Seasoned attorneys and established boutique law firms must pause to consider an evolving reality demanding their attention: the growing influence of younger lawyers.
Welcome to a new era where the business of law game has changed. The younger players are hungry, and a growing number of them are uninterested in playing by the old rules or adhering to traditional norms:
- Working extremely long hours to line someone else’s pockets.
- Receiving superficial recognition.
- Having no work-life balance.
Many have seized control of the situation and made their own rules.
In the legal industry, disruption is coming from all sides in various forms of alternative legal service providers. Accounting firms are setting up LLCs for business clients. Apps navigate the divorce preparation process. Tech companies draft Trust and Estate documents. Nationwide online notarization services save clients a trip to the attorney’s office. That’s just a few of the fast-growing number of services moving into the legal space. And now this revolution includes baby lawyers!
If seasoned competitors don’t step things up, they might discover themselves in an unexpected predicament, such as finding their once-dominant market share eroded by these innovative newcomers.
The steamrolling spares no profession, service, or industry. Tax software. Print media. Translation. Financial advisors. Stockbrokers. Banking. Recruiters. Hotels. Delivery services. Postal service. Education. You name it!
Ask anyone under 30 where their favorite Barnes & Noble store is. Barnes & who?
Ask anyone under 40 where their travel agent’s office is.
Now, ask anyone in those age categories who has ever had a business-related legal problem if they’ve heard of Legal Zoom.
Draw Inspiration from the Millennial Playbook
Walk around the internet and look at the online footprint of some early-career attorneys who fearlessly struck out on their own or joined forces with their peers to establish boutique law firms. They have that digital hustler mentality that their generation is renowned for. If you doubt their traction, go on court websites and look at the caseloads of these junior lawyers who bypassed conventional routes; some boldly hung up their shingles not long after being admitted to the bar.
And how is this happening for them so fast? The common denominator — — marketing!
Regardless of whether, from your experienced perspective, this “rush-to-entrepreneurship” approach is a good idea, established lawyers need to adopt a chapter from the business playbook of this generation, whose phones are ringing.
Having grown up in the digital and social media age, they possess a seemingly innate understanding of self-promotion. Combined with traditional marketing techniques and guerrilla marketing, they find themselves in an advantageous position. Moreover, “Google University” and “YouTube Academy” have enriched their education.
No marketing stone is being left unturned. They launch multi-touch marketing campaigns, form alliances, network online and offline, establish synergistic mastermind collectives, make guest appearances on podcasts, create hyperactive firm-related Instagram pages and YouTube channels, routinely collect and publish client reviews, interact with millennial attorneys abroad to brainstorm ideas and build and harness the power of their personal brands, finding unique ways to stand out wherever they go. They do whatever it takes to ensure their professional autonomy decision is fruitful, including putting in the extra hours, adding a seasoned attorney to their staff, and putting their heads together to accomplish what a client has paid them to do.
Stay Competitive in the Legal Industry’s Evolving Landscape
Many established lawyers in boutique firms with robust referral networks naturally become complacent. Marketing tends to be an afterthought, addressed only when business slows down and things get quiet. Regrettably, when they recognize the necessity for change, they often find themselves racing to grasp industry trends and discover avenues to maintain their relevance and competitiveness.
Avoid falling into that trap.
Don’t become one of the attorneys left wondering why they are losing business to less experienced colleagues they deem inferior. These young folks may have shorter track records and less name recognition, but when you look at their client-facing marketing, you can see that they know how to leverage the accomplishments they do have. To someone who’s none-the-wiser, they come across as formidable as you actually are. And they’re being taken seriously by monied prospects. Some have even attracted potential clients away from well-established law firms. These less savvy, embryonic firms are going up against lawyers with 35 years of experience.
Conclusion
The game has changed. And marketing has a whole lot to do with it. The bottom line is that you must stay on your toes, especially in smaller, established law firms. A relaxed approach won’t cut it in this highly competitive environment. Get your marketing game up!
Sleep on Millennials if you want to. 😊
I certainly wouldn’t. I don’t.
