I feel like by really working through the leads from LegalMatch and staying on top of it…I was able to build my practice up to a level of sustainability, whereas it may have taken me much longer otherwise.
I had some internships and externships whenever I was in law school and had a good understanding of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to build my practice, but I didn't really know how to get there. One of the hardest points to overcome with the learning curve was new client acquisition, and LegalMatch was very helpful with that. You read reviews about different referral services and they're really hit or miss. I feel like a lot of times you get out of it, what you put into it.
I feel like by really working through the leads from LegalMatch and staying on top of it and making those personal relationships by getting them on the phone, not just sending emails and things like that, I was able to build my practice up to a level of sustainability, whereas it may have taken me much longer otherwise.
I've been practicing for about three and a half years. I started with LegalMatch probably six months into my practice. I actually signed a new contract last year and extended it for another three years. I would say that if it weren't for LegalMatch, I don't know where I would be exactly. I can honestly say that the largest source of my clients come from LegalMatch. One of the things that LegalMatch offers is that they're entirely an online based source. So, when COVID closed down a lot of activities, the legal needs of the community never stopped. LegalMatch provided an outlet for those people to reach out online rather than in person when different stores and law firms may have shut down or gone virtual. And this was an outlet that still put us in touch with those who needed us most. And we were able to continue working through the pandemic.
I like the intake information that they ask of the potential clients. It covers a broad array of things. It allows you to get your first impression. It allows them to check out your firm, your reviews and see what others think about you from that service. But, it also allows you to gather some information that you wouldn't have otherwise.
They're not all winners; there's some cases where you can look at and immediately know, hey, this is probably not something I can help with, or, this is out of my area of expertise, or this is not actually a legal issue that I believe any attorney could help with. It gives you the ability to kind of sift through those before you try to reach out and you try to schedule a time to meet with the potential clients. I think it saves time and makes the process a little more efficient.
The support team has been very helpful, too. Whenever I first started the onboarding process, they helped me generate some templates. Most of those templates I still use today. There's a handful of templates that are pretty much the ones that I always send out. I haven't really had very many issues with LegalMatch, but if I have, I do have people reaching out periodically whether I have issues or not just to ask if I'm happy with the service. So, I feel like the people genuinely care and they're ready and available to help if you need it.
There's no shortage of people that have issues. But we can't help everybody. Some of these aren't legal issues. Some of them may just need counseling or help through non-legal means. But I would say for every 10 clients that fill out a lead sheet that come through as a potential client, we may set consultations with four and of those, I would say at least two hire us. I would say that once we get face to face, our closing rate, our hiring rate from the client pool, is substantially higher. I feel like the best thing that we do in our practice is that I try to give everyone a call. If you just shoot out emails, you get a much lower response rate.
If you're just starting out with LegalMatch, tailor your templates to make sure that they cover a broad array of information. You don't want to be too specific, but you don't want to be too broad. You want it to be warm and inviting. I mean, there's a lot of people who do the job that we do. I can honestly say that there's probably a measurable percentage that hire us because our personalities, our relatability, our communication skills set us apart. I feel like if people take a more personable approach, if they treat the clients the way that they would want to be treated if they were in the client's position, then they'd have a much higher success rate.
At this point I would recommend LegalMatch because it is the largest source of our clients that come in. Since it's no cost for the client to plug in their information, that's another benefit for the attorney. And then we have the ability to sift through and see what we can do, and what work we can do in the practice areas we cover. I believe that it is a good buffer that we have a decent amount of influx. It could be 50 to 60 cases on average a month and we only cover the surrounding three counties. Ultimately you get what you put into it, so make an effort to call these people. Make sure that you are personable with them and it will pay dividends on the back end.
I think the key here is to figure out a way to get them face to face. I feel like it's really easy to be disconnected from potential clients when you just send an email. An email is probably the most impersonal form of communication that we use regularly. And once you've retained them as a client, if you're just sending them a quick message, that's great, that's fantastic. It serves its purpose. But if you can get them on the phone, and they can hear your inflection, hear your tone, feel like you genuinely care about their issue. Well, then they're much more motivated to come in and meet you, come in and pay you whatever your fee may be. A lot of these people want to be heard. They want to see that you recognize that they have a problem. They already understand that you have the ability to fix their problem because you are a licensed attorney. But what they're looking for and what sets us apart are the personalities of our attorneys and the level of relatability that we try to get to.
There are different areas of practice of the law and you can't cover everything by yourself. There's no way to be everywhere at the same time. There's no way to know everything. So don't try, don't drown trying to tread water. Pick a few areas, understand it well, do it well, and get those people to come into your office, to hire you for those jobs and let your reputation speak for itself. Once you have a little bit of success and you start working towards things and helping these clients, not just the legal help that they need, but maybe the support you start building a positive reputation and clients will refer others and return in the future. Like I said, sometimes people just want to be heard.
I would probably tell you to start with LegalMatch because that first six months was a little bit of a dry spell. It was tough there for a while. It is disheartening when you don't have a steady influx of leads and potential clients. It's easy to sit in an office, especially there for a while. I was just by myself, I didn't have a staff or partner or anything like that, like I do now. And it was tough. So I would say, I would go back and tell myself to listen to the same advice that I would pass to those who were just starting their business. Be personable, relatable, pick a few practice areas that you feel like you could start generating revenue through. You feel like you can start helping the clients through, learning the ins and outs of those practice areas a little bit better before you expand into other areas and keep fighting the good fight.