Are you prepared to fire three clients? This was one of the suggestions of Massachusetts elder law attorney Bill Brisk at his session on "Operating and Managing an Elder Law / Disability Law Practice" at the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys' fall program (formerly called the "Institute") in Jersey City, N.J., in November. The session was directed to elder law attorneys interested in learning more about the business side of their practices and willing to take some risks outside of their comfort zone.
Brisk based his presentation on several core ideas derived from two very different books: Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It (HarperCollins, 1995) and Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Back Bay Books, 2002). Brisk highlighted Gerber's assertion that a successful business owner (in this case, the successful elder law attorney) cannot merely rely on his technical skills, but must also be an effective administrator and entrepreneur. Brisk coupled Gerber's theory with Gladwell's hypothesis that small, often incredibly minor, changes can produce large results. Brisk said the two ideas in combination suggest that elder law attorneys can improve their businesses by honestly evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their practices and then making small adjustments that will significantly improve their firms.
As one illustration of how to put this into practice, Brisk asked the audience to "fire three clients by Monday." While Brisk conceded that this idea may seem extreme, his point was that every firm has clients who take up an inordinate amount of time without providing any benefit, financial or otherwise, to the practice. By getting rid of a few problem clients, a busy elder law attorney can devote more energy to other clients, thereby maximizing the value of her services and cutting down on wasted time. The minor change -- eliminating a small drag on the practice -- could lead to a much greater result.
The same concept applies to staff management. Document executions, Brisk explained, are classic time wasters. In his practice, Brisk has delegated document executions to a staff member who is friendly and organized so that Brisk can attend to other business. (He also admitted that he isn't good at document executions, having mixed up the documents so many times that his staff had to use blue paperclips for the husband's paperwork and pink paperclips for the wife's to help him keep track.) But in making the personnel change at document executions, Brisk didn't want the clients to feel neglected, so he shows up at the start of each meeting to make sure that there aren't any questions and to "bless" the proceedings. By making the small change of removing himself from the actual document execution and letting a qualified staff member take ownership of the process, Brisk has been able to free up a tremendous amount of time that he can use to grow his practice.
Client Development
Although administrative changes help streamline a practice, client development grows and maintains it. Brisk offered a number of ideas for growing a practice, but a thread linking most of his tips was the concept of keeping the client, or potential client, engaged with the firm. One easy way to do this, he said, is to send the firm's newsletter to a client along with the bill. Brisk found that this simple change dramatically increased the number of clients who promptly paid their bills. Another way to cement the firm/client relationship is to ask for client feedback when a matter comes to a close and to have a staff member follow up if clients don't offer it. Brisk also emphasized that the potential client must feel a sense of urgency during the initial consultation; telling a potential client that she will get a retainer agreement in the mail will not convert her into a paying client, and it will not make the client believe that the attorney is providing a valuable and important service.
Brisk said his approach works when the elder law business owner engages in a great deal of self-reflection and analysis. He encouraged attorneys to have a well-developed mission statement for the firm and to carefully review referral sources to determine why good clients came from certain people. He also advocated working with a business coach to receive feedback and criticism from an outside perspective. To drive home his emphasis on the vital importance of honest and intense evaluation, Brisk ended his presentation with several minutes of silence, during which attendees were supposed to quietly brainstorm ways that they could immediately improve their practices. The hour and ten minute discussion was accompanied by more than 90 pages of materials, including a very informative article on running an elder law practice, tips for maximizing document executions, and sample forms.
To order the streaming video of these and other sessions, as well as accompanying session materials, visit NAELA's Web site, www.naela.org, and click on the Online Education Library tab under Events.
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