Formatting Documents

Part of starting my office has been sitting around trying to pre-draft forms and get familar with the judicial forms. Without knowing it I complied with a few of these formalities, but others I completely missed. I was not even aware that there were formatting requirements for documents I submitted with the court. I just happened to find them reading.

I was digging through my California Practice Guides to continue to learn new things. I was unaware of how particular the courts are concerning formats of documents filed with the court. If I had practiced prior to opening my practice I am sure I would have been shown this by a supervising attorney, but just starting out I had no idea. Here are a few requirements in California.
1. All judicial forms and pleadings filed with court or served on the other party must be on recycled paper.
2. Footers: all documents created by attorneys must have footers in at least 10 font with the name of the document.
3. Hole Punching: All documents filed must have 2 holes punched in top complying with measurement requirements.
4. Documents must be 12 font; use one font out of a list of approved fonts; on 8x11 20 pound recycled paper; 1.5 - double spaced; printed only on one side and numbered.
As far as judicial forms go many are mandatory for their purpose. Other forms are approved, so knowing the difference will let you know if you need to use a judicial form.
Nothing here is groundbreaking, but it is something I was not aware of. If I had not been reading through the California Practice guide randomly I would probably have learned these guidelines the hard way.

Credibility building Advertising

So I have been spending way too much time thinking about how to advertise and not just put my name out there. I have read about marketing ideas that have involved themes advertising that have really paid off law firms. SO my goal has been to design a consistent advertising theme that builds my reputation as well as putting my name and phone number in people's hands.

I have decided to design a family to use to create pamphlets and short videos for Youtube. It is amazing to see how Youtube videos rank on Google, so I am hoping it will help direct traffic and help my website rank. I have designed the children based on images of my wife and myself as children> I am still working on the parents, but I am sure I will come up with something.

The point of this is to allow me to explain legal points and express my understanding on the challenge of divorce to potential clients. By generating ads that allow me to build credibility I am hoping to generate more clients in the long run than just by advertising.

Advertising

This topic has been a thorn in my side. Advertising is so expensive and online advertising works on a bidding system that makes it impossible for me to compete with established attorneys. To this point I have limited my advertising to a couple classified ads and Craigslist. I have looked into Googles keyword advertising but the pay per click is so expensive for attorneys I do not have a choice but to just work my website until it searches better.

The website has been confusing. On yahoo search we are first page for Santa Cruz family law attorney and Santa Cruz divorce attorney. Somehow with Google I keep flipping between page 13 and 14. I keep working on my links and blogging to try and get rank, but it is being slow. I will be introducing a video and article portion to my website to create more material and keep changes coming. It should add a lot of extra pages of keyword heavy content and the regular changes will hopefully move us up.

March is the deadline for Yellowpage's phonebook listing so I am guessing that will be inevitable. I am not sure just generic listings are going to be effective advertising, but until I can figure out something more creative it will have to work for now. I am reading about firms who have done really great creative advertising that brought in a lot of new customers. I will have to make a point of sitting down and trying to create some original advertising methods.

I will post about what advertising proves to be effective I use some trial and error.

Starting to Meet People

So I have started my intial process of getting out to meet people and pass out business cards. I have joined two local Chamber of Commerces. I have attended one mixer which was exciting, scary and fun. It was fun to meet a few faces I see running local business. I have to admit I was surprised to see the guy from the Hardware store I visit regularly was VP of the chamber. I have another Chamber mixer tomorrow evening so I am hoping that goes as well. It is challenging walking into a place where you do not know anybody and trying to make frinds with everybody you see.

I am also going to join the PTA group for my kiddos school. To some extent I feel guilty joining now when I could have joined at any time the last few years, but if I am going to volunteer to get myuelf out there I am going to do something important to me. It has to be one of the greatest schools ever and there is a tremendous amount of parent involvement so I am hoping it helps out in the long run.

I amm also taking a pro bono case helping two non-profits locally reach an agreement. This feels good to do and it should get me in front of alot of people in the community. I think I am choosing well. I have made an effort to focus on this like my kids school and local non-profits as an avenue to promote myself.

I am sure other ideas will come up. AT the moment I cannot get past the idea of joining a softball league. I just really want to and it would probably be a great way to meet more people. If I can talk my wife into it a co-ed league would be a blast. She grew up playing baseball and if she let go enough she would have a blast.

Struggles in the Beginning

So I was warned and read to have realistic expectations the first few months. It does not make it easier to sit in the office for a few days without the phone ringing. I did not expect to have clients come running in and I knew this is what the reality of it would be, but it is hard to deal with.

I have been opened now for 23 days. I have had 2 potential clients call and actually did some work for one of them. Minor stuff but it was really good to get some work. Now I am waiting for more phone calls. Some of the excitement has settled away and now the anxiety of waiting is kicking in. My wife and I have invested what we have to get this going and I feel alot of pressure to make it start working now.

I understand this is part of starting my own firm as an attorney, but it is easy to feel a little defeated. I have my office set up and we are advertising a little and working on the website SEO. I will keep putting in the leg work and I am sure things will start to pay off. As work starts to come in I will address this issue again, but starting out this is an incredibly important issue to make peace with.

Process of Mediation

Starting my own law practice required a lot of time and thought spent organizing and drafting procedure. I have drafted a summary of the mediation process to give to clients and use as a guide when I conduct a mediation. This is a slightly redacted version, but it is a good example of how I have begun to create processes to make my practice more efficient.


1. Opening statement: a short statement I make discussing my role as a mediator, the confidential nature of mediation and out line the procedure we will follow.

2. Uninterrupted time for each party: Each party is given an uninterrupted opportunity to openly discuss their concerns. This also give the me an opportunity to fully hear the details of the case. Listening without responding may be challenging, but it is important at this point for each person to speak.

3. Exchange: At this point all parties and I have an open discussion to respond to each others uninterrupted time and fill in the gaps.

4. Set an agenda: Through the discussion numerous issues will come to the surface. I try to create a list of these issues and with the input of the parties we agree which issues are on the agenda for this session.

5. Creating an Agreement: At this point I provide some legal background of the issues to the clients. We then explore alternative solutions for these issues. This process ends with reaching a tentative agreement for each issue on the agenda.

6. Writing an agreement: At this point I typically draft an initial agreement to be reviewed and signed on a later date. Each party will leave with a draft of what was agreed upon and when they return we will finalize a final draft of the agreement.

7. Closing statement: During this final stage I will quickly review the progress made during the session and discuss the possibility of future meetings and sessions.

Without taking the time to develop process I do not believe I could run a consistent and efficient office. I have spent many hours drafting other summaries, forms and agreements to make sure I am prepared when an issues comes up.

Balancing Life and Work

One constant struggle for anybody who owns their own business is trying to balance work and life. This is a pretty natural conflict. You obviously have a passion for what you do or you would not have started your own business. I’ve been surprised a few times seeing the clock go from five to seven when I am working on a project. On the other hand one major benefit of working for yourself is setting your hours so you can spend time with your families.

One of the first things I did when I wanted to open my own firm was to talk to friends who run their own business. I heard this point from each of my friends who I know have close relationships with their families. Sadly from a few that were divorced this topic never came up. I deeply value the relationships with my family so finding a balance here was important to me.

I want to promote my business and never turn away a potential client, but I also want to be available for my family. I had a friend tell me about experiences when he was out with his kids and somebody would start asking him questions. He wanted to talk to the potential client, but pointed out that if he did so he was taking time away from his daughter. He works enough hours during the day and clients can come see him in his office.

I valued the advice I was given and will strive to make sure my family does not eve feel like second fiddle to my business.