by Victoria Ring
Certified Paralegal and CEO, 713Training.Com, LLC
How to Increase Profits for Your Law Firm. © 2006 by Victoria Ring. Printed and bound in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means; electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information storage and retrieval system — except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the internet - without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, please contact Graphico Publishing, 1601 West Fifth Avenue, Suite 123, Columbus, Ohio 43212-2303 or
www.graphicopublishing.com.
Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein. Any slights of people, places or organizations are unintentional.
First printing, October 2006 ISBN: 0-9761591-9-8
LCCN: 2006934349
ATTENTION CORPORATIONS, UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES, AND PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS. Quantity discounts are available on bulk purchases of this book for educational, gift purposes or as premiums for increasing magazine subscriptions or renewals. Special books or book excerpts can also be produced to fit specific needs.
For information, please contact Graphico Publishing, 1601 West Fifth Avenue, Suite 123, Columbus, Ohio 43212-2303 or http://www.graphicopublishing.com.
Graphico Publishing
a subsidiary of 713Training.Com, LLC
1601 West Fifth Avenue, Suite 123
Columbus, Ohio 43212-2303
Website: http://www.graphicopublishing.com
by Victoria Ring,
Certified Paralegal and CEO of 713Training.Com, LLC
The information contained in How to Increase Profits for Your Law Firm is for training purposes only and should not be considered legal advice.
All the material in this book is written from the perspective of Victoria Ring an experienced bankruptcy paralegal who has never attended law school and is not authorized to practice law in any state.
The author and publisher do not warrant or guarantee any of the website references or products described herein. By following the instructions contained herein, the reader willingly assumes all risks in connection with any transactions.
The author and publisher make no representations or warranties of any kind; nor are any such representations implied with respect to the material set forth herein, and the author and publisher takes no responsibility with respect to such material The author and publisher shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting in whole or in part from the reader’s use of, or reliance upon this material.
Stop playing the balancing act and learn how to increase the profits for your law firm.A law firm is like any other business. It must make a profit or it will cease to exist. And as you know, time is also money - but most law firms are already working on maximum overload so it is easy to lose track of the overall picture. However, before you know it - your law firm could be losing thousands of dollars and you won’t know about it until it is too late.
This book will provide you with alternative methods and procedures that will help to:Š Ease or eliminate your staff’s current heavy workload.
Š Cut your law firm’s prep time by 75% or more per case.
Š Lessen the filing of Amendments due to mistakes and errors caused in the original document;
Stop searching in the dark for good paralegal services. The world of virtual assistants are available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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Our story begins with Matt Anderson. Matt Anderson has been a bankruptcy attorney for 22 years. His dad started the law firm back in the 1960s and passed it on to his son. Matt loved working on the debtor side of bankruptcy law. He had a compassion for the average blue-collar worker — and it showed; his clients loved him and referred their family and friends to his law firm all the time. Additionally, since Matt's client base consisted mainly of no-asset cases, they moved quickly through the court system. He rarely had to go to court (except for a 5-10 minute 341 Meeting) and this helped to create a fast turnaround rate for his Chapter 7 cases and increased profits for his law firm.
Matt was happy with his bankruptcy law practice and it had grown into a financially successful law firm. Because he received many of his clients from referrals by former clients (and other attorneys) his marketing costs were low. Matt knew this was a result of providing good service and building a client base of loyal, dedicated clients. However, Matt also noticed that his law practice was experiencing a noticeable "growth
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a day you can relax and unwind? Hiring virtual assistants can help you accomplish that goal! written by http://www.713training.com
5spurt" and he needed to change some of his internal office procedures to accommodate the growth.
However, Matt would soon learn that things were much worse than he thought. Sometimes, what looks good on the outside is not always good on the inside.
One day Matt sat down to put together some statistical information about the demographics of his client base. He wanted to get a handle on where his law firm was presently at so he could make decisions for future growth. He discovered that seventy-five percent (75%) of his client base were Chapter 7's and twenty-five percent (25%) were Chapter 13s. Matt liked this mix and it was working well for him. The Chapter 7s went through the court system relatively fast so Matt's law firm earned the bulk of its income from "volume."
Matt also found that the Chapter 13s helped to keep the income balanced. From November to March, he discovered that fewer people file no-asset Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The steady monthly income generated
Most virtual assistants have many years of experience, and love what they do. The only difference is that virtual assistants work from home instead of in your office.
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by the Chapter 13s helped Matt to keep enough income coming into the law firm to pay the fixed expenses during the slower months when the income from the Chapter 7s was reduced.
But even though the mix that made up the structure of Matt's client base was good, he still had a major problem. His office was overloaded with so much paperwork that files were stacked on the floor due to the lack of space in the office. The three fulltime paralegals were also overworked and overstressed. In fact, the stress on the paralegals was so great they were beginning to lose their patience with the clients, even going so far as to raise their voice to several clients — which resulted in them going to another law firm.
Additionally, when potential clients called into the office to check on their case, they normally received a voice mail instead of a live voice. Unfortunately, most of the calls were never returned. Why? Because the paralegals didn't have the time or the patience to
Virtual assistants take care of the everyday tasks which allows you more time to grow and expand your law firm. written by http://www.713training.com
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answer (what they considered to be) unnecessary phone calls. Needless to say, these internal problems were beginning to create several angry clients. In fact, one day, a client walked into the law firm and started yelling at the top of his lungs: "I am NOT leaving until someone talks to me about my case." This outburst caused the other clients in the waiting room to leave in fear, resulting in a great deal of chaos as well as a financial loss for the law firm.
At this point, Matt finally realized he had a major problem on his hands that needed to be fixed immediately. What had looked good on the surface was falling apart internally. The first "quick fix" that Matt could think of was to hire three temporary full-time employees to answer the phones so they would not go to voicemail. He knew the financial burden of hiring these temporary workers would cut into his profits. However, he only intended to keep them employed for a short period of time. He had hoped hiring them would provide him with the extra time he needed to contemplate his next move.
12 out of 12 law firms surveyed who currently utilize the services of virtual assistants report increases in their law firm profits of 46% or more.
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Each temporary employee cost Matt $12.00 per hour; a total of $288.00 per day or $1,440.00 per week. This was an expensive decision because Matt found the temporary employees did not relieve his staff of the heavy workload. Although this was a good idea in "theory," however, when Matt put it into practice he had forgot one thing: the temporary employees had no knowledge of his clients. In order to get the answers to the client's questions, the temporary employee had to call the paralegal. The paralegal had to stop what he or she was doing, give the temporary employee the information, which was then passed on to the client. Matt found this procedure was not freeing up any time for his paralegals so he found himself back to Square One.
Matt then decided to contact an office coordinator who specialized in analyzing small businesses and offering suggestions in order to maximize their profits. The office coordinator was very expensive but Matt felt if she could save him time and money it would be worth the investment. However, even though the office
If you have an internet connection, it doesn’t matter where your virtual assistant is located. All communication is electronic.
You now have the freedom to choose from thousands of virtual assistants and not be limited to your area alone.
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coordinator held a Master's Degree and was extremely intelligent, she had never started her own business from the ground up. Her knowledge only came from courses she had studied at college, books she had read and working with other business owners and gaining knowledge from the experience of others. Although the suggestions the office coordinator made were excellent for law firms who had money to invest – Matt needed suggestions that would NOT cost him any more money. He needed ideas that would cut his costs immediately and increase the efficiency in his office. The office coordinator did not clearly understand Matt's needs which again cost him time and money; plus put him back to Square One for the second time.
Although discouraged and slightly irritated, Matt didn't give up. He began meeting with other attorneys in the area (and through online bulletin boards) asking them for their input and advice on how to handle such a heavy workload and increase the profits for his law firm. Unfortunately, most of the debtor bankruptcy
Expand your bankruptcy services for the elderly and handicapped who have difficulty traveling to your office. Send a virtual assistant to conduct the client intake interview in the client’s home at the client’s convenience.
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attorneys he spoke with were in the same boat he was in. They told Matt: "When you find a solution, let me know."
Again, Matt was not discouraged in his quest to find a solution. In fact, talking with the attorneys who had no suggestions actually encouraged Matt to continue seeking for an answer. He found the attorneys he talked to were complacent about the topic. They simply had "given up" in finding a solution and continued putting in 12-14 hour work days, overworking their staff and putting up with high office staff turnover rates. Matt didn't want this to happen to his law firm and he was determined NOT to let it happen.
One day, Matt was sitting at a local restaurant eating lunch, Dennis Farmer (a local bankruptcy attorney) recognized him from court. He asked Matt if he could sit down and eat lunch with him. Matt eagerly agreed. During the course of the conversation, Matt told Dennis about the problems he was experiencing at his law firm. He also revealed all the different ideas he
Virtual assistants are normally available 24/7 and easy to contact by cell phone. In fact, most virtual assistants stay available for their attorneys after hours and on weekends since they know everything cannot be accomplished between 9:00 and 5:00.
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17had implemented and how each one of them had failed.
Dennis understood Matt's problem because he too had suffered through the same experience less than two years ago. But through internet research, Dennis had found an excellent solution that enabled him to have more free time to work on other areas of law. Additionally, he enjoyed the benefits of having a dedicated staff of employees that had been with him for two years or more. His office was also very wellorganized, relatively calm, peaceful and had an enjoyable work environment. Instead of "fighting fires" he invested more time into pro bono work and other civic activities he enjoyed.
Dennis looked at his watch and asked Matt:Matt replied: "All the time in the world for a solution. I have waited a long time to talk with someone like you."
When I passed the bar exam and started my law practice, I was $100,000+ in debt with student loans. Utilizing virtual assistants has saved me thousands of dollars in office equipment and the costs of hiring and training new employees.
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19So Dennis began to explain his experience and the solution he found to the problem:
When Dennis saw that his law firm was growing rapidly he first panicked and immediately thought about hiring more full-time, part-time and temporary employees. But during his internet research he discovered the following problems with all three of these types of employees:
Full-Time Employees1. Full-time employees receive a paycheck regardless of the quality of their work or when they get the work completed.
2. Full-time employees sometimes take advantage of longer breaks and lunches which means someone at the law firm has to monitor them or risk losing even more money.
“Boy! It feels great to be organized and ready for the 341 Meeting. I couldn’t have done it without my virtual bankruptcy assistant.”
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3. Full-time employees are normally paid vacation pay, sick time and for other emergencies when they are not working or producing a profit for the law firm.
4. Full-time employees normally receive medical benefits and other incentives which increases overhead costs for the law firm.
5. Too many full-time employees can create an atmosphere of "gossip" and other personnel issues that law firms must devote time to resolving.
6. There is always the possibility a full-time employee can get upset and leave at a moment's notice, leaving the law firm in the middle of a crisis. Today, it is rare to find employees who put the interest of their employer first and foremost.
Part-Time Employees1. Like full-time employees, part-time employees receive a paycheck regardless of the quality of their work or when they get the work completed.
“I rejected the thought of hiring a virtual assistant because I considered them to be violating UPL. Perhaps I better rethink this idea over again.”
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2. Part-time employees are normally less experienced because people who have superior skills normally want to be employed full-time.
3. Often, part-time employees have a second job or are attending college. This normally leads to the law firm adjusting their schedule from time to time to accommodate the demands of the part-time employee's second job or college attendance.
Temporary Employees1. Temporary employees are extremely expensive and often command salaries higher than the full-time staff. This is due to the heavy agency fees that are charged over and above the temporary employee's hourly pay. In other words, the temporary employee could be getting paid only $10.00 per hour but the law firm pays $18.00 per hour ($8.00 per hour is for the agency fees.) This means that a law firm gets a $10.00 per hour employee — not an $18.00 per hour employee. Employees with superior skills normally do not work at a law firm for $10.00 per hour.
After hiring two virtual assistants I now have time to plan the direction I want my law practice to grow into and implement my ideas with better care.
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2. Although they don't like to talk about it, several managers at temporary agencies admitted that approximately 47% of temporary employees do not arrive at an assignment on time and ready to work. One of the most common problems is that temporary employees will accept a temporary assignment on Friday but change their mind before Monday. When the temporary employee does not show up for work on Monday the agency must quickly find a replacement. Unfortunately, this causes downtime (waiting on a new replacement) and the law firm gets another day behind in its heavy workload.
3. Approximately 15% of temporary employees have been known to commit fraudulent acts when working temporary jobs. Some unscrupulous people have the mindset that they can "get away with it" because they will not be working at the law firm when their crime is eventually discovered. Unfortunately, even when temporary employees have been caught in these acts, the normal recourse is to fire them. Rarely are they prosecuted. This leaves the temporary
Keep your money in your hand. You don’t pay a virtual assistant until after the work has been completed to your satisfaction. Hiring employees does not provide this luxury.
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27employee with the freedom to move on to become a problem for another law firm.
After weighing all the information about the problems with hiring employees, Dennis said to himself: "There must be a way to run my bankruptcy law practice without hiring employees, relatives or friends of relatives." This is when he started researching on the internet and discovered the world of virtual assistants.
Dennis soon learned that many businesses (other than law firms) utilize virtual assistants for a variety of services. On the internet he found virtual assistants being used for:
1. Answering Phones and Taking Messages. The business owner forwarded his or her phone to the virtual assistant. The virtual assistant forwarded the messages to the business owner's email address immediately upon receipt for handling.
Even if your virtual assistant goes on vacation, your workflow is not interrupted. Most virtual assistants
have a network of other professionals who can assist you during their absence.
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2. Transcribing Dictation. The business owner recorded his or her dictation in MP3 format, emailed the file as an attachment to the virtual assistant. The virtual assistant returned the draft to the business owner in MS Word format which the business owner edited and mailed to his or her customers.
3. Bookkeeping. The business owner forwarded all sales and expense reports on a monthly basis to the virtual assistant. The virtual assistant compiled monthly reports and put together all the yearend accounting information for the tax accountant.
4. Website Design. Virtual assistants work closely with the business owner to develop a company website including marketing the website to search engines and directories to increase web traffic.
5. Marketing Materials. Business owners use virtual assistants to design brochures, letterheads, business cards, postcard mailings to previous customers and other marketing materials. The cost is less expensive compared to hiring a graphic artist.
Virtual assistants normally have several attorney clients they serve. They often earn a higher income compared to working as an employee. The virtual assistant and attorney both benefit financially. It’s a WIN/WIN situation.
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6. Translation. Business owners with a strong client base of non-English speaking persons used a virtual assistant to translate their documents into other languages.
7. Secretarial Tasks. Business owners use virtual assistants for setting appointments and reminders, even on personal issues such as anniversaries and birthdays. Using a virtual assistant for these duties immediately reduced the amount of phone calls the business owner received and he or she never had to worry about missing a deadline or important date again.
8. PowerPoint Presentations. The business owner used the virtual assistant to prepare PowerPoint slides which were used in meetings, training seminars and online presentations that were displayed on the company website.
9. Voice Mail Retrieval. The virtual assistant retrieved the voice mail of the business owner several times per day. He or she sorted and organized the
Because virtual assistants work from their home office with fewer interruptions — they usually have more time to provide attorneys with a higher level of detail that saves law firms thousands of dollars!
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messages and forwarded them back to the business owner by email. This helped to reduce interruptions and allowed the calls to be handled at a more appropriate time by the business owner.
10. Event Planning. The business owner provided the details of the event to the virtual assistant by email. The virtual assistant contacted all the parties, located the proper size meeting room, scheduled the air flights and other transportation, then followed up with the attendees to confirm the date, time and location. This saved the business owner a great deal of time, plus it helped to make the entire meeting a smoother operation because it was so well organized.
11. Email Screening and Processing. The business owner set up a separate email address of something like: "info@mywebsite.com." For all general questions and inquiries, he or she used this email address. The email was then automatically sent to the virtual assistant who answered the questions from the business owner's prepared script. For all other general
Unlike employees, attorneys do not pay their virtual assistant for time they spend daydreaming or being non-productive. Virtual assistants charge their attorney clients either a flat fee for a particular job or an hourly fee based upon accurate reporting from time-tracker software installed on their computer.
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