One of the most important things small law firms must understand is that life on the low-end of business is not sustainable. No law firm can thrive and grow if they compete purely on price. If you want to survive and build a self-sustaining law firm business you must go after a more high-end market.

What Is A High-End Law Firm?

A high-end law firm is any firm that can attract and keep customers who are willing to pay top price for high quality and specialized legal services. In a high-end law firm, every detail matters in terms of quality and perception of quality. When a high-end customer seeks out a higher quality law firm there are certain qualities they expect and demand. At Smokeball, we provide top-notch software to our clients so they have a system to streamline their daily workload and ensure they’ll never miss a deadline.

• Superior results.  Anyone paying a premium for a high-end lawyer expects to receive results well above average. Those results will include a positive outcome in their legal case but also a top level of professionalism at every point of contact from the receptionist to the partners. Failure to deliver superior results at every stage in the game will prevent you from becoming a high-end law firm.
• High prices. This may seem counterintuitive but most high-end clients do not trust cheap solutions. If you’re providing a superior service as a law firm, you must attach the right price to it. Your fees must reflect the quality that you’re offering. This is probably one of the most difficult things to do for small law firms and solo-practitioners especially if they are working from an attorney mindset instead of a business mindset.
• Special perks. It will not be enough to offer excellent legal services to a high-end client, you must also offer special perks that are hard to find elsewhere.  High-end clients want to feel that they are special. They want to be catered to and have life made convenient for them. This can be accomplished through paying attention to every single detail in the process of doing business with a client and making sure that you exceed the level of service most law firms offer.

Finding Clients

If you want to attract high-end clients to your law firm, you will need to approach marketing with the same “superior results” attitude that you use when dealing with clients.

• Choose the right target. You must first find the type of people who can afford your service and who will value the type of quality that you’re offering. It’s important to remember that not everyone appreciates the value of high-end legal services. Some people have not come to understand that you must pay for quality—those are people you should avoid.
• Find influencers. When you’re cultivating relationships with high-end clients, it’s smart to connect with influencers first. Who are the people that are at the epicenter of communities you want to know?  Find those people and prove to them that you are as good as you claim to be and they will become a champion for you to the target market you want to reach.
• Look high quality. Attracting high-end clients will require you to maintain a luxurious and high-quality image. Everything, from your website to your law offices must be high quality. This will require an upfront investment from you at first but it will pay off in the long run when you’re able to command higher fees.

Life as a high-end law firm is challenging to build but it will allow your law firm to grow in ways that’s simply not possible on the lower end.

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Jane Oxley is President of Smokeball, a productivity and case management software provider that increases efficiency and profitability for solo attorneys and small law firms. Jane’s worked in the legal field for her entire career, spending over 20 years engaged with small law firms. She has a strong affinity with small law firms and the crucial role they play in the communities they serve and is passionate about helping them work towards more productive and less stressful practices.