American Bar Association / ABA

American Bar Association - 50 Ways to Market Your Law Practice

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The ABA Journal has put together a well-intended list of 50 ways to market your [father’s] law practice. Here’s just a few to get a conversation started with the older partners in your firm:

1. Join your local chamber of commerce. It’s great for networking and community credibility.
5. Offer to write an article for your local paper on a topic such as why everyone should have a will or questions to ask a contractor. Make sure the byline includes the name of your firm and, if possible, your e-mail address.
7. Try to get a local reporter to use you as a legal expert. Send an e-mail offering commentary on a court case. Learn to translate legalese into English and reporters will love you.
18. Advertise in school and church newsletters and local marketer newspapers. This sort of advertising is usually cost-efficient and such publications are surprisingly well-read by their target audiences.
19. Post your business card on the bulletin board at your barbershop, beauty salon, grocery store, community center and house of worship.
22. Donate last year’s Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory or other slightly outdated law books to your local library with a bookplate bearing your name and firm name.
23. Donate magazines to your local jail, nursing home or school and hand over your business card when you drop them off.
32. Send out press releases. Small local newspapers are especially interested.
38. Write down a 30-second description of your practice and commit it to memory. This is called the elevator speech. Use it whenever someone asks, “What type of law do you practice?” Everyone in the firm should have a copy of the description.

And my favorite way to market a law practice:

50. Give vinyl or nylon briefcases to clients at their first visit. This will encourage clients to keep important papers for their case in one place and to bring everything to each office visit. Add a pen, key chain, pad of paper and some business cards to the case.

Read all fifty and let us know which ones you think are the most ridiculous. To be fair and balanced, do let us know if you find any of them worthwhile.
Oh, here’s a tip you won’t find anywhere in that list of 50 ways to market your practice: blog.
While you’re visiting the ABA Journal’s website, check out their Blawg Directory, which the authors of that list of fifty ways to market your practice failed to notice.

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