Running a small law firm is much easier than attempting to operate an expansive one, but it’s still far from uncomplicated. It pays to look at the details behind it to find ways to make it easier.

Here are 6 tips for running a small law firm. 

Use Software to Make Financial Management Easier

Dealing with billing and other financial matters is time-consuming for any law firm. Getting it right and ensuring bills are regularly sent out in the correct format is critical to ensuring the firm has a steady stream of income from the billable hours it accrues. 

One software package that is widely used within the legal profession is Clio. Take a look in the charlottelaw.org Clio review to find out just why it saves law firms considerable time, especially when running a small operation. 

Perform Conflict Checks

Before agreeing to hire a new client, always run conflict checks to avoid any conflict of interest.

It’s not just having a real conflict of interest that could sway which direction or action a legal representation takes; the mere appearance of, or potential for a conflict of interest, is sufficient to get removed from a legal case.

It’s best to not get involved with representing either an individual or company when there’s this potential. It will only come back to bite the firm later otherwise. 

Ask questions, perform necessary searches and look at the existing client list and the cases to verify that there are no conflict concerns to worry about. 

Specialization is a Good Marketing Hook

While a law firm can be a generalist that takes on many different kinds of cases, it’s difficult to build up an enviable reputation that way. Few recommendations or referrals come to lawyers when they’re not known for any specific area of the law.

There’s the option to employ lawyers who specialize in one area of the law, such as a divorce attorney, but it’s also possible to create a legal firm where everyone is focused on a single specialization. The advantage of the latter is that the research, experience, and depth of knowledge across the team can create a formidable advantage. 

Outsourcing Non-legal Tasks

The idea of outsourcing non-essential or non-legal tasks is a game-changer for many firms. It can save considerable sums of money versus trying to do it all in-house. Look at what administrative and other tasks are suitable for outsourcing to a third party that can get them completed faster and better. This relieves the legal team of the responsibility and unburdens the receptionist too. 

Care must be taken to not outsource tasks with the potential to breach the attorney-client privilege, but beyond that, there are plenty of tasks worth outsourcing. 

Every Staff Member Must Contribute Significantly

While larger companies will commonly have a few employees seen as “dead weight” that aren’t as productive as other team members, the smaller the business, the less it can afford such indulgences. 

The same goes for a legal firm. Every lawyer must get enough clients and deliver sufficient billable hours to make them a valuable member of the legal team in their own right. Similarly, support staff also must be present and vital to the successful provision of legal representation. There’s no room for people who cannot deliver what’s needed in the workforce with smaller law firms – there is just too much to get done. 

Be Careful with How Many Systems Are Used

The systems that are deployed by a small law firm compared to a larger one are quite different. 

For tiny firms with only a small handful of employees, many of the systems are ad hoc and patched together to avoid investing huge sums into solutions. However, this quickly becomes a problem when there are too many temporary systems, often overlapping each other. This is especially true as the firm attempts to scale up and finds their systems holding them back. 

Poor systems frustrate lawyers on the team because it takes them longer to do their job. Also, when they’re used to working at larger firms, then it’s not tolerated for very long either. 

It requires skill and determination to operate a small law firm. It’s not necessarily better than a larger one, but it does have some unique challenges.