The legal industry has been evolving, with trends like web, web applications, cloud-based portals, and client-first legal experiences redefining modern legal practices. Today’s legal clients expect to access their information 24/7, regardless of where they are. They expect to be involved in managing their affairs. AI is the accelerant, turning a slow burn into a flashpoint. AI is redefining the business model, changing billing, hiring, and the necessity of full-time employees to deliver value.

The AI tsunami isn’t coming, it’s already here. AI, once an unpaid intern, has evolved with mentoring and supervision into a tireless customer service, junior associate, analyzing cases, summarizing documents, and drafting responses. It doesn’t sleep, demand bonuses, partnerships, or billing credit, and keeps improving weekly.

Firms call this 'efficiency.' But for many junior attorneys and paralegals, it means redundancy. But this isn't the end of the profession, it’s the end of a model. The smartest legal professionals aren’t waiting. They’re adapting and building. They’re LegalPreneurs.

What Is a LegalPreneur?

A LegalPreneur isn’t just a solo attorney or paralegal working independently. It’s a legal professional who decides to own their practice, their time, and their client experience, instead of renting their skills by the hour.

The LegalPreneur journey begins when you realize:

• The firm isn’t your safety net, adapting to change is

• AI isn’t your competition, it’s your Co-Founder

• Freedom isn’t a perk, it’s your baseline

A LegalPreneur isn’t just a solo attorney or partnership, or even a paralegal working independently. It’s a legal professional who decides to own their practice, their time, and their client experience, instead of renting their skills by the hour. LegalPreneurs use technology to unbundle legal services, automate what doesn’t require judgment, and focus on delivering quality human oversight and insight where it matters most for their clients. They’re not waiting for a call, promotion or protection, they're building something of their own.

The LegalPreneur Journey

• Stage 1 Awareness: “The system won’t protect me” Learn what’s being automated, outsourced, or replaced

• Stage 2 Spark: “Maybe I could do this on my own” Chat with your AI-co-founder. Sketch your niche, and a simple offer

• Stage 3 Build: “I want ownership, not just income” Set up your systems (portal, payment, comms)

• Stage 4 Launch: “Let’s go” Get your first clients through your existing network and mentors

• Stage 5: Grow: “This is sustainable.” Refine with continuous improvement. Build trust, earn referrals

LegalPreneurs are launching or rebooting their client-first practice. Planting seeds and building and addressing real community needs. Using portals like PrivyCounsel and owning the client relationship end-to-end, with no gatekeeping, no partner filter We experienced similar disruptions and changes during the pandemic, which acted as a forcing function. Case studies Rebuilding a Solo Law Practice after the 2020 Pandemic and Balancing Family and Career are examples.

PrivyCounsel is more than a case management system. It’s a launchpad. For $25/month, it empowers any attorney or paralegal to set up their own secure, client-facing practice in under an hour. Fully remote. Fully yours.

The age of LegalPreneurs has already begun.

Will you bill, or will you build?

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

  According to the ABA in 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. In 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women.

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

  Intangible assets comprise ~90% of the value your law practice. Consider a framework to help build a sustainable

• I Just Took The Bar Exam. Now What

• Simplify 2025 with the Best Value Legal Practice Portal

The first day of spring brings more than just longer days and warmer air—it carries the energy of renewal, growth, and fresh possibilities. Just as nature sheds the remnants of winter to make way for new life, this is the perfect time for attorneys and paralegals to reflect, refresh, and reimagine their practice.

Let’s harness the momentum of the season and engage in some serious “spring cleaning” for your legal career—not just your office space, but your mindset, workflows, and overall approach.

🌱 Shed the Old, Embrace the New

Spring cleaning starts with letting go of what no longer serves you.

• Declutter Beyond the Desk: Take a critical look at your processes, client intake methods, and even the types of cases you handle. Are inefficiencies holding you back? Are you taking on matters that no longer align with your long-term goals?

• Identify What’s Working (and What’s Not): Be honest—what brings you fulfillment and success? What drains your time and energy? A thriving practice requires focusing on what adds value and letting go of what doesn’t.

• Embrace Technology: Explore legal tech solutions that streamline your workflow, improve client communication, and automate repetitive tasks. Efficiency isn’t just about saving time—it’s about freeing yourself for the work that matters most.

🌿 Plant the Seeds of Growth

New opportunities begin with intentional change.

• Revisit Your Goals: Where do you see yourself and your practice in the next year? Spring is an excellent time to realign your business plan and set fresh, actionable targets.

• Reconnect with Your “Why”: The legal profession is demanding, but remembering why you chose this path can reignite your passion. What impact do you want to make? What legacy do you want to leave?

• Invest in Yourself and Your Team: Continuous learning fuels success. Whether it’s CLE courses, mentorship, or training for your staff, professional development is the foundation of a thriving practice.

🌸 Cultivate New Opportunities

Spring is about expansion and new possibilities.

• Explore Emerging Legal Niches: The legal landscape is always evolving. Are there emerging practice areas that align with your expertise? Consider diversifying your services or refining your niche.

• Enhance Client Experience: Happy clients are your best advocates. How can you improve responsiveness, transparency, and overall service delivery? Even small improvements can lead to stronger client relationships and referrals.

🌞 Spring Is More Than a Season—It’s a Mindset

Spring symbolizes fresh beginnings, and your legal practice is no exception. By embracing change, shedding what no longer serves you, and nurturing new growth, you can create a legal career that is not only successful but also deeply fulfilling.

Take a deep breath, step into the new season with intention, and let this be the time your practice truly flourishes.

What changes are you making this spring? Share your thoughts and inspire fellow legal professionals!

FOR ATTORNEYS, PARALEGALS, AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• Balancing Family and Career: A Journey to Work-Life Harmony with PrivyCounsel

  Case studies: an attorney and primary caregiver, balances his responsibilities as a father, husband, attorney, and caregiver…

• Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

  Case studies of working parents and caregivers in the Legal Field. Meet Lorena, a driven entrepreneur who…

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

  According to the ABA in 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. In 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women.

• 2022 yearend review: Enhancements to Simplify Your Law Practice

  Improvements made to the simplest and most intuitive unified client communication and matter management portal as of Dec 24🎄

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

  Intangible assets comprise ~90% of the value your law practice. Consider a framework to help build a sustainable…

Welcome to simplicity

As 2024 comes to a close, it’s time to gear up for a productive and profitable 2025. This holiday season, let PrivyCounsel help you kick off your resolution to simplify with the best-value practice management, attorney, and client portal on the market.

Our Year-End 2024 Holiday Update is designed to streamline your operations, boost profitability, and enhance client satisfaction—so you can start the new year with clarity and confidence.

What’s New for 2025?

• Central Dashboard: Everything you need in one place—appointments, tasks, and KPIs.

• Enhanced Client Communication: Seamlessly manage appointments, emails, and client updates.

• Effortless Time Tracking & Billing: Bill accurately, track time with ease, and simplify invoicing.

• Optimized Task Management: Stay ahead of deadlines and keep cases on track.

• Collaborative Tools: Work smarter with your team and engage clients effectively.

Why Choose PrivyCounsel?

• Work Smarter: Save time and maximize productivity.

• Delight Clients: Build trust with streamlined communication and transparency.

• Gain Insights: Track your performance and make data-driven decisions.

• Best Value: The most cost-effective solution for modern legal practices.

Ready to Simplify?
Take the first step toward a better 2025. Experience the simplicity and power of PrivyCounsel with a free, no-risk trial.

👉 Start Your Free Trial Now

Need help onboarding or exploring features?

Request a demo, contact us , info@privycounsel.com or call us at 866-779-9949.

Interested in earning more? Ask about our Referral Program!

This holiday Christmas season, give your practice the gift of simplicity. PrivyCounsel: Simplicity Redefined.

Case studies

• Resilience and Flexibility: Case Study of Rebuilding a Law Practice

• Balancing Family and Career: A Journey to Work-Life Harmony with PrivyCounsel

• Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

SOLO ATTORNEYS AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

  According to the ABA in 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. In 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women.

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

  Intangible assets comprise ~90% of the value your law practice. Consider a framework to help build a sustainable…

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…

Learn More

Permalink

]]>Simplify 2025 with the Best Value Legal Practice PortalPrivy CounselTue, 19 Mar 2024 14:00:00 +0000https://blog.privycounsel.com/new-privy-insight-blog/spring-forward-a-time-for-renewal-and-growth5cfe9357b300f3000186b09d:5cfe9730125c810001add770:65f5a4c7cca7b307f518236bHappy Spring equinox - March 19, 2024

As the days lengthen and a gentle warmth creeps into the air, we can't help but feel a shift. Spring is upon us, a season synonymous with renewal and rebirth. Here at PrivyCounsel, we're embracing this spirit of reinvention, not just in the blossoming world around us, but also in our professional and personal lives.

Spring is a natural invitation to take stock. Just as nature awakens from its winter slumber, we too can use this time for introspection. Here are a few ways to harness the energy of spring and cultivate growth:

• Personal Assessment: Dedicate some quiet time to reflect on your goals and aspirations. What areas of your life do you want to cultivate? Are there skills you'd like to develop or habits you'd like to break? Spring cleaning isn't just for your home; it's a chance to declutter your mental space and set intentions for the months ahead.

• Professional Renewal: Seize this season of renewal to assess your entrepreneur path. Is your legal practice blossoming, or stuck in a rut? Seize the season's fresh energy to revitalize your legal journey. Assess your firm's health to uncover hidden potentials. Identify areas for improvement and start taking positive action. Spring is also the perfect time to secure your firm's future. Create or update your succession plan to ensure your legacy thrives for years to come.

• Embrace New Beginnings: Spring is a time for new beginnings. Perhaps you've been putting off starting a passion project or learning a new skill. Reconnecting with a family or a friend. Let the season's optimism propel you forward.

Spring is a potent reminder that growth and change are inevitable. By embracing this season of renewal, we open ourselves up to new possibilities, both personally and professionally. At PrivyCounsel, we believe in the power of transformation and are here to support you on your journey. Let's spring forward, together.

Case studies

• Resilience and Flexibility: Case Study of Rebuilding a Law Practice

• Balancing Family and Career: A Journey to Work-Life Harmony with PrivyCounsel

• Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

start Your Free Trial Today ☀️

SOLO ATTORNEYS AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

  According to the ABA in 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. In 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women.

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

  Intangible assets comprise ~90% of the value your law practice. Consider a framework to help build a sustainable…

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…

Learn More

In our recent Blog, New Generation of Legal Professionals women continue to outnumber men in law school, the upward trend of aging population, inflation, and the changing demographic of attorneys, as well as other other factors that have caused a paradigm shift of how work is done in the legal industry. Not only has there been a paradigm shift in the way work is done, but moreover, there has been a shift in our focus between career path and personal lives.

The legal industry is no different, experiencing a changing environment in how work is done and services are provided, with an influx of younger, more progressive attorneys, more women becoming attorneys and many attorneys reaching the end of their careers. The solo and freelance attorney trend in the US is also on the rise, due to factors such as the popularity of flexible and remote work, the rise of technology and online legal resources, the growing demand for affordable legal services, and the desire for more autonomy and control over one's career. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also caused a dramatic increase in people having to Restart and Reboot, and working remotely, resulting in a surge of new businesses and a change in focus toward work-life balance. This has motivated many to shift away from traditional employment with large institutions to become freelancers and start their own practices, redefining the legal profession in the new 'Knowledge - Creator Economy.'

One of the toughest things an Entrepreneur Attorney can do is to look beyond the “normal” or traditional structure of a law firm. In other words, have a progressive mind set. The legal profession has undergone profound changes and more so since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. One striking result is how the legal profession is adjusting to the widespread transition from in-office work five days a week to more flexible hybrid and remote schedules. According to the ABA’s report, 87% of lawyers say their workplaces allow them to work remotely. Nearly two-thirds of lawyers in private practice can work remotely 100% of the time or have the flexibility to choose their own schedule, while 23% are required to work in the office one to three days a week. More than half of in-house lawyers can work remotely 100% of the time or make their own schedule, and 32% must work one to three days in the office.

Remote work is particularly important to younger lawyers, many of whom are women and lawyers, who feel so strongly about this option that 44% of them would leave their place of employment for a greater flexibility to work remotely or hybrid elsewhere. Significantly, the majority of lawyers report that working remotely did not adversely impact the quality of their work, productivity, or billable hours. With remote and hybrid work comes access to a considerably larger talent pool, alongside the added perk of enhancing work-life balance, especially for women lawyers who balance work and family responsibilities.

CASE STUDIES

Our previous case study showcased Lorena , Oscar, and Stephanie’s journeys as working parents and caregivers in the solo and contract legal practice. James's case study, "Challenging the Status Quo," awaits us, as he leads a thriving boutique law firm with an intricate balance of business growth, work, and life.

James

Meet James, a forward-thinking attorney who has been practicing law for 30 years. He began his career as an associate attorney at a traditional large brick and mortar law firm, where everything was done on paper and computers were primarily used for word processing. As the digital age emerged, James recognized the potential of technology to streamline the practice of law and improve client satisfaction.

When, James started his own law firm, which initially remained primarily paper-oriented practice. However, over the years, James and his team focused on finding ways to integrate technology into their practice. They adopted digital tools and processes, such as the PrivyCounsel attorney client portal, which unified access to digital files and client information and streamlined communication. By 2020, James's firm was equipped for remote access and had fully adopted PrivyCounsel as their unified practice management system. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and business all but shut down, James's firm was able to continue practicing law seamlessly with hardly a skip in their beat. They had built a resilient and powerful law practice designed for remote and hybrid work. Additionally, the transition to online and zoom court appearances and virtual appointments in our area closed the gap to make the law practice 100% virtual.

Looking back, James recognizes that without embracing digital transformation, his firm would not have the client base, level of client satisfaction, or profitability that it currently enjoys. The adoption of digital tools and platforms not only improved the efficiency of his practice but also allowed for a higher level of client service, resulting in a higher referral rate. James's story is a testament to the importance of forward-thinking and preparation in building a successful and resilient law practice in the digital age. James favors a simple unified communication portal that's easy to adopt for new clients and law office team members, allowing real-time collaboration among clients, staff and attorneys to ensure everyone's on the same page. His law firm dashboard provides the team of the daily calendar and task prioritization. Moreover, the system sends activity notifications to keep the team abreast of client comments and upcoming tasks and appointments.

Key Takeaways

The law firm's client portal and unified communication dashboard have substantially improved collaboration, client engagement, and overall team effectiveness and efficiency by ~40%.

The use of PrivyCounsel for managing contract and freelance attorneys has enabled the firm to take on more clients and complex cases without sacrificing quality or flexibility. The firm values simplicity and ease-of-use in software adoption, emphasizing the need for a single source of collaboration and truth that captures ALL case activities (data).

The dashboard's real-time Key Performance Indicators prioritize the most important factors, while the reports provide valuable insights for analyzing case performance, tracking time and expenses, monitoring client communication, measuring team performance, and forecasting future workload. With these insights, the firm can make data-driven decisions that optimize resource allocation, improve profitability, and increase client retention and referral rates.

Share your journey as a legal entrepreneur. Tell us about the challenges you've faced and the lessons you've learned. Help us achieve our mission of inspiring entrepreneurship in the legal profession with your story. Join PrivyCounsel's mission and make a difference.

Case studies

Resilience and Flexibility: Case Study of Rebuilding a Solo Law Practice after the 2020 Pandemic

Balancing Family and Career: A Journey to Work-Life Harmony with PrivyCounsel

Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

SOLO ATTORNEYS AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• Resilience and Flexibility: Case Study of Rebuilding a Solo Law Practice after the 2020 Pandemic

  Stephanie, a successful solo law practitioner who had a thriving practice and affiliations with other law firms…

• Balancing Family and Career: A Journey to Work-Life Harmony with PrivyCounsel

  Case studies: an attorney and primary caregiver, balances his responsibilities as a father, husband, attorney, and caregiver.

• Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

  Case studies of working parents and caregivers in the Legal Field. Meet Lorena, a driven entrepreneur who…

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

  According to the ABA in 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. In 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women.

• 2022 yearend review: Enhancements to Simplify Your Law Practice

  Improvements made to the simplest and most intuitive unified client communication and matter management portal as of Dec 24🎄

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

  Intangible assets comprise ~90% of the value your law practice. Consider a framework to help build a sustainable…

In our recent Blog, New Generation of Legal Professionals women continue to outnumber men in law school, the upward trend of aging population, inflation, and the changing demographic of attorneys, as well as other other factors that have caused a paradigm shift of how work is done in the legal industry. Not only has there been a paradigm shift in the way work is done, but moreover, there has been a shift in our focus between career path and personal lives.

The legal industry is no different, experiencing a changing environment in how work is done and services are provided, with an influx of younger, more progressive attorneys, more women becoming attorneys and many attorneys reaching the end of their careers. The solo and freelance attorney trend in the US is also on the rise, due to factors such as the popularity of flexible and remote work, the rise of technology and online legal resources, the growing demand for affordable legal services, and the desire for more autonomy and control over one's career. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also caused a dramatic increase in people having to Restart and Reboot, and working remotely, resulting in a surge of new businesses and a change in focus toward work-life balance. This has motivated many to shift away from traditional employment with large institutions to become freelancers and start their own practices, redefining the legal profession in the new 'Knowledge - Creator Economy.'

CASE STUDIES

In our last case study of Working Parents and Caregivers in the Legal Field, we shared Lorena’s story and Oscar’s story. In our next Blog we will share James’s story about a successful boutique law firm, who have navigated the art of balancing work and life. With a forward-thinking mindset, and the help of PrivyCounsel, a legal practice management portal, they've been able to streamline work processes, work from anywhere, and collaborate effectively with their colleagues and clients.

Let's dive into Stephanie’s story of adapting and thriving in a ever-changing world.

STEPHANIE

Meet Stephanie, a successful solo law practitioner who had a thriving practice and affiliations with other law firms using PrivyCounsel. However, after having her first child during the COVID-19 pandemic Stephanie and her family decided to move out of state to be closer with family, and she took a job with a law firm. However, shortly after starting her new job, Stephanie had her second child, and the change in her family dynamic made it difficult to continue working in an in-office setting.

Recognizing the need for flexibility, Stephanie decided to take a leap of faith and restart her own solo law practice and affiliations with PrivyCounsel as the unified communication portal for attorneys, paralegals and clients. Stephanie's new solo practice is built on the principles of remote work and affiliation with other firms, which provides her with the flexibility to spend more time with her family while still generating income. The ability to work remotely and maintain affiliations with other firms has allowed Stephanie to create a resilient and sustainable practice that meets the needs of her growing family.

Stephanie's story is a testament to the importance of resilience and adaptability in building a successful law practice. Her willingness to reset her affiliation and build a solo practice that is flexible and utilizing the benefits of remote work has allowed her to balance her professional and personal life. This case study also highlights the importance of being open to change and being willing to take risks to achieve our goals. Additionally, it showcases the power and simplicity of using PrivyCounsel as a communicate.

Here’s what Stephanie says about PrivyCounsel-

Stephanie’s favorite features are new appointment reminder email that is automatically sent to the client. She also likes that a task can be assigned to the client. These and other Privycounsel features makes solo work a lot easier.

Key takeaways

Stephanie, a successful solo law practitioner who had a thriving practice and affiliations with other law firms using PrivyCounsel. Due to family circumstances Stephanie moved out of state and took a job with a law firm but after having her second child, she found it difficult to continue working in an office setting. Recognizing the need for flexibility, Stephanie decided to restart her solo law practice and affiliations with PrivyCounsel as the unified communication portal for attorneys, paralegals and clients. This new solo practice is built on the principles of remote work and affiliation with other firms, which provides her with the flexibility to spend more time with her family while still generating income. The case study highlights the importance of resilience, adaptability and being open to change in building a successful law practice, as well as the power and simplicity of using PrivyCounsel portal.

Overall, resilience and flexibility are complementary skills that work together to help us adapt and thrive in an ever-changing world. By cultivating these traits, we can become more resilient and better equipped to handle whatever challenges come your way.

next case study

Will dive into James’s story. A boutique law firm going from Paper to Pixels: A Case Study of a Tech-Savvy Attorney. Learn how James's forward-thinking approach transformed his paper-oriented law firm into a fully equipped, digital powerhouse. Discover how the adoption of the digital tools not only improved his firm's efficiency, but also allowed for a higher level of client service, resulting in a higher organic referral rate.

Join the community at PrivyCounsel and share your experiences as an entrepreneur in the legal profession. We want to hear about your journey - the lessons you've learned, and the obstacles you've overcome. Our mission is to support and inspire entrepreneurship in this field, and by sharing your story, you can help us achieve that goal. Be a part of Doing Good, LLC mission and difference today.

For SOLO ATTORNEYS AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• Balancing Family and Career: A Journey to Work-Life Harmony with PrivyCounsel

  Case studies: an attorney and primary caregiver, balances his responsibilities as a father, husband, attorney, and caregiver.

• Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

  Case studies of working parents and caregivers in the Legal Field. Meet Lorena, a driven entrepreneur who…

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

  According to the ABA in 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. In 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women.

• 2022 yearend review: Enhancements to Simplify Your Law Practice

  Improvements made to the simplest and most intuitive unified client communication and matter management portal as of Dec 24🎄

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

  Intangible assets comprise ~90% of the value your law practice. Consider a framework to help build a sustainable…

In our recent Blog, New Generation of Legal Professionals women continue to outnumber men in law school, the upward trend of aging population, inflation, and the changing demographic of attorneys, as well as other other factors that have caused a paradigm shift of how work is done in the legal industry. Not only has there been a paradigm shift in the way work is done, but moreover, there has been a shift in our focus between career path and personal lives.

The legal industry is no different, experiencing a changing environment in how work is done and services are provided, with an influx of younger, more progressive attorneys, more women becoming attorneys and many attorneys reaching the end of their careers. The solo and freelance attorney trend in the US is also on the rise, due to factors such as the popularity of flexible and remote work, the rise of technology and online legal resources, the growing demand for affordable legal services, and the desire for more autonomy and control over one's career. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also caused a dramatic increase in people having to Restart and Reboot, and working remotely, resulting in a surge of new businesses and a change in focus toward work-life balance. This has motivated many to shift away from traditional employment with large institutions to become freelancers and start their own practices, redefining the legal profession in the new 'Knowledge - Creator Economy.'

CASE STUDIES

In our last case study of Working Parents and Caregivers in the Legal Field, we shared Lorena’s story . Next we will meet Oscar, Stephanie, and Joe - successful paralegal, attorneys, and boutique law firm, who have navigated the art of balancing work and life. With a forward-thinking mindset, resilience, and the help of PrivyCounsel, a legal practice management portal, they've been able to streamline work processes, work from anywhere, and collaborate effectively with their colleagues and clients. Let's dive into Oscar’s story.

OSCAR

Meet Oscar, an attorney who specializes in Estate Planning and Conservatorship. Oscar's journey to becoming a successful attorney has been filled with challenges and personal struggles, but through it all, he has remained determined to succeed.

During his second year of law school, Oscar's father was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. Despite the looming possibility of his father's death, Oscar and his wife decided to plan a wedding so that his father could be his best man. Tragically, his father passed away just three months after the wedding.

Despite the loss of his father, Oscar chose to continue on with law school, knowing that it would be a difficult task to balance his grief and his studies. A year later, Oscar and his wife welcomed their first son while still in law school.

In addition to his role as an attorney, Oscar is also the primary care-giver for his mother, who is a six-time cancer survivor. He manages to take his son to practices and sporting events, while also making time to take his mother to all of her doctor's appointments and cancer treatments. Oscar works late hours and on weekends to balance his responsibilities as an attorney, husband, father, and care-giver. This is made possible with PrivyCounsel, a practice management portal for lawyers that allows him to leverage remote and mobile access anytime, any place. PrivyCounsel also enhances collaboration with office staff and the team approach to professional legal services.

Despite the challenges he faces, Oscar is determined to follow in his father's footsteps and put his family first. He is dedicated to spending quality time with his family through travel and hiking, and has a strong work ethic that allows him to balance his professional and personal responsibilities. Oscar's story illustrates the importance of perseverance, time management, and prioritization in balancing one's family and career. It also shows the valuable role that technology like PrivyCounsel can play in helping professionals achieve work-life balance by streamlining their workflow and allowing for remote access to work.

Here’s what Oscar favorite PrivyCounsel feature, that's tough, because quite honestly, I think PrivyCounsel as a whole is FANTASTIC, and I truly mean that. However, if I had to choose one, or two, I would have to say having the ability to internalize notes with the team, and/or self, on the "same" page as the client communications is great, especially when dealing with matters, e.g. Conservatorships, that involve a lot of back and forth between the client/attorney/staff, and a lot of internal notes ensuring that the proper documents are being prepared, deadlines are being met, information is being gathered, etc. This feature allows me to quickly cross reference between all relative information in a timely, and therefore, effective manner, because it's all located on the same page. Having said that, this feature works wonderfully with any type of matter, not just Conservatorships because it allows you to manage so many aspects of the matter you are working. The second feature I like, which could arguably be tied into this first feature, or be made part of, is having the appointments, tasks, and documents tab located on the same page, for the same reasons I indicate above. It allows me to cross reference and therefore manage all the "material" aspects of the matter, e.g. documents, client communications, internal notes, collectively, in real time, and if I have to upload a document to either share, or not, in the moment, the ease of doing so is awesome, and in the same respect, if the client needs to upload a document, the ease of uploading that document into ST and then back into PC to either share, or not, is again, just awesome.

Key TAKEAWAYS

Oscar, an attorney and primary caregiver, balances his responsibilities as a father, husband, attorney, and caregiver with the help of PrivyCounsel, a practice management portal for lawyers. The portal allows him to leverage remote and mobile access anytime, any place, and enhances collaboration with office staff. Despite the challenges he faces, Oscar is determined to follow in his father's footsteps and put his family first. He is dedicated to spending quality time with his family through travel and hiking, and has a strong work ethic that allows him to balance his professional and personal responsibilities. His story illustrates the importance of perseverance, time management, and prioritization in balancing one's family and career. And how technology like PrivyCounsel can play an important role in helping professionals achieve work-life balance by streamlining their workflow and allowing for remote access to work. Oscar's favorite feature of PrivyCounsel is the ability to internalize notes with the team, and/or self, on the "same" page as the client communications, and the documents tab located on the same page-having a unified matter management system. Communication, collaboration, and document management all in one location.

our next blog will dive into Stephanie’s story

The case study is about Stephanie, a successful solo law practitioner who had a thriving practice and affiliations with other law firms using PrivyCounsel. Due to family circumstances Stephanie moved out of state and took a job with a law firm but after having her second child, she found it difficult to continue working in an office setting. Recognizing the need for flexibility, Stephanie decided to restart her solo law practice and affiliations with PrivyCounsel as the unified communication portal for attorneys, paralegals and clients. This new solo practice is built on the principles of remote work and affiliation with other firms, which provides her with the flexibility to spend more time with her family while still generating income. The case study highlights the importance of resilience, adaptability and being open to change in building a successful law practice, as well as the power and simplicity of using PrivyCounsel as a communication tool.

CASE STUDIES

• Breaking the Mold: Achieving Extraordinary Results by Challenging the Status Quo - A Case Study

• Resilience and Flexibility: Case Study of Rebuilding a Solo Law Practice after the 2020 Pandemic

• Balancing Family and Career: A Journey to Work-Life Harmony with PrivyCounsel

• Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

Share your journey as a legal entrepreneur. Tell us about the challenges you've faced and the lessons you've learned. Help us achieve our mission of inspiring entrepreneurship in the legal profession with your story. Join PrivyCounsel's mission and make a difference.

For ATTORNEYS Paralegals AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

• 2022 yearend review: Enhancements to Simplify Your Law Practice

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

  Intangible assets comprise ~90% of the value your law practice. Consider a framework to help build a sustainable…

In our last Blog New Generation of Legal Professionals women continue to outnumber men in law school, the upward trend of aging population, inflation, and the changing demographic of attorneys, as well as other other factors that have caused a paradigm shift of how work is done in the legal industry. Not only has there been a paradigm shift in the way work is done, but moreover, there has been a shift in our focus between our career path and personal lives.

The legal industry is no different, experiencing a changing environment in how work is done and services are provided, with an influx of younger, more progressive attorneys, more women becoming attorneys and many attorneys reaching the end of their careers. The solo and freelance attorney trend in the US is also on the rise, due to factors such as the popularity of flexible and remote work, the rise of technology and online legal resources, the growing demand for affordable legal services, and the desire for more autonomy and control over one's career. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also caused a dramatic increase in people having to Restart and Reboot, and working remotely, resulting in a surge of new businesses and a change in focus toward work-life balance. This has motivated many to shift away from traditional employment by large institutions and become freelancers and start their own practices, redefining the legal profession in the new 'Knowledge - Creator Economy.'

CASE STUDIES

A Study of Working Parents and Caregivers in the Legal Field. Meet Lorena, Oscar, Stephanie, and Joe - successful paralegal, attorneys, and boutique law firm, who have navigated the art of balancing work and life. With a forward-thinking mindset, resilience, and the help of PrivyCounsel, a legal practice management portal, they've been able to streamline work processes, work from anywhere, and collaborate effectively with their colleagues and clients. Let's start by diving into Lorena's story.

Lorena

Meet Lorena, a driven entrepreneur who never thought she would become a mother. Despite her lack of experience with children and initial doubts about her ability to care for a baby, Lorena and her husband decided to start a family. They were blessed with a baby girl, Olivia, and Lorena took leave from her job to care for her new child.

However, when her leave was up, Lorena found it emotionally difficult to return to work and leave her baby for up to 10 hours a day. She knew she needed a different solution to balance her role as a mother and her career.

In this case, Lorena decided to start her own paralegal business using PrivyCounsel, a practice management portal for lawyers. By working from home and hiring a part-time nanny to help during the day, Lorena was able to continue working in the legal field while also being able to spend more time with her daughter. She is grateful to be able to have this flexibility and balance the demands of motherhood and her career.

Lorena's story illustrates the challenges that many mothers face in balancing their professional and personal lives. However, it also highlights the benefits of starting a business and embracing technology by using PrivyCounsel. The portal allowed her to effectively manage her law office, communicate with clients, and streamline her workflow all while working from home. This allowed her to serve her clients better while also being able to spend more time with her family.

Lorena's experience shows that mothers can be successful in their careers while also being a dedicated and loving parent. It also shows that starting a business can be a viable option for achieving work-life balance and finding a career that fits with one's personal and family goals. By using the PrivyCounsel practice management portal, Lorena was able to find a solution that worked best for her and her family, proving that it's possible to have it all.

Lorena’s favorite feature is being able to communicate with clients directly on their portal, and eliminating the need for emails. Email trains can get confusing, especially when you have multiple with the same client, so having it all in one place is great. It's also helped me see the history of cases when I've come in mid-way.

Key TAKEAWAY

Lorena, a driven entrepreneur and new mother, faced the challenge of balancing her career and family. She decided to start her own paralegal business using PrivyCounsel, a practice management portal, which allowed her to work from home and spend more time with her daughter. With PrivyCounsel, she was able to effectively manage her law office, communicate with clients, and streamline her workflow. Lorena's experience highlights the challenges mothers face in balancing their professional and personal lives, but also shows that starting a business and embracing technology can lead to a successful career and work-life balance.

our next blog will dive into Oscar’s story

The case study focuses on Oscar, an attorney and primary caregiver, who successfully balances his responsibilities as a father, husband, attorney, and caregiver with the help of PrivyCounsel. The portal offers remote and mobile access and enhances collaboration with office staff. Oscar prioritizes his family and work-life balance through perseverance, time management, and prioritization. The technology of PrivyCounsel helps him streamline his workflow, access work remotely, and manage communication, collaboration, and document management in one place. Oscar's favorite feature of PrivyCounsel is the ability to centralize notes, appointments, tasks, and communications, and documents on the same page.

CASE STUDIES

• Breaking the Mold: Achieving Extraordinary Results by Challenging the Status Quo - A Case Study

• Resilience and Flexibility: Case Study of Rebuilding a Solo Law Practice after the 2020 Pandemic

• Balancing Family and Career: A Journey to Work-Life Harmony with PrivyCounsel

• Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

Share your journey as a legal entrepreneur. Tell us about the challenges you've faced and the lessons you've learned. Help us achieve our mission of inspiring entrepreneurship in the legal profession with your story. Join PrivyCounsel's mission and make a difference.

ATTORNEYS AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

  According to the ABA in 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. In 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women.

• 2022 yearend review: Enhancements to Simplify Your Law Practice

  Improvements made to the simplest and most intuitive unified client communication and matter management portal as of Dec 24🎄

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

  Intangible assets comprise ~90% of the value your law practice. Consider a framework to help build a sustainable…

Startup | Growth | Maturity | Decline | Revival | Closure | TRANSITION to new owner | retirement…

Welcome to part one of future trends of the legal profession. Before we go into our 2022 useful case studies, let’s have look at the legal macro trends.

There are more than 1.3 million lawyers in the United States, and that number has barely changed in the past decade, according to the 2022 ABA National Lawyer Population Survey. In 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. The gains are notable, however, given that from 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women. And if women continue to outnumber men in law school, the upward trend may continue.

An aging population, combined with more workers taking early retirement to focus on family needs such as providing child care, and elder care, has created leverage for work/career transition and an extraordinary opportunity for entrepreneurship.

As with many other businesses and industries, the legal industry is among the top industries to experience a changing environment from the perspective of how work is done, and how services are provided.  Among other factors, this has to do with the changing demographic of attorneys.  There is an influx of younger more progressive attorneys, more women are becoming attorneys, and many attorneys are reaching the end of their careers heading for the new chapter in their lives.   

independence and flexibility

On top of that, according to the ABA, the solo and freelance attorney trend in the US is on the rise. This is due to a number of factors, including increased popularity of flexible and remote work, the rise of technology and online legal resources, the growing demand for affordable legal services, the increasing cost of traditional legal services which may make solo attorneys a more attractive and cost-effective option for clients, and the desire for more autonomy and control over one's career as many attorneys opt for the independence and flexibility of solo or freelance practice.

The influx of “new talent” creates a “new wave” of new ways to approach performing legal services. The legal profession is trending toward the lower cost facet of Freelance Paralegals, Legal Document Preparers and Paraprofessionals, as a viable alternative to attorney services.   If you’re thinking about “taking that next step” to advance your professional legal career as a solo or freelancer entrepreneur in the legal industry, now is a great time. The rate of change in the world has made it more possible and more affordable to strike out on your own, and or in parallel than in the past. Now more than ever people are approaching and operating business differently in their career. So many of us are working from home, hybrid or have become independent contractors and freelancers. This is no different for those in the legal profession.

2020 shut down

Then came the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020.  Due to the resulting shut down, we saw a dramatic increase in people working remotely and a dramatic shift to online commerce thus creating surge of new businesses. In the United States, new business creation is 50% above pre-pandemic with greater than 5 million new companies in 2021. In addition, per the U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics, the monthly average of high-propensity business applications rocketed upward in mid-2020 and has remained at record levels.

The shut down in 2020 pulled the trigger on changing our business landscape.  One of the results is that it forced us to take a hard look at our lives and our careers and professions.  2020 caused us all to put more of a focus on our family and our health and safety, and less on our work.  There definitely came a new focus on work life balance. Health concerns do that. 

Unexpectedly and positively the pandemic has motivated many to shift away from the traditional model of employment by large institutions and step out into self-sovereignty, self-employment, and the new “Creator Economy”. People are creating their own security by taking the power back in their hands and becoming freelancers and or starting their own practices.

The legal profession is being redefined in how to operate in this new ‘Creator Economy’.  Some of the change was voluntary.  Some was not.  People caught in the shutdown could not adapt quickly enough and their business or job became a casualty.  Despite being displaced the Creator Economy provided a new opportunity to revive, recover and reset.  The door of opportunity opened allowing us to reset our career path, our goals, and even our life priorities.  For those approaching the end of their career this could look like early retirement.  For those just starting out this could and has taken the form of transition to a new independent, entrepreneurial career plan. 

EVOLUTION OF LEGAL BUSINESS MODEL

If you are working in or entering the legal profession, law school, or others certification program, as a Legal Document Preparer (LDP) or Legal Document Assistant (LDA), you are in good company. The demand for non attorney legal professionals is an emerging sector with immense opportunity to adopt and embrace freelance structure and participant in the collaborative economy. Reason for this demand, is many are looking for affordable and quality legal support, especially on unconstructed matters, thus shifting bulk of the administrative work from attorneys either to LDP or LDA. Several states such as Washington, Utah, Arizona, and potentially California are looking to address the gap of the need for legal services and access to those services through the launch of legal paraprofessional programs.

The explosion of digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic has fast tracked the acceptance and shift of ‘being in office’ to ‘working remotely’. It has changed how business operate, especially within the legal profession. Now legal professionals now can work from anywhere and have the freedom and flexibility to manage few or as many clients as they want. With the technology transformation across industries, we are seeing the evolution of database systems fundamentally changing the way how organizations are doing business. One example of this is Blockchain for Contracts, the shift of digitization of paper-based contracts onto the blockchain. The digitization of paper-based contracts onto the blockchain holds the potential to revolutionize the way contracts are prepared, transacted, amended, stored, and accessed.

In the midst of the next evolution of the legal business model due to rapid technology development and the changing business environments and market demands. This combined with the after effects of the pandemic have drastically accelerated workforce decades old trends of, side hustle and self-employment, a creative and collaborative economy, and the embrace of the independent freelance structure.

This has also created something of a “sink or swim” environment for the legal profession.  Existing law firms are forced to redefine their work processes and practices to meet the legal professional changing needs, or possible phase out of existence.  The start of 2023 is a great time to reset, recharge and renew, to adopt and leverage, simple and useful technologies to increase your ROI and enhance your personal and professional journey.

Stay tuned for our next segment where we share some real life case studies that illustrate transitions to the new Generation of Legal Professionals.

CASE STUDIES

• Breaking the Mold: Achieving Extraordinary Results by Challenging the Status Quo - A Case Study

• Resilience and Flexibility: Case Study of Rebuilding a Solo Law Practice after the 2020 Pandemic

• Balancing Family and Career: A Journey to Work-Life Harmony with PrivyCounsel

• Achieving Work-Life Harmony in the Changing Legal Field: A Case Study for Attorneys and Paralegal Entrepreneurs

Share your journey as a legal entrepreneur. Tell us about the challenges you've faced and the lessons you've learned. Help us achieve our mission of inspiring entrepreneurship in the legal profession with your story. Join PrivyCounsel's mission and make a difference.

SOLO ATTORNEYS AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

  According to the ABA in 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. In 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women.

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

  Intangible assets comprise ~90% of the value your law practice. Consider a framework to help build a sustainable…

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…

PRIVYCOUNSEL

PrivyCounsel continues the mission forward to improve the health of your firm thanks for all the feedback and support in 2022.

IMPROVEMENTS include:

• Matter task assignments and dashboard

• Appointments and calendaring

• Client appointment reminders

• Client portal enhancements

• Simplification of user dashboard

• Automated FAQ predictive search

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Analytics to help discover where improvements are needed

• Itemized billing, timesheet, payroll, assignments, KPIs, and client referrals reports

In 2022 we also launched our recruiting with PrivyCounsel career page consider joining our team!

SOLO attorneys AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• New Generation of Legal Professionals

  In 2022, 38.3% of lawyers were female while 61.5% were male. In 1950 to 1970, only 3% of all lawyers were women

• Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

• “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

PrivyCounsel continues to drive their mission forward: “improve the health of your firm” by introducing new dashboard features this holiday season. These new dashboard features help simplify and bring focus on what matters most in your law practice.

what’s neW on the Dashboard

• Upcoming Appointments

  • Manage virtual or in-person appointments across all the clients (matters/cases) to display prioritized list of appointments.

  • With one click, you can add or update the matter appointment on your Microsoft, Apple, or Google calendars.

  • One click access the ‘Client eFile” for all internal and client communications, files, and financials.

  • Simplify appointment scheduling, edits, rescheduling, and cancel appointments.

• New client referral sources and reporting for a better client relationship and referrals focus.

• Enhancements to matter and task KPIs to bring focus and help prioritize the time in the law practice portal.

START YOUR FREE TRIAL

~Enjoy the journey

INSIGHTS to iMprove SOLO AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

• Insight #1: Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game? “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Insight #2: Measuring the Health of a Law Firm “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• Insight #5 The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Insight #6 Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

• Stabilize - Reset Your Law Practice

~Enjoy the journey

START your Test Drive

Your law practice dashboard gets a new feature to streamline the daily tasks and milestones.

what’s neW in Dashboard & Reports

• Matter tasks and milestones get their own Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in your dashboard, to bring realtime awareness and prioritization for what matters most in your law practice.

• From your dashboard KPIs navigate with one click to take action on what matter most.

• New reports for insight with a deeper understanding of the past trends and perspective to help improve the health of the firm .

START YOUR FREE TRIAL

As always, Contact us with any questions or for help in improving your law practice.

INSIGHTS FOR SOLO AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

Throughout the journey of practicing law, and as a business entrepreneur, student, mentor and leader.

• Insight #1: Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game? “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Insight #2: Measuring the Health of a Law Firm “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• Insight #5 The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Insight #6 Measuring ‘Sweat Equity’: How to Shape Your Law Firm Legacy

• Stabilize - Reset Your Law Practice

• What Matters Most for You Today Imagine you’re on a airplane and the flight attendant instructs you to put your oxygen mask on first, before helping others…

2020 forced the world to pause, to reimagine, to adapt, and to innovate toward a better future.

~Enjoy the journey

START your Test Drive

Insight #6 Objective

Generate awareness for your intangible assets, which comprise roughly 90% of the value your law practice. Share a foundational framework to help assess your current situation and set a roadmap for building a sustainable value-creation mindset and culture. Evolve from a transactional practice to a transformational, strategic one that earns month-month traction, equity creation and a generational paradigm shift for your clients, your team and yourself.

~Enjoy the journey…

The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched.

-Henry David Thoreau

At the beginning of this series of Insights articles, which spotlights the crucial question “What’s your endgame as the owner of your law firm?”, we discussed asset valuation as one part of “estate planning” for your law firm. That is, asset valuation is one factor in planning an exit strategy while doing good and positioning a younger attorney to succeed you after you sell.

Our ongoing business estate planning discussion is of vital importance. Roughly two-thirds of all attorneys in the U.S. run a solo practice, according to the American Bar Association. Take the risk-reward curve of running a law practice and now expound it to the next level.  That makes building, tracking, and determining your value over time, and avoiding what we call the “delusion of permanence,” essential.

We’re not just talking about office space or fancy copy machines, though. As we listed then, there are also your “intangible assets.” The research firm Ocean Tomo intangibles asset market valuation study estimates that 90 percent of the market value of S&P 500-listed companies springs from their portfolio of intangible assets. Between 1995 and 2015, the share of intangible asset market value increased from 68% to 84%. In July, Ocean Tomo updated the IAMV Study to investigate the economic effects of the novel coronavirus. We find that COVID-19 has accelerated the trend of increasing IAMV share, with intangible assets now commanding over 90% of the S&P500 market value. The growth in the value of Intellectual Capital Equity® can be seen when evaluating the market capitalization of the S&P 500 as shown in the chart below.

INTANGIBLE ASSETS REFLECT THE TRUE VALUE OF YOUR LAW BUSINESS  

An intangible asset is an asset that lacks physical substance; in contrast to physical assets, such as machinery. Examples include the Reputation, Skilled learning team culture, Entrepreneurial spirit, Loyal customer base, Backlog, Contract and affiliate relationships, Website and domain, Brand name recognition, Know-how, Process onboarding and training manuals, Systems and procedures, Process and technologies, Client relationship management database, Case management database, Marketing campaigns, Copyrights, Trademarks, Supplier and partner base, Growing demographic trends, Total addressable market, Locations local economy …

For a solo attorney with years of refined craftsmanship under his or her belt, intangible valuation is arguably even higher. Much like we find in our cultural canon—Moby Dick, the Bible, Star Wars, a David Blaine magic trick, Wayne Gretsky ahead of the puck—what is unseen should be seen as more awesome than what is seen.

In other words, your “sweat equity” is worth a lot. Even though historically, most solo and small firm attorneys consider themselves successful, haste, it turns out, really can make waste if your eyes are too focused on the next career move and not on the present. We have talked about this before. Law schools just are not good at teaching the skills of entrepreneurship that produce substantial reward.

How, then, can you best account for these unseen “intangible assets?” Can your firm serve as a model for accruing real value for other attorneys, or potential buyers of your firm, to emulate? Think of this valuation as a dynamic process, one driven by a crucial question: Once you remove yourself and your legacy from the equation, how much is the “stuff” you leave behind really worth? Start accruing=this intangible value now into any succession planning you do..

FRAMEWORK for assessing and building your law firm’s intangible assets

Type of law firm that can take advantage of this framework include: Estate Planning, Family Law, Business Law, Corporate Law, Civil Practice/Litigation, Employment Law, Environmental Law, Tax Law, Patent Law …

1. Talent and leadership Culture

Assemble a collective of attractive mentees and affiliates. Without top talent in place, succession that generates a high-multiple return on investment may be difficult to achieve. Your expertise, toolbox of skills and ability as a mentor matters.

To that end, evaluate the affiliate counsel you use now, how to improve the quality of their work and ways to expand that roster. Be sure as well to continually pay attention to young attorneys circulating within your legal community and to ambitious local law students entering a legal job market that’s gained a measure of flexibility as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

You have the opportunity, starting now, to recruit, curate and mentor apprentices, to transfer your knowledge. By association, you make your young’ns more effective practitioners and agents of your firm who can generate business of their own. Here, talent plus time can equal power.

Consequently, there is incentive to build as broad a stable of affiliates and mentees as possible to find that “one percenter” ace to become your successor.

That succession, however, may arguably be only as good as your abilities as a leader. Your firm's culture is a reflection of how well you practice the art of leadership: a self-reinforcing web of beliefs, practices, patterns, and behaviors. Transformational leadership is focused on empowerment and continuous improvement that aligns with your goal of passing your legacy to the next generation seamlessly.

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.

-Peter Drucker

2. Systems and processes

Being unique and competitive. Practice efficiencies and best practices take time to build. Once capability is maturely established, they become an engine vital to the daily operational practice of the firm. In addition, contributes to the knowledge and preparation you exhibit in court on behalf of clients. To accomplish this optimally, focus and iterate on a narrow set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that tell the story of that efficiency. Think spending-to-budget ratios, caseload vs. case lifecycle, historical profit margin growth, client acquisition cost, motion and case win rates, and other “success” variables,

This could be as simple as an indexed case research file that covers your practice area thoroughly and creatively, something that builds a jurisprudence for a newbie to access the rule of nearly any case at any time. These days, this should also include the technology (database, applications, automation…) you’ve implemented to run the firm, enable client communication, case life cycle management and data-driven insights that inform your legal business strategies.

Can someone step in and “plug-and-play” with what you’ve built? Being smarter, more resourceful and more current than the other guy counts for something. It sets you apart and may be a prime example of your value creation as a position of strength in negotiations.

3. Relationships: Networks and happy clients = Retention and Referral

Generally speaking, solo law practice is a game for entrepreneurs with strong stomachs who hustle. To succeed, you need to put yourself out there. Build collaborative relationships, win respect and trust, follow up, build networks. Then tap into those resources as you carve out your legal niche.

The relationship network effects have considerable value, of course. Yet the true value goes well beyond that. As you seek your next chapter, look back. Think about how those relationships helped bring clients in the door via referral from other attorneys, inspired those clients to give you repeat business and led to new client referral business, thanks to the service level built on the foundation of a repeatable process and technology.

Your ability to leverage all those relationships to generate revenue over the years is something that can be measured through metrics, including KPIs. For example, keeping customer acquisition costs low should be a driver. Demonstrating such a strong percentage will likely be attractive to your suitors. Start with a thousand clients serviced within a given time period. One hundred of those clients do not hesitate to direct new prospects your way, Retain them, and you’ve generated an additional 10 percent in revenue organically.

Additionally, your data will demonstrate the KPIs of when your reached escape velocity on the entrepreneur journey with the help of your network and reputation Did you reach a point of sustainable growth based on client returned attention and referrals, thanks to the strength of your personal and professional networks and systems?

Ultimately, your goal should be to replace someone else’s price with your own value that defines how, and how well, you can exit your practice with confidence. Assess and build your value aggressively You must begin today. Your intangible assets will distinguish you as you proceed.

3. Goodwill: Assigning a number to your good name

Goodwill is an accounting term meant to capture the value of reputation in driving projected earnings and the purchase price. Essentially, this is the primary numerical representation of your intangibles.

Think about and quantify, to the best of your ability, the goodwill have you built up over the years. Are you seen as the “go-to” resource in your community for a particular practice area or type of case? Do your clients and peers hold you in high regard? Have you consistently grown your practice, in terms of local reach, referral pipeline, steady increases in clients and caseload, and profit? Has your ingenuity and professionalism put you in a position of local leadership? Is professional association with you something that is highly sought?

Speaking of which, keep that goodwill front of mind as you nurture your underlings, make investments in technology and perform other tasks as part of your roadmap to succession. Anything that extends or transfers the quality of your “brand” to the people you train and the systems you build keeps your value needle inching forward.

4. Recognition and reporting of intangible assets

Recognition and reporting of your law firm's intangible assets is a necessary part of the firm’s financial valuation. The assistance of a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) firm may be of great benefit in normalizing and determining an accurate valuation. Starting with the current inventory of the unique law firm’s intangibles and to help develop a 3-5 year roadmap and plans for specific areas of improvements to maximize your law firm potential. Always ask: 'What's my endgame here as the owner?' Ask that question every day."

Insight call to action to shape your law firm legacy

Practice building and nurturing your sweat equity valuation as the owner of your practice. Evolve from a transactional practice to a transformational, strategic one. Inform your ultimate “exit strategy” and transition with your successor as a result.

Let PrivyCounsel be a trusted partner in realizing your sweat equity. Contact us today

~Enjoy the journey.

2020 INSIGHTS FOR SOLO AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

To inspire you to imagine, create, enhance, recognize and preserve the intrinsic value in your law business, throughout the journey of practicing law, and as an entrepreneur, student, mentor and leader.

• Insight #1: Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Insight #2: Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• Insight #5 The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.” -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

2020 has forced the world to pause, to reimagine, to adapt, and to innovate toward a better future.

~Enjoy the journey in 2021.

START YOUR FREE TRIAL

In keeping with our continuous improvement journey, we've added new feature enhancement to improve your law practice effectiveness and the adoption of best practices.

what’s neW:

• Case appointment and calendaring enhancements to improve client and office effectiveness when scheduling appointments. Automation for adding appointments to Apple, Google and Microsoft calendars.

• Simple Dual Docket process for malpractice insurance requirements. Approximately 25% of legal malpractice claims result from calendaring issues.

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) dashboard and reports enhancements (vital signs) for insights to help your law practice improve.

START YOUR FREE TRIAL

As always, Contact us with any questions or for help in improving your law practice.

2020 INSIGHTS FOR SOLO AND BOUTIQUE LAW FIRMS

To inspire you to imagine, create, enhance, recognize and preserve the intrinsic value in your law business, throughout the journey of practicing law, and as a entrepreneur, student, mentor and leader.

• Insight #1: Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Insight #2: Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• Insight #5 The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.” -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Stabilize - Reset Your Law Practice

  We are all faced with unprecedented events in our world these days. Unforeseen events are mandating changes in the way we interact with others and how we conduct business.

• What Matters Most for You Today

  Imagine you’re on a airplane and the flight attendant instructs you to put your oxygen mask on first, before helping others. Because if you run out of oxygen, you can't help anyone else with their oxygen mask. To sustain life on the pressurized airplane we must follow the Life Support Instructions. Dean Ornish, M.D insights on the other half of the equation: how to enhance your immune system.

2020 has forced the world to pause, to reimagine, to adapt, and to innovate toward a better future.

~Enjoy the journey in 2021.

START YOUR FREE TRIAL

We at PrivyCounsel don’t spend resources on advertising. All our resources are devoted to continuous improvement and education. Contact us if interested in our referral program.

Happy New Year!

A year ago we launched insight blogs to share the key lessons learned and unique insights gained in helping solo attorneys and small firms. Every attorney who starts their own law firm wants to build a successful profitable law practice, however there are significant gaps in how the business of the law practiced.

On average 40% of attorneys time is spent on non-value added administrative activities, and more than 60% of Solo law firms close without recognizing the potential value in their law practice (single generation). As attorneys we are trained in legal theory, and hopefully a little bit in the practice of law.  However, most attorneys do not receive training,  and more importantly, the practice of mentoring on the entrepreneurship and the operational skills necessary in starting and running a financially sustainable business, which is what every law practice is. That leaves solo and small practice lawyers to face the challenge of becoming a successful entrepreneur, more or less on their own. 

The 2020 pandemic has forced the world to pause, to reassess, to adapt, and to innovate toward a new path. 2020 reminded us of Heraclitus quote “Change is the only constant in life.”

2020 Insights for solo and boutique law firms

Our first insight objective was on estate planning for your law practice. To inspire you to imagine, create, enhance, recognize and preserve the intrinsic value in your law business, throughout the journey of practicing law, and as a entrepreneur, student, mentor and leader.

• Insight #1: Estate Planning for Your Law Practice - What's your end Game?

  “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.” - Albert Einstein

• Insight #2: Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  “Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination” -Mark Twain

• Insight #5 The Golden Age to Start - Reboot Your Law Practice

  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.” -Charles Dickens 1812 – 1870

• Stabilize - Reset Your Law Practice

  We are all faced with unprecedented events in our world these days. Unforeseen events are mandating changes in the way we interact with others and how we conduct business.

• What Matters Most for You Today

  Imagine you’re on a airplane and the flight attendant instructs you to put your oxygen mask on first, before helping others. Because if you run out of oxygen, you can't help anyone else with their oxygen mask. To sustain life on the pressurized airplane we must follow the Life Support Instructions. Dean Ornish, M.D insights on the other half of the equation: how to enhance your immune system.

2020 has forced the world to pause, to reimagine, to adapt, and to innovate toward a new normal.

~Enjoy the journey.

Start your free trial

Contact us

Happy New Year 2021

INSIGHT #5 OBJECTIVE

To bring awareness and share insight on how 2020 has accelerated trends, creating a generational opportunity for new startups and legacy solo and small law firm to start and reboot-If they seize the day! 

INSIGHT

It’s never been easier and more affordable to start or reboot to adapt and operate a financially sustainable solo and small law practice.  Incentives are aligned for a Win-Win for digital new solo attorneys helping to transform legacy analog firms and adapt and rebirth.

Think about all of the reasons that you decided to get into law. Was it for the love of structure the law provides? Was it for the desire to live in a country that is governed by a uniform rule of law? Now imagine the satisfaction of building your own practice from the ground up. Has this thought ever crossed your mind? If so, then we have some good news for you. There has never been a more perfect time to start your own law practice with minimal risk. Here are a few reasons why.

Security

As we’ve seen with the emergence of COVID-19 we are still living in a completely unpredictable world. This surprise pandemic pushed roughly 21 million people out of work and sent the unemployment rate to approximately 15%. COVID-19 has impacted so many, whether or not you were personally impacted, COVID-19 has unkindly reminded all of us that we live in a unpredictable world. There are number of circumstances in this unpredictable world that can lead you to losing your job. One way to provide security for yourself and put power back in your hands is to open your own practice. This way, you’ll be the master of your own fate. You’ll never worry about getting laid off because all of the power will be in your hands. If things aren’t going well, you have the ability to change your work ethic or strategy and improve them.

Flexibility over your life

In today’s world, people want flexibility. There is really no reason that you should be required to show up to an office building each day and work for a full 8 hours. By opening up your own practice you can significantly improve the flexibility of your schedule (and life). If you can work effectively and get your work done in 5 hours instead of 8 then you’re free to pat yourself on the back and head home.

Modern digital tools make it much easier

Modern tools have made launching a new venture significantly easier. You can get instant alerts to your smartphone or work remotely anywhere there is a wifi signal. This means if you’re contemplating launching your own practice, you’ll have a much easier time than people have in the past.

For example starting your own law practice would have required tens of thousands of dollars of capital and hundreds of hours of your time. Today in a few hours you can service clients or work as contract attorney by leveraging the digital subscription pay as you go model for enterprise class technology for less than $100.

Contract attorney and partnerships

It has never been easier to create a Win-Win opportunity by partnering with a legacy solo firm.  Partnering with an established law firm vastly improves the probability of success for you and the firm by uniting new and innovating thinking and processing into an established business infrastructure.  The Win-Win occurs when a new, more robust business models emerge where both innovative and traditional processes merge to form a thriving sustainable law practice.  The process of mentoring the next generation becomes a natural byproduct of the merger and ushers in a fruitful and satisfying career journey toward the next chapter…

It’s lucrative

There won’t be any more sitting and waiting for a raise. This is what inspires many lawyers to set off on their own.  In addition to the profits, you’ll get the satisfaction of building something from scratch that you can call your own. There is no more rewarding feeling than spending years of your life committed to working at something, nurturing it and watching it develop and grow and grow. Just imagine, in just a few short years the building that you work at could have your name on the side of it, and one day you will be mentoring the next generation to take over your practice. Insight #1 What’s your end game?

Coronavirus Pandemic Yields Largest Increase in American Entrepreneurship Ever

https://www.growthink.com/content/coronavirus-study

Seize the day…of a changing business environment

If there was ever a time the world was going through a business reboot, it’s right now. Most businesses are redesigning the way they will run fundamentally and are looking for new solutions to their problems. As a law professional, this can be the perfect time to reboot your business.

• Reach out to existing connections and networks to maintain relationships as you're going through your law journey.

• Do a bottom-up assessment of your business and create a new zero-based budget that focuses only on the essentials.

• Consider expanding into new areas of law.

• Consider specializing even further into your most profitable area.

• Have a look at a few of our insight blogs

  • Stabilize - Reset Your Law Practice

  • Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

  • Imagine the Next Chapter. What’s your end game?

INSIGHT #5 OBJECTIVE

To bring awareness and share insight on how 2020 has accelerated trends, creating a generational opportunity for new startups and legacy solo and small law firm to start and reboot-If they seize the day! 

INSIGHT

It’s never been easier and more affordable to start or reboot to adapt and operate a financially sustainable solo and small law practice.  Incentives are aligned for a Win-Win for digital new solo attorneys helping to transform legacy analog firms and adapt and rebirth.

We hope that you found this insight article valuable in understanding why the timing is ideal to start or reboot your law practice. We encourage you to Contact us with any questions or for help in all aspects of starting or rebooting your law practice. Start your free trial.

Subscribe below for monthly insights newsletter.

INSIGHTS TO help IMPROVE YOUR LAW PRACTICE:

Insight #4 State Bar Rules and Compliance for Client Communication

Insight #3 Efforts to Improve the Bar Exam for Law Students

Insight #2 Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

Insight #1 Imagine The Next Chapter. What’s your end game?

Law Practice Portal New Features & Enhancements - April 2020

Stabilize - Reset Your Law Practice COVID-19

What Matters Most Today COVID-19

Law Offices are Adapting to Physical Distancing COVID-19

Complimentary Collaboration Portal: Attorney-Client Case Management COVID-19

Working from Home - Remote Best Practices for Solo Attorneys COVID-19        

New Feature

Announcing a new Client Relation Management (CRM) feature for existing and legacy/previous clients. Defines client groups and automates the process of client communication, which is more important now than ever given the challenges your clients are facing these days.

Happy 224th birthday! Let Freedom Ring!

Independence Day Fourth of July commemorating the Declaration of Independence of the United States, on July 4, 1776. The Continental Congress declared that the thirteen American colonies were no longer subject (and subordinate) to the monarch of Britain, King George III, and were now united, free, and independent states.The Congress had voted to declare independence two days earlier, on July 2, but it was not declared until July 4.

As always, Contact us with any questions or for help in improving your law practice.

INSIGHTS TO IMPROVE YOUR LAW PRACTICE:

Insight #4 State Bar Rules and Compliance for Client Communication

Insight #3 Efforts to Improve the Bar Exam for Law Students

Insight #2 Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

Insight #1 Imagine The Next Chapter. What’s your end game?

Complimentary Collaboration Portal: Attorney-Client Case Management COVID-19

Law Practice Portal New Features & Enhancements - April 2020

Stabilize - Reset Your Law Practice COVID-19

What Matters Most Today COVID-19

Law Offices are Adapting to Physical Distancing COVID-19

Complimentary Collaboration Portal: Attorney-Client Case Management COVID-19

Working from Home - Remote Best Practices for Solo Attorneys COVID-19

Insight #4 objective

To bring awareness and insight on the existing State Bar Rules and the post COVID-19 pandemic, as they apply to stay at home orders, working remotely, and compliance.

Insight

Favorable ethical and business outcomes are achieved by adopting the standard best practices in secure client communication as established by financial and health portals to manage risk and meet compliance.

Are you using the best practices to protect your clients and yourself?  Whether you are in Estate Planning, Criminal Law, Tax Law, Family Law, in Litigation or in Transnational Law, the State Bar Rules apply to all areas of practice.  So what are you doing to protect your clients’ information? The RULE is that you had better be doing something to protect client confidentiality or face potential repercussions. That Rule has become more of a mandate as a result of Covid-19 Pandemic lock down physical distancing and transition to digital remote communication.

ETHICAL OBLIGATIONS FOR LAWYERS WORKING REMOTELY

All 50 States have long established ethical Rules prohibiting lawyers from revealing unauthorized client confidential information. ABA Rule 1.6 summarizes, “A lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to prevent the disclosure of, or unauthorized access to, information relating to the representation of a client …”. See Bar Rules-Florida Rule 4-1.6.e, See also Comments to Rule; Texas Rule 1.5; California 1.6, Cal. State Bar Formal Opn. No. 2010-179.

PENNSYLVANIA BAR ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE ON LEGAL ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY April 10, 2020 FORMAL OPINION 2020-300 ETHICAL OBLIGATIONS FOR LAWYERS WORKING REMOTELY

… “ In many cases, attorneys and their staff were not prepared to work remotely from a home office, and numerous questions arose concerning their ethical obligations. Most questions related to the use of technology, including email, cell phones, text messages, remote access, cloud computing, video chatting and teleconferencing. This Committee is therefore providing this guidance to the Bar about their and their staff’s obligations not only during this crisis but also as a means to assure that attorneys prepare for other situations when they need to perform law firm- and client-related activities from home and other remote locations. Attorneys and staff working remotely must consider the security and confidentiality of their client data, including the need to protect computer systems and physical files, and to ensure that telephone and other conversations and communications remain privileged.- Full text

The key take away of the Opinion is-Attorneys and staff working remotely must consider the security and confidentiality of their client data.

The Opinion also affirms: “A lawyer generally may transmit information relating to the representation of a client over the [I]nternet without violating the Model Rules of Professional Conduct where the lawyer has undertaken reasonable efforts to prevent inadvertent or unauthorized access. However, a lawyer may be required to take special security precautions to protect against the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of client information when required by an agreement with the client or by law, or when the nature of the information requires a higher degree of security.”

This affirmation, with little variation, is substantively the State Bar Rule in virtually every State.

state bar & ABA COMPLIANCE-“reasonable efforts”

What are “reasonable efforts” to prevent disclosure of client info? The ABA sites several factors such as, the sensitivity of the information, the likelihood of disclosure if additional safeguards are not employed, the cost of employing additional safeguards, the difficulty of implementing the safeguards, and the extent to which the safeguards adversely affect the lawyer’s ability to represent clients (e.g., by making a device or important piece of software excessively difficult to use). See Bar Rules-Washington RPC 1.6, North Carolina Rules 1.1,1.5; Massachusetts Rule 1.6; Oregon Rule 1.6; Pennsylvania Rule 1.6.

The challenge that every attorney has is in the integration of ethical obligations with ever changing technology tools and applications. Uniformly, State Bar Rules and Opinions hone in on the term “reasonable efforts”. Reasonable efforts is generally defined as, “ the good faith efforts that a reasonably prudent Person desirous of achieving a result would use in similar circumstances to ensure that such result is achieved as reasonably expeditiously and effectively as possible.” To drill down just a little deeper, “efforts” means, “a vigorous or determined attempt”. That’s clearly more than sitting behind a desk and clicking on your email account while rationalizing that you’re in compliance. Let’s put this another way. Do you want to be the test case for malpractice when your clients information somehow “inadvertently” or “innocently” falls into someone else’s possession?

Consequences for failure to use reasonable efforts include State Bar disciplinary action or suspension, possibly even disbarment in extreme cases. More practical consequences, to say the least, would be irreparable damage to your reputation, an incredible source of embarrassment with your client, an adverse impact on the client, termination by client, and oh yes, that State Bar Complaint. The potential for liability is high when simply maintaining status quo. New and developing processes require review, analysis and implementation to satisfy the standard. Due diligence and best practices require action to at least investigate effective alternatives. 

To be clear, the language of the Rules has not significantly changed over the years. However, the application of the Rule is changing frequently given our ever changing technology tools and applications as well as available and emerging resources. Add to that the new circumstances and resulting new considerations for remote or online legal work due to the pandemic, constant vigilance is become a requirement to meet the compliance standards. Compliance is a matter of risk management.

minimum standard or the Best practice?

So what is the right thing to do? Is it undertaking a minimal effort and hope you can argue your way out of it if things go awry? Clients now have a much higher awareness of best practices in secure client communication and expectations of online portals from their financial and health service providers. That awareness has migrated to the legal profession. If a client is asked about your current client communication processes would they agree that you’re adopting and utilizing the most current and best practices at protecting their information? Will that set you apart from other Attorneys? The answer is emphatically, “yes”! The differentiator will be whether you are set apart in a negative or positive way.

Human perceptions often allow us to interpret rules and regulations in whatever way suits us best. Rules and Regulations require action. However, by their nature Rules and Regulations are actually the lowest standard one must meet in order to be in compliance. That’s really a pretty low bar (no pun intended).

So what is your work ethic? Do you do the minimum to get by? Or do you do your level best to excel at whatever you do in your profession?

The right thing to do is to put your client’s interest first. Investigating, identifying and utilizing technology tools and resources available to protect your client’s information will help accomplish that objective. Taking time and effort to do what is right will set you far above the masses who will perform less just to meet compliance (minimum standards).

What are the best practices today?

“Today” is a relative term. Today, we are faced with an unprecedented world event-A global pandemic in the corona virus. With the resulting requirements of business shut downs, physical distancing and remote workplace, the legal profession, as well as many other industries, must innovate and adapt to new procedures or risk closing their doors permanently. Use of technology tools such as Zoom, Skype, and the tried and true telephone have become essential tools. Like Pavlov’s dog, we also default to the use of email in our communications because that is what we are used to do. But is it safe for privileged attorney-client communication?

Fact-email is not secure. Do you do your online banking via email? Does your Doctor send you your patient files or test results via email?

Steps to make email more secure are onerous at best (encryption, etc). It is possible to make email more secure. However, the cost is less efficiency and more burdensome to your client.

A more effective and efficient alternative is a secure client portal. In a nutshell, a secure client communication portal is software that allows you and your staff to interact with your clients, share files, discuss, chat, plan, organize and manage tasks and events in an exclusive secure private online environment.   Use of a secure client portal makes your firm more mobile, more organized and efficient, more unified, and more secure. Clients uniformly adopt and appreciate the use of portals (e.g., online banking, healthcare portals).

More importantly, use of a portal demonstrates that you have undertaken and made reasonable efforts to protect your clients information.  Consequently, that firm will not only achieve compliance pursuant to State Bar Rules,  but other developing privacy requirements generally (See GDPR and CCPA).  There is no doubt that stricter compliance with privacy protection laws and regulations is on the horizon.  Failure to take appropriate and protective measures is like playing Russian roulette.  It’s only a matter of time.  You don’t want to be that family law attorney that sends her client a sensitive email without properly advising her client of it’s sensitivity, and then the estranged spouse sneaks access to your client’s email.  Or that Business Law or Patent Attorney that sends his client an email to the client’s work email.  The employer has direct access to that email and the confidential information it contains.  Why take the risk when there are better, safer, more efficient methods of secure client communication.

Secure communication portal

Choosing the right platform is important.  Factors such as cost, complexity, feature set, and ease of access and use as well as ease of adoption or transition are crucial considerations in choosing the right online platform.  

Also of critical importance is the Privacy Policy of any contemplated platform.  The Privacy Policy should clearly state that information is not used or accessed by any third party (except when compelled by law of course). 

Given the circumstances of today with the lock downs and remote work, a secure communication portal unifies remote work from several locations into one real time hub or portal. The Portal is your virtual office.

Document management is also an important feature to consider. Having the availability to upload and share documents allows for unified collaboration as well. A secure communication portal can dramatically increase law practice efficiency and client engement while protecting your client’s information.

With a little due diligence and some forward thinking a law firm can achieve full compliance with protecting client information while increasing law firm efficiency and case management. 

Insight #4

Favorable ethical and business outcomes are achieved by adopting the standard best practices in secure client communication as established by financial and health portals to manage risk and meet compliance.

We hope that you found this article valuable. If you think this might be of interest to you or others in legal profession, we encourage you to consider PrivyCounsel for your needs. Share and subscribe below to be notified of new insight articles as we post them.           

As always, Contact us with any questions or for help in improving your law practice.

INSIGHTS TO improve your LAW PRACTICE:

I Just Took The Bar Exam. Now What?

Worst and Best Practices of Attorney Client Notification - email/voice auto reply

Law Practice Portal New Features & Enhancements - April 2020

Stabilize - Reset Your Law Practice COVID-19

What Matters Most Today COVID-19

Law Offices are Adapting to Physical Distancing COVID-19

Complimentary Collaboration Portal: Attorney-Client Case Management COVID-19

Working from Home - Remote Best Practices for Solo Attorneys COVID-19

Insight #3 Efforts to Improve the Bar Exam for Law Students

Insight #2 Measuring the Health of a Law Firm

Insight #1 Imagine The Next Chapter. What’s your end game?

Additional Resources: ABA Formal Opinion 11-459; Pennsylvania Formal Opinion 2011-200; Texas Ethics Opinion 648 (2015); Risks of not meeting or exceeding State bare rule. Definitions - legal ethics Compliance; Sources and Back-link ; New-Rules-of-Professional-Conduct-2018 PDF ; (http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Attorneys/Conduct-Discipline/Ethics/Ethics-Technology-Resources)

Well, here I am.  I just finished taking the Bar exam. It’s over.  This long road of 4 years of law school, graduating, then filling out that application to take the Bar exam, then signing up for the bar review courses.  Then spending those endless hours of study and drudgery writing practice essays and practicing answering multi-state questions.

It’s behind me now.  Why don’t I feel better?  Actually, I’m not sure how I feel, or should feel?  My life changed the day I entered law school, at least from the standpoint that my personal and social life all but disappeared.  I had detached from the human race from a social and cultural level because all I had time for was studying.  It got worse the deeper I got into this journey.  I began to feel more and more like the Hobbit evading the Orks in the endless battle of good over evil.  

Even though the exam is finally over, my torment isn’t.  There is one more daunting task to complete.  That is to sit and await the results of the exam for the next 3 months.    What do I do in the meantime?  I have no idea whether I have achieved  my goal or not.  Did I pass?  Will I be an attorney or not?  At this moment I have no idea.  I’ve read the stats.  I know the odds, and they’re not good.  Less than 50% probability of passing.  If I don’t pass, should I take the exam again?  The odds of success go down even further then.  What did I get myself into?

On top of everything else I, like everyone, I have to deal with this corona virus pandemic lock-down. Will that impact the timeline for receiving the Bar results? Will the results be delayed? Will my career be winding down and I’ll qualify for social security before I get the Bar results? Oy vey!

Now What?

With all that is happening, do I look for a job in the legal industry.  Should I go back to my old job?  What will my family think and say?  How can I afford to stay detached from any semblance of a normal life for another six months, or longer, while I prepare and take the exam AGAIN?  How can I afford it?

I still wake up thinking, “issue, rule, discussion, conclusion”, the magical formula for writing a legal exam essay.  This, and many other processes like this have become so deeply en-grained in my thinking.  I tried that approach in a discussion with my wife recently.  I nearly got hit with an the iron skillet in response. 

How did I get in this position to begin with? I decided to go to law school because I wanted to help people, to advocate for them. I had to endure the rigors of classes and the endless hours of studying. I came out of Law School knowing the law, but I wasn’t taught anything about the business of running a law firm. If I do pass what will I do? I suppose I can get a job at a law firm. I’ve heard jobs are often available at the District Attorneys office or the Public Defenders office. Is this all going to be worth it? I need to launch this career thing to build a future, to create a legacy toward retirement.

Wait a minute. I need to step back and re-assess my situation.

• I made it through law school.

• I got a masters degree.

• I learned the process of factual analysis and to problem solve with critical thinking.

• Moreover, I learned a lot. Not only the law but I’ve grown and matured personally-I think.

Overall, this is a good achievement and foundation. I am equipped to engage at some level in the legal field. I’m not ready to give up yet. I have skills. I can contribute. The question is can I get a legal position based on my degree that can support me and my family?

next Steps

If I do pass the Bar I need to be prepared to hit the ground running. I can’t just sit around waiting for the results, good or bad. There is too much going on in the world right to now. Court closures, remote workplace, physical distancing, online communication. What does it take to start a law firm, especially considering the covid outbreak.

I’ve spoken to some people I took the Bar with. Some of them are of the opinion that this is a perfect opportunity to start a law practice. In response to the outbreak circumstances have triggered a paradigm shift in the way law practice is structured. Many existing law firms will cease operations altogether. On top of that it is likely that there will be a surge of new cases in almost very area of law. And all I thought I had to worry about is passing the Bar Exam. Like Buckminster Fuller once said “Don't fight forces, use them.”

EXPLORING the Options in my JOURNEY

No matter what the outcome of the Bar Exam, I need to see this through. I need to explore my options in the legal field in case I don’t pass this time. I need to contact law firms for how they can utilize my skills in pre-attorney positions.  I also need to start looking into what it takes to open my own office if I do pass. Either way, I have options. Options that can start supporting me financially and promote growth and development throughout my my journey in the legal industry.  The legal profession can be financially rewarding, and I can help people with their legal matters and cases regardless of where I start (law clerk, legal assistant, document preparer, associate attorney, etc.)

So what do I do if I don’t pass. Well, I do have a new marketable skill set. That has to be worth something in the legal industry. I could get a job as a law clerk or legal assistant with a law firm. If there is an attorney out there needs some help and wants to train me that would be a win win (mentor/apprentice relationship). Hey, I’m pretty good on the computer and very comfortable with Mobile Apps. I’m also familiar and comfortable with digital online tech, and application portals we use everyday to get work done. That skill set and know-how has value with this paradigm shift in the way business is conducted online. Wow, I could actually be able to really help older attorneys transition to the new tech procedures while they help teach me the practice of law. Hmmm, I’d better not say “older”. I’ll go with “more mature” (and help bring the old dinosaur into the 21st century). I need to update my resume and started by connecting with attorneys to offer my services.

So is it worth it?

So is it worth it? There are times that I’m still not so sure. However, digging through the doubt, anxiety, anguish and frustration, I have to say, “yes”, it has ALL been worth it.  Especially now that I have a mental plan whether I pass the Bar or not. My options are bright. Things are definitely looking up even if I need take the Exam again to achieve my ultimate goals.

ENJOY THE JOURNEY

As I take a moment to look beyond my current circumstances, maybe there is a silver lining. Sure, my life is still filled with the daily anguish of not knowing about the Bar Exam, but right now seems to be the best opportunity to enter the legal industry, for existing attorneys in law practice to leverage the new attorneys with their contemporary skill set to help them transition while mentoring. What's your end Game? and the best opportunity for new attorneys to seek out and help law firms that are struggling Stabilize - Reset Your Law Practice Life is a journey. I’m going to enjoy the journey. I’m even starting to speak plain English again

As always, Contact us with any questions or for help in rebooting your law practice.

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