Is Your Practice Run Like a Boss, or a Goat Rodeo?

Why does it matter and what are the risks or rewards?

Amy Larson, Director – Thomson Reuters
@larsonac71

You went to law school to become a lawyer.  But, did you learn how to successfully manage a law firm and run a small business?  If your answer is yes, you’re lucky.  But most attorneys fall into the “I’ll figure it out” category – particularly if you’re a solo or one of a few attorneys running a small law firm.  There’s a lot of trial and error.  And, yes it’s true – your firm is being managed…somehow.  But if you’re not strategically managing how you run your firm; setting goals, measuring results, adjusting as needed, etc., you just might be in goat-rodeo land.  What’s that? Urban Dictionary defines “goat rodeo” as the following:

A chaotic situation, often one that involves several people, each with a different agenda/vision/perception of what’s going on; a situation that is very difficult, despite energy and efforts, to instill any sense or order into.

Sound familiar?  Maybe, maybe not.  But, according to a recent study conducted by Thomson Reuters, “lawyers at small firms spend 40% of their time on activities other than the practice of law”.  (Think things like administrative tasks/running the firm).   For fun, let’s put that 40% into perspective.

  • In terms of hours, if you work from 8am-6pm each day, that’s like working for free after 2pm.
  • In terms of months, how about not getting paid from January till nearly June (40% of your year) because it’s spent on non-billable or administrative time?
  • In terms financial impact, let’s put some dollars behind those hours. Let’s assume you have 3,120 hours in a year to make money, and 40% of your time is spent on activities other than the practice of law, that’s 1,248 hours a year spent on those other activities – or not getting paid. If you charge your clients $300 an hour that equates to almost $375,000 a year.

What if you could recover that time (or a large portion of it) and redirect it to billable time? What if you could spend more time advocating for your clients, building your reputation, and gaining more referrals because of your stellar client service?  What would that mean for you?  Your family?  Your clients’ outcomes?  Your reputation?

Maybe you don’t know exactly where you fall on the spectrum of working Like a Boss vs. dealing with a goat rodeo each day.  Maybe you fall somewhere in the middle thinking “the sky isn’t falling so I don’t need to change a thing.”  Maybe you’re doing everything right.  But, if you’re not – or you’re not sure – noodle on this.  According to the 2016 State of U.S. Small Law Firms study, the majority of challenges faced by small law firms are challenges with running the business – not with practicing law.  Key challenges identified include meeting client demands, spending too much time on administrative tasks, and lack of internal efficiency.  If you’re not addressing these challenges head on and implementing a strategy to help better manage your practice in the changing environment, you could be headed for a goat-rodeo.  (Get a few tips on better matter management here).

This is where something as simple as leveraging a cloud-based practice management system to drive automation can be a game changer and quickly help you achieve a big return on a pretty small financial investment.  See for yourself by trying a practice management Return on Investment calculator.

And, if you need some help determining how you’re doing (or if you could be doing better), take the Like a Boss Challenge to see how you measure up and get helpful tips on how to get on the right path as opposed to dealing with a daily goat-rodeo!

2016 State of U.S. Small Law Study
Like a Boss Challenge
Practice Management ROI calculator
Matter Management Checklist