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How Lawyers Can Dramatically Boost Their Incomes – Posted by Forbes

To say that for many being a lawyer today is difficult may very well be an understatement. Of course, there are lawyers who are doing exceptionally well and will probably continue to do so. Meanwhile, a significant and growing percentage of lawyers are finding it tougher to maintain their earnings capability, a situation that’s likely only going to get worse going forwards. And, for most newly minted lawyers, the outlook is looking increasingly bleak.

There are many reasons for the growing financial drought affecting lawyers. For example, individual and corporate clients are becoming more critical of the value of the legal services they’re receiving. This, in turn, is making legal bills more and more “voluntary” or better said, negotiable. In fact, consultants have sprung up whose job it is to evaluate and push down legal bills. We’re also seeing that technology in various ways is mitigating the need for many of the “hours” lawyers had previously billed. While the legal business environment is getting less friendly on a nearly daily basis, the law schools continue to turn our lawyers at a fairly precipitous clip.

To make sure we’re all on the same page, lets make three key assumptions:

  1.  As a lawyer you want to continue with the practice of law as opposed to switching careers.

  2. You do not expect the commercial environment for legal services to change considerably for the better in the near future.

  3. You want to earn as much as possible while maintaining the highest ethical standards.

As a lawyer, if these assumptions seem reasonable to you, what do you need to do to excel? The approach you need to take is pretty straightforward.

We need to start by understanding which lawyers are the ones doing the best financially. The lawyers who are making the serious money are either at the top of the law firm hierarchy and/or are the rainmakers. Let’s avoid discussing the internal politics of law firms and focus on the job of sourcing new business.

Many lawyers and many law firms have “issues” with bringing in new business. It’s not that they don’t want to generate new engagements; it’s just that they’re not especially good at it. Many of these lawyers mistakenly presume that prospects magically know not only what they can do but also that they’re good at it. Many lawyers also mistakenly believe that when they deliver excellent legal services, their clients will appreciate their efforts and expertise. Moreover, they will refer others to them.

As for the answer as to what you need to do to excel and seriously boost your income:

  •  Become an industry thought leader.

  • Strategically network with key referral sources.

  • Proactively manage existing relationships.

  • Master Millionaire Intelligence.

While we’ve broken the answer up into four components for ease of explanation, they tend to strongly integrate. Let’s now take a look at each of these components.

Become an industry thought leader. If you want to have a very substantial and profitable career as a lawyer you will probably need to create a meaningful pipeline of new engagements. The most powerful way to do this is by becoming an industry thought leader. Having specialized knowledge is not enough unless potential prospects and key referral sources are well aware of your expertise. By becoming a thought leader you become the go-to professional for your sleeve of services.

Strategically network with key referral sources. As part of becoming an industry thought leader, you’re communicating your expertise to existing and potential referral sources. The range and nature of the legal services you provide will determine the characteristics of your premier referral network. For example, if you’re working in the trusts and estates field, you provably can generate millions of dollars in annual collected billings with five referral sources or less. As a M&A attorney, we’ve determined that as few as three substantial accounting practices can produce a steady stream of highly profitable new corporate clients.

Proactively manage existing relationships. Because of the characteristics of legal services coupled with your desire to be paid (and paid well), it’s wise to make the effort to adroitly manage client relationships. This takes many forms from educational initiatives to a focus on achieved outcomes. An additional benefit of doing a good job of managing the client relationship is the increased probability of repeat business as well as high-caliber referrals.

Master Millionaire Intelligence. Employing empirical methodologies to study the personal wealth creation mindsets and actions of the rich and super-rich, we synthesized the findings into Millionaire Intelligence. From the way to most effectively negotiate to leveraging your strongest abilities, you can profoundly increase your ability to optimize the way you run your practice enabling you to become dramatically wealthier. For example, by employing the negotiation strategies of Millionaire Intelligence, you can be referred to clients on a consistent basis from other types of professionals without having to send them clients.

For most lawyers the way to earn substantial monies is by being a rainmaker. Bringing in business usually trumps everything else when it comes time to set salaries and collect bonuses. By skillfully applying these four approaches, you can indeed crate a steady stream of highly satisfied clients (and a great deal of money).

Feel Free to comment any questions and we will be glad to answer ASAP!

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