The CBA does have an excellent referral service for attorneys…they really market it unlike many other bar associations.

“Yes Mr. Smith, court today went well. The judge is putting a lot of pressure on the other side, and while we still have a bit of a road to hoe, I am guardedly optimistic about our chances here.”

“By the way, as I mentioned in my last letter to you, the retainer you paid me will soon be exhausted. I will need another payment from you within the next two weeks or I will be forced to withdraw as your attorney. I would prefer not to go this route, but this is a business.”

If you are a solo attorney perhaps you have been in this situation, and to me, it is one of the more awkward aspects of running a small office. How to provide great advocacy and service on the one hand, while on the other hand, appropriately nudging late-paying clients in the right direction, or when push comes to shove, dropping those clients altogether.

I recently had breakfast with a colleague who transitioned from running his own office to a larger firm in the same practice area. When I asked him about this very situation, he mentioned that a client rang him to complain about the unfriendly call that the client received from accounting. Fortunately could take the position of  “I don’t know anything about that, but hey, if they pull the plug, they pull the plug.”

Of course there are ways to minimize this situation, that include the following, but it is tough when the uncompromising businessman and the sympathetic advocate are the same person.

• Counsel clients so that their cost expectations are realistic, and do this at multiple times throughout the course of representation.
• Do a good job of assessing the case and get an appropriately sized retainer fee, with a little wiggle room for the unexpected.
• Give clients plenty of heads up before the money runs out. Have hard and fast rules about when they will be notified and make sure they know those rules up front.
• If you have to put the payment pressure on and you are the only one to do it, bifurcate the communication. Counsel the client as you would, but when you call or write about payment issues, communicate only about payment.

Sooner or later though, it is going to happen, particularly in this economic climate. And it might be a little awkward. You have a client you really like, and a case that is quite interesting. On the other hand, business is business. You think ‘I do it this time, and next thing you know I am going to be running a pro bono outfit.’

Even if it is a client you do not particularly care for and a case that you have seen before, you cannot walk away just like that. As attorneys, we have ethical considerations and obligations to our clients, regardless of the money in our trust account.

So what do you do when there is nobody else around to put the financial pressure on? Or even when there is, when the client knows who is making that decision? Is it as easy as distinguishing advice calls from money calls? How do you communicate to a client that you have the gas pedal all the way to the floor until the clock says 0.00 (but once the clock says 0.00…)?

Law schools that lead to the least debt:  HERE.

Law schools that lead to the most debt:  HERE.

As my law firm continues to grow by leaps and bounds I thought it was a great time to add a few additional voices to the SIC team. Click here for more information about our two newest writers. I’m very excited about some new, diverse perspectives from fellow Chicago legal entrepreneurs and more frequent postings.

Peter R. Olson
Editor-in-Chief

PS:  Now’s a great time to consider Solo in Chicago advertising opportunities. Get your product/service in front of our 15,000 monthly visitors NOW! Great rates!

Not sure how to cast your ballot next Tuesday, CLICK HERE for $.02 from that noted philosopher and jurist, Da Coach!

A light dusting of snow and good old judicial elections…I smell another shake-up in the “Parentage Dungeon” as at least 3 of 5 sitting judges are on the ballot:

Why hasn’t there been a blog post since November 8, 2011?

No joke, I answered a Craigslist ad in mid-October regarding the possible takeover of a Chicago family law practice from a retiring law firm owner. The ad was anonymous but it turned out that the poster was actually a friend of mine and someone I had helped in the past so it seemed like a good fit. The last 3 months I’ve basically been running 2 firms simultaneously leaving my blogging time on the back-burner.  But I’m going to have some great material regarding law firm buyouts/mergers upcoming.

Most importantly I’m excited to be welcoming a couple new colleagues to the Solo in Chicago team. More to come on them and their posts will start appearing immediately as we continue to make SIC the ‘go to’ resource for Chicagoland legal entrepreneurs.

I was recently referred a great client from a law school classmate. Without getting too specific basically it’s a guardianship estate for an affluent elderly woman. There’s nothing particularly contested it’s just a matter of some regular client counseling and preparing the various annual reports for the court that are required in guardianship cases. And in a rather short period of time I’ve been able to clean-up the case which I took over from another attorney. The previous lawyer had not been doing quality work and frankly he had been bilking a wealthy client while accomplishing little. This case really got me thinking about how I should be handling the lawyer referrals I’m in a position to make.

Because I can be a TON more valuable to my clients if I have a specific and vetted group of attorneys to refer business too. I’ve surely passed referrals over the last 9 years of my legal career but I haven’t done it right. Too often I’ve passed a phone number on that I got from another person without knowing anything about the individual to whom I was passing the referral. That method might be a half step above just sending a person to the Yellow Pages but it’s not much better.

Being a great REFERRER will allow me to:

• Serve my clients better;
• Bring more value and better service to my clients;
• Generate business for myself and other lawyers.

I am a vetted referral source for the law school friend I mention in paragraph 1 and that friend has referred thousands of dollars in legal work to me over the years. Do you really think that the client this guy referred to me above isn’t going to get absolute A+ service from my Firm? Because it’s not just about her it’s about not letting my referral source down as well. It’s sort of like 10x just the regular old, single client.

And that’s what I want to start doing immediately for my clientele:

Provide vetted lawyer referral sources that will allow them to receive A+ legal services.

What’s Next?  

Basically I’m motivated to serve my clients better plus I’ve been honing my niche more narrowly with RJon Robins’ help. What do I do? I’m a pro-marriage and pro-family divorce lawyer. So that’s all I’m doing:  Cook County divorce and paternity matters because family relationships don’t end just because a marriage/relationship does. And, because family break-up shouldn’t destroy lives. And far too many litigants and children are screwed-up for life because of stupid, anti-family choices their divorce lawyer made. Not me.

So if you’re in my niche…I want your referrals! But for everyone else I want to know you better and really ‘vet’ you and get to know you well so that my client’s are benefiting big time from your A+ legal services.  Lets do lunch. You know where to find me (leave a comment, Facebook, @soloinchicago, peter@soloinchicago.com). Specific practice area requests to come but if you know my niche you probably know some of the referral areas I need a LOT of right now.

I found this nugget buried in Cook County Board President’s Toni Preckwinkle’s FY12 budget proposal:

Parking fees will be instituted at County facilities. Paid parking will be expanded to include the Criminal Court Building at 26th and California and suburban district courthouses at a fee of $4.75 per day or $65 per month.  This is initiative is expected to generate $4 million in revenue.

It’s obviously just ‘proposed’ at this point but I bet this has a decent chance of sticking. So start mapping out your public transportation options, find those alternative free residential parking options (I can’t picture too many other than maybe near the Rolling Meadows courthouse), or raise your fees.

This isn’t unprecedented…I don’t get to the Collar Counties too much but my recollection is that Will and Lake Counties charge for parking while Du Page does not. Others?

Question:  What has been my most valuable source of client referrals?

Answer:  My law school classmates.

I have very fond memories of law school. Do you? It wasn’t quite as fun as undergrad but many of the things that made college fun also applied to law school…sort of a care free time in life, spending time around a peer group of a similar age/interests, and it was intellectually stimulating. That’s my dominant law school memory. But I do also recall it being a pretty small ‘fishbowl’ like existence. Even at huge, state universities law schools aren’t too large. There were roughly 110 people in my graduating class, far less than even my high school. And there always seemed to be some gossip and just nasty treatment of people occurring. Personally I never saw the value in mistreating or being unkind to others simply as a life ethos…there’s a right and wrong way to treat people. Yet it was definitely part of the law school life for whatever reason.

But if you’re in law school, don’t be a jerk! It might be costly later on.

Is there a more naturally captive and potentially profitable source of business for you than the 100-200 persons whom you graduated law school with, know you well, likely practice law in the same state as you, are in position to refer business to you, but also include enough practice area and geographic diversity so that there’s business to go around and opportunities for reciprocity??

 If you’re currently in law school…develop great friendships and supportive relationships now. It will payoff later.

If you’re out of school you need to engage this group immediately before too much time has past, plus it’s easy to do. Surely you have a class picture or graduation program with a list of your graduating class and most alumni associations have a pretty good alumni directory on the Internet these days. If you’re thinking about starting a practice your law school classmates should definitely be on that initial announcement mailing list. I’d suggest for most of us this is a small enough group that a spreadsheet with each classmate, contact information, and their practice areas should be maintained. And then treat these persons like any VIP referral sources…get them on your newsletter mailing list, wine and dine, simply all the personal touches that show them you care.