Like what you see? What does it tell clients about you? First impressions color the entire lawyer-client relationship. So for this week’s Friday Five, let’s talk law practice curb appeal.

1. A fresh eye. The path you beat from home to your office chair is so automatic you stop seeing what’s really there, unless the change is monumental. You just don’t see with the fresh eyes others use when they walk into your firm. Even if you’re vigilant about office presentation, things can slip. So, every few month or so, do this little exercise: Put yourself in the client’s shoes and walk through the physical process of locating your law firm and arriving for a first meeting. Check your website’s contact information, find driving directions online (more about that later), then park in the visitor’s parking, read the signage through all public spaces, and enter your firm. Sit in the visitor’s lounge and in your own office’s guest chair. What do you see? What don’t you see? How does it feel? How does it smell? How’s the WiFi? The coffee? Now ask a friend who’s never visited you to do the same. Ask lots of questions and take notes!

2. Weeding the files. You’ve heard the stories about firms with boxes of files piled high all over their office. We’re not saying that’s you, but most of us have piles of stuff we keep moving from desk to chair to floor to desk. Why not schedule an occasional day or weekend for housekeeping and get everybody to pitch in and toss the things you no longer need? While you’re at it, take some notes on what you can do to avoid getting into this mess again. Different systems? Different habits? Why bother, you say? Because poor office housekeeping habits say something about your professionalism, says ALPS’ Mark Bassingthwaighte. Sloppy filing can lead to missed deadlines and disciplinary headaches. Check your firm’s document storage policy (or with your state bar or insurance provider) for timetables on when it’s safe to shred closed client files. (The Law Society of Upper Canada has an excellent guide, here.) Don’t have a policy for what to do with closed files? Best get on that!

3. Clear the virtual entryways, too. When it comes to your online image, things change too fast to “set it and forget it.” The front door (your core website) may be pristine, but check for cobwebs around the other virtual entrances to your firm: entries in branded networks, lawyer review sites, bar association listings and social media profiles—especially Google+.  (You have created your Google+ page, right? Gyi Tsakalakis shows how here.) Make sure your contact information stays up to date, and consistent, in all locations. It’s good for your image and will help your Google search rankings. (Check out Mike Ramsey’s tips on leveraging those lawyer directories and local search, too, along with his guide to local directories where lawyers can list their practices.)

While updating your online profiles, be vigilant about adjusting privacy settings so you know exactly what, and with whom, you are sharing. Pay close attention to your apps, too. (National magazine does a nice job explaining the perils of “frictionless sharing” here.) Bottom line: All your efforts to polish your image are for naught if the apps you download are sharing goofy links with your social media connections.

4. A new coat. You may not be able to change your basic office design or afford new furniture, but an infusion of color can be a fast, budget-friendly way to rejuvenate your space. Color is also a powerful way to change the way you feel and how you are perceived. “Professional” doesn’t have to mean dull and drab, especially if you work in a home office or less-traditional space. Depending on your image and clients, adding color can add personality and flair, or create a sense of serenity. Color can be tricky, sure, and what’s fresh today can become outdated quickly. (Would you prefer Don Draper’s or Roger Sterling’s office today?) Today’s colors are trending away from bold toward muted, natural shades. But all it takes to fix a mistake is another can of paint.

When it comes to color, don’t stop with the office walls. Subtle adjustments to your branding (logo and identity, website color scheme) can help keep you relevant. The new book Drunk Tank Pink: The Power of Color in Marketing is a fascinating look into the way color affects buying decisions, along with this Fast Company piece on the science behind colors, and this color psychology infographic by Kissmetrics.

Speaking of color, let’s talk hair. Your online curb appeal is only as good as your photo. Make it current. (You want clients to be able to recognize you when they meet you in person, right?) Today’s phones take some amazing pictures … of food … but this is your professional image, not your lunch! If you are self-conscious, hire a professional and even a stylist to help capture your best self. Take a look at these examples. See, it’s worth it.

5. A little privacy, please. Okay, back to reality. Your guests are going to want to freshen up at some point. If your office washrooms are disgusting, that reflects on you. If you share a public washroom in your building with other tenants, that’s no excuse. If there’s a problem, get it fixed. Point is, you need to think through, and walk through, the total client experience if you want to keep clients happy. So keep it clean!

Joan Feldman is Partner/Editorial at Attorney at Work and a principal at Feldcomm, a custom publishing and marketing design firm in Chicago. Follow her @JoanHFeldman.

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Valerie Nelan: Many sophisticated legal services buyers will tell you they “hire the lawyer, not the law firm”—so the real task is for your firm to “brand” each lawyer. Start by creating a plan. Since your firm is small, each lawyer’s individual plan should be an extension of the firm’s overall strategy and goals. Identify the types of clients who need your firm’s experience and figure out how to get in front of them. Talk to your current clients—seriously, go visit them!—and ask for introductions to people who could benefit from your services. Make friends with the legal reporter from your local business journal, write articles and speak at conferences if it makes sense, consider leveraging social media (that’s a whole other column), and don’t forget about referrals from your fellow lawyers.

Many litigators point out that they are the last kind of people that clients want to call, and that’s fair—litigation, especially bet-the-company kind, isn’t what anyone wants happening to them. Your job is to make them think of you if the unthinkable happens. No amount of shiny marketing bling can make up for hard-won experience, and it can’t beat face-to-face meetings, either.

Valerie Nelan is a business development manager at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, an AmLaw 200 firm. She coaches lawyers and is the business development liaison for the firm’s financial institutions and labor and employment practice groups and two industry service teams. Reach her at vmnelan@bakerdonelson.com or @ValerieNelan.

Nathan Smith: You don’t have to spend big bucks to make a big impression. Clients always hire lawyers first, law firms second. The well-branded firm serves as a supporting mechanism for a well-branded attorney. The law firm, regardless of the size, should possess a brand that conveys the “soul” of the organization and, quite frankly, this is easier to do in a smaller firm with a niche practice. If you serve a narrow market, make that obvious in your branding. Large firms have to be everything to everyone. A legal services buyer that is looking for something very specific wants the very best in that field. Align yourself with what you’re good at. Own it. And make it a point to make sure the market knows that you are dedicated to XYZ practice—and only that practice. Focus on getting yourself, as a lawyer, into the center of attention in your niche field. Your firm brand will only support your claims as being the right fit for that particular niche.

Today, it’s not expensive to consult with a professional to identify a singular brand position. It’s also not expensive to communicate that position via websites, logos, business cards, social media (free!) and other marketing channels. The first step: Get in the mindset that you own this niche. It’s what makes you unique. Sell that uniqueness—and don’t get caught up in the massive brand promises that the big firms are obligated to make.

Nathan Smith is the director of marketing at Gunster, an 11-office business law firm in Florida. He has been in the business of legal marketing since 2000 and has worked for both legal services providers and in-house with law firms for over a decade. He also advises law firms independently through exclusive consulting arrangements. Nathan can be reached at nsmith@gunster.com and nathanpsmith@gmail.com.

Stacy Smith: Research shows that, when measuring law firm branding ROI, there is a direct correlation between a strong brand and superior profitability and firm value. Many lawyers believe “brand” simply equates to developing a firm logo when, in fact, your brand should be the first step in your firm’s tactical marketing strategy or unique selling proposition. Your brand should reflect the legal needs of your core clients and be unique to your firm. It should convey (a) who you are; (b) your scope of services; (c) where you provide your services; and (d) what makes your services unique.

Part (d) is of the utmost importance—(a), (b) and (c) rarely set you apart competitively. It is (d) that will provide your branding hook. Once you have established your brand, you can concentrate on marketing your small, experienced, specialty firm.

On average, without a brand, only less than 10 percent of your prospects will even know you exist; branding about doubles that statistic. Therefore, small firms trying to compete with large firms are smart to develop an effective brand to increase their presence and build awareness of their firm in an overcrowded marketplace.

Stacy A. Smith is the firm administrator and director of marketing and client relations at Carter Conboy in Albany, NY.

That’s a Good Question! What’s Yours?

No, not every law firm has a professional marketer or business development coach on staff to answer questions. So send us your questions via email or use the comment section below, and we’ll pass them on to the experts at the Legal Marketing Association. Watch for the best ones here in Ask the Expert.

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»Manage my legal practice from anywhere on any device—HoudiniEsq.
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»Simplify your practice with legal practice management in the cloud.
»Get connected with law firm managers: Check out the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA).

LinkedIn Is Where You Make Connections, Not Break Them

Lawyers new to LinkedIn frequently wonder how wise it is to accept LinkedIn connection invites from competitors. What a strange question! In the world of LinkedIn, it’s a given you will go ahead and connect with as many people you know, like and trust. So, if you know and trust a competitor or potential competitor, then by all means connect! Haven’t you, all along, been going to bar association conferences and exchanging business cards with opposing counsel as a way to expand your network and stimulate referrals and introductions? This is no different.

Some lawyers say they’re concerned that by linking to competitors it will allow competitors to sneak in, pour over the connections list and steal clients. Well, here’s what I say to that.

1. It’s not that easy. If all a lawyer needs to know is the name, title and company of a client to steal that person away from current counsel … what are all those marketing books and webinars about, anyway?
2. It’s still not that easy. If you think another lawyer could actually steal your clients by sending them an invitation to connect on LinkedIn … if that’s all it takes, why aren’t you out there linking and stealing? Could it be because you know it takes a lot more than that? Sure, there are people who aggressively invite connections with people they don’t know, just to get their numbers up … or because they perceive the person to be powerful, inspiring or whatever. But those people won’t be able to leverage LinkedIn in any effective way. LinkedIn is a tool powered by existing relationships of all kinds.
3. You can’t just send a cold invitation to connect. No one in their right mind invites people they do not know to connect with them, anyway. One, it doesn’t work. Two, read the user agreement (particularly the “dos and don’ts”). Unless your competition already knows that client of yours, they won’t be able to connect without jumping through a few hoops. They will need to get you or someone else to make the introduction or connection for them. (Yes, there are ways to get around this, but … really?)
4. Jerks are jerks wherever they are. If you remain convinced that anyone you might connect with could be that sort of aggressive predator, then you don’t really “know, like and trust them”—and probably wouldn’t give them the time of day in the real world, let alone link up with them, would you?
5. You can lock it up. You do know there is no way for a competitor to see that one of your connections is your client, right? All they will know is that they are a connection. And they won’t even be able to know that if you adjust your privacy settings. Simply click on “settings,” “select who can see your connections,” choose “only you” and then “save.” If that’s what you want to do.

Merrilyn Astin Tarlton has been helping lawyers and law firms think differently about the business of practicing law since 1984. She is Partner/Catalyst at Attorney at Work, a founding member of the Legal Marketing Association, an LMA Hall of Fame inductee, and a past President of the College of Law Practice Management. Follow her on Twitter @astintarlton.

More Good Information About Using LinkedIn on Attorney at Work:

• Nine Ways to Leverage LinkedIn by Kristina Jaramillo
• What You Need to Know About LinkedIn Endorsements by Nancy Myrland
• Five Powerful Things You Probably Aren’t Doing with LinkedIn

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»Learn more about the easiest way to get paid.
»Simplify your practice with legal practice management in the cloud.
»Get connected with law firm managers! Check out the Association for Legal Administrators (ALA).

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Let’s break down what clients can evaluate, and what lawyers can (or can’t) control, in terms of three things: results, outputs and client service.

1. Results

Everyone knows what results are. In litigation, you either win or you lose. In transactions, the deal closes or it doesn’t. How much control do we really have over the results of the matters we work on for clients? Truthfully, lawyers don’t have much control, especially in litigation. Many are highly skilled advocates. However, most advocates recognize that “the facts” and “the law” will always trump superior advocacy.

Can clients evaluate results? Yes. Clients can evaluate, but lawyers have little control. 

2. Outputs

Outputs are the tangible products lawyers create—litigators create briefs and discovery requests, transactional attorneys create contracts and other documents. How much control do lawyers have over their work product? Litigators and transactional attorneys alike have considerable control. But are clients—even in-house counsel—sophisticated enough to intelligently evaluate the output in either setting? I think not.

Surely, you might think, most clients can tell a good brief from a bad one—especially the more sophisticated ones. I’m not so sure. I served as in-house for a number of years and managed litigation matters. Now, I certainly could tell the difference between a horrible brief and a good one. But in reality, all the lawyers I hired could provide me with a respectable brief. They needed that skill to survive at their law firms. Were some briefs more respectable than others? Yes. But that was only my opinion. I’m sure other lawyers might disagree with me.

As a practical matter, I rarely had the time to carefully review briefs. At the rates being charged, I thought the lawyer better know how to write a decent brief. That should help you understand why clients are rarely, if ever, “wowed” by the output of a litigator and there is little-to-no consensus about what constitutes a stellar work product. Even if there were, most clients don’t have the time to make that assessment.

The same applies to the outputs of transactional lawyers. Are contract-type outputs evaluated any differently from litigator outputs? I have no reason to think so. Most get a cursory review at best. When was the last time a client said to you, “Section 14, Indemnification, was the best indemnification clause I have ever seen!”

In the area of outputs, lawyers have lots of control. Unfortunately, clients have scant ability or desire to evaluate that output. 

3. Service

By comparison—and this is why client service is so important—attorneys have complete control over the way they treat their clients. And both unsophisticated and sophisticated clients can evaluate the quality of client service. It doesn’t matter whether they dropped out of high school or earned a Ph.D., they absolutely know if they are happy or not.

So focus on client service. It’s the one area where you can control the likelihood of the client returning or making a referral.

Roy S. Ginsburg is an attorney coach who works one-to-one in the areas of business development, practice management and career development. He has practiced law for more than 25 years in large to small firms and in a corporate setting. He is currently an active solo with a part-time practice in legal marketing ethics and employment law. Learn more at www.royginsburg.com.

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»Simplify your practice with legal practice management in the cloud.
»Get connected with law firm managers! Check out the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA).

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Until now, that is. Having nabbed a new desktop computer that came bundled with Office 2013, I’ve finally had a chance to complete an install of it. It didn’t make much sense to downgrade to Office 2010. It was time to take the plunge. And what better workstation to start with than mine!

The Good

The best thing I can say about Office 2013 is that users of current Ribboned versions of Office won’t have much of a learning curve at all. And that’s no small thing. The Ribbon is virtually the same throughout (though see caveat below about default settings), and most commands remain exactly where you expect to see them.

Also, the new “pick up where you left off” function is very useful. When you save and close your document, then re-open it later for editing, Word will open as usual—but it will also offer to take you directly to your last edit locations with a simple click. Click it or ignore it, your choice. Very nice.

There are a number of multimedia and desktop publishing improvements, too. But, for the most part, I don’t see these having much use in a law office. I do like that Microsoft has added the insert a screenshot or screen clipping function (formerly only available in OneNote) to the entire Office suite.

One added functionality many lawyers will find useful, though, is the ability to edit PDF files directly in Word. Well, Word won’t let you actually edit the PDF, but it does let you open the PDF right in Word. Then Word does a pretty good job of converting the PDF to a Word document, allowing you to edit and then convert it back to PDF. Pretty neat. Here’s a good explanation.

Oh, and thank you, Microsoft, for letting me once again add “Advanced Find” to the Quick Access Toolbar. Apparently you had to take away the pop-up (Ctrl+F) Find box (not nice), but at least I got the old-fashioned and still incredibly useful Advanced Find back on my QAT, where it belongs.

The Bad

Subscriptions and licensing—ugh. Try to figure out the intricacies of the monster that is Microsoft licensing and the best financial course for your firm. Home users have it easy: $99 per year for up to five devices is not a bad deal at all (if you have more than one device). For business users, it’s quite a different story. If you can stomach it, take a gander at Microsoft’s Business Plan Pricing page, but grab a strong cup of coffee first.

The big baddie, though, is the hit to Adobe Acrobat users. If you use Acrobat in conjunction with Word, Outlook and Excel, especially the PDFmaker function, you will find that you are forced to upgrade to Acrobat XI to get the PDFmaker functionality back. Not Microsoft’s fault, but not nice—and very expensive. It doesn’t appear Adobe has any intention of patching Acrobat 9 or X so that the PDFmaker function will work with Office 2013. As a side note: If you do upgrade, the PDFmaker function will be enabled automatically in Word but must be manually enabled in Outlook (at least that was my experience).

What else is bad? Skydrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage offering. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Skydrive and use it side by side with Dropbox. But I don’t want to be forced into it, and Office 2013 does its best to do so. There is a way to avoid going there: Go to Word and Excel Options, and under Save, simply uncheck “Show additional places for saving, even if sign-in may be required,” and check ”Save to computer by default.” In OneNote, where Microsoft really tries to strong-arm you into Skydrive, just click “Cancel” at the point at which it asks you to “Sign Up or Sign In,” and the program will continue to load properly.

Here’s one last bad: Office Tab add-in users need to update to the latest version of Office Tab. (This is my favorite Word add-in, giving me tabbed browsing in Office, just like in web browsers.) If you don’t upgrade, the add-in either won’t work or will cause Office to become unbearably slow. Depending on the version you are running, the upgrade may be free.

Other add-in users be warned: Your mileage may vary—do your research first to ensure your add-ins are usable in Office 2013.

Late Addition: I absolutely cannot believe this: Microsoft has removed the “Add to AutoCorrect” option in the right-click context menu and in Spell-Check itself for Word. Are they kidding me? You now must MANUALLY (yes, I am shouting!) add words to AutoCorrect! And, unless you add AutoCorrect Options to the QAT, to access it you have to dig through the Options menu. Do they really think people want to work harder to access such a useful tool—even if it means a decluttered right-click menu? This is infuriating. I’ve moved from “Hey, this isn’t half bad now that I’ve tweaked it out,” to, well, the air being unspeakably blue in my office.

The Very Ugly

Maybe my eyes are just getting old, but the new all-white default Office theme is awful. Once I changed it to dark gray, I liked the new cleaner interface a lot, and my eyes thanked me.

Also, Backstage view? Way too prominent. By default, Word and Excel will open and save by first going to the Backstage view. I have no idea why Microsoft thought this was helpful—it’s just annoying and time-wasting. If you don’t like it, go to Word and Excel Options, and under Save, check the “Don’t show the Backstage when opening or saving files” option.

The default collapsed Ribbon? Not helpful at all. Today’s monitors are very large and inexpensive—it’s not a place to scrimp and save. You and your staff stare at those things all workday long—make ‘em big and make ‘em quality. Then, to uncollapse that Ribbon, because you have the space for it, look to the right side of the monitor, at the top of the Office window and to the right of the Help question mark. You’ll see a new icon. Click it to reveal the Ribbon Options. I chose “Show Tabs and Commands all the time.” Ribbon goodness restored.

Finally, a minor niggle (but it’s the little things that annoy the most—just ask my husband about my forgetfulness): Microsoft, why did you change the Outlook icon from yellow to blue? I used to just glance at my Outlook taskbar icon and locate it immediately by color. Now I find it difficult to distinguish the Outlook from the Word icon because both icons are blue! Sigh.

Vivian Manning is the IT Manager at Barriston Law LLP in Barrie, Bracebridge and Cookstown, Ontario. Prior to moving into IT, Vivian practiced law at Barriston LLP (formerly Burgar Rowe PC) primarily in the area of Municipal Land Development. In addition to Attorney at Work’s “Power User” column, Vivian indulges her love of teaching tech through her blog Small City Law Firm Tech. Follow her on Twitter @vivianmanning.

Sponsored Links
»Top cloud-based practice management software: Free 30-day trial!
»Manage my legal practice from anywhere on any device—HoudiniEsq.
»Quality attorney leads. Reach prospects online. 10 free leads.
»Learn more about the easiest way to get paid.
»Simplify your practice with legal practice management in the cloud.
»Get connected with law firm managers! Check out the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA).

Illustration ©ImageZoo.