How lawyers can use their expertise and the internet to build a thriving practice

If you're a lawyer (or studied any professional course for that matter),read this article . If you are a lawyer especially (or not but want to learn), hearken onto my words.

One of the more frequent tweets here on Twitter is lawyers complaining about how they go to University and law school for 6 years and end up working for some law firm where they get paid =N=40,000 ($110) a month and have to slave and work their ass off for incremental raises. I have always wondered and even suggested they build a social media following they can monetize and in so doing, build themselves a nice growing practice.

But each time, many of them see only obstacles and reasons why it will not work. "Oh, they don't allow us advertise" (even when I said nothing of the sort); "oh, people don't like paying for legal services (so how come the lawyers who make money do it?).

I guess they want to own a huge practice right out of the gates of law school, but life doesn't work like that. You move step by step and build brick by brick, working SMARTER, especially today when you have SOCIAL MEDIA, which is the greatest gift technology has given the human race.

Speaking of moving step by step, here's the story of a lawyer who was broke, in debt and decided to... in fact, read his story (screenshots below) and see for yourself. Please, don't be a tool and say, "it's because he's in the USA." You can pick many ideas from there and repeat THE SAME THING HERE.

Lawyer


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Lawyer

 

Okay, let's continue. I shared that quote to motivate you and set the stage for what I am about to tell you in the next few lines. If even one person uses what I share here, it will be time well spent. And before I dive in, I want to say, I AM NOT A LAWYER, so I will on talk in the small law that I know. What I am though, is a marketer, a great one at that, with clients in many countries around the world.

Most of what I will share here will be how you can leverage the internet and social media to build a law practice that pays you and positions you as a powerful name in your chosen career in the future.

So let's start with this.

There are LOADS of people who need the services of lawyers - business people for business purposes, regular people for civil and criminal purposes, etc-I am sure there are other branches people are seeking solutions in.

I won't say choose one above the other, I am not fully conversant with the merits of demerits, so you have to figure that out yourself. You're the person who studied law for 6 years, not me, hehehe.

Now what I am certain of though is this - while there are many lucrative branches of law to get into, what is lacking is the clientele. Most of the BIG law firms charge humongous amounts of money for their services, money most people who want to hire them can't afford. So they scout around, maybe go to the courts to find some lawyer hanging around (again forgive me if this is misrepresenting. We have already agreed I don't know much about the inner workings of your profession).

Anyway, they find this person they find mostly always wants quick money, so they do a haphazard job and most times, lose the case and the person on the losing ends goes to the world with how most lawyers are "charge and bail". There may be some truth there, or not. The point is it perpetuates a myth (even among lawyers) that the best lawyers are those while huge practices.

For me though, what I see is a gap.

What's the gap?

Here it is: That there is a huge market for

(1) Law services that are affordable and


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(2) Lawyers and law firms that have their client's best interests at hear and who will do a wonderful job.

That's the gap.

In my view then, when you a brilliant lawyer who already knows how to use the internet and social media slots him/herself into this gap, you can start building a lucrative practice just like the guy I quoted in the beginning of this article. If you didn't read that part, go back and do so now. 

How do you slot yourself into this gap? By providing legal education.

Do you know why people here are wary of lawyers and using their services? Because they don't understand lawyers and their legalese. It seems to me that most lawyers try to obfuscate what they to to the point they seem to belong to a secret society.

If that's a ploy to maintain high agency that guarantees high fees and high regard, maybe that worked in the past, it no longer is necessary or work these days. We are today in a world that wants information and it wants it... NOW.  And the world will anoint and proclaim a star, anybody that gives it the information it wants. It will hang on that person's every word, it will support it, it will defend it in the days of "trouble" and it will beat a path to that person's door with money in their hand.

You see it here everyday, no? Well I am living proof. @aproko_doctor is living proof. I can't prove it but I am certain many people here are calling him and preferring to use the hospital he works at or sign up with a HMO that lists it.

So how do you plug into this "gap"? By becoming a fiduciary and a conduit of legal knowledge to the masses uneducated in the language of the courts. In simple English I am telling you to start teaching people about the law, different aspects of it.

For example:

What do they do in a business dispute?

How do they avoid one in the first place?

What do they do when they're arrested by the Police?

What makes an agreement binding?

What are some landmark case judgments by the Supreme court?

And so on and so on and so on and so on. 

Teach. Make people see that the law might be complex, yet easy to understand. That is might be rigorous, yet the process can be trusted.

I always laugh when people curse the judiciary (and sometimes I do) but if the law doesn't work, Nigeria's "Big" men and women won't be rushing there to get judgments.So make it relatable and people will reward you.

Who is best to hire if I have a case? I will first think of lawyers I trust. I think of @MTechLaw and @MaziGerald and @OsiriNdukwe and @Oddy4real.

When you become a source of law information that people read, and enjoy, they will trust you, and when they trust you, they will come to you when they have an issue that a lawyer will solve. Educating people earns you trust, and trust earns you business. It's that straight forward.


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So where do you start?

Two places. Actually 3-4 places.

Facebook. Instagram twitter and YouTube.

On Facebook, and Instagram, you post articles. On Twitter, you turn it into a thread. Then you take that thread, and make it a video you post on YouTube. This thing is so simple it's amazing no one is doing it yet. "But Ronald, lawyers are not allowed to advertise". Yes I know, but Imo State people say, "Ihe na enweghi otu neme, otu neme ga idi". Paraphrasing it means "where there's a will, there is a way"

Your content is all the advertising you need, because people will share it with their friends and family. I can;t begin to count how many of my threads that I do here has been forwarded to me on via Whatsapp, complete with my handle and website.

Speaking of websites, that the part of the puzzle that will turn your followership to clients and in turn money. 

Here's what you do.: You create what we call in the marketing world, a direct response lead generation website.

That's big English for a website that is designed as a lean mean machine that collects contact details of people who visit it, so you can sell them your services. Here's an example (see image below).
Law firm
You see how it goes straight to the point, with a form collecting contact details? You build or have something exact built for your new firm, and at the end of each content you put out, you ask people to go to hotshotlawfirm.com (I just made up this domain name), and drop their name, email, phone number and any questions they have and you or your interns will be in touch with them. Then you take it up from there, advising and selling your services.

See, you did not advertise. But wait! There's more.

Once you start getting numbers, you can take your best content, package them into an ebook, convert it to PDF, and create a similar page, only this time, it will be just the book cover and the form, and ask people to sign up and download it for free.

That works so well!

Now does the Law business Code of Conduct ( don;t know the term) stop you from advertising your book? I don't think so. Correct me somebody if it does.

Here's what the page will look like by the way (see image below)
law book advert

So you advertise it, folks download it, and inside the book you have a page after each chapters asking them to call your office on 09)X-XXX-XXXX to ask any questions or if they want to hire your firm.

So that's it folks. I hope you learnt something here today. The question is, WILL YOU IMPLEMENT?It's up to you. I have done my bit.

👍🏾 

Author

Tags: lawyers

Author : Kekeocha Justin

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