Blog | Beyond The Bar

There are essentially two schools of thought on whether lawyers should offer free consultations to prospective clients. On one side are the lawyers who argue that their time and advice is valuable and that a free consultation undermines that value. These lawyers tend to practice in areas in which the client will be looking for very specific advice in the initial consultation. Requiring payment for an initial consultation reinforces to the client that the lawyer expects to get paid for his or her services. Requiring payment before or at the outset of a consultation also cuts down on clients who schedule an appointment but never show up.

On the other side are the attorneys for whom free consultations are commonly offered in their practice areas. This is particularly true for contingent fee work, such as personal injury, workers compensation, and plaintiff’s employment law. Other high-competition practice areas, such as bankruptcy and criminal law, tend toward free consultations. In these areas the free consultations are a way of convincing the client to visit your office to meet with you, at which point you have the opportunity to “close the deal” and convince the client to sign a representation agreement.

As one might expect, regardless of the practice area, newer and less-busy lawyers tend to offer more free consultations. Although one may give away some value in answering a prospective client’s questions for free, the good will that is built with the prospective client may lead to the person hiring the lawyer or referring friends to the lawyer. Somewhat paradoxically, as lawyers become more successful, they tend to be less willing to give away their time.

There is much room for creativity around initial consultations. In my practice of representing lawyers, I offer up to 15 minutes of an initial consultation for free, except that if the conversation runs longer than 15 minutes, I charge a minimum fee of about half my hourly rate. That way I can encourage lawyers to call me with quick, straightforward questions but I still can get paid for the value of my experience and advice if the question is more complex.

To learn more about finding value in free consultations, click here

Finding Value in Free Consultations

By Eric Cooperstein on May 13, 2013

There are essentially two schools of thought on whether lawyers should offer free consultations to prospective clients. On one side are the lawyers who argue that their time[…]

Once you have a planning system in place (see first blog post on this topic), use it to create a master list that incorporates your personal and professional goals as well as existing and future projects. One of the great time management ironies is that it takes time to make time—but a lot less time than most people think. Set aside a half hour this week to create your master list and capture everything in one place. Then plan to set aside 5-10 minutes once a week (for example, Sunday evening or Monday morning) to look at your master list, update it, and determine what needs to be done this upcoming week. Flag the items that need to be done this week. Then spend 2 minutes or less at the beginning and/or end of each day pulling from the weekly priorities into the plan for that day. When working on your daily task lists, realistically assess the time it will take to get tasks done and the steps involved. A good rule of thumb is to estimate the time it will take and then double it. Most of us underestimate the time it will take to get things done and then fail to deliver on time, don’t produce our highest quality work, or, most commonly, end up doing it last minute! To create a smart daily task list, keep these tips in mind:

Keep tasks realistic, small, and achievable
If you cannot accomplish a certain task in one to two hours or, at the maximum, in one day, break the items down smaller
Give every task a deadline, starting from the end and working backwards to the present – and build in time for inevitable interruptions!

Struggle with Time Management? Step Two: Actually Use Your Task Management System

By Kathleen Post on May 2, 2013

Once you have a planning system in place (see first blog post on this topic), use it to create a master list that incorporates your personal and professional[…]

Now is always a good time to put a planning system into place if you don’t have one. Tracking goals, projects, action steps, tasks, and activities by keeping them “all in your head” or on post it notes scattered around the office is not a sustainable strategy for the long haul. As you ascend the career and life ladder, things only get more complicated so it is smart to start early by putting strong task management strategies into place. The idea is to capture all tasks, big and small, in a system that exists outside of your mind. Not only will this cut down on excessive mind clutter, which reduces anxiety and stress, but it will enable you to chart a proactive course towards your goals and feel fulfilled by what you’ve accomplished. To find the right system for you, consider your preference for paper or technology. Do you prefer to write your tasks on paper and check them off? On your computer or smart phone? Combination? Here are a few products to consider. For paper planning options, check out www.franklincovey.com or www.levenger.com or search the Web for others. In terms of electronic options, a simple word document or excel spreadsheet that tracks your tasks can be more than adequate. There are also endless “apps” out there these days. One free app I like is called Wunderlist – www.wunderlist.com. It works across platforms so you can access it from your smartphone or online while you work and always have your list at the ready. It’s simple and flexible for keeping track of both work and personal tasks. The key here, no matter which route you choose to go in, is to find a system that you will actually use. A simple spiral bound notebook used together with an electronic calendaring tool such as Microsoft Outlook is a perfectly good system. Fancy isn’t the goal here. Simple is the goal… because a simple system is a system that is actually used!

Struggle with Time Management? Step One: Get a Good Task Management System

By Kathleen Post on April 30, 2013

Now is always a good time to put a planning system into place if you don’t have one. Tracking goals, projects, action steps, tasks, and activities by keeping[…]

Last week a lawyer wrote to me and asked if it was ethical to charge, in addition to a flat fee for representing a client in a matter, an additional “administrative fee” of $25 for copies, postage, and other costs that might be incurred in the matter. I see these types of fees occasionally in retainer agreements, whether they’re hourly or flat.

The ethical question is not hard: all fees and costs must be reasonable. That leaves a lot of leeway, although there is authority that says that charges for costs should be related to the lawyer’s actual costs and not be a profit center for the firm.

If it’s difficult or time consuming to track costs for a particular client, you could charge a reasonable administrative fee. I would first want to track the costs in various client matters to see how much those costs typically run. But if ten clients’ costs are $100 and ten clients’ costs are zero, I don’t think it is reasonable to charge every client $50.

The practice of charging a vague administrative fee reminds me of when I go to my auto mechanic and there are charges on my bill for parts, for labor (per hour, by the way), and “shop supplies.” When I ask what that item means, the response is usually a noncommittal “Oh, you know. Rags and stuff.” No, actually, I don’t know. Rags? Seriously, you’re charging me extra for rags?

If you don’t want to bill separately for costs, fold them in to the hourly rate or flat fee you charge the client. Let’s leave the charges for shop supplies to the mechanics.

Shop Supplies

By Eric Cooperstein on April 23, 2013

Last week a lawyer wrote to me and asked if it was ethical to charge, in addition to a flat fee for representing a client in a matter,[…]

We’ve been reviewing the four components that make up a lawyer’s brand: technical skills, client service, dynamic approach and personal qualities. Having a dynamic approach to your practice means that you look at it from a big picture, longer-term perspective. Instead of flatly moving from assignment to assignment doing what’s expected of you and nothing more, you stretch yourself each step of the way. You think through what the next steps of a project might be. It means you are a forward thinker about what’s going on in the legal industry, your particular practice and the industries of your clients.

Having a growth approach to how you practice not only benefits you in that it expands your skill set and your knowledge base, it makes you more competitive, more efficient , more versatile. In short, it enables you to add more value.

Here are some questions to ask to help you have a dynamic approach your practice:

1.) Save and Shave: If you’re working on an assignment that you’ve already done in the past, ask yourself how you can save time? Can you implement a precedent? Can you build on knowledge that you now have from the previous time? Then, challenge yourself to shave some time off how long it takes from the last time. Even if it’s just five minutes it will challenge you to be more efficient. Sometimes over-thinking and overworking is the enemy of value and quality. Just bringing this level of a strategic the strategic thinking to your assignment will add a layer of value that wasn’t there the last time. And, clients and supervisors always appreciate saving time and/or money.

2.) Past, Present and Future: Think about the clients you serve. The niche you may be in. The industry those clients are in. What was going on five years ago? What’s going on now? What is coming down the pike in five years? Think through what that might mean. How does that inform how you practice today? How does it inform how you might practice five years from now? How can you get out in front of that for yourself; for your practice group/organization; for your client’s? Are there articles or client alerts you should be writing? Are there checklists you can be developing to help your client with what might be coming? Are there presentations and lectures you should start delivering to establish you as an expert or thought leader.

3.) Lessons Learned: If you’ve drafted a document or done a particular assignment several times, sit down, take five minutes and think through what have you learned from the first time you did it to the last time. What do you know now that you didn’t know then? For example, what are the top five problems that could come up and merger agreement and how do you work around them?

4.) Style, Approach, Philosophy: Ask yourself the question: what style of lawyer am I? What’s my philosophy and approach to things? So for example, if you’re a litigator, are you a “dog with a bone” deposer? Do you leave no stone unturned when it comes to trail preparation? If you’re a corporate attorney, are you a “nice guy” s negotiator? Just being able to answer these questions or work them into a conversation with a client, whether internal or external, or a supervisor will send them a signal that you really think long, hard and strategically about not just “what” but “how” you’re practicing law.

A Positive Brand Takes More Than Just Showing Up

By Diane Costigan on April 17, 2013

We’ve been reviewing the four components that make up a lawyer’s brand: technical skills, client service, dynamic approach and personal qualities. Having a dynamic approach to your practice[…]