There’s no fixed recipe for “how to grow a law firm” and, as an attorney, you’re not trained in the challenges of law firm business development. Law school teaches you to practice law—not to run a legal business—so trying to achieve the latter while doing your best to stay on top of the former can be a real drain on your time, money, and mental well-being. Luckily, you’re not the first lawyer to encounter this problem, and certainly not the first to search for support. What follows are three tips culled from decades of experience that will set you on the right track, no pulling-your-hair-out required:
How to Grow a Law Firm: Do This
1. Delegate
When you were neck deep in assignments and exams, you couldn’t hand off all the busy-work to your team because your team was you, yourself, and you. That stage is over, and it’s time you leveled up your work habits. You hired a stellar team. Use them!
Top talent wants to put their skills to work, and the best way to support them in doing so is by giving them important tasks to accomplish. They’ll only thrive with this new responsibility, however, if they are likewise given the tools required for success. This is where our Law Firm Admin Bootcamp comes in—a powerful and proven training experience designed to foster a thriving, profitable connection between attorneys and their teams.
2. Hone Your Systems
Technology has arrived and muscled its way into the core of how all businesses are run. Even traditional industries like law now depend on tech to keep up with client expectations and employee needs. No top-of-their-class Gen Z grad wants to work at a firm that hasn’t invested in the systems that will allow them to fully express their talent, and no present-day client wants to navigate an intake system that feels like a throwback to their childhood.
Modern, efficient, polished systems are what anyone who comes into contact with your firm expects, and if that’s not what they find, they won’t stick around for long.
3. Hire the Right People
Your people are your firm, and vice versa. You can’t expect law firm growth without a driven group of employees who are all willing to go after a shared goal and vision. A strong team takes time and thought to build, however. It’s not just a matter of nailing the interview (though that counts), or of crafting outstanding onboarding material (though that matters, too), but of framing hiring and retention as a practice that requires upkeep, innovation, and, crucially, expertise.
When you invest in something like the Smart Hire Solution™ you save thousands on hiring (and re-hiring) and years of training, all while gaining the mental freedom that comes with knowing your next new hire is going to slot right in and drive up everyone’s productivity, including your own!
Law firm business development is not the same as gaining a diploma or passing the bar. It’s not a matter of work ethic or IQ, but of experience. Most attorneys don’t know how to grow a law firm, and they shouldn’t because they haven’t been trained for the purpose.
But we have! Book a Clarity Call with me, Molly McGrath, the founder of Hiring & Empowering Solutions, to learn more about how to finally level up your firm and regain the space and time to do what you do best: be an attorney!
