考虑创办自己的律师事务所?

考虑创办自己的律师事务所?

一旦你得到一些 法律 积累经验,你可以考虑开一家自己的公司.

建立和经营一家律师事务所可能是一个令人望而生畏的前景, but taking certain steps will help to ensure that your firm grows 和 remains profitable.

这里有一些帮助你成功完成任务的指导方针:

制定策略

You really can’t proceed before you target a specific client base or market 和 decide how you plan to compete. This means knowing who the competitors are 和 creating a superior strategy so that you can provide more valuable services than your firm’s rivals. 策略例子包括:

  • Attempting to “corner the market” by hiring experienced lawyers from big name firms 和 charging considerably less for their services.
  • Specializing in a particular area of law or industry 和 marketing the firm’s partners 和 associates as more skilled in that area than the competition.

评估策略时, take as much time as you need to honestly evaluate the capabilities you 和 your potential colleagues or partners have. Prospective clients will scrutinize your firm 和 expect a satisfactory answer to this all-important question: “Why should I hire your law firm instead of one of your competitors?”

制定商业计划

Business plans are typically associated with a start-up that has not yet opened its doors. 然而, 即使你的诊所已经运行了一年多, 现在把你未来的计划写下来还不晚. 一份深思熟虑的商业计划可以起到几个重要的作用, including providing a road map to help guide decisions 和 secure financing for expansion. A law practice business plan is basically the same as a plan for any enterprise 和 should address:

  • 五年详细的财务预测;
  • 您计划提供的服务类型的详细描述;
  • 你打算如何收费. 贵公司可从中选择, 或混合, any number of billing methods such as charging contingency fees based on a percentage of money recovered or saved for the client, 按小时或一刻钟计费, or blending rates based on the average charged by the lawyers working on a case; 和
  • A marketing plan that outlines how your firm will find 和 market to target clients.

制定实践管理指标

只要你们公司接待了第一个客户, 你必须开始追踪某些稳健的财务指标. 常规跟踪的指标包括:

利用 -几乎从律师执业的第一天起,律师就专注于利用. Expressed as a percentage of total available hours to be billed throughout the year, 这个指标是确定性能的第一步. Most firms function on the basis that there are anywhere from 1,800 to 2,300 billable hours a year. 如果一名律师收费1700小时,则利用率为94小时.4%至73%.9%.

混合费率 一些交战是基于混合率赢得的. 对他人, the blended rate is calculated after the fact 和 used to assess the practice’s ability to leverage staff. 例如, 如果你的公司向客户收取75美元,600小时收费,总费用为000美元, the blended rate would be $125 an hour (total fees billed divided by the hours billed). Sophisticated clients monitor this rate 和 often question why it is increasing. 在所有条件都相同的情况下, maintaining a low blended rate while delivering superior 法律 advice can generate competitive advantages.

实现率 – Often the recorded billable hours 和 the actual amount charged to the client differ. 账单被记下来有很多原因. Many law firms neglect to manage this rate as it is typically calculated well after the work has been completed. 无论 实现率 is, chances are good that it can be improved by five percent or more by determining the causes of the write-offs 和 eliminating at least some of them.

保证金 -以百分比表示, your firm’s margin (profits after expenses divided by fees collected) is an important measure of how billable your firm is 和 an indication of how well it is managing expenses. A margin of 35% to 40% is normally associated with a high performing law firm that can collect fees while maintaining a low cost structure.

这些并不是你的律师事务所应该追踪的唯一指标. An accountant with experience assisting law firms can help you identify 和 report financial metrics using a balanced scorecard approach.

仔细地听着

Becoming the “go to” firm for existing 和 prospective clients partly means taking the time to underst和 their wants 和 needs on a level deeper than the competition provides. 客户通常希望被理解, 去感受他们雇佣的专业人士, 是否律师, 会计或公关, 了解他们的需求,并拥有帮助他们的技能和专业知识.

Your law firm can employ a number of tactics to discover 和 document what a client needs. 不管你选择什么方法, 然而, make it a firm-wide responsibility to set aside time to really listen to the clients. This can often uncover hidden client requirements that your firm is ideally positioned to meet.

参加实践拓展活动

律师事务所营销领域并不缺乏专家. The vast majority of approaches center on building relationships with existing 和 prospective clients. 这不是一蹴而就的. Relationship-building requires careful feeding 和 nurturing to be of value in the future.

The specifics of the plan should be tailored to an approach that you 和 your colleagues are comfortable implementing. 实践发展活动可以包括有针对性的研讨会, 目标客户阅读的出版物中的文章, newsletters sent out to current 和 prospective clients as well as one-on-one networking.

The most important aspect of developing a practice is to come up with a plan 和 stick with it, 即使是在生意兴隆的时候. 不经常或不真诚的努力通常收效甚微.

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