Advice For Lawyers: Create Value... Or Die

You cannot create your legal services business solely driven by what you need or think you are entitled to. It has to be about what the client wants and is willing to pay.

nervous lawyerIf you cannot live off the value you create for your clients, your practice will die.

Years ago, I was watching David Lat (yes, David Lat from this Above the Law) interview Steve Brill of The American Lawyer. One statement by Steve Brill struck me.  The discussion was focused on whether or not publications that go online should charge for content.  Steve properly (in my opinion) argued if you create value, they will pay.  His exact words were, “Live off the value you create.”  In further support of his argument, he pointed out several publications that are successfully charging for content rather than relying upon advertisers or sponsors. Create value to your customers so they will continue to support your endeavors.  The financial relationship should be between you, the service provider, and the end user.

Independently, I read this post by Matt Homann and I was further struck by his statement:

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the legal industry now and in the upcoming year?

Most lawyers are focused on returning their practices to profitability — which is a near term problem for many of us.  However, I think a far greater challenge is looming in the distance, and that is irrelevance.

For far too long, lawyers have taken their clients and customers for granted.  Quietly, real alternatives are emerging that are making lawyers less necessary to clients.  In just the last five years, we’ve seen more and more consumers turn first to the web as they draft their will, start their LLC, etc.  This is a trend that will only continue, and lawyers must begin thinking about a day when the least valuable thing they have to offer their clients is advice.

There is much being said in these two statements by two very different people in two unrelated industries, yet they actually are relevant for you.

  1. Create a value proposition for your client they are willing to pay for.
  2. Live off the value you create.

And if you don’t:

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  1. …looming in the distance… is irrelevance.

In summation:

If you don’t create a desired value proposition for your clients which they are willing to pay for, you will cease to be relevant. And you cannot — nor should you — survive.

We are still at the toddler stage of this “new” legal profession. As more and more potential clients seek alternatives to the traditional attorney/client relationship, those lawyers and institutions who are determined to cling to the old ways will cease to be relevant… and die.  They actually die every day.

It is the heart of the argument behind value pricing, alternative billing, and those who will see the billable hour die.  It also is the driving force behind some of the most creative and revolutionary lawyers and non-lawyer startups out there who are even going to the extreme and advocating letting clients name their price for services.  We can no longer dictate “value” based upon our own personal needs and grounded in a false billing model, failing prestige, and mind-numbing student loans.

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An altered economic landscape is transforming the workforce continues to force both Biglaw, small firms, and the solo practitioner back to their raison d’etre — The Client. The Client will determine if you live or die based upon your value proposition, your relevance to them.

Your success will determine how you react to this statement: “Live Off the Value You Create.” If you don’t create value… you die.

Many in our profession still fear (and rightly so) the commoditization of  legal processes and the wealth of knowledge available on the interwebs, Big Data, and artificial intelligence, to enable those who would once pay for our services to become Do-It-Yourself types. This fear, combined with the economic challenges we all face, is the basis for the prediction that a lawyer’s advice will become irrelevant and something of such little value clients will no longer pay for it.

I disagree with this statement, though:

[L]awyers must begin thinking about a day when the least valuable thing they have to offer their clients is advice.

When we realize that our value proposition is “knowledge” and not the forms, the relationship of an adviser and not the provider of templates, the analytical and creative thought process but not necessarily the execution of these same ideas, that’s when we will truly be able to compete with the web and these highly disclaimed “we’re not giving legal advice” sites. I can give someone a fully equipped car, but if they don’t know how to drive, can’t maneuver around obstacles, can’t handle rain slick roads or another car swerving into them head on, they are going to crash, and possibly die. At the very least, they will certainly not get to their destination with any confidence they are in the right place.

Your value proposition is in providing whatever legal services clients both cannot nor want to do no matter what free information, inexpensive forms, and non-legal “guidance” is available to them.  Your job, if you want to survive, is finding out exactly what that is worth to this client so he would rather pay you than struggle beyond his own comfort level. Discomfort has a value. Your job is to successfully convey what he needs to hear to make the decision to engage you the only realistic choice.

Your relationship may be a hybrid of services, a review of client-completed documents and advice.  It may be guidance in a process (as allowed by your jurisdiction) for a flat fee and in stages at a price the client has determined is right for him. You may end up creating an a la carte menu of fees based upon the combination of services you offer. You may create a virtual law office operating remotely, offering unbundled legal services.

The bottom line is, you cannot create your legal services business solely driven by what you need or think you are entitled to.  It has to be about what the client wants and is willing to pay. And in reinventing your practice or creating a new practice that refocuses on what the client wants combined with what the client is willing to pay based upon the value you provide, you will have successfully entered the 21st century of the legal profession with a viable business model. You will be capable of living off of the value you create because you have positioned yourself as very relevant to today’s legal services client.


Susan Cartier Liebel is the Founder and CEO of Solo Practice University®, an online educational and professional networking community for lawyers and law students who want to create and grow their solo/small firm practices. She is a coach and consultant for solos, an entrepreneur mentor for LawWithoutWalls.org, a member of the advisory board for the innovative Suffolk School of Law – Institute on Law Practice Technology and Innovation, an attorney who started her own practice right out of law school, an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University School of Law for eight years teaching law students how to open their own practices, a frequent speaker, and a columnist for LawyersUSA Weekly, The Connecticut Law Tribune, The Complete Lawyer, and Law.com. She has contributed to numerous legal publications and books offering both practical knowledge and inspiration. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, and you can email her at Scl@solopracticeuniversity.com.