Every professional needs goals. Lawyers, too, need to the step back from the day-to-day bustle and look ahead. As we move into 2018, here are some worthwhile goals for lawyers who want to improve and excel:

Expand your client reach

No matter how hard you work to land new clients, there are plenty of rocks you probably aren’t looking under. Websites such as meetup.com, Eventbrite, and Groupspaces offer an excellent way to meet people with similar interests. You can also connect with others on social media sites including LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and explore other business networking sites such as Opportunity for a different way to connect with others. Consider giving a free legal seminar at your local library or through your community education program.  Mine your community for contacts by joining local organizations, planning committees and volunteering.  The old-fashioned way still works too: Pick up the phone and schedule some lunches. Make new business—and new people—a priority.

Renew your commitment to excellence

Yes, you are a brilliant lawyer. But chances are, you could be better. If only you (fill in the blank), you’d be the best lawyer in the land. Find one or two ways to improve what you’re already good at, whether its immigration law or litigation strategy. Find the blank in your skillset and fill it.

Embrace technology

Whether you like it or not, technology is transforming the legal profession, and lawyers who keep up with technological advancements in the field have an advantage over those who don’t. In 2018, keep an open mind about the many ways in which technology might help you be a better lawyer.  If you haven’t yet, make 2018 the year you invest in cloud-based legal practice management software.  It is the foundation that many solo and small law firms have built their practices on because it helps improve efficiency, client service and work-life balance.

2018 Tech Trends to Watch For:

—Cloud-based services of all kinds

—Artificial intelligence applications

—Apps and services that connect attorneys and clients

—Smarter “smart” technology

—Blockchain encryption

—Wearables worth wearing

Serve your clients better

Clients are your lifeblood, so find ways to serve them that not only delivers the results they want, but also makes them feel as if choosing you as their lawyer was the best decision of their lives. It doesn’t have to cost money:

—Listen to them.

—Validate their concerns.

—Remember their story (by keeping detailed notes, if necessary).

—Stay in touch (if only through Christmas cards)

Do it right and your efforts could lead to new business, from those same clients or through referrals.

Make a two/five/ten-year plan

Part of the satisfaction of a career is knowing in general where you want to go and having some idea about how to get there. Take the time to write out a career plan that looks out two years ahead, five years, and ten years. Identifying short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals will help guide your decision-making and keep you on track. Revisit your goals (and revise them, if necessary) on those days when you feel like your forward momentum is stalled.

Align Actions with Goals

If you want to make sure your career stays on track, make the extra effort to ensure that your actions support your goals. Nothing is quite as demoralizing as a self-defeating decision. To avoid them, internalize your goals and ask yourself if the choices you’re making are strategic or scatter-brained? Focused or fuzzy? Not every decision has to make strategic sense, but the more of them that do, the better.

Be Good to Yourself

Being a great lawyer is demanding, stressful work. But working all the time is not in anyone’s best interests—yours, your clients’, or your firm’s. In 2018, make both your physical and mental health a priority. Whatever you do to recharge your batteries—run, bike, swim, yoga, meditation, cook, play music, travel, see a play, go to a concert—do it knowing that sometimes the best thing you can do for your career is to do something for yourself.  

 

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Amy Larson is a Director in Small Law Firm Customer Marketing and Firm Central at Thomson Reuters. She has over 17 years of experience in technology marketing with extensive focus on learning how technology can meet the needs of attorneys. Amy has been involved in numerous product launches throughout her tenure, public relations efforts, interviewing customers and telling their stories, and often writes and distributes information on legal practice management.