Dan's Blog Posts
Attorney Dan Jaffe is the CEO of LawLytics. This is his blog.The Mindset For Starting A Solo Law Practice
In this video blog post I talk about the conversations that I have frequently had with lawyers who are thinking about starting their own law firms. These conversations happen with lawyers with a wide range of experience, from just out of law school, to leaving medium to large firms, or government employment one, two or even three decades into their legal careers.
Hiring My Fiancée – Part V – Hiring My Law Firm’s First Employees
Today I’m concluding my story about hiring my first law firm employees with the final part of this chapter… hiring my fiancée. Before I talk about why having my fiancée work for me didn’t work out, here’s how I skillfully deployed impulsive thinking disguised as genius to justify the hire.
How My $16 Haircut Is Relevant To The Future Of Your Small Law Firm – Video Blog
Today I got a $16 dollar haircut. It was a big event as its the first time I wouldn’t end up with a self-inflicted shaved head since the start of Covid. The conversation I had with the barber, and how I found the barber and booked my appointment, and what it means for small law firms and solo practitioners is the subject of this video blog post.
A Conversation With Kathryn Burmeister, Attorney and Author of “Overcoming Addiction to the Status Quo”
Today I sat down for a conversation with Attorney Kathryn Burmeister, author of “Overcoming Addiction to the Status Quo” which I believe should be on the reading list of every lawyer and law student.
Why We Don’t Alter Jobs To Fit Applicants – And Why Lawyers Shouldn’t Either
Today I’m going to pause my story about hiring my first law firm employees to address something unexpected.
On Wednesday, I wrote something that turned out to touch more of a nerve (and was more controversial) than I had imagined or intended. In a blog post about my early experiences hiring law firm employees,
My First Legal Assistant – Part IV – Hiring My Law Firm’s First Employees
Today we’ll talk about my next hire, my first true experienced law legal assistant, and how that made my life and my practice so much more scalable, but also, as a solo practitioner made me vulnerable.
Hiring My Law Firm’s First Employees – Part III – First Associate Attorney
As a frazzled attorney with the burden of seemingly more weighty things (my next trial, keeping my clients out of jail, and saving their families and careers) it was easy to engage in magical but flawed thinking. I believed saying “You’re hired” would solve my problems and wouldn’t create new ones.
My First Employees – Part II – Fractional Employee and First Job Post
I had clients and revenue. My practice was growing rapidly. I had a real office (not a starter office closet) and a building with parking occupied by lawyers. The building provided a shared receptionist. She answered my phones, which were routed through a rats nest of analogue wires that somehow connected the right lines to the right rooms.
My Story – Hiring My Law Firm’s First Employees – Part I
What I really needed was to start thinking like a business owner rather than a solo operator. Businesses hire employees, and I would need to do so if I wanted to sustain what I had built, let alone grow.
What Attorneys Need To Know About Upcoming Google Changes – Spring 2021
You may have heard the news about Google’s “page experience update” sometimes referred to as “Core Web Vitals.” Like any announced Google change, marketers want you to believe that this will fundamentally rock the hierarchy of law firm website rankings, and make or break your practice. This is false.
How You Communicate With Potential Clients Moves The Needle More Than Branding
It’s not about the logo, or the website layout, or the colors, or the images. Sure, those things are necessary, and there’s a best way to do them on a law firm website. But doing those things the right way is table stakes (and baked into LawLytics so you don’t have to spend energy thinking about them). The rubber meets the road in how you talk with your potential clients about your firm. It’s your voice they want to hear (or read), and no tattoo artist can do it better than you.
Legal Marketing Opportunity: Blog About Sandra Day O’Connor
Telling O’Connor’s story in the context of the year she was appointed, and the era in which she was nominated and served, can add some important context to the current coverage of Barrett’s looming confirmation process.
Legal Marketing Opportunity: Blog About RBG
No matter what types of law you practice, and no matter where you’re located geographically, if you’re an attorney in the United States, you have a golden opportunity to blog about RBG, and the history and future of SCOTUS. Here are just some of the topics that potential clients, clients, other lawyers and the media are using Google to search for, and that you can write about.
Legal Marketing Opportunity: Explain How The Law Applies To Your Potential Clients
There is a huge legal marketing opportunity for attorneys who are willing to take the time to write about how the law applies to potential clients. In my own practice, I found that doing this was a significant advantage, and was relatively easy to do once I got started. You can easily do it by drawing on your own experience.
Legal Marketing Opportunity: Take a Stance on Your Website
Remember, people hire people (not law firms) when they need to hire an attorney. So the more context that you can give to your prospective clients about you that makes them like you, trust you and understand that you’re an expert in helping people with their exact problem, the better. And no lever is more powerful than a strong stance on a debatable topic when that stance aligns with your prospects world view.
Legal Marketing Opportunity: Be an Online Voice Of Legal Reason
I recently wrote about why lawyers are struggling with client acquisition and what to do about it. When it comes to what to do, it often helps to get specific. In this post I’ll discuss an opportunity that is here for the taking for all lawyers who currently have a...
Legal Marketing For Small Law Firms in 2020: Obstacles and Opportunities
In my 21 years as a lawyer I’ve never seen the level of risk and opportunity for solos and small firms as I’m seeing in 2020. Over Labor Day Weekend I read Thomson Reuters’ recently released 2020 report on the small law firms in the United States. I was surprised to...
Multilingual Law Firm Websites and SEO Best Practices
If you are an attorney who speaks with clients in two or more languages, or a member of a law firm that provides multilingual client communication, this article will show you the best ways to capture the most revenue from your broadest possible addressable market.
As Lawyers Our Thought Leadership Is Needed Right Now
As lawyers, we have an opportunity presented by the uncertainty and risk facing America and the world. Unlike laymen, lawyers have information and tools at our disposal to contextualize a significant part of what’s going on. The gift of context can be shared. And the...
How COVID-19 Is Changing the Business and Marketing of Law Firms
This blog post, which is my first on Covid-19 in a while, is an update on our observations about how the business of law firms has changed with a focus on how the solo practitioners and small firm owners are thinking about their online marketing.