a law firm

Determine your personal values and professional goals

These values and goals will be important guideposts for you throughout your career. Once you have outlined these goals and values, consider strongly if that job at a firm will help you attain these goals or if it is just a paycheck. I know plenty of people who have made the wise decision to turn down a larger salary to continue doing something that they love. 

Use strategic marketing techniques

More than a decade ago, I spoke to the career services office at my law school and asked them if mass mailing my resume out to law firms was a good idea. They said absolutely not. They assured me that these firms do not review resumes that come in unsolicited and instead, the only way to apply for the job was to go to the on-campus interviews or to apply through formal job postings.

My roommate, a year after transferring to a different law school, did a letter-writing campaign. He sent out 200 resumes and got one interview, which resulted in a job at one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms in the country. 

The lesson? Career Services Offices don’t know everything. You do you.

It may seem like letter-writing campaigns are old-school, but even today, a paper letter in hand is much more likely to be reviewed than a cold email.

Before you do any of that, though, update your LinkedIn and resume. Have someone review both, preferably someone who is already in the industry. There are tools that can help you with your resume, such as the LinkedIn add-in for Microsoft Word. For further inspiration, look to the profiles of people who are already working at the firms you want to apply to.

Tap your personal network as well: some of my best career leads have come through friends and former colleagues who have either headhunted me or knew I was looking for the next big thing. Don’t be afraid to share that you are on the job hunt on social media or in conversations with your contacts in the legal industry. Many people are willing and excited to help make a connection or tell you about an opening at their firm.

Make networking and relationship-building part of your daily life

I used to hate networking. I always felt like it was a phony experience where everyone would realize that I was only there to try to get a lead on a job or referrals for cases. It wasn’t until I was many years out of school, secure in my career before I actually learned to enjoy networking for what it was: a chance to get out of my firm and out of my small circle of friends and just talk to people. (After five years of working from home, two in a pandemic, I would kill for one of those awkward new attorney mixers right now.)

If you only look at networking as part of your job hunt, it won’t be enjoyable. You probably will not build meaningful connections with people. But if you approach it as a social activity and as a way to make new friends and colleagues, you might find that you actually enjoy it. Once you have these meaningful relationships, these people may end up serving as a resource in your career progression when you least expect it.

Volunteer when you’re in school

A great way to make contacts in your dream practice area or in the legal community generally is to volunteer. True, volunteering is very difficult when you are a student or recent graduate with no income. Most of us limit our volunteering to internships and externships while we are in school, plus any mandatory pro bono time that is required to get our license.

However, don’t just view those as mandatory obligations—they can be a very valuable peek into the actual practice of law and can help you decide whether or not that firm or practice area is a fit. For example, I did an internship with a court during my third year of law school. By the end of it, I was certain I wanted nothing to do with criminal law—especially prosecution.

Avoid burning bridges and keep doors open

My first job out of school was for a legal marketing company. There were no lawyer jobs out there, so I took a job writing. I blogged, and I blogged until my fingers hurt. I wrote millions of words of content over a few short years, and by the time I left that place, I was miserable. I hated the place, even if I liked the people there. I was just fed up with plugging away at a keyboard and not pursuing any of my dreams.

On the way out, there were many chances for me to vent those feelings. Instead, I handled things as a professional, explaining that my dreams and personal goals required me to look elsewhere. Years later, when I needed a remote work position due to familial obligations, that company was there for me. A couple of years later, someone from that original team headhunted me for yet another opportunity.

I don’t care how bad the job was, short of harassment or abuse. Treat people professionally and as an adult, and it will go a very long way in your career. It might mean referrals, it might mean new job opportunities or it might just mean a friendly drink at a bar conference a few years from now. What’s the upside of the alternative? Letting everyone know how miserable you were so that you can make them so wary of you that you never have an opportunity to work with them again?

Conclusion

There is that old, often mocked, truism that you can do anything with a law degree. I’ve been a lawyer, a blogger, and a marketer. I’ve worked at firms mid-sized and small.

If you are wondering what it is like to work in a law firm, or if a law firm is right for you, start with your goals and values. Consider your needs with regards to your family life and work-life balance. Few industries prioritize an unhealthy work-is-everything mentality quite like lawyers do. If you have your needs top of mind when you research firms, when you apply, interview, and make the decision on whether or not to take an offer, you are much more likely to land in your dream scenario.

And if you decide to open your own shop, we will be there. Clio has resources for firms that are solo, small, or big. Our Guide to Starting a Law Firm includes everything from billing to retainers, business development to marketing, to hopefully help you get a head start and spend a little more time as a lawyer and a little less time figuring out the administrative pieces. 

Like all the other economic crises before, the impending recession  will cause a decline in business activity, increased unemployment, rising government debt levels, and credit squeezes. Due to a liquidity shortfall, both consumers’ and businesses’ ability to meet debt payment obligations will weaken. Many businesses are getting pushed into a state of insolvency.

More and more companies and households are seeking the shelter of bankruptcy. Many serious questions arise in the light of the bleak financial reality that thousands face during the pandemic—can they withstand the financial storm?

For bankruptcy lawyers, this means that they should be gearing up for an increased need for their services. Now might be the right time to consider switching to insolvency and bankruptcy law.

It’s only a matter of time

The pandemic has blown out the debt of all major public institutions around the world. In the US, national debt levels are also at an all-time high. 

When the pandemic slammed into the world economy, observers and researchers claimed that it was only a matter of time before businesses and consumers turned to bankruptcy to free themselves of debt. This didn’t come in 2020, but studies suggest that the wait will continue at a cost to those who are facing climbing debt loads.

By filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy (a liquidation and an installment plan), consumers and their creditors can work out arrangements to discharge debts and pay off balances. For an average consumer, delaying bankruptcy means digging a deeper hole. A lot of that debt increase is debt that’s not on credit reports, which is what we call shadow debt. It includes unpaid rents, bounced checks, and certain medical costs.

Before you decide to make a switch

You may have been interested in other areas of the law for some time, and bankruptcy law may seem appealing. Switching your law firm’s practice area is doable, especially if you find bankruptcy law to be more fulfilling and worth it. However, it’s not easy—you’ll have to make a strategic approach and remember that change won’t happen overnight. Making a switch involves more than reading up on bankruptcy case law.

First, you should ask yourself why you want to change your practice area by having an honest conversation with yourself.

Second, are you up for the challenge? Are you ready to feel like a rookie again? Are you willing to invest effort and time into learning new things? 

Answering these questions will make you more confident because you will know why you’ve made the decision, as well as that it’s the right one.

Being a bankruptcy lawyer 

A 2020 study, in which the researchers examined the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on business and consumer bankruptcies, shows a constant rise of bankruptcies since the start of this crisis. As the pandemic continues to wither the global economy and businesses across the globe pay the price, people are putting more faith in BRR—business restructuring and reorganization. Whether you are a bankruptcy lawyer or not, it’s a good time to consider the benefits of running a bankruptcy law practice. 

Increasing business restructuring and reorganization

In preparation for an unprecedented influx of work, businesses are boosting their search for fresh talent and reassigning juniors. And whatever your expertise might be—M&A, finance, litigation—there is work for everyone. Many lawyers that started their careers after the previous recession have found that bankruptcy lawyers typically have similar challenges and goals as their attorney colleagues in other practice areas. The difference today is that the demand for their skill sets allows them to address their challenges and goals with a certain degree of leverage.

When setting their career goals, young lawyers often overlook or even dismiss BRR, when in fact BRR offers early and valuable experience in the courtroom and boardroom. To be clear, bankruptcy attorneys are in demand, but that doesn’t mean that every business that’s not a giant (like Google or Amazon) is going to go bankrupt. Filing for bankruptcy is expensive and is usually the last resort, so lawyers spend a lot of their time trying to find alternatives to it.

What will be key in preventing bankruptcies are reorganizations, restructurings, and other repairs to the creditor-debtor relationship. Almost every business loan will need some kind of modification, but  there are predictions of worsening situations for struggling businesses. Banks are going to re-evaluate loans and will want to get rid of the weak links in their loan portfolios. The retail industry is an easy target to name in terms of which industries will likely be hit. Once principal deferrals and forbearance agreements expire, banks will become more aggressive and bankruptcies will follow. 

What bankruptcy law is about

When considering filing for bankruptcy, businesses pay a great deal of attention to choosing the best bankruptcy attorney. The whole process takes a good understanding of legal issues and careful preparation. Any mistakes or misunderstandings of the law in the process can affect their rights.

As a bankruptcy lawyer, you can aid your clients’ cases by:

• Helping them decide whether to proceed with a bankruptcy filing or to take an alternative route.
• Counseling about what property they might be able to hold on to.
• Advising them on what type of bankruptcy to pursue. 
• Informing them about whether they should keep making payments to their creditors.
• Providing input on the tax consequences your clients will face.

Bankruptcy law is all about equity and balancing the rights of the creditors to receive their payment and rights of the consumers to receive relief. A good bankruptcy lawyer can help during a state of crisis to provide legal guidance, and their work involves a combination of empathy and strategy. It also requires a mix of legal oratory ability and writing skills, creative problem-solving skills, the ability to compromise, and financial literacy. 

To succeed in BRR, it’s important to understand how lender and debtor practices do business. When it comes to debtor practices, they’re considered somewhat an anomaly because they don’t get repeat business from businesses going through liquidation. 

As a bankruptcy lawyer, you can represent either debtors or creditors. However, you can also serve as an impartial intermediary who is responsible for ensuring that the entire bankruptcy process is fair. In the near future, bankruptcy lawyers anticipate a huge influx of business for a variety of reasons. 

Besides the aforementioned negative financial implications of the pandemic, many people and businesses received temporary stimulus relief. After this financial relief expires, many businesses will be relying heavily on government assistance (without which they might collapse) and are teetering on the edge of financial insolvency.

Where do bankruptcy lawyers work?

Many bankruptcy attorneys work in private law firms and they represent:

• Corporate and individual debtors.
• Corporate and individual creditors.
• Bankruptcy trustees.
• Creditors’ committees.

Mid-size and large law firms may have departments specializing  in bankruptcy and creditors’ rights, while some small firms are called “bankruptcy boutiques” (all members specialize in bankruptcy). 

Furthermore, bankruptcy lawyers can also work in corporations, utilities, title companies, and banks, in their corporate legal department. There, they may work on debtor rights issues or bankruptcy issues.

The government also employs bankruptcy attorneys for state and municipal tax authorities, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and others.

Bankruptcy attorneys: The fixers

Moving to bankruptcy practices could be a chance for doing more meaningful work. The advantage of BRR practices lies in its difference, and it’s the last place where you can be what attorneys used to be all about—the client’s “go-to person.” By handling work that entails IP, employment, litigation, and corporate tasks, you get a chance to work closely with businesses. You should develop knowledge in all those areas as you will navigate complex court proceedings, sell off assets, make deals, and strike agreements between debtors and creditors.

Bankruptcy attorneys are there to work efficiently and quickly to resolve problems in an attempt to save the business. It’s a no-game, straightforward approach. 

Possibly the best way to label most modern bankruptcy attorneys is— business and debt solutions. So, instead of selling yourself as a bankruptcy lawyer, try thinking of yourself as a fixer or a “solution person.” The job entails fixing broken businesses enough and then selling them off. And there is no typical day since it’s a very diverse practice area.

It’s a classic paradox for law firms: While it’s essential for attorneys to track their time, traditionally, the lawyer time tracking process takes up time. Because tracking hours manually is tedious and time-consuming, it’s common for lawyers to put it off—which means losing billable hours. As noted in the 2021 Legal Trends Report, the average lawyer billed just 2.5 hours (31%) of an 8-hour day, with 16% of those precious billable hours going unbilled. 

Still, accurate time tracking is a necessity for law firms. By finding ways to simply and efficiently track all hours worked, lawyers are better able to close the loop between hours worked and hours billed, invoice more accurately, and boost profitability. 

Additionally, better lawyer time tracking makes it easier to analyze your firm’s performance—providing clearer data on where time is actually spent and lost at your firm. Having a complete picture of key metrics related to hours worked empowers firms to make better and more strategic business decisions. 

Fortunately, the right tools can help take the stress and manual effort out of lawyer time tracking. Whether it’s designed to passively track time (so you automatically capture hours) or easily add time entries, time-tracking software for lawyers simplifies the process—so you lose less time and bill more. 

But, with multiple lawyer time-tracking options available, where should you start your search?  

Choosing lawyer time tracking software for your firm doesn’t have to be overwhelming. To help with your research, we’ve rounded up some of the best options available today—and included tips for how to choose the best option for your law firm. 

Clio Manage

As part of your legal practice management software, Clio Manage’s cloud-based legal timekeeping features make it easy and efficient to accurately capture lawyer time from anywhere. With Clio Manage, you can:

• Easily record lawyer time in multiple convenient ways—from anywhere. Clio Manage gives you the versatility to add time entries directly from multiple places, including your calendar events, tasks, communication logs, notes, and documents. You can also track time entries from your email inbox and record them in real-time (via a running-clock timer feature).
• Review time entries when you need to. Accuracy is key to lawyer time tracking, and Clio Manage gives you the flexibility to correct or add time entries after the fact. There’s no need to leave billable time behind if you’ve accidentally forgotten to start or stop a timer. You can also adjust minutes as needed if you make a mistake—which means more accurate time entries.
• Clearly see where your firm’s time and money are going. Beyond simply recording time entries, Clio’s legal timekeeping software also makes time entry data accessible—so it’s easier to analyze staff and firm performance and make better decisions. With Clio Manage, you can categorize time entries and quickly generate detailed time reports. For example, you can add more time entries as billable or non-billable for a clearer picture of billable hours.

Pricing: Clio Manage’s Starter plan includes legal time tracking features in addition to legal practice management features—for $39 per user/per month USD (billed annually).

TimeBro

Memory is not always reliable—especially when trying to remember the hours you’ve worked. TimeBro automatically tracks all your computer activities, meetings, and offline time—serving as a second memory so you don’t lose out on time worked. For data privacy, all this tracking data is stored on your device—so you have control of your data and there is no access or monitoring for other parties. 

TimeBro’s Clio integration makes lawyer time tracking even easier by importing your matters and tasks. This allows you to create your time entries directly and then export them into Clio with one click.

Pricing: Basic TimeBro subscriptions start at $12 per user/per month (for a 12-month subscription).

WiseTime

As a passive time-tracking tool, WiseTime works in the background while you work—capturing all your activity and then collating it into a meticulous (and totally private—until you decide to share it) timeline of your day’s work.

WiseTime also works with Clio to further streamline your time tracking and billing processes. 

Using the Clio integration, WiseTime automatically detects Clio matter IDs from your activity (such as document names and subject fields of your active windows). You can then review your activity and make any updates before sending it to the corresponding matter in Clio for billing. 

Pricing: WiseTime plans start with the Freelancer tier for small teams at $10 per user/per month. 

MagicTime for Clio

Another option for passive time tracking, MagicTime is an AI-based automated timekeeping tool for lawyers using Clio.

Working alongside Clio, MagicTime’s lawyer time tracking app automatically captures lawyer time using desktop applications on macOS, Windows, and Chrome extensions—building your timesheet in the background while you work. You can then file your timesheet in Clio with a few clicks.

MagicTime is simple to use—you just have to install it, and the AI takes care of the tracking for you. It’s also versatile—you can define custom rules to personalize certain activities you want to ignore, and the tool provides LEDES and UTBMS billing support. You can also turn time capture on or off quickly with a click.

Pricing: MagicTime plans start at $29 per user/per month for the Starter plan (billed yearly).

FreshBooks

The most effective lawyer time-tracking apps offer connectivity with your firm’s billing and invoicing tools. FreshBooks’ invoicing software and time and expense tracking for lawyers work together to make it easier to track time and send out invoices.

With FreshBooks, you can start a timer when you start working—when you’re done, you’ll instantly have a time log that you can use for an invoice.

Pricing: FreshBooks’ starts at $15 per month (for up to five billable clients).

TimeSparrow

The more convenient ways to track time, the more likely you are to actually do it. With TimeSparrow, you can track your time and create time entries in multiple convenient ways—whether that means via timers, text messages, email, or Amazon Alexa. If you need it, you can also direct TimeSparrow to call you at a scheduled time to record your time entries.

TimeSparrow also integrates and syncs with Clio—which means that your time entries can be found in both places.

For attorneys who practice in federal court, TimeSparrow makes it easy to create a time entry reminder whenever a document is filed in one of your cases.

Additionally, TimeSparrow offers useful reporting features to show you where you’re spending your time or to run firm-wide invoicing or administrative reports.

Pricing: TimeSparrow is $25 per lawyer per month.

Time Tracker by eBillity

For a lawyer time-tracking app designed with on-the-go mobility and convenience in mind, Time Tracker by eBillity is a great choice—especially when paired with Clio. The Time Tracker by eBillity and Clio integration allows for a two-way data sync—so it’s easier and more efficient to track time, bill, and manage your firm.

Time Tracker by eBillity offers web platforms as well as free mobile apps for iOS and Android—making it simple to accurately track time no matter where you are. The app is also designed with numerous legal-friendly features like ABA billing codes, LEDES invoicing, a conflict checker, trust accounting, expense tracking, four-click invoicing, and LSS realization reports. 

Pricing: Plans start at $24 per user/per month with an annual subscription. 

Time Tracker for Clio

As its name suggests, Time Tracker for Clio works with Clio to help you easily and accurately track time—and then sync it back to Clio. Time Tracker watches what you do on your computer and then automatically links activities back to the appropriate client and matter. When it comes to billing, you can bill the time entries or fine-tune them first as needed for accuracy. 

Pricing: The Faster Suite of apps is $1.15 USD per day/per person (billed annually).

Chrometa Time Tracker

For lawyer time tracking without setting timers or stopwatches, Chrometa passively captures your work time on your PC or Mac (including documents, emails, phone calls, text messages, and web browsing). Chrometa’s Clio integration can allocate your tracked time to your Clio matters, time categories, and law firm employees (to ensure accuracy, your data can be reviewed and edited before it’s sent to Clio). Time entries and invoices automatically sync with Clio, creating a seamless, efficient system.

For greater efficiency possibilities, Chrometa also allows for solo or firm-wide timekeeping. For example, by using a Team account, one user in Chrometa can review and send the timesheets to Clio for the entire firm. You can manually export to Clio as needed, or you can schedule it to run as a specific time on a regular basis.

Pricing: Chrometa’s Standard plan starts at $19 per user/per month.

Time Miner

Built by and for lawyers who bill by the hour, Time Miner’s retroactive time-capture features automatically create billable time entries by searching your past smartphone activity (such as calls, texts, and emails). These entries include essential details like the client’s name, the type of communication, the time spent on that communication, and the time’s dollar value. When used with Clio, Time Miner can export these time entries directly to your individual matters.

If you do business on your smartphone, this lawyer time-tracking app is a useful way to easily and accurately track billable time that may otherwise be lost or forgotten. 

Pricing: Time Miner’s pricing is $12.99 per month or $124.70 annually.

How to choose the best lawyer time tracking software for your firm

Consider your existing technology stack

Before adding on any new tech tools, it’s a good idea to first assess what technology your firm needs (this post can guide you through that process) and what you already use. Many legal time-tracking software options work with or integrate with other tools you already use—which can allow for enhanced productivity and streamlined workflows. 

For example, if you already use Clio Manage’s practice management software, you may find value in using the built-in legal time-tracking features. Or, by choosing a lawyer time-tracking app that integrates with Clio’s practice management software, you can effectively create a more powerful and seamless solution.

Choose a cloud-based lawyer time tracking tool

If you can’t track hours right when you work them, you’re less likely to track them. Because cloud-based tools make it simple for you to access them from where you are (whether it’s from a web browser or device), you are more likely to use cloud-based lawyer time-tracking tools at the moment—leading to more accurate time tracking overall.

Make security a priority

Keeping law firm and client data safe is absolutely essential for lawyers, so any tool—including lawyer time-tracking software—must be secure. With this in mind, be sure to vet any potential providers before you begin using them at your firm. 

As a starting point, our guide to data security for law firms offers more information and a list of security-related questions to consider for potential providers.

Reporting and analytics

It’s one thing to simply track lawyer time, but if you want to get the most value from lawyer time tracking, you need to be able to use that data. Look for lawyer time-tracking solutions that offer reporting and analytics features. For example, Clio Manage’s legal timekeeping software produces up-to-date reports from time entries for your firm. Armed with this information, you can better analyze performance and take action to improve areas of weakness.

Technical support

Whether you need help transitioning from a previous system to a new lawyer time-tracking app or you need troubleshooting an issue down the road, technical support is essential. When vetting potential time-tracking software, look for what level of technical support is offered—and if it will work for your firm. For example, Clio offers 24/5 live support and online Help Center to assist with any support needs.

Improve your law firm’s time tracking processes

When it comes to lawyer time tracking, innovative tools can be a big help. But you can’t expect them to transform your firm’s time tracking on its own—to get the biggest boost to your firm’s bottom line—you also need to optimize your processes.

If time tracking has been historically lax at your firm, take a two-pronged approach to repair. First, build an internal culture that values accurate and efficient time tracking. But establishing this “why” (and continually reinforcing it), you can choose a lawyer time tracking tool that can make it easier for lawyers to follow these improved processes.

Just remember: Proper time tracking may seem like a hassle, but it doesn’t have to be with the right tools. More importantly, improved time tracking leads to enhanced productivity, more profitability, and better client service (as client’s deserve accurate invoices) for the whole firm.

Consumer demand for convenience and flexibility is driving a global digital transformation—and the legal industry is no exception. Today’s legal clients want to be able to pay their legal fees quickly, easily, and securely. Indeed, the 2021 Legal Trends Report found that online options are the method of choice for making payments, with 66% of clients preferring online payments. 

This virtual shift is good news for you and your practice. As law firms move away from manual processes in favor of client-centered technology solutions, they’re able to increase operational efficiency, minimize labor and resources, and manage costs effectively. 

Modern, cloud-based legal technology that prioritizes client-centered experiences can benefit your law firm’s bottom line. According to the 2020 Legal Trends Report, firms that were using online payments, client portals, and client intake and CRM software saw 6% year-over-year growth during some of the most intense periods of the pandemic. These firms also collected nearly 40% more revenue per lawyer compared to firms not using these technologies. Accordingly, it’s no surprise that growing firms in 2021 are 37% more likely to use online payments.

Credit and debit card payments

Client credit card payments (borrowing against a line of credit) and debit payments (drawing funds directly from a checking account) are processed by online payment software in the same way. However, debit transactions typically have a lower processing fee. The legal payment processing software solution contacts the card issuer to verify whether the card is valid. If there is enough available credit (or cash in the checking account) to cover the amount, the transaction proceeds and the payee receives a receipt of the payment. 

eCheck payments

Also referred to as an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), an eCheck is similar to a paper check. It’s a promise to pay and requires checking account and routing numbers. However, the eCheck is processed electronically through the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network using legal payment processing software. 

In addition to providing clients credit, debit, and eCheck/ACH online payment options, firms using a legal payment processing solution can offer flexible payment plans, accept trust payments, and be confident that they’re compliant with trust accounting rules. 

Online payment systems also enable passive bill collection. Legal clients can pay remotely at their convenience. This removes the need for someone at the law firm to be physically present to process the payments. 

Legal payment processing software automates back-end processes, minimizing time-consuming administrative tasks and increasing operational efficiency at the firm. Once a client makes a payment, a payment system updates the appropriate billing records at the firm. Thus, indicating exactly how much was paid, when it was paid, and if there are any amounts outstanding. 

Meeting client expectations with online payments

Whether you decide to offer credit card options, automated recurring payments, or other online payment options such as debit card or eCheck, expanding your payment methods is crucial for providing clients the payment experience they want. Did you know that 66% of clients prefer to pay using online payments, according to the 2021 Legal Trends Report? No longer considered a premium service or competitive advantage, offering online payment options has become a standard feature that clients expect. 

Selecting an online legal payment solution

The marketplace for legal payment processing software can feel overwhelming. It’s important to ask the right questions to find the best provider for your needs. When evaluating which solution is right for your law firm, consider the following seven questions to ask a legal payment processing software provider:  

1. How does your legal payment processing software manage trust accounting?

Maintaining IOLTA trust compliance is imperative and you must keep earned and unearned funds separate in accordance with trust accounting rules. Accordingly, legal payment processing software must accept client trust payments and retainers and keep them separate from the law firm’s operating funds. The trust account should also be protected from all third-party debiting, including processing fees and chargebacks. 

Learn how Clio Manage can help you comply with legal industry trust accounting regulations while making timely, accurate, and profitable business decisions.

2. Does your legal payment processing software integrate with a practice management solution?

Using disjointed systems to create bills, process payments, and reconcile your firm’s books is a waste of valuable time and resources. Instead, simplify and automate your collection process by ensuring your legal payment processing software integrates seamlessly with your practice management system. 

An integrated cloud-based legal practice management solution will automatically post transactions to the appropriate account and sync records with your accounting platform—reducing error-prone data entry, streamlining reporting and tracking, and ensuring your firm gets paid on time.

3. What online payment methods can my firm accept when using your legal payment processing software?

Clients today want to pay their fees using the method that is most convenient for them—whether that’s credit card, debit card, or eCheck/ACH. When investigating lawyer payment solutions, look for software that offers multiple online payment options. This will allow you to create a flexible, client-centered experience for your clients.

4. Can I set up payment plans and recurring charges for clients? 

Obtaining legal services can be a stressful experience for many clients, filled with many barriers—and the financial burden can be particularly troublesome. To help increase accessibility to legal services for clients, determine whether the legal payment processing software provider you select can provide a client-centered payment experience that prioritizes clients’ needs (e.g., payment plans, automated scheduled charges). 

Payment plans that break large bills into manageable installments on a schedule that fits the client’s needs offer much-needed flexibility to the client, while helping you collect more of your outstanding balances. Similarly, recurring charges help clients manage their budget with predictable, scheduled payments. In turn, your firm can maintain or improve cash flow by making it easier for clients to pay their invoices on time. 

5. What fees do you charge?

Comparing fees charged by online payment solution providers can be tricky. There can be multiple fees involved—from monthly fees, per-transaction fees, and extra fees for special cards (e.g., American Express). When evaluating legal payment processing software providers, choose vendors who offer full transparency—don’t get surprised by hidden fees. 

As a rule of thumb, credit card transaction fees are 1–3.5% of the transaction, but some cards have higher rates (up to 4.5%); eCheck/ACH fees are typically lower (up to 1.5%). Note that some legal payment processing software providers charge additional fees for processing minimum penalties, additional trust accounts, and PCI compliance. Other potential charges include credit card network fees, monthly memberships, and chargeback fees. 

Keep in mind that some legal payment processing solutions, such as Clio Payments, that offer a flat rate across all transactions can simplify the payment process for your firm. 

6. How can I give my clients confidence that their payments are safe and secure?

Credit card companies mandate payment card industry (PCI) compliance to help ensure the security of credit card transactions. Be sure to verify that potential legal payment processing software providers can securely process, transmit, and store clients’ card details for recurring payments. All of which should be in compliance with PCI standards. 

By protecting client data with a highly secure online payment processing solution, you can assure your clients their payments are as safe as possible. You’ll also be able to effectively managing fraud, disputes, and chargebacks.  

7. How quickly can I start accepting payments?

When evaluating potential legal payment processing software providers, consider how quickly the solution can be operational. Is there a lot of training required to learn the software? What kind of support does the vendor offer? 

A user-friendly, integrated online payment processing solution is the best path to getting your online payment and collections process up and running swiftly and seamlessly. And operational means you can start processing payments, tracking invoices and payments in real-time, and generating data-driven financial reports. And with a streamlined and expedient onboarding experience, you can start accepting payments quickly. All while realizing a quick return on investment.

Clio Payments: Your built-in legal payment processing solution with Clio Manage

You asked the questions and Clio has the answers. With the aim of providing a client-centered experience, we help you make your collections process fast, automated, and convenient for you and your clients with online payments.

Clio Payments makes it easy for your clients to pay bills online using a credit card, debit card, or eCheck—without the need for a third-party payment processor. Built within the powerful Clio Manage infrastructure, Clio Payments offers a faster, more transparent collections experience and a real-time view of transactions. 

Payments are automatically deposited directly into your trust or operating accounting and tracked in real-time. Saving time and effort—so you and your integrated accounting platform are always up-to-date. 

Clio Payments makes it easy to maintain IOLTA trust compliance. You can confidently accept trust payments and evergreen retainers, knowing that earned and unearned funds are always kept separate. Your firm’s trust account will also be protected from all third-party debiting, including processing fees and chargebacks. 

Clio Payments creates an easy and manageable payment experience for clients by offering flexible payment plans and by securely storing their payment details for faster recurring payments, in compliance with PCI standards. Notably, Clio uses the payment industry’s most advanced security measures. With bank-grade protection of client data and proactive fraud detection—you can safely accept online payments. 

Clio provides a cost-effective legal payment processing solution for credit card, debit card, and eCheck/ACH payments alike. Unlike many online payment processing solutions, Clio Payments offers simple, transparent pricing. There’s just one flat rate—with no hidden fees, card brand charges, or extra fees. 

Plus, should you ever have any questions or concerns, Clio offers 24/5 customer support with dedicated payments experts. 

Conclusion

If you aren’t accepting online payments yet, you could be losing potential clients—not to mention wasting time chasing payments. Don’t let the payment process become a friction point between you and your clients. By implementing a legal payment processing solution today, you can better maintain cash flow, get paid faster, and improve client satisfaction. 

By asking potential software providers the important questions, you can select a vendor that best fits your needs. And, ultimately, helps you meet all of your client-focused and ethical responsibilities. 

Get started with Clio Payments today.

In the world of criminal defense law, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Countless people need the help of criminal defense lawyers every day, as the number of people convicted remains high. Each case is different, and wrongful verdicts can happen. Criminal defense lawyers need a well-thought plan tailored specifically for their clients to secure a win. 

However, competition for clients can be fierce, and your criminal defense practice will have to find a way to stand out. For example, crafting a marketing strategy that will help your practice appear at the top of the search engine results is one such tactic. But how do you find a marketing approach that will help your particular law practice? 

This post will cover practical marketing principles and practices that will help you acquire new clients. Just remember that there is no cookie-cutter approach.

Define your brand and communicate it clearly

Criminal defense is a saturated legal practice area. To succeed in such a crowded market, your firm will need a clear brand image. It needs to communicate professionalism and expertise to become an easy-to-remember brand. This requires being consistent and deliberate in the testimonials, copy, and images featured across your marketing channels.

Try putting yourself in your client’s situation, take the time to empathize, and build a feeling of trust. Good criminal defense lawyers create an emotional connection, which goes beyond just selling legal services. Find out what inspires confidence in your client base and make sure your brand resonates with that. 

Build a responsive and well-designed website

According to a recent study, 33% of all clients start their search for a lawyer online. Without a website, you’re already eliminating a third of your potential client base. Essentially, your website is your law firm’s digital home. Do your best to build a secure home that aligns with your firm’s values and purpose. 

Don’t take shortcuts when it comes to website design. You want something that delivers a compelling message and presents the right image—a user-friendly, responsive, and aesthetically pleasing site that is easy to navigate and provides valuable information.

Your firm’s website should:

• Details your services (list your specialties, and be specific).
• Communicate why they should choose you to represent them in court. (provide testimonials, list years of experience, and display your criminal case results).
• Provide clear ways of contacting your legal practice (phone, chat, e-mail, or appointment booking).

Just like any other website, your website needs to meet specific requirements when it comes to quality. It needs to be secure, fast-loading, and mobile-friendly. Most of your efforts will go down the drain if you fail to address these tech-related aspects of your website. 

Create relevant content

Consistently publishing informative content that conveys your authority and expertise on criminal defense matters is a surefire way of boosting your reputation. For example, producing videos and blog posts that cover changes in the law, discuss factors that could affect court proceedings, and answer some of the most frequently asked questions. 

You should aim to publish two types of content on your firm’s website:

• Authoritative content: If you are an expert on a specific topic (e.g., DUI charges), writing blog posts will help your criminal defense practice become an established voice of authority. People who face criminal charges are usually frightened and often spend a lot of time looking for valuable information online. They’re also more likely to contact you if you publish content that assuages their fears. 
• Practice area pages: These are pages on your website that detail all your specialties. As a criminal defense lawyer, these practice areas can include sexual assault, immediate roadside prohibitions (IRPs), fraud, and more.

Another critical format to consider for your firm is video. Visual content is often easier to engage with as 65% of the general population are visual learners. With high-quality videos on your site, your firm can increase conversion rates from site visitors, improve your firm’s reputation online, and stand out from the competition. You can create:

• Profile videos that give clients a quick and easy look into your services, your approach as a criminal defense lawyer, an overview of your firm, and more.
• Testimonial videos from satisfied clients.
• Short videos to address FAQs.

Encourage reviews

When a client walks out of your firm’s doors satisfied, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask them to leave a good review on Google or any other review site. Even a positive status or comment on social media is, in a way, an online review that contributes to your brand’s reputation. Not everyone will leave a thrilling five-star review, but positive reviews and feedback help in building trust, especially for local clients.

Never underestimate word of mouth

Despite living in an increasingly digital world, word-of-mouth referrals remain one of the most effective marketing ripples created by the splash of positive feedback. What other people have to say about you can and will affect a prospect’s decision to hire you.

To get your name out there the old-fashioned way, you can host a free lecture, participate in community events, volunteer your services, and attend networking events.

On-site SEO

Building your website and creating informative blog posts are a great start to an SEO strategy, but there’s still more to learn. Here are a few other tips to help your firm climb up the search engine results page.

• Conduct keyword research and incorporate practice-related keywords naturally throughout the site content.
• Boost organic local searches by creating a Google My Business profile.
• Get high-quality backlinks from other websites that specialize in criminal defense. These can be publications or other law firms’ websites.
• Understand and optimize your website’s meta titles and meta descriptions.

It is common for a criminal defense lawyer to have various sub-practice areas (compared to other areas of the law). You’ll have days you may be helping someone avoid a wrongful conviction for verbal assault or defend a client from impaired driving charges. This opens many opportunities to rank your unique and quality content for phrases that can drive more organic traffic to your site.

Technical SEO factors such as mobile-friendliness, fast page load time, and user-friendliness also impact your website’s traffic. 

Don’t forget about social

Besides acting as another channel for reaching out and connecting with potential clients, social media offers the opportunity to reinforce your brand and communicate your values. 

There are many social media platforms out there but your firm should emphasize quality over quantity. It may be tempting to try and be on all of them, but it can get overwhelming trying to juggle multiple platforms. The overall quality and response time for all your social media profiles may go down when this happens. For a smaller firm, posting on just Facebook and LinkedIn a few times a week may be enough.

If you have a large enough budget to devote a small team to content creation and social media management, it would make sense to build profiles on Twitter, Instagram, or other platform.

Final Thoughts

Having a website, sharing your expertise (via high-quality, engaging content), and being active on social media are all great marketing strategies to start. But remember that having an ongoing marketing strategy that you’ll adjust along the way is a must because competition for legal clients is stiff.

Today’s clients are constantly on the lookout for the little things that make their lives easier. One of those things is paying for services online: 65% of legal clients prefer digital payments, such as credit cards.

The good news for lawyers is that law firms who give clients what they want enjoy the benefits of convenience as well. 85% of law firms that accept credit cards get paid within a week of issuing an invoice, and 57% get their payment the same day.

Thanks to online payment processing solutions, including Clio Payments, it’s never been easier for law firms to accept credit cards. But accepting credit cards comes with its own set of ethics, regulations, and compliance responsibilities. Among others, you must practice payment card industry (PCI) compliance for law firms.

The rise of credit cards increases the need for PCI compliance for law firms

Paper check payments saw a significant decline between 2003 and 2018, while debit and credit card payments grew by 6.8% per year from 2012 to 2015, then by 8.9% per year from 2015 to 2018. By late 2018, almost a third of US adults were exclusively using non-cash payments.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, introducing lockdowns and the need for social distancing, the growth of digital and contactless payments accelerated. Within a few weeks, almost 80% of people were using contactless payments. While some have returned to cash payments where possible, digital and contactless payments are here to stay. The global contactless payment market is projected to experience a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 21.65% by 2025. 

As a result, accepting credit card payments makes your law firm more client-centered and more aligned with current client expectations. If you simplify the logistics of doing business with you, more prospects will find your firm attractive. And they’ll be able to pay you faster, too—provided you comply with law firm PCI regulations.

What is PCI compliance for law firms?

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, more often written as PCI DSS, is a global set of security standards for handling credit card data. The standard’s intention is to help companies keep the transfer of personal client data during credit card payments, and the ensuing storage of any client data, as safe as possible from hackers. There’s no specific set of PCI compliance standards for law firms, but PCI compliance is still a must if your law firm accepts or intends to accept credit cards.

Why is PCI compliance important? 

When clients choose to pay you by credit card, they do it because it’s convenient—and because they trust that the payment method is secure. Law firms and other businesses must earn that trust by taking the necessary steps to protect client data.

When data is breached, clients can suffer from serious long-term personal, business, and financial implications. Lawyers who practice PCI compliance minimize this risk for their clients, as PCI compliance ensures that firms follow essential industry security guidelines. These guidelines include maintaining a vulnerability management program, an information security policy, and advanced access control measures.

Does PCI compliance for law firms prevent cyberattacks and data breaches?

Although complying with PCI standards significantly reduces the risk of a data breach, compliance does not guarantee data safety, nor does it prevent consequences if your clients’ data is indeed breached. However, lawyers that can prove their law firms’ PCI compliance may be able to get their fines waived or reduced.

The importance of PCI Compliance for law firms

PCI compliance for law firms is critical—and beneficial—when accepting credit cards. Compliance enables you to offer a more convenient, trustworthy, reliable, and safer billing option for your clients.

Law firm PCI compliance helps you avoid costly penalties

Large payment brands, including Mastercard, American Express, and Visa, take part in setting policies for PCI compliance for lawyers and other vendors. According to the PCI SSC, if a law firm or other business fails to comply, it faces penalties provided by the relevant payment brands themselves.

Failure to practice PCI compliance for law firms may also mean breaking privacy and security laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Law firm PCI compliance reduces fraud

When PCI compliance for lawyers is done right, it includes data encryption. That means that, even if there’s a cyberattack and hackers manage to get into your system, they won’t be able to access identifying client information, such as credit card details.

As a result, they won’t be able to impersonate cardholders, greatly reducing the repercussions of breaches.

Law firm PCI compliance provides a sales and retention differentiator

If you haven’t fully joined the PCI compliance for law firms movement, you’re not alone. Non-compliance is a big challenge for companies across all industries. Only 52.5% of organizations across the world achieve 100% compliance. Only 39.7% of organizations in the Americas achieve the same.

PCI compliance can therefore become a business differentiator for client acquisition and retention, especially if you serve other companies. 65% of business buyers, or 73% if they represent an enterprise, considered the privacy and security measures a vendor takes before making a buying decision.

When you accept credit card payments and practice PCI compliance, you offer clients something many companies, both inside and outside the legal industry, don’t: Secure convenience that puts their needs first.

What are the requirements for law firm PCI compliance?

Vendors everywhere follow the same PCI guidelines and regulations, so law firm PCI compliance doesn’t require reinventing the wheel. Experienced industry leaders have tested security practices repeatedly to verify clients are as protected as possible.

The PCI Security Standards Council has 12 requirements to guarantee PCI compliance for law firms and other companies:

• Protect cardholder data with firewalls.
• Change default passwords and other security aspects provided by suppliers.
• Safeguard the credit card information you store.
• Encrypt cardholder data.
• Keep your antivirus software updated.
• Secure all your systems.
• Restrict digital access to data about cardholders, even internally.
• Assign unique IDs to each computer user in your firm.
• Limit physical access to data about cardholders, even among your employees.
• Monitor every time cardholder data, or your network as a whole, is accessed.
• Continuously test system security.

To ensure your firm meets its requirements, you also need to educate your partners and firm staff, if applicable. The PCI SSC offers training and implementation support that makes PCI compliance for law firms and other vendors a little easier.

What are the risks of non-compliance?

PCI compliance for lawyers is essential for the security of your firm and your clients. Non-compliance can lead to data breaches, which in turn can lead to legal repercussions, fines, and client mistrust. All of which can have a significant negative impact on your bottom line.

Lawyers risk expensive lawsuits when they don’t ensure PCI compliance for their law firms

PCI compliance reduces the risk of a potentially expensive lawsuit or settlement for compromised client privacy. Notable examples of costly data breaches include:

• TJX Companies offered a $40.9 million settlement to Visa customers impacted by a 2007 data breach.
• The Neiman Marcus Group paid $1.5 million due to a 2014 data breach, then announced another data breach in 2020.
• Capital One paid $80 million over a 2019 data breach.

Law firms pay fines when law firm PCI compliance fails

PCI compliance for lawyers doesn’t just keep you out of court and away from expensive settlements. It also prevents heavy fines levied by payment card brands.

According to the American Bar Association, payment brands likely won’t directly impose penalties on your law firm. Instead, they’ll impose them on your bank. But the bank will pass the penalty on to your firm, leading to payments that can range from $5,000 to $500,000.

In addition, payment brands might decide to stop working with businesses not following PCI compliance guidelines, meaning you might not be able to accept Mastercard or Visa payments from your clients.

PCI non-compliance for lawyers results in reputation, trust, and revenue loss

Once a law firm’s PCI compliance failure becomes public knowledge, trust and reputation loss tend to follow, leading to business loss.

Meanwhile, the costs of PCI non-compliance can continue piling up. In 2017, Target settled a 2013 data breach with an $18.5 million payment, but that wasn’t its only financial loss: It also experienced a $440 million loss due to business expenses related to the breach, such as breach investigations and identity theft protection efforts.

PCI compliance is especially critical for small firms

Small and medium-sized businesses are often the most vulnerable to cyberattacks: More than 60% of cyberattacks target small and medium enterprises. Smaller companies often don’t have the resources to hire cybersecurity leaders, educate employees on best practices, or buy advanced technology. 47% don’t even know how to go about protecting their businesses and clients. As a result, 60% of small businesses end up closing their doors within six months of an attack. 

It’s critical for solo lawyers and small firms to understand their compliance requirements, and to work with payment processing providers who offer PCI-compliant solutions. 

How to ensure PCI compliance for lawyers

While some firms go through the process of ensuring PCI compliance for their lawyers on their own, it’s not worth the effort for most firms. The more practical alternative is to use a PCI-compliant payment processing solution, especially one that specializes in legal payment processing and understands the unique challenges lawyers face.

The benefits of using a payment processing solution to provide PCI compliance for your lawyers

Just like PCI compliance is required when lawyers accept credit cards, every payment processing solution that accepts credit cards needs to comply with PCI regulations as well. The payment processing company goes through the entire process to create and maintain PCI compliance, so anyone who uses their services is also compliant.

Therefore, partnering with a dedicated payment processing provider makes PCI compliance for lawyers much more straightforward, while providing the same peace of mind for your firm and your clients. 

When considering a payment processing solution provider, ensure they offer the following: 

• Compliance certifications, including PCI and GDPR.
• Security experts to help law firms understand their requirements.
• Employee security protocols, including ongoing security training and limited access to sensitive data.
• Security vulnerability monitoring and appropriate patch codes.
• Data encryption for additional protection.
• Automatic backups of your account.

Choose a payment processing solution that specialties in PCI compliance for lawyers

Although law firms have a lot in common with other service-based businesses, the legal industry has its own unique challenges, including ethical and regulatory considerations. Choosing a payment processing solution that specializes in law firm PCI compliance, like Clio Payments, built in to Clio Manage, helps you:

• Get premium chargeback protection for trust accounts.
• Comply with your state’s ethics opinion on lawyers accepting credit cards (and know what to do if your state doesn’t have one).
• Align with your state’s rules about accepting advanced payments, charging fees, and other details specific to the legal industry and your state.
• Charge for billable hours or alternative billing arrangements, such as flat fees, subscriptions, and retainers.

PCI compliance for law firms is critical for a client-centered experience

65% of clients prefer using digital payments like credit cards, yet only 15% of small firms accept credit cards. Confusion or apprehension about security or PCI compliance requirements may contribute to law firms’ slow adoption of credit cards. But getting help from a solution that already ensures law firm PCI compliance when you process payments takes the worry off your shoulders. In turn, your firm gets to be one of the few that gives clients the convenience they want, combined with the data protection they need.

Business cards are essential for law firm marketing. The most effective business card designs for attorneys aren’t just about color palettes and card stock. In addition to featuring great design and layout, law firm business cards also need to recognize an attorney’s ethical responsibilities. However, when done and used right, a business card can be a powerful way to strengthen your networking efforts—and to connect with future clients.

If you’re a lawyer thinking of investing in business cards, you need to consider a few key factors. Read on to learn more about how attorneys can use business cards to their advantage—and what ethical concerns you should consider. We’ll also cover the key details to include to help you stand out from other firms and encourage potential clients to get in touch.

Why attorneys need business cards

You may be asking, “Do lawyers need business cards?” Yes—for attorneys, business cards are a simple but effective part of a larger marketing plan.

It’s true that today’s online-driven world calls for law firms to use digital marketing strategies like law firm websites and social media. Still, having a tangible way to convey your key professional details is still a valuable way to solidify impressions and connect. This is where business card designs for attorneys come in.

When designed and distributed with ethics in mind (more on that later in this post), a law firm business card can:

• Instantly tell potential clients who you are. You can make a big impression on a small piece of paper. In addition to conveying the obvious (like your name), you can use a business card to introduce—or reinforce—your professional brand and indicate what you do. For example, you can state your legal practice area. 
• Make it easy for clients to find you when they need you. Whether a client looks at your card to see where your office is located or uses it to look you up online later, a business card makes it easy for clients to seek you out when they need your legal services. A business card can drive potential customers to your other marketing initiatives and ultimately hire your legal services.

The ethics of business cards  

Before you print up any law firm business cards, it’s important to learn the ethics of legal business cards. The exact rules for lawyer business cards vary depending on where your practice is located. But in general, think of business cards for lawyers in a similar context as lawyer advertising. Essentially, lawyers need to take care to abide by the specific rules in their jurisdiction.

In general, however, ethical considerations for lawyer business cards may include:

• Be honest and straightforward. Make sure all information on your card is straightforward, true, and accurate so you won’t inadvertently mislead or confuse potential clients. 
• Be careful what you call yourself. As outlined by ABA Rule 7.2, you need to label yourself honestly and precisely. If you imply that you are an expert or specialist in any legal practice area, you need to be clearly certified as one, and you need to be permitted to say so on communication material in your jurisdiction. 
• Be exact with your name and identifying details. In most cases, you should use the exact name under which you’re licensed to practice law. Some jurisdictions (for example, New York) also have rules for whether law firms can use trade names.
• Avoid using superlatives. Don’t write anything that can’t be substantiated as fact on your business card, and avoid using superlatives (such as “the best” or “the cheapest”) altogether.
• Include any requirements. To stay ethically compliant, check if you need to include any specific language or disclaimers on your lawyer business card. 
• Be clear about your office location. If you’re working outside of the jurisdiction where you are licensed to practice law (for example, if you’re working remotely), be careful not to inadvertently mislead clients. As outlined in ABA Formal Opinion 495, a lawyer should not include a local address (for a jurisdiction where they are not licensed) on a business card when working outside of their jurisdiction. Similarly, if you have a virtual law firm, be careful not to mislead clients into thinking you have a physical office by putting an address on your lawyer business card.
• Be careful about business cards for non-lawyer staff. For example, when you’re creating any business cards for non-lawyers, like a business card for a paralegal to use for networking, make sure the person’s position at the firm is clear. Make clear distinctions between lawyer and nonlawyer staff.

To create an effective business card and stay compliant with the rules, you should consult your jurisdiction for the state-level specifics for lawyer business cards.

In general, however, don’t distribute your business cards to strangers who haven’t asked for one. Also, be careful to avoid using your card to directly solicit your services (for more about the rules regarding Solicitation of Clients, see ABA Rule 7.3). 

Business card designs for attorneys—5 details to include 

Balance is key to effective business card designs for attorneys: You want to make your card readable and visually pleasing while including the details that convey who you are, what you do, and how to reach you, including:

Your law firm’s logo

Consistent branding is powerful, and your law firm’s logo is an effective way to quickly and visually represent your firm’s professional image. So, showcase your brand on your business card. 

Learn more about effective law firm logo designs.

Your tagline

If you have a short tagline, consider including it on your business card. A catchy tagline can further your brand messaging to prospective clients. A few caveats, however:

• Keep it concise. A lengthy tagline that takes up a full side of your business card could make someone less likely to read or remember it.
• Keep it professional. Your legal business card represents your business—so stay on brand and avoid insulting your competition or using unprofessional language.
• Stay away from superlatives. When creating a brief tagline, it can be tempting to turn to superlatives for emphasis. However, be careful to avoid using any superlatives that cannot be factually substantiated. For example, a tagline like “The best divorce lawyer in the world” would not be ethically compliant.

Contact information 

This may seem obvious, but it’s worth calling out: If your business card doesn’t include a way to reach you, it won’t be effective. The goal is to make it easy for clients to reach you. While you should check the rules for what’s allowed in your area, you’ll likely want to include:

• Your name (make sure it’s the same name you’re licensed under, to avoid ethical issues).
• The business phone number.
• Your law firm’s office address.
• Email address.
• The law firm website (make sure your website doesn’t include anything that could be construed as an ethical violation. For example, listing your website as something like”www.theverybestlawyerinthewholeworld.com” could be construed as implying that you’re the best lawyer in the world—which is impossible to prove.).

Similarly, if applicable, you may also want to include details like your jurisdiction and/or practice area to make it clear to potential clients where you are licensed to practice law, and if you are in the right practice area for them.

Firm name

While it isn’t part of your contact information, including your law firm’s name (if it’s not already a clear part of your logo) is just as important. Including your firm name helps enhance your professionalism and credibility while also enhancing the branding on your business card. 

Call to action

While it’s less common for business card designs for attorneys to include a call to action, using an action word can help motivate potential clients to reach out and set your card apart from the competition.

For instance, instead of simply listing an email address (example@examplelawfirm.com), you could include “Reach out for your estate law needs—example@examplelawfirm.com.” Or you could include a QR code to direct people to your website.

Learn more about how to use calls to action in your marketing to help get more legal clients.

Business card designs for attorneys—example

Christie: Law Group 

This business card features a clean, simple design with all the essential information on one side, with the logo taking center stage on the other.

Letterman Attorneys

With lots of white space and an interesting combination of portrait and landscape formats on each side, this business card is simple yet eye-catching.

Themis Law

This business card includes all the critical information on one side, while the law firm logo front and center on the other.

Mark Philips Attorney 

We love the bold background on one of the sides. They’ve also included a QR code, which is a great and efficient way to encourage people to visit your website. The QR code also signals to potential clients that you’re a tech-savvy law firm, and likely to offer more flexible and convenient legal services. 

Boughton Law

The vertical layout helps this business card stand out from its competitors. It doesn’t hurt that the design is clean and crisp, with great use of white space.

Final thoughts 

Business cards may be old school, but they’re also classic for a reason: They’re an effective tool when making professional connections, even for attorneys.

While it’s important to first learn and follow any ethical rules for law firm business cards, lawyers can—and should—use business cards as a way to connect with clients and network effectively. 

The best business card designs for attorneys are thoughtfully created to capture the recipient’s attention and convey key information. A simple piece of paper serves as a valuable tool to communicate and connect attorneys with clients.

When it comes to law firm finances, knowledge is more than just power—it’s key for succeeding long term and staying compliant with ethics rules. One crucial source of financial knowledge for any firm is its law firm chart of accounts.

A law firm chart of accounts serves as a comprehensive list of all of a legal practice’s financial accounts. It also provides a framework for recording every financial transaction at the firm. 

Having a law firm chart of accounts is more than just an accounting best practice— it’s a  tool to keep your firm’s financial data organized. Also, many firms don’t realize how many accounts they must track to accurately reflect the firm’s value. When set up correctly, a law firm chart of accounts provides an accurate picture of your law firm’s financial situation now, and as you move forward.  

So what exactly goes into this list? While you will need to customize your firm’s chart of accounts to the specifics of your situation, there are several common factors for all legal practices to consider. Typically, a law firm chart of accounts includes five core categories (assets, liabilities, owner’s equity, revenue, and expenses). You should also include interest on Lawyer Trust Account (IOLTA) or trust accounts and trust liability accounts.

In the following post, we’ll show you how to set up your law firm’s chart of accounts. Included is a law firm chart of accounts sample and basic template, and tips to help you create an accurate  and effective chart of accounts for your firm.

Law firm chart of accounts sample

A law firm chart of accounts is a list of all your firm’s accounts—but what exactly do you need you include? 

As outlined in our guide to easier legal accounting, consider the following basic guidelines for what to include in a law firm chart of accounts:

• All of your firm’s financial accounts. When building the chart of accounts, the goal is to create a comprehensive picture of the firm’s accounts—you can’t add too many valid accounts. Take an expansive view to ensure you capture everything you need to track your firm’s finances.
• Record the details. Each account listed should include a detailed record for each type of: 
  • Asset.
  • Liability.
  • Equity.
  • Revenue.
  • Expense.
• Both sides. The chart of accounts should consist of both balance sheet accounts (such as assets, liabilities, and stockholders’ equity) and income statement accounts (like revenues, expenses, gains, and losses). 

To show what this could look like, here are two law firm chart of account samples:

• State Bar of Georgia’s Standard Chart of Accounts for Smaller Law Offices (PDF).
• Law Society of British Columbia’s Online Learning Centre Chart of Accounts (PDF).

Law firm chart of accounts template 

While your firm’s chart of accounts will need to be customized to its specific details—factors like the firm’s size, jurisdiction, and practice area will impact the exact layout you need to use.he key is to create a framework that captures an accurate assessment of your firm’s financials. This means setting up your chart to include as much relevant information as possible.

To make this easier, use the tables in the following template (which you can also find in our legal accounting guide):

Assets 

Liabilities

Segregated liabilities 

Equity 

Revenue

Compensation 

Expenses

Notes on using this template 

When setting up your firm’s chart of accounts, the details matter, so be sure to review each item to make sure that it is always properly attributed in your accounting system. Below, we’ll discuss using accounting software to make this easier.

Although some items could be properly attributed at one point in time, that could change. 

Take the example of a line of credit. If you have a line of credit that hasn’t been drawn upon, it should be counted as an asset (you could consider it cash on hand). Once withdrawn, the line of credit would no longer be counted as an asset—it would become a liability (as it is then money owed).

Use a legal-specific accounting solution like Clio Manage

Creating and managing a law firm chart of accounts doesn’t need to be a completely manual endeavor. Technology can make accounting processes—including setting up your law firm chart of accounts—easier, more efficient, and more accurate for law firms. To further streamline your accounting processes, use a legal-specific accounting solution. 

While general accounting solutions can help any business streamline its processes, they aren’t built to accommodate the unique accounting needs of law firms (such as trust accounting). This makes it challenging to use a general accounting solution for a law firm.

Use an accounting solution designed for the legal industry—like Clio Manage’s legal and trust accounting features paired with QuickBooks Online’s accounting software. By using these two softwares together, you can create a comprehensive accounting system for your firm.

Learn how to sync your Clio and QuickBooks online accounts.

Benefits of using Clio Manage with QuickBooks Online

Together, Clio Manage and QuickBooks Online can help your law firm:

• Eliminate repeat data entry by syncing contacts, invoices, financial information, and transactions.
• Use accounts correctly and more easily (including helping to manage amounts in both operating and trust accounts).
• Stay compliant with state bar rules for accounting and trust accounting.
• Ensure that amounts in trust are reconciled (between Clio, QuickBooks, and your associated bank accounts).
• Create accurate data reports.

Using a legal-specific accounting solution like Clio and QuickBooks make it easier to set up and maintain a law firm chart of accounts in two  key ways:

• Create your chart in QuickBooks. Within your QuickBooks account, you can set up a chart of accounts that’s customized to include your law firm’s accounts. 
• Sync between Clio and QuickBooks. Once set up, you can sync your Clio and QuickBooks accounts—including trust accounts, trust liability accounts, and advanced client cost accounts.

Learn more about legal trust accounting in QuickBooks and Clio.

Trust liability accounts

When setting up your chart of accounts, be sure to pay special attention to your handling of trust liability accounts to ensure you are keeping accurate records and following the rules. You can track trust bank accounts—like your IOLTA or pooled trust accounts and separate interest bearing trust accounts—on your law firm chart of accounts.

As we discuss in more detail in our guide to trust accounting for law firms, it’s essential that lawyers and law firms correctly manage client funds in trust. By doing so, lawyers can stay compliant with the exact trust accounting rules for their applicable jurisdiction. With this in mind, lawyers need to have the right bank accounts set up. For most law firms, this means having at least three bank business bank accounts—including a chequing account, a savings account, and a separate IOLTA or trust account. 

Note that funds in the trust or IOLTA account do not belong to the lawyer—they are client funds only. You must treat these funds  according to the specific recordkeeping and trust account rules. We recommend reviewing the American Bar Association (ABA)’s Model Rules, but remember to also check your state bar for your jurisdiction’s rules.

Trust interest payable

What about the interest made on funds held in IOLTA trust accounts? This interest does not belong to the firm or attorney. As explained by the ABA, IOLTA trust accounts collect interest. The bank then forwards the interest earned on IOLTA accounts to the state bar. These funds are then used for charitable causes, such as access to justice services.

Here again, proper record keeping is important. Credit and debits must be recorded as an interest payable account. By doing this, your client’s records will clearly show what those funds are for in the IOLTA account.

Track general retainers

It’s also important to keep accurate records and track funds in general retainers. Unearned fees (like general retainers) should be kept in a separate account so that they are not used in error.

By including general retainers in a law firm’s chart of accounts, you can more easily monitor these accounts. 

Learn more about the benefits of adopting evergreen retainers at your law firm.

Client expense accounts

Your law firm chart of accounts should also track amounts that your firm uses for client expenses, where you expect reimbursement at some point in the future. These amounts include reimbursable client costs, non-reimbursable client costs, and advanced client costs. 

As detailed in our guide to QuickBooks trust accounting, you can set up an advanced client cost account in QuickBooks Online. When set up, hard costs incurred by your law firm (such as filing fees) will automatically push back into Clio.

Separate general ledger income accounts

Simply tracking income in one general ledger income account is not enough.To make the financial information in your law firm chart of accounts useful for record-keeping and for assessing your firm’s financials, create separate general ledger income accounts to differentiate the different types of income—including referral income. These should also be split by practice area or by partners. 

Conclusion

Creating an accurate, detailed legal chart of accounts is an important tool to give you an accurate picture of where your firm’s financials stand. Once set up, this information can give the visibility you need to ensure your firm stays compliant with accounting and trust accounting rules. Moreover, you can use the information from your law firm’s chart of accounts to help determine key financial details about your firm—which is necessary for making data-driven decisions.

As we showed with the law firm chart of accounts samples in this post, the exact details of the  chart will vary depending on your firm’s situation and jurisdiction. While it’s important to do your own research (and you may want to consult with your accountant), you can use the samples and the template in this post to guide you. Using technology—such as QuickBooks Online and Clio Manage together—also make this process easier and more efficient. 

Just remember: To make your law firm chart of accounts as useful and accurate as possible, be sure to include as much relevant information as possible. This should include details for trust accounts, which need to meet specific rules in order to stay compliant. 

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 tax advice.

Since 2016, legal professionals have relied on Clio’s annual Legal Trends Report for objective, comprehensive analyses of legal industry trends. As the legal industry’s most in-depth analysis into the state of the legal practice, the 2021 Legal Trends Report brings together critical insights about how legal services have adapted to the challenging circumstances of the past two years and what forces will shape these services in the future. Law firms can use the findings from the 2021 Legal Trends Report to learn how to thrive in this new legal environment of rapidly shifting consumer expectations.  

Now in its sixth year, the 2021 report includes aggregated responses from 150,000 legal professionals using Clio over the last two years, as well as survey responses from more than 1,000 legal professionals and 1,000 general consumers in the U.S. on what they deem most important to them today and in a post-COVID world. 

This analysis builds on findings from the 2020 Legal Trends Report, which identified technology adoption as a key aspect of law firm survival and success during the height of the pandemic. In 2021, the most successful firms continue to be those that adopted the technological solutions for more flexible client-centered services. 

As consumers have adopted more remote forms of communication to adapt to the realities of the pandemic, they’ve grown accustomed to new methods of interaction that have also shifted their expectations when it comes to working with a lawyer. 

In this blog post, we’ll cover key points from the 2021 Legal Trends Report. We’ll also highlight the importance of delivering more flexible legal services to meet new consumer expectations and how the legal industry is redefining the meaning of a successful law firm.

Law firms need to design and deliver more flexible legal services to meet new consumer expectations

This year, 79% of legal consumers see the ability to work remotely with a lawyer as a key factor in choosing who to work with. Also, more than half of consumers indicated a strong preference for video conferencing solutions across multiple points in a legal matter. While technological solutions may have provided a significant competitive advantage in the past, they are now becoming a standard feature that consumers expect law firms to offer. Failing to recognize this reality and adopt the tools consumers expect will leave firms at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to attracting and retaining clients.

The most successful firms use well-implemented technological solutions extensively

Legal practices that have consistently grown their revenues are more likely to adopt client-centered technologies. In fact, these firms are 37% more likely to be using online payment solutions, 41% more likely to use client portals, and 46% more likely to use client intake and client relationship management (CRM) solutions. Growing firms or firms that saw a minimum of 20% year-over-year revenue growth use reporting tools twice as much. The success of these firms underscores the importance of understanding how to effectively harness the benefits of these flexible technologies in an ever-tightening and highly competitive market. 

The following data demonstrates that law firms are adopting legal software like never before:

• 85% of legal professionals were using some form of software to manage their firms. In 2020, we experienced adoption never seen before in legal in response to the pandemic.
• 83% of legal professionals were meeting clients virtually through platforms like Zoom. Although video conferencing software has been around for a decade, it only became commonplace last year.
• 79% of legal professionals were storing firm data in the cloud. When firms had to turn to remote operations last year, we saw lawyers turning to solutions like Clio at an unprecedented pace. This has formed the foundation for firms to create more flexible work arrangements that aren’t tied to the idea of a centralized, physical office space.
• 62% of legal professionals supported electronic documents and e-signatures. Firms adopting these solutions allow clients to retrieve and sign docs from anywhere, making their legal services more convenient and less stressful than their competitors who have not adapted their services.

Growing law firms are accepting online payments, and are using client portals, client intake and CRM solutions, and law firm reporting tools

Getting paid has been a constant source of friction for clients and law firms. As mentioned, our research found that growing firms are 37% more likely to use online payments. Until last year, many law firms lagged in adopting simple online payment solutions, when 73% of legal professionals reported accepting online payments. Firms also implemented more flexible payment options which can make their services more accessible.

Learn how Clio Payments makes it easy for your clients to pay their bills online, as well as improve your law firm’s collection rates.

Growing firms are also 41% more likely to use client portals. Client portals offer a convenient, centralized way for lawyers and their clients to communicate. With client portals, both parties can consolidate all information relevant to a client’s case in one secure and always-accessible location. 

Learn how Clio for Clients helps legal clients securely communicate and share information with lawyers.

Growing firms are 46% more likely to use client intake and CRM solutions. Client intake and client relationship management (CRM) software help law firms deliver enhanced client experiences, especially during the crucial intake phase of a legal matter. These solutions make it easier for law firms to ensure streamlined operations at each step of the intake process.

Learn how Clio Grow, a cloud-based client intake and legal client relationship management (CRM) software transforms the way your firm attracts and retains prospective clients.

Growing law firms are twice as likely to use firm reporting tools. The takeaway from this data is that growing firms are more likely to increase their revenues because they have access to the information and insights that help them assess how their business is performing, which also allows them to focus more attention on planning for additional, ongoing growth over the long term.

Learn how the Law Firm Insights Dashboard in Clio Manage helps you identify opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency, and revenue across your firm.

Successful firms focus on providing more client-centered, flexible solutions

Our analysis shows that when it comes to financial spending, firms are focused less on investing in physical office spaces and more on enhancing their digital capabilities with legal practice management software. We found that 67% of respondents already regarded practice management software as a moderate or large expense in their firms, and a further 61% said they planned to invest more resources in this area moving forward. Conversely, office space was where law firms were least likely to invest (27%). The implication of these investment plans is that, as a whole, the legal industry will be better prepared to create more tech-enabled client experiences. 

The current reshaping of how legal services are delivered and accessed will persist into the future as client expectations continue to adjust. Law firms that embrace new tools and processes are poised to become more resilient, flexible, and client-centered, while those who do not will struggle to remain relevant in a world that has changed for the better. 

Download the full 2021 Legal Trends Report for free at clio.com/ltr or watch our CLE-eligible webinar on the key insights from the 2021 Legal Trends Report.  

Understanding how to calculate utilization rate is integral to running a successful law firm business. Law firms are also unique when compared to other businesses because hours are divided into billable versus non-billable. According to the 2021 Legal Trends Report, your firm’s utilization rate allows you to measure your firm’s workload and productivity. It’s one of the most important KPIs law firms should track. 

Read on to learn how to calculate and increase your firm’s utilization rate and how to use that information to help your law firm succeed. 

What is utilization rate and why is it important for law firms?

Knowing how to calculate utilization rates is critical for law firms. When you know how to calculate utilization rate for your law firm, that knowledge can provide insight into your firm’s billing efficiency. While knowing how to calculate utilization rate is important, you should also keep in mind these other key law firm KPIs: 

• Utilization rate: As stated above, the utilization rate measures workload and productivity. You can calculate the utilization rate by dividing billable hours worked by the number of hours worked in a day. 
• Realization rate: This measures the potential value of work performed. You can determine your law firm’s realization rate by dividing the number of billable hours invoiced by the number of hours worked.  
• Collection rate: This rate measures the ability to capitalize on work performed. You can determine this by dividing the number of hours collected by the number of hours invoiced. 

How to calculate utilization rate 

We know you can calculate your firm’s utilization rate by dividing the number of billable hours worked by the number of total hours worked. Let’s take a look at some examples using this formula: 

• Catherine worked 60 hours last week. Out of those hours, 60 were billable. If we divide 20 by 60 and then multiply by 100, we get 33.33. Therefore, Catherine’s utilization rate for that one week is 33.33%.  
• Priya had a 12-hour workday. They billed five of those hours to clients. Using the same equation above, we can determine Avery’s utilization rate for the day—41.67%. 

It’s important to remember that your (or your law firm’s) utilization rate doesn’t determine an attorney’s value. KPIs are metrics we can use to quantify certain operations to improve your firm’s success. Lawyers are humans helping other humans, and numbers only tell us part of that story. A revenue-related KPI won’t quantify client happiness or help you determine if you’re providing a client-centered experience. KPIs are one of the tools you should use when evaluating the operations of your firm. 

How can you use utilization rates for your law firm?

Calculating utilization rates gives lawyers the important data and insights they need to make informed business decisions. For example, you can use utilization rates to better understand the profitability potential for different legal services. 

Utilization rates can also provide insight into resource allocation. For example, if an attorney’s utilization rate is quite high, they might need more resources and support. 

What is the average utilization rate for law firms?

As the 2021 Legal Trends Report shows, the average lawyer bills 2.5 hours of their 8-hour workday (based on a survey conducted in 2019). That’s an average utilization rate of 31%. Average rates might vary based on practice area, geographical location, and how many years of experience a lawyer has. You can get a better sense of industry standards by reviewing average industry utilization rates. 

According to the 2021 Legal Trends Report, on average, full-time lawyers work 49.6 hours each week. Of course, this number will vary and in this context, we’re using it as a starting point for comparison. As for the number of billable hours attorneys work per year, this too will vary. Legal business consultants suggest that 1650 billable hours is a realistic goal for attorneys working at smaller firms. If we take 1650 billable hours and divide this by 50 weeks (assuming attorneys take two weeks of vacation), we get 33 billable hours per week. Now, we can divide this by the 49.6 figure mentioned above (average hours worked per week) and we get an average utilization rate of 66%—more than double the industry average in 2019. 

So, how can attorneys close the gap between 31% and 66%? Below we outline the process to increase your firm’s utilization rate. 

How to increase your law firm’s utilization rate

Track your firm’s utilization rate

What gets measured, gets managed. Now that you know how to calculate utilization rate, you need to determine what your firm’s utilization rate is. Then, set a calendar reminder to record it regularly. This might be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on your goals. 

Have a clear, realistic goal 

If your goal is to have a utilization rate of 45% in January, record this and set your tracking notifications accordingly. Planning backwards from your benchmark goal enables you to be clear on what you’re working towards and stay accountable. 

Track time

Time tracking and calculating law firm KPIs go hand in hand. Tracking time doesn’t have to be complicated or laborious. Once you understand how to track utilization rates and the importance of it, it’s evident why you should prioritize time tracking. 

Automate your law firm with cloud-based legal practice management software 

It’s never been easier to automate non-billable, administrative tasks. Automation simply means you can reduce the amount of time you spend on non-billable work. With automation, you can free up your time to take on more billable, client-centered work. 

Automation can help Improve your utilization rate. Learn more by reading our blog on law firm automation. 

Delegate and do less non-billable work

Delegation isn’t easy, but it certainly is necessary. The high-growth and tech-centric accounting firm, Envolta, listed “learning to delegate” as one of the five hardest things you’ll have to face as a business owner. Not even the best attorneys can do everything themselves. On the contrary, the best attorneys succeed largely thanks to their ability to delegate. With the right legal practice management software, assigning tasks (from a workflow perspective) is a lot easier. 

Optimize your law firm’s workflows and processes

Streamlining processes from client intake to billing will have profound effects on your firm’s workflow. Moreover, optimization should enable you to take on more billable hours, therefore supporting your utilization rate goals.

As for law firm collections, how do you optimize the process for your firm? Using modern and flexible payment solutions can help you streamline the payment process and get paid faster.

Learn more about how you can improve your collection rates, streamline your payment process, and make it easy for your clients to pay with Clio Payments.

Your utilization rate is one of the keys to your law firm’s success

By accurately tracking your time, you can be confident when calculating your firm’s utilization rate. The more you track your efforts, the easier it will be to identify challenges, solutions, and improvements. 

Using an all-in-one practice management software with time tracking and reporting capabilities will help you measure your utilization rate. And ultimately, work towards tracking progress and growing this number, all while prioritizing the client-centered experience. 

A career in the legal industry can be incredibly rewarding. However, the optimal role or area within the landscape of the legal profession might take some time to find. If you’re trying to decide between pursuing a career as a paralegal or as a lawyer, you may be wondering what’s the difference between a paralegal and a lawyer. You also need to consider many factors—the “right” choice will depend on your unique skills, career and personal goals, and situation. 

To help inform your decision-making process, the following guide will outline some of the similarities and differences between a career as a paralegal and a lawyer. Read on to learn more about the different duties, education requirements, and potential salary expectations between the two roles.

Difference between a lawyer and a paralegal

To better understand the difference between a paralegal and an attorney, let’s start by clarifying what a paralegal can do. Paralegals may complete many of the same legal tasks that a lawyer does (except those proscribed by law). But paralegals can only do so on behalf of and under the supervision of a licensed attorney. 

So, while they’re both legal professionals who complete substantive legal work, there are a few broad—but important—areas of difference between lawyers and paralegals:

• The ability to practice law. Put simply—licensed lawyers can practice law. Conversely, there are far fewer formal requirements (we’ll touch on this more later in this post).
• Tasks and responsibilities. While most legal careers come with a certain amount of stress, lawyers shoulder a greater degree of responsibility for legal work. This is because a supervising attorney is ultimately responsible for their paralegal’s work. 
• Qualification. Lawyers must meet a specific set of educational, training, and licensing requirements to practice law. Conversely, to work as a paralegal, there are far less formal requirements (we’ll touch on this more later in this post).
• Salary and compensation. While becoming a lawyer requires more education, there is a higher potential return on investment. As we will discuss later, the earning potential of lawyers is generally much higher than that of paralegals.

Difference between a lawyer and an attorney

In the United States, the terms “lawyer” and “attorney” are used interchangeably. In fact, according to the American Bar Association (ABA), “attorney” is another name for a lawyer. However, there is a technical distinction to be aware of. 

A person who has earned their law degree—also known as a Juris Doctor (JD) degree—by graduating from an ABA-accredited law school is considered a lawyer. But a law degree alone doesn’t qualify you to represent clients in court. An attorney (or “attorney at law”) is a person who has graduated from an accredited law school and who has also passed the bar exam and been licensed to practice law in a state. An attorney is licensed to represent a client in court.

So, while people often mean the same thing referring to attorneys and lawyers, an attorney is always a lawyer. But it’s possible that a lawyer may not be an attorney.

Can paralegals become a lawyer?

With the proper education and training, a paralegal can absolutely become a lawyer. 

Paralegals gain the legal knowledge and experience to know if pursuing a career as a lawyer is a good match for their skills and personality. Also, paralegals’ understanding of the law and experience may make it easier to get through their legal education. However, even experienced paralegals will need to complete the same educational and licensing requirements as all other attorneys in order to practice law.

What’s the difference between a paralegal and a lawyer in terms of job responsibilities? 

It’s important to stress that the roles of both paralegals and lawyers vary greatly depending on factors like practice area, level of experience, and type of law firm. However, we can compare the general job duties and responsibilities of lawyers and paralegals.

It can sometimes be confusing to differentiate between the job responsibilities of paralegals and lawyers because paralegals take on legal tasks on behalf of a supervising attorney. Also, a paralegal’s job responsibilities are quite similar to those of a lawyer (this is the key benefit of hiring a paralegal). 

For example, paralegals often take on the following tasks on behalf of their supervising attorney:

• Managing client communication and updating clients on their case status.
• Reviewing and organizing client files.
• Conducting factual and legal research.
• Preparing legal documents like drafting discovery notices and pleading and preparing documents for transactions.
• Case preparation.
• Document management and drafting legal documents.
• Interviewing clients and witnesses.
• Assisting their supervising attorney at closings and trials (for example, by gathering case information).

However, while attorneys may do any of the above tasks, they have the additional job responsibilities that paralegals are not allowed to take on, including:

• Giving clients legal advice.
• Accepting or rejecting client cases.
• Representing clients in court.
• Setting their attorney fees.

Additionally, lawyers are bound by many ethical responsibilities that come with being a lawyer—including when it comes to working with paralegals. 

Ethical rules for lawyers working with paralegals

As outlined by ABA Model Rule 5.3 in regards to nonlawyer assistance, lawyers must make reasonable efforts to ensure that their nonlawyer employees (including paralegals) conduct themselves in a way that is consistent with the professional conduct rules and obligations that the lawyer is bound to. These rules are also reiterated by Guideline 1 of the ABA Model Guidelines for the Utilization of Paralegal Services.

What’s the difference between a paralegal and a lawyer in terms of salary?

One key advantage that lawyers have over paralegals is earning potential. 

Factors like practice area, firm size, experience, and geographical location impact the salary ranges of lawyers and paralegals. But on the whole, lawyers garner significantly higher incomes than paralegals. Bearing these factors in mind, we can use national averages as a general comparison.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) cites the median 2020 pay for paralegals and legal assistants as $52,920 per year. Note that the BLS combines paralegals and legal assistants here, though there is variance between the roles. By comparison, the BLS median 2020 salary for lawyers was $126,930 per year—more than double the median salary of paralegals and legal assistants.

What are the job prospects for a paralegal vs. a lawyer? 

Wondering what the difference between a paralegal and a lawyer is in terms of job prospects? Pursuing a career in the legal industry—whether as a paralegal or an attorney—is a sound bet, with the BLS showing growth in the job outlooks of both types of roles. 

However, with a projected growth rate of 12% between 2020 and 2030 (which is faster than average), the employment outlook for paralegals and legal assistants looks to be slightly better than that for lawyers, which is projected at 9% (or as fast as average) for the same 10-year future period.

According to the BLS, the heightened job prospects for paralegals stems from law firms looking to become more streamlined and efficient. Paralegals can assist lawyers with legal tasks at a lower cost while also driving efficiencies and innovation at law firms. It makes sense that paralegals will become increasingly in demand in the coming years.

What’s the difference between education and training required for a paralegal vs. a lawyer?

There is a significant difference when it comes to education and training requirements for paralegals and lawyers.

Paralegals: Experience, education, and certification 

According to the ABA, paralegals can be qualified by education, training, or work experience (or, more commonly, a combination of the three). This means that technically, there are no national formal education requirements for paralegals. However, some states do require paralegals to be certified and complete continuing legal education (CLE) training hours. So, be sure to check your state’s requirements if you’re considering a career as a paralegal.

In practice, most paralegals have some combination of formal education and paralegal-specific training and certification. This education includes an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies, criminal justice, or a similar field.

While certification is not currently a requirement for paralegals, it is a common way for paralegals to improve their career prospects. In terms of certification, there are many paralegal certification options available. However, the quality and reputation of these certifications can vary. If you’re looking to be certified as a paralegal, the NALA (National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA) and the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) offer reputable certification programs—as well as resources on paralegal education and training.

Lawyers: Minimum 7 years of post-secondary education, plus additional requirements 

This is a key answer to the “what’s the difference between a paralegal and a lawyer” question. For lawyers, the minimum education and training requirements are standardized. While individual states may have specific standards, according to the ABA’s professional requirements, before you can become a licensed lawyer (aka, an attorney) and practice law, you must at a minimum:

• Earn a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. A four-year degree is a prerequisite to be admitted into an ABA-accredited law school.
• Graduate from law school. You must attend and successfully complete three years at an ABA-accredited law school.
• Pass a state bar exam. You must study for and successfully pass a state bar exam, which tests your knowledge of the law. The exam will also test you on professional ethics and responsibilities—which you will have to uphold once you practice law.
• Pass your jurisdiction’s character and fitness evaluation. This evaluation means completing an in-depth questionnaire where you need to disclose details about your past (such as past convictions, misconduct, or substance abuse issues). Upon review, you must then be approved.
• Take an attorney’s oath. While the exact oath varies by state, you must swear to support the laws, as well as state and federal constitutions.
• Be granted a license. Once you’ve completed your state bar’s admission requirements, you must be granted a license from the highest court in the state (which is usually the state supreme court).

We recommend researching your jurisdiction’s rules before beginning a journey to become a lawyer.

After becoming a licensed lawyer

After you become a lawyer, there are ongoing fees and training requirements to maintain your license to practice law. Most states require an annual renewal fee to remain part of the state bar. Lawyers must also complete a certain number of CLE hours annually.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a paralegal vs. a lawyer?

Ultimately, the advantages and disadvantages of choosing a career as a paralegal or a lawyer will depend largely on your personal goals, passions, and background. However, there are a few general pros and cons of each career path.

Pros of being a paralegal

• You need less formal education and training. This means that it costs less (in time and tuition costs) to become a paralegal than it does to become a lawyer.
• You have ample job opportunities. With the employment outlook on the rise for paralegals, there will be more and more jobs available for trained paralegals in the years to come.
• You can find interesting, challenging work. As a paralegal, your day-to-day tasks can be varied to meet the needs of supervising lawyers and the firm. If you focus in one area of law or in a unique area (for example, in legal research), you can create a more specialized career as well.
• You may have less responsibility. While paralegals are a key part of a legal team, the responsibility for a matter’s outcome ultimately falls more to the supervising attorney. This may lead to lower work stress levels and better work-life balance when compared to attorneys.

Cons of being a paralegal

• You have less income potential. As previously discussed, the average paralegal salary is significantly lower than a lawyer’s. 
• You have less control over your work. Because paralegals work on behalf of a supervising lawyer, they have less autonomy over their professional decision making and workload (which can sometimes lead to paralegal burnout).
• You can’t practice law. If you want a career in the legal industry because you want to practice law and argue in court on behalf of clients, you can’t do this as a paralegal.

Pros of being a lawyer

• You have greater income potential. The average salary of a lawyer is higher than that of a paralegal, which makes becoming a lawyer your best bet if you’re looking to maximize your earning potential as a legal professional.
• You gain more prestige. Being a lawyer carries a lot of responsibility, but it is also a high-prestige, high-respect career path.
• You’re able to practice law. From arguing cases in court to giving legal advice, you are only allowed to practice law if you’re a licensed attorney.

Cons of being a lawyer

• You need more education and training. In addition to taking more years, more formal education could mean more student debt—which may offset the higher earning potential for lawyers early in their careers. 
• You have to pass the bar. Passing the bar exam is no easy feat and may not be the best choice for everyone—but it is a requirement to become a practicing attorney.
• You will take on more responsibility—and potentially more stress. Whether it’s due to challenging clients, long hours, keeping up with ongoing lawyer training requirements, or dealing with law school debt, being a lawyer can be incredibly stressful and can lead to lawyer burnout. 

Paralegals and lawyers are great career options

If you’re considering a career in the legal industry, it’s important to research the different options that are available to you, so that you can find the best fit for you. Of course, you’ll need to understand “what’s the difference between a paralegal and a lawyer” as well.

While there are many similar tasks completed by paralegals and lawyers, there are also many big differences between the two career paths. You may become a paralegal faster and require less education, but you may not be able to earn as much as a lawyer—and you cannot practice law. Alternatively, attorneys can practice law and are compensated well financially for their work. But it takes more years of expensive and challenging legal education to become a lawyer, and the work can be more stressful once you are one.

Whether you decide to become a paralegal or a lawyer, a legal career is a rewarding way to work with clients, use your skills, and earn a living.

Should law firms charge clients credit card processing fees? As the demand for online payments increases, many lawyers find themselves facing this question. 

We’ve seen discussions in the Law Community and other online forums, but what’s the best option for your firm? More importantly, what is the legal implication of each option? 

Law firms need to approach such questions with a client-centered mindset—what would be the best outcome for your clients? What decision would make them feel most valued? It quickly becomes clear that not passing credit card processing fees on to clients is the best choice for them.
In this blog post, we’ll share everything there is to know about credit card surcharges so you can make a final decision for your law firm. Perhaps, you’ll conclude that you’ll surcharge clients. Or maybe, you’ll understand that it’s in the best interest of your clients and your firm to absorb this expense. 

Surcharges vs. convenience fees

A law firm charges a convenience fee when a client pays with an online payment card—such as credit, debit, or eCheck—rather than a standard payment method like cash or check. Convenience fees are different from surcharges, which is a charge that only applies to credit cards. 

Credit card surcharge rules for law firms

What does it mean to pass along credit card processing fees to clients? Law firms need to consider several things:

Ethics opinions on lawyers accepting credit cards

Some lawyers don’t accept credit cards because they have many use cases—and not every state ethics committee has addressed these issues. Because of this, lawyers need to consider how they are using credit cards before accepting them, and how they will handle processing fees. 

In general, there are four ethical questions surrounding credit cards for law firms: 

1. Can I accept payment for legal fees and expenses via a credit card?
2. Can I accept the advance payment of fees via a credit card?
3. Can I pass a surcharge to my client to compensate for the processing fees charged by some credit card processors?
4. Can I set up recurring charges for customers once they have stored a credit card on file with my law firm?

In addition to these considerations, lawyers must also ensure that their state permits them to accept credit cards. There are also ten states with ethical opinions forbidding passing credit card surcharges to clients—we’ll discuss this next. 

What states don’t allow law firms to apply credit card surcharges?

Like we mentioned, credit card surcharges are not always legal. The following states prohibit surcharges:

• California 
• Colorado
• Connecticut 
• Florida 
• Kansas 
• Maine 
• Massachusetts
• New Your 
• Oklahoma
• Texas 

If you practice law in any of these states, it is illegal for you to add any surcharges or charge a convenience fee to clients. 

Compliance with credits cards beyond ethics opinions

Aside from ethical issues, compliance with credit cards is another deterrent from accepting online credit cards. Law firms accepting credit cards must comply with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards by major processors. If your law firm accepts credit card payments, there are five compliance goals you’re encouraged to reach: 

1. Build and maintain a secure network 
2. Protect cardholder data
3. Maintain a vulnerability management program 
4. Implement strong access control measures
5. Maintain an information security policy 

Other considerations regarding credit card surcharges for law firms

Rules for prepaid or debit cards

Under the Durbin Amendment, you cannot impose a surcharge on any prepaid credit or debit cards. The news rules make things tricky because your state may allow surcharges on credit cards, but a client might pay with a debit card. You can’t necessarily control or know beforehand what your client will use to pay. This increases your collection rates and delays your billing process. 

Rules for VISA, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover cards

If you’re considering credit card surcharging, in addition to ensuring it’s legal in your state, you must determine which cards your firm will accept and which credit card processing software you will use. Each credit card brand has its own set of rules and guidelines for merchants who surcharge clients. 

The general guidelines for each payment processor are: 

1. Notify the card networks and payments solution provider. You must give the credit card provider 30 days’ notice that you intend to surcharge clients.
2. The surcharge must not exceed your cost of acceptance for the credit card. This guideline means you cannot profit from surcharges—you can only charge the processing fee. 
3. Communicate surcharging clearly to clients. Clients must know your credit card surcharging policy beforehand. 
4. Record all credit card surcharges accurately. You need detailed invoices, and you need to indicate the final surcharge amount clearly. 

Benefits of not implementing credit card surcharges

While it might seem appealing to implement credit card surcharges, there are many benefits to absorbing the cost. 

Provide a better client-centered experience

Being client-centered extends to every aspect of your practice, including payments. With 66% of clients expecting law firms to pay online, adding surcharges can cause friction, making it more difficult for clients to pay the way they want.

Imagine you’re at a local bakery, and you pay with a credit card. The shop tells you you’ll have to pay an additional fee just because of your payment method—how would you feel? 

Improve collections by getting paid faster

Credit card surcharges make it harder for legal clients to pay you promptly. The fees can be a turn-off for clients. In addition, the fees may also result in the slow (and long process) of the client going to the bank, then dropping off either a check or cash to your office. 

If you don’t implement credit card surcharges, you need to follow fewer restrictions and processes—making it easy for clients to pay. When you make it easy for clients to pay, you will more likely get paid faster. This alone offsets surcharging. 

Increase cash flow

Getting paid faster means you’ll most likely improve your firm’s collection rates. Ultimately, your cash flow will likely increase. An improved law firm cash flow enables you to have the funds to settle any debts, reinvest in your business, and more. 

An alternative to credit card surcharges: eChecks with Clio Payments

Let’s say absorbing credit card processing fees aren’t an option for your firm, but you also understand the benefits of not surcharging. eChecks with Clio Payments is a great option. eChecks are only $2.00 per transaction with no hidden fees. Implementing this online payment method means you can provide a client-centered payment experience that also benefits your law firm business. This method makes payments frictionless and gives you the freedom to implement payment plans and automated payments—which is a preferred client payment method according to the 2021 Legal Trends Report.    

Focus on providing a client-centered experience

The process of credit card surcharging is complicated, and in some states, even illegal. There are many rules and compliance regulations when surcharging, and it’s not always in the best interest of your clients or business to impose this charge. By absorbing this expense, law firms practice a client-centered mindset and helping their business—by increasing cash flow and improving collection rates. 

If your firm cannot absorb credit card processing fees, looking for a payment solution that offers eChecks, like Clio Payments, is a great alternative. 

You can learn more about Clio Payments. 

Just as there’s more than one type of lawyer, there are also many different types of paralegals—and there are many paths a paralegal’s career can take. 

While the American Bar Association (ABA) offers a fairly basic definition of a paralegal, there really is no way to create a singular job description for a paralegal. Specifically, the ABA states that a paralegal is a qualified person who performs substantive legal work on behalf of a lawyer. It’s a misconception that paralegals all do the same type of work, as the roles, responsibilities, and areas of expertise can vary greatly from paralegal to paralegal.

With this in mind, if you’re a paralegal—or if you’re a lawyer looking to hire a paralegal—you’ll find it useful to understand the various fields and work duties that different types of paralegals can take on.

Read on to learn more about the different types of paralegals and the factors that influence the average pay of paralegals. We’ll also cover alternative careers for paralegals—within and outside of the legal industry. To begin, however, let’s start with the basics.

What does a paralegal do? 

Simply put, paralegals can do many of the legal tasks that a lawyer would do so long as attorneys supervise them. The only exceptions are tasks proscribed by law. 

While paralegals cannot practice law, give legal advice, accept or reject a case, set fees, or appear in court or at depositions, paralegals can complete a wide array of substantive legal work on behalf of supervising attorneys, including:

• Managing client communication and keeping clients up-to-date on their cases.
• Reviewing and organizing client files.
• Conducting legal research.
• Preparing and drafting certain legal documents.
• Conducting interviews with clients or witnesses.
• Assisting at closings and trials.

For more detail on what paralegals can and cannot do at a law firm, read our guide to what paralegals can do.

Education requirements for becoming a paralegal

As mentioned earlier, the ABA defines a paralegal as someone “qualified by education, training or work experience.” This qualification can come through a variety of avenues and doesn’t always require formal education or certification. However, some states qualify paralegals differently or require paralegals to be certified, so be sure to check the specific rules for your jurisdiction. 

Beyond minimum requirements, many law firms look for paralegals with some formal education (such as an associate’s or bachelor’s degree) or paralegal certification. This often means earning either a certificate of completion, which means that you’ve completed a paralegal education program. Or, law firms could also look for a paralegal certification—which refers to having completed a certification exam or meeting specified certification requirements.

To learn more about paralegal education and certification, you can look at these available resources: 

• ABA Standing Committee on Paralegals.
• The National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA).
• The National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA).
• You can also seek more state-specific information by finding paralegal associations by state online.

Additionally, there are also many less-formal opportunities for paralegals to gain knowledge, education, and training through avenues like paralegal networking, CLE courses, and even legal conferences.

Average pay for paralegals

Different types of paralegals can be paid varying salaries. The average pay for paralegals can vary depending on multiple factors like law firm seniority and geographical location. Paralegals (and legal assistants) in Connecticut, California, and Washington had the highest average salaries in 2020.

As a starting point, we can look to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which shows the median pay in 2020 for paralegals and legal assistants as $52,920 (note: the BLS combines paralegals and legal assistants, which impacts this figure). 

However, the most dramatic impact on paralegal salary is often the field of law that you work in.

The different fields for paralegals to work in 

There are many different types of paralegals you could choose to become—below are just a few areas different types of  paralegals may focus on.

Government 

Whether employed by local, state, or federal government law offices, government paralegals are the types of paralegals who assist government legal counsel. Paralegal roles in this field may focus on research (for example, of regulations), drafting communications, and processing contracts and legal documents. 

Working as a government paralegal is ideal for a paralegal that works well under pressure and enjoys working with legal documents. However, some roles may include opportunities to assist with community outreach (depending on the branch of government and the specific role). Additionally, because government paralegals are government employees, these roles often call for more formal education than other paralegal fields.

The average salary for a U.S. government paralegal is $77,359 per year according to Indeed.

Family practice  

Paralegals working in family law assist lawyers who are representing clients in family law matters. These matters could include custody disputes, child adoption, and divorce cases. In family law, paralegals will often spend time drafting court documents, organizing financial documents and files, and drafting correspondence.

Family law deals with issues that are often highly emotional and stressful for clients. That’s why paralegals in this area will be most successful if they have excellent communication skills, patience, and client service skills.

The average salary for a family law paralegal is $69,530 per year according to Indeed.

Criminal Law

Paralegals working in criminal law assist criminal defence attorneys or lawyers at prosecutors’ offices. In this field, paralegals may be tasked to help draft paperwork, conduct interviews, gather discovery information, draft motions, and conduct research to help build the legal case.

In terms of earning potential, criminal law paralegals tend to earn salaries on the lower end of the range for paralegals according to our research.

The average salary for a criminal law paralegal is $47,496 per year according to ZipRecruiter.

Divorce 

When it comes to divorce law, paralegals often play an important role in assisting a lawyer. Paralegals can assist divorce lawyers in gathering essential paperwork, preparing court filings and legal documents (such as separation and divorce documents), helping to conduct interviews and legal research, and scheduling.

In this area of law, it’s essential for paralegals to stay organized to ensure they handle all documents properly and schedule all appointments and court dates. In addition to a high attention to detail and aptitude for documentation, divorce paralegals also require a high level of client service, as divorce clients are often in the midst of a stressful and emotional time. 

Falling under the field of family law, the average salary for divorce paralegal is $69,530 per year.

Litigation  

Paralegals with an interest in trial law are often drawn to the field of litigation. Litigation paralegals support lawyers who are taking a case to trial—which means that litigation paralegals work in a fast-paced environment.

Litigation paralegals are often assigned tasks required to prepare for trial—such as interviewing witnesses and overseeing discovery. Similarly, litigation paralegals may assist their supervising attorney in court at trials. Spending a lot of time in court can be exciting for some, and stressful for others—where a paralegal falls on this spectrum may determine if they choose to focus on this area of law.

The average salary for a litigation paralegal is $56,159 per year.

Intellectual property 

Working in the world of intellectual property litigation, patents, copyright, and trademarks, intellectual property paralegals support their supervising attorneys in creating or maintaining intellectual property (such as a patent) or litigating intellectual property matters. Intellectual property paralegals complete tasks like communicating with clients, conducting research, and drafting applications. 

Aside from the types of task and business-oriented subject matter that come with being an intellectual property paralegal, paralegals in this field also benefit from having a wide range of employers to choose from. When it comes to intellectual property law, paralegals aren’t limited to working for a law firm. They may also find employment at a large corporation or the government—which means plenty of opportunity. Intellectual property paralegals also have high income potential, as paralegals in this field tend to make above the national average for paralegals and legal assistants ($52,920). 

The average salary for an intellectual property law paralegal is $84,259 per year.

Real estate 

Dealing with the intricacies of real estate law, real estate paralegals assist attorneys with matters related to property—from construction to purchasing to sales. 

Working as a paralegal in this area of law requires exceptional attention to detail and multi-tasking skills, as typical paralegal tasks (such as filing documents or drafting lease agreements) are often focused on important legal paperwork and contracts. With this in mind, being a real estate paralegal will be a good fit for individuals that thrive on working with documents.

The average salary for a real estate law paralegal is $53,145 per year.

Alternative careers for paralegals 

Working as a paralegal is rewarding in many ways. But it can also be stressful to maintain a challenging workload within an already tough, high-stakes legal profession. It’s also not uncommon for paralegals to feel varying degrees of paralegal burnout. 

If you’re currently a paralegal, but you’re considering taking a break or making a career pivot, the good news is that your hard-earned paralegal skills can also transfer into many other jobs. You could transfer to a different department, joining a different law firm, or finding a new, non-paralegal role. 

Here are a few alternative careers for different types of paralegals—within and outside of the legal industry—that match well with a paralegal’s existing skill set:

Project manager in the legal industry 

Project managers strategize, plan, execute, and revise projects on behalf of businesses. Legal project managers take skills and tools of project management—including planning projects, managing risk, and allocating budget and resources—and apply them to the needs of law firms. This is where someone with paralegal skills comes in.

Many of the key skills that a paralegal needs (like multitasking to manage complex projects and teams, communication, problem solving, and organization) are foundational to the success of a project manager. And, when project managers work in the legal industry, they do best with a healthy amount of legal-specific knowledge and experience—which is exactly what a paralegal already possesses. 

Legal marketer 

These are professionals who create and manage marketing strategies for law firms, attorneys, and legal clients. Legal marketers tap into an understanding of what potential legal clients want and need, and find ways to connect a law firm to those clients through marketing and brand awareness.

Paralegals who are skilled at client communication and experienced in working with the law likely already have a firm grasp of what clients look for when seeking legal advice, and can use that audience knowledge to guide marketing efforts like branding initiatives or content marketing.

Contracts administrator

As the name implies, a contracts administrator deals with contracts of all kinds (for example, contracts for the purchase of services). This could mean taking care of everything from preparing contracts, negotiating them, and reviewing contract documents.  

Successful contracts administrators must be excellent communicators, possess exceptional attention to detail, and be very organized—which are all also qualities of a successful paralegal. 

Compliance specialist

A compliance specialist (or compliance officer) helps their company to stay within their industry’s applicable regulatory framework. This means compliance specialists must stay on top of and interpret regulations, and create policies to ensure the company or organization stays within these regulations. Then, they have to implement those policies to ensure compliance is met. When issues arise, compliance specialists may investigate potential violations. Compliance specialists are increasingly common in industries like healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

There are many overlapping skills between paralegals and compliance specialists. Due to the nature of the role, compliance specialists must maintain high ethical standards, in addition to an ability to clearly communicate with a variety of individuals and teams within a company. Compliance specialists must also be comfortable conducting research and problem solving. 

Legal staffing recruiter

If you’ve worked as a paralegal, you already understand the importance of hiring the right staff for a law firm. Legal staffing recruiters use recruitment strategies, networking, and other talent management tools to help connect law firms with qualified employees, which could include finding lawyers, legal assistants, and paralegals. 

With any type of recruiting, communication, relationship-building, and critical-thinking skills are key to finding great candidates. When working within the legal industry, however, legal recruiters with industry knowledge and a familiarity with networking within the legal profession have an advantage.

These are just a few examples of alternative career paths that different types of paralegals can take. The key takeaway here is that paralegals learn many skills throughout their journey as a paralegal. That toolkit of skills can be applied to many types of paralegal careers. But those skills can also help you succeed in many roles outside of being a paralegal.

A paralegal has infinite paths 

The opportunities for different types of paralegals as legal professionals are seemingly endless. Whether that means as a generalist paralegal, as a paralegal focused on a specific practice area, or as a professional using paralegal skills to thrive in an alternative career.

If you’re currently a paralegal (or you’re hoping to become one), taking the time to investigate your options can help ensure you’re on the best path for your particular professional background and interests. Now is also the time to look to the future, as paralegals can drive innovation at law firms. From embracing the possibilities of paralegal automation to using your firm’s legal practice management software to make your paralegal work more efficient and effective. For example, Clio Manage’s case management features make it easy for paralegals to organize and review client files on behalf of their supervising lawyer.

Paralegals are an integral part of the legal profession and they aren’t all the same. By understanding the different avenues available, you can play up your strengths, become invaluable to the right legal team, and grow your career.