bankruptcy

Managing The Bankruptcy Practice – Does It Scale?

February 16, 2010 By Jay Fleischman

When you’re setting out to manage your law firm, the one thing you need to ask is whether a particular process or procedure scales. That is, whether the management process you put in place today will still be valid when you’re pushing out 30, 40, 50 or more cases each month. Whether your Chapter 13 case management procedures will still work if you’re doing more above-median income cases (or below-median ones, as the case may be).

For most bankruptcy lawyers, the answer would be a resounding no – their case management system doesn’t exist because they don’t see a need for it to do so. And that’s something that spells potential ruin for your ability to manage your bankruptcy practice as it grows.

When I first started practicing bankruptcy law my case management system was … somewhat extreme in the eyes of the casual onlooker. I instituted a (then) complex filing system with file numbers for all client matters, colored subfolders and forms for action items (mind you, this was before everything could be managed online). My intern (yes, I had an intern even before I had a lot of clients) thought I’d lost my mind – why do so much work if there were only four clients in the entire office?

My logic, however, was simple. If I put the system together before I needed it, it would function when I did need it.

Three years later I was working on 30 bankruptcy cases a month and there was no early way for me to remember everything I needed to recall. The crush of information was too great. But with my system, all went smoothly.

So here’s the thing – when you look at a file, ask yourself whether you can possible remember every aspect of it when you’ve got 100 or more just like it. If the answer is no (and it will be), you need to formulate a way to document the nuances. Intake documents, checklists, cross-referencing and tagging play an important role in keeping the system scalable.

We each have our way of organizing our thoughts, so yours will likely be different from anyone else’s system. Regardless, you need to take action now – before things get out of control.

Photo courtesy of picknjim.

Filed Under: Law Office Management Tagged With: bankruptcy, bankruptcy law firms, business, filing systems, law, managing, practice

Toggl: Track Your Billable Time Easily (And Free!)

February 1, 2010 By Jay Fleischman

Managing a bankruptcy law office requires the ability to keep track of where time is being spent, by whom, and on which matters. For many bankruptcy lawyers, however, time tracking is costly and difficult. There are a bunch of programs out there to help lawyers track time, but they’re all cumbersome and cost money.

You already know I hate to spend money unless it’s for an awesome reason.

About two years ago I was looking for a simple and quick way to track my time. I didn’t feel like shelling out a bunch of money for a full-featured case management system (I was using Basecamp at the time for my case management, and it didn’t have a real-time application), and even a program like Time And Chaos seemed like overkill.

All I wanted was something I could click to start and click to stop. I wanted to get reports showing my progress, and I wanted to be able to print out a PDF for my fee applications. It had to be free, too.

Too much to ask, I thought. Then I found Toggl. And over two years later, it’s better than ever.

Toggl is an online time tracker that tracks the number of billable hours you spend on a client project. In real-time.

Once you register (for free), create a new project for a new client, and “toggl” the on button. Toggl starts tracking the time spent in real-time, right in the web browser. You can even download an application to your Mac or PC and the data will automatically sync with the web server. Hit stop when you’re done.

Toggl will put together reports – PDF or CSV – for invoicing your clients. Beyond that, the system lets you look at your time in graphical format. How much time you’ve billed each day, week, month, etc. Which days were most productive, least, and stuff like that.

Bottom line? It’s awesome.

The application is free for up to 5 timekeepers on your team, and the cost is modest for bigger groups. So go check it out and see if it suits your needs.

Filed Under: Office Technology Tagged With: bankruptcy, bankruptcy law firms, bankruptcy laws, bankruptcy lawyers, basecamp, business, law, Law Office Management, lawyer, managing, project management software, real time applications, spending money, spent, time and billing, timesheet, Toggl, tracks, web apps

Remodeling The Bankruptcy Law Practice

January 19, 2010 By Jay Fleischman

Managing a bankruptcy practice is hard work. You’re working with clients, bringing in new business, and doing the heavy lifting. Starting a bankruptcy practice is also difficult, and for different reasons. But what if you need to start a bankruptcy practice while managing the existing one? In other word, re-creating a law firm from within?

I’m in the process of arranging to have some work done in my apartment. We moved in about 12 years ago at a time when we really had no business getting a mortgage in the first place. With little money behind us and just starting out, my wife (then girlfriend) and I opted to take the place as-is. And though it was decent enough at the time, the years have taken their toll on our corner of the world.

Specifically, the wood floors need to be re-done. 12 years and a dog have conspired against out (once) lovely floor. Now it looks like something out of a haunted house. No choice, we need to get the floors sanded and polished.

Suddenly our lives are turned inside out. Boxes to be packed, stuff to be moved around, dust curtains to be installed.

But life will go on. It will be inconvenient but we know that once it’s all done we won’t have to worry about dodging splinters when we walk through the living room.

I always talk about new marketing and practice management ideas for the law firm; most of it comes from running a profitable bankruptcy law firm, which is my perspective as a consumer bankruptcy lawyer. But how do you implement new ideas and strategies without destroying what may otherwise be a fully-functioning practice?

It’s a question I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately. After all, most bankruptcy lawyers are solos or in small firms and don’t have the luxury of ripping out half the practice at a time and leaving the rest undisturbed. If you’re shutting down, you’re done. With the transactional nature of consumer bankruptcy work, that’s not an option.

Change needs to come in small bits and pieces, not all at once. Want to go to an electronic faxing method, scrapping the fax machine entirely? Open the new account with MaxEMail (my preferred vendor), eFax, or whatever service you choose. Test it out for a week by forwarding your existing fax number. Then, after you’ve made sure it works, you can start giving out the new number to clients. Keep the old one forwarding for a year; then you can disconnect it.

Employees taking too much time off? Need new policies? Draft up the manual and pass it around for review and comments. Let it sink in for a few weeks. Then, after you’ve made sure everyone’s seen it, announce an effective date a month int the future. Announce the date and send out periodic emails to staffers to remind them.

Thinking about a virtual assistant to help with the bankruptcy petition drafting? Find someone you like, train them and give them one petition. Just one. Review it, file it, and then give them a second to handle. Don’t fire your existing paralegal until the virtual assistant has done enough for you to know that he or she is reliable and capable.

See, it’s all a question of transition. If you make these enormous and jarring changes they’re bound to backfire on you. You don’t need to move out of the house to get the floors refinished, you can do it room by room. It takes more time to get done, but you won’t need to worry about being homeless. The rest of the house will continue to chug along even while the work continues.

Photo courtesy of isnoop.

Filed Under: Law Office Management Tagged With: bankruptcy, bankruptcy laws, business, law firm, Practice Management

Starting A Bankruptcy Law Practice – What’s The First Step?

March 13, 2009 By Jay Fleischman

Lots of lawyers are thinking about starting a bankruptcy law practice. After all, the news keeps telling us how the economy’s in free fall and that people are in worse shape than ever before (at least, worse than they’ve been in a long, long while).

But what’s the first step?

Do you need to know bankruptcy law? The best computer software? The right organizations to join? The perfect books to buy?

Sure, that’s all important – but it isn’t the very first thing to do.

The first thing – absolute, positive Step One – is to make sure you’re cut out for it when thinking about starting a bankruptcy practice. Know thyself and all that.

You need to know how to market your bankruptcy practice. Because if you’ve got all the knowledge but no clients then it’s all an academic exercise. And I’m morally opposed to exercise (though I’m starting to go to the gym, it’s because I feel the creaks in my bones and not because I’m so in love with it).

You can put up an ad, a website, produce a fancy TV and radio commercial, dress up in a suit and play the part. But unless you attain an understanding of your own motives those legal marketing efforts will ring hollow with your prospects. And if it isn’t genuine, it isn’t going to work.

Let’s take a step back.

Have you ever gone into a store and been approached by a really good salesperson? He knows all about the product, the specs, the bells-and-whistles. He gives you his speech, works out the price, and pretty much does everything right. Yet when it comes time to open your wallet you stop and decide against it.

Something just isn’t right. The sales pitch is good, but you’re just not feeling it. You can sniff the bulls**t, and accordingly take a step back.

Other times, you can walk into a store and meet a salesperson who may not do everything right – he may not know everything about the product, maybe his pricing is a little high, his tie is undone, whatever. But there’s SOMETHING about this salesperson that just . . . clicks.

He gets you. He understands your needs, and seems genuinely interested in getting you what you want. Bingo, he gets the sale.

Same thing here. If you start a bankruptcy law practice but don’t personally believe in using bankruptcy as a solution and a tool for financial rehabilitation, you’re not going to be genuine. You may talk the talk well enough, but you’re not going to be able to walk the walk.

Maybe you’ll do OK for awhile, but your prospects will smell it – just like a dog smells fear. Your marketing will fail at that core level, and your consultations won’t ring true. They may not be able to put their finger on it, but they’ll know something isn’t right. And you’ll lose the client to someone else.

Don’t be a bankruptcy lawyer for the money. Don’t be a bankruptcy lawyer because it’s the latest, hottest trend. Don’t do it because the bottom fell out of your real estate practice, or because your business has dried up.

Sounds all “new age, touchy-feely,” I know. But if you can’t get behind something 100%, if your heart isn’t in it, all the other stuff won’t save you.

Filed Under: Law Office Management Tagged With: bankruptcy, bankruptcy laws, bankruptcy lawyers, lawyers, practice, start

Bankruptcy Lawyers And Referral Marketing – 7 Sources You Need To Know

December 24, 2008 By Jay Fleischman

I’m struck by how often bankruptcy lawyers talk about getting more referrals without engaging in a consistent referral marketing strategy. They go to networking groups, glad-hand at cocktail parties, and generally make themselves known.

The problem is, they’re often making themselves known to the wrong people. This is like standing on the corner with a bullhorn asking passers-by to send you clients.

Consumer bankruptcy lawyers do need to network for referrals, but in a different way. Going to a BNI meeting or similar referral-based networking organization isn’t going to do much to get you new clients who are struggling under the weight of credit card and mortgage problems.

Here are my top 7 places for bankruptcy lawyers to ramp up their referral marketing efforts:

Human Resources Managers: With massive layoffs in every industry, many companies are offering outplacement assistance to help their former colleagues get back on their feet. When those newly unemployed people encounter bill problems, they are likely to go to their human resource people for help.
Real Estate Brokers: A homeowner needs to sell a house, but it’s heading into foreclosure. Who better to help stave off foreclosure than a bankruptcy lawyer?
Mortgage Brokers: A homeowner needs to refinance but is facing foreclosure or credit card debt that makes refinancing difficult. Bankruptcy to the rescue!
Car Dealers: The consumer wants a new car, but has too much debt to make it happen.
Hairdressers and Barbers: Better than bartenders, these professionals hear every manner of woe. When a customer has bill problems, the person cutting their hair can give out a pointed recommendation to a lawyer who can help solve the problem.
Clergy: Ministers, priests, rabbis, imams and the like all help married couples get through tough times. The biggest marital strain? Bill problems.
Accountants: When a taxpayer has problems, bankruptcy may be the solution.

The list goes on and on, but remember – networking can be a critical part of your marketing efforts, but only if you’re networking in the right places.

Filed Under: Legal Marketing Tagged With: bankruptcy, bankruptcy lawyers, consumer bankruptcy, lawyers, networking, referral, referral marketing, sources

Legal Marketing And The Bankruptcy Lawyer – Remember The Similarities

November 11, 2008 By Jay Fleischman

How you choose to market a consumer bankruptcy practice must be based in some measure on who your client really is in order for it to succeed.

We’re taught by legal marketing folks that we need to engage in target marketing. That is, slicing and dicing our market using geography and demographics. Who they are, where they live, what they look like, and where they eat for dinner. The more granular we get, the thinking goes, the easier it is to be able to find our target.

Find the target, find the client. Legal marketing nirvana.

You do need to know everything about your potential client to make sure you’re talking their language and addressing their concerns. But you also need to know everything about yourself.

If you and your client don’t have a common point of view, getting together is nearly impossible.

Putting aside the problems your ideal client is currently facing, there’s really no difference between the two of you. After all, there’s not that far to fall from success and failure in any aspect of our lives. We’re all just a few paychecks away from bankruptcy. That’s not to scare you, but to make you understand that 99% of your client’s world looks just like yours.

The old saying is, “know thyself,” and there’s truth to that. If you’re going to figure out who you want to attract as a client, your legal marketing has to recognize who you are before anything else.

It begins with communication.

Once you have a handle on your own background, your lifestyle, and your ideas of right and wrong it’s important to be able to communicate effectively. When you market a consumer bankruptcy practice those words need to come from your life, not your profession. Terms like “discharge” and “reaffirmation” hold no sway in your vocabulary – they set you apart, creating distance between you and your ideal client. So you’ve got to strip those words away and talk like you talk when the office is closed.

Consumer bankruptcy lawyers have a habit of marketing to their own best instincts. What they like, what they hate, where they congregate . . . those are how they decide where and how to market.

But when you move into your client’s shoes, lines open up. Trust is built. Communication is clearer, and clients are better educated. They gravitate to you and trust your advice, because you’re one of them.

Always remember where you came from, and where you are in life. What makes us the same is what helps our legal marketing efforts, and sweeping away the differences is key to our ability to connect with our potential clients.

Filed Under: Legal Marketing Tagged With: bankruptcy, bankruptcy lawyers, connections, consumer bankruptcy, legal advertising, Legal Marketing, marketing, similarity, target market

Why I Got Into Podcasting

July 23, 2005 By Grant Griffiths

Why did I begin to podcast? It’s complex, though it has nothing to do with my love of my own voice (as lawyers, I suspect we all love to hear ourselves speak to an extent). It had nothing to do with delusions of grandeur, and it certainly had nothing to do with making money. After all, nobody’s really found a way to monetize podcasting.

It had to do with a desire to provide information in a new way to my clients, as well as to people who may be having financial problems and don’t know where to turn. As a consumer bankruptcy attorney I’m used to seeing people who are at the end of their ropes, people who don’t want to sit in front of a stranger and pour out their life stories. But these people need information, and they need it delivered in the most efficient manner possible. Many of them don’t have much time on their hands between work and family obligations. The podcast offers the ability to listen when ever – and where ever – it’s convenient to do so. In the car, while exercising, whenever.

In terms of time, it takes me about 3 hours to do a 20 minute show. That includes research, plotting out the show, mixing and production, and uploading. I’m new at this, and have never done any audio production. I suspect my prep time will go down once I become more familiar with the process, but my show times will get longer as I become more comfortable with the process.

In the two weeks or so since I published my first podcast I’ve been contacted by people as far away as Alaska and Southern California with questions and comments. Consumers from around the country have thanked me for the information I’m providing, and my own clients have told me that they’re learning new ways to handle their finances. I even had someone tell me that I gave her so many new ideas on how to reduce her debts that she believes she’ll be able to recover financially without bankruptcy; that may be one less client I’ll have, it’s a great feeling. For nearly ten years I’ve been telling people that I’d love to see the need for lawyers who practice in my area disappear because people don’t need court intervention to solve their debt problems. Though this probably won’t happen, it’s good to know that my efforts can help make a difference.

These comments have served to underscore to me the importance of what I’m doing, and the people I’m serving. I haven’t made a dime off podcasting directly thus far, nor do I expect to. People come to see me each day based on the information I convey, and podcasting serves to increase my exposure to that population of people who are surfing the Internet in search of answers. Now they can read my words AND hear my voice. They know me now, hearing my voice and learning my views and opinions on the things that matter to them.