RJon Robins

EVERYONE is a solo practitioner

November 4, 2008 by RJon Robins

There has been a rash of layoffs from law firms around the Country lately. This is no surprise. But probably not for the reason you think. The lack of surprise is not to do with the state of the economy (which is always a lame excuse for failure of a Rainmaker). No, the lack of surprise is because of the nature of the business of a law firm. . .

That is to say if you’re not the captain steering your own ship, you’re just a passenger who could be headed to the rocks!

Case in point:
New York-based McKee Nelson laid off 17 associates and 15 staff members on Monday, citing a slowdown in structured finance work. But there are plenty of other examples just like this around the country I could have pointed to.

O.K., I’ll give the staff members a “pass”. But what about the associates? And what about the practice area leaders who were supposed to be steering the careers of those 17 associates? Let’s take these one-at-a-time:

The practice area leaders screwed-up. No doubt about it. They failed to look ahead and make contingency plans for their practice area. But notice the captains didn’t get tossed-out, just the associates whose services were no longer needed by the firm once their practice area hit the rocks. (hint: structured finance lawyers tend to be pretty good at doing structured settlements & work-outs).

But the ones I lay the most responsibility on are the associates themselves. Not for the decisions of their bosses, but rather for not taking steps to make themselves invaluable to the firm in other areas.

Lesson: EVERYONE is a solo practitioner.

Law Firm Marketing: There has to be a better way!

October 26, 2008 by RJon Robins

Hello Frank,

Thank you for the kind words.

I offer several different courses. The two I am guessing you are
asking about are the Bronze Coaching program which costs just $39/month
and comes with a complimentary copy of my Best-Selling How To Market A
Small Law Firm audio CD program & workbook. And the other is the
audio CD & workbook as a stand-alone product.

You might be asking “Why would anyone buy the stand alone product for
$300 when they can get it for free by enrolling in your $39/month
coaching program?” My answer is that I really would prefer to have as
many attorneys enrolled in the monthly coaching program as possible.
Because that represents recurring revenue for me and I know a
fairly-predictable percentage of you will actually follow the program
and graduate-up to my Silver and eventually the Gold Level of coaching. That’s where we start talking about increasing your income by the
hundreds of thousands per year which makes my services much more
affordable to you and more fun for me to work with you.

So I’m willing
to make the Bronze coaching program more attractive than just buying
the audio & trying to implement it on your own. The Bronze
coaching program is really all about helping you implement what you
will learn on the audio.

But in direct answer to your question, YES if you implement even 10% of
what you will learn on the audio CD you should begin to get results
pretty quickly in your criminal defense practice. If you’re currently
earning $5,000 per month for example and for just $39/month I can help
you increase your income by $500 that’s a pretty good deal, I think.
But my real goal is to graduate you up to the point where we’re talking
about increasing your income by $5,000 per month and so my $500/month
fee for Gold Coaching is still a good deal for you.

The Bronze program focuses on the basic fundamentals for
marketing any law practice. Much of what you will learn about at this
level is going to seem pretty simple . And perhaps you may even say
it’s alot of “common sense”. However time & again I am able to
help attorneys make huge improvements in their law practices by helping
them get back to basics. And showing them easy ways to actually
implement these basic fundamentals. Instead of wasting time looking for
some fancy new magic rainmaking button. Or teaching them the much more
advanced techniques before they’ve even mastered the fundamentals.

The Bronze program does NOT teach you a bunch of much-more
sophisticated techniques for how to optimize your website for the
search engines, or how to utilize all of the technologies available to
squeeze more business out of your probably not up to date database of
potential referral sources or even how to develop effective
educational-based marketing materials and programs that will draw
clients to you like a magnet.

It doesn’t get into all of that because in my experience most lawyers
have never even learned the basic fundamentals. And you need to have
these in place if you realistically expect any of the rest of those more
sophisticated techniques & tools to work for you. So we offer a basic
program for just $39/month. Then, later once you have mastered the
fundamentals and have some momentum going. And you are ready to take
bigger steps to leverage your practice and take it to a much higher
level. Then you can step-up to the Silver or even one of my Gold level
coaching programs.

Hope this helps,

RJON

On Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 7:48 PM, *************************wrote:
This is an enquiry e-mail via http://howtomakeitrain.com from:
Frank *****

RJon,

First, I want to compliment the hard work that you have obviously put into your materials and your web site.

Second, I trust that you are a man of your word. Therefore, I am
asking you straight out: Will your course work to increase business
for a solo criminal defense attorney? The contents of your site rang
true to me. Not being boastful, but I win trial after trial, yet my
practice struggles, while those who bleed them and plead them make
money hand over fist.

I have saved two men from death row, murder charges dismissed, lives
and familys saved, but I struggle every month for business. There has
to be a better way!

Correct use of the title “Esq.”

October 24, 2008 by RJon Robins

This has long been a pet pieve of mine: The inappropriate use of the self-laudatory title “Esquire”. When signing your own name you may indicate you are an “Attorney at Law” but please don't refer to yourself as “Esq.” And while we're on the subject of grammatical pet pieves do not tell someone he or she is “incredible” in an attempt to pay them a compliment. The word means not credible. As in the witness is incredible. His testimony should not be given any weight.

From Wikipedia. . .

Esquire (abbreviated Esq.) is a term of British origin, originally used to denote social status. Within the United States, it is used as a postnominal honorific by licensed attorneys and by some naval officers and fraternal organizations. Ultimately deriving from the medieval squires who assisted knights, the term came to be used automatically by men of gentle birth. The social rank of Esquire is that above gentleman.
More specifically, though, a distinction was made between men of the
upper and lower gentry, who were “esquires” and “gentlemen”
respectively (between, for example, “Thomas Smith, Esq.” and “William
Jones, Gent.”). A late example of this distinction is in the list of
subscribers to The History of Elton, by the Rev. Rose Fuller Whistler, published in 1882, which clearly distinguishes between subscribers designated “Mr” (another way of indicating gentlemen) and those allowed “Esquire.”

Thus, practically speaking, the term “esquire” may be appended to
the name of any man not possessing a higher title (such as that of knighthood or peerage) or a clerical one. In practice, however, “esquire” in the US is most commonly assumed by lawyers in a professional capacity; it has come to be associated by many Americans solely with the legal profession.^{[citation needed]}

Regardless of to whom it is applied, the term “Esq.” should not be
used when talking about oneself, or in directly addressing somebody
else. Rather, it is used in third-person contexts, such as business
letterhead and when addressing an envelope.

Logic or emotion; Which makes more rain?

May 23, 2008 by RJon Robins

Had a meeting with a Gold Member at breakfast. Discussed a very exciting new concept he's pioneering that I think will be a big trend in years to come. Can't reveal all the details (yet) but a point that came up in the conversation was that our clients often buy based on an emotional “hook” not generally based on logic. And in fact the hook doesn't always even have to be completely logical to be effective. Think about that next time you're designing a brochure, a business card or the message for your firm's website.

Client Service Insight – New Blog Worth Checking Out

May 5, 2008 by RJon Robins

Leo Bottary has spent 25 years in the PR business both on the agency and client sides. He’s passionate about client service. His blog is not dedicated exclusively to law firm client service, but that’s a big part of what I like about it. The more our industry looks outward instead of inward for new ideas, the better.

Visit his site at http://clientserviceinsights.blogspot.com/

How To Save $ On Malpractice Insurance

December 29, 2007 by RJon Robins

We recently entered into a joint venture agreement with a malpractice insurance agency that represents only “A” rated carriers. Apparently they think that lawyers who learn & implement the rainmaking & client service skills contained on some of our programs are a better risk for their underwriters. And so they’re offering some of our materials for FREE (that is they pay, you get for free) to the first 1,000 attorneys who submit an application to get a no-obligation rate quote. If they come back with a better rate than you’re paying now, you can switch or not. Your choice & you still get some How To Make It Rain programs for FREE. We’re still working out the exact details of which programs they’ll underwrite for you but I’m thinking it will probably be a FREE “How To Close Every Sales Call” CD, which normally sells for $99.

Visit the main website today at https://howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com/ and click on the banner that just went up before you miss your chance to get something for nothing.

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