Attorney Review & Success Story by Elliot S.

LegalMatch Enabled Me to Connect with People from All Walks of Life

There are a lot of individuals out there who have specific legal problems or have had legal encounters with the legal system. They come from all walks of life. They come from different income streams. I've come across a good number at the middle or lower end of the financial spectrum who are in need of some concrete advice to help guide them and figure out what it is they want to do. So that's been an interesting process too.

I have been retained on one or two matters, at this point in time. I have spoken to a few people who chose to go elsewhere. I have spoken to a couple of people who really didn't require legal counsel, just more advice than counsel. It's been an interesting process. I've met some interesting individuals with interesting sets of problems. Hopefully, that will translate into something a little more substantive as time goes on.

LegalMatch support like lead generation, setting up appointments and specific appointment schedules, are beneficial. The case manager is on top of the situation, which is not a bad thing. I’m also using LegalMatch templates and followed the advice to quickly telephone and contact potential clients.

The leads come in waves, but I would say we probably get 12 to 15 per month. Some of them are from areas too far away from where I practice. The catchment area for me is the whole province, but the province is pretty wide and I've gotten leads from individuals who are over 12 hours away from me, which is just impractical. In terms of being able to provide representation, there are probably about half a dozen leads within my area per month.

People Who Need Counsel Reach Out to LegalMatch

With LegalMatch, individuals are specifically reaching out to a lawyer. So, it's beyond looking at a phone book or looking at potential numbers; they are reaching out to a lawyer, albeit an unknown one. It already signifies some interest on their part in trying to retain counsel, if they feel it's necessary.

In my experience, you have to go out, or proactively contact or follow up on leads, even though you have never met these individuals. Proactively contacting them by phone, Zoom, or Skype, helps the client virtually put a face to a name, and make an assessment if they want to hire you or not. I think that conversation has to be pretty immediate.

Attorney Tips & Advice

If I could go back to high school, I would've taken a good typing course. Then I would’ve also taken any sort of business management course in law school. I would advise law students to develop their communication skills and typing skills or to be able to quickly produce correspondence and documentation on their own without the necessity of legal support, at least certainly when starting out. I would encourage them to develop and hone their technological skills, as quickly as they can, doing some sort of discussion with someone in practice before even graduating out of law school to get a sense of the business and is needed to run a good business. Perhaps being mentored very early by someone from a business perspective will help. These knowledge and skills are needed to be able to use your time efficiently.

Lastly, I think an attorney must have to know his own personality, know his selling points. I think an attorney just has to be a go getter to be able to go out and cultivate the context.