Where do you want your law firm to be in five or ten years and what is your plan for getting there? If you don’t meet with your team and form a strategy and plan of action, you won’t get there. The best thing you can do RIGHT NOW for the future of your law firm will be to schedule firm dates for quarterly strategic meetings over the next 12 months.
A quarterly strategic meeting is a meeting with your team, i.e., your partners, associate, paralegal, where you tackle the biggest obstacle facing your law firm. The obstacle facing your law firm might be:
- Creating a content creation plan for getting more leads from your website,
- Getting your “A” cases to trial in the next 9 months,
- Monitoring your progress of your website and marketing, case management and revenue and income on a monthly basis.
Whatever it is, you focus on only a SINGLE PROBLEM, a/k/a your “Rallying Cry”, that will be the focus of your team’s efforts over the next 90 days. You post the “Rallying Cry” on a poster board in your conference room and review your progress daily with your team. You become obsessed about the “Rallying Cry” over the next 90 days and little by little, you celebrate moments of progress. And just maybe by the time of your next quarterly strategic meeting, you’ll be ready to tackle a new “Rallying Cry”.
By way of example, below is an example of the agenda for our law firm’s most recent quarterly strategic meeting.
Our “Rallying Cry”
Over the next 90 days, our “Rallying Cry” is to evaluate our monthly progress in 3 categories:
#1: Websites & Marketing,
#2: Case Management,
#3: Income & Revenue
Alyssa will prepare written reports on the monthly progress of our (1) Websites & Marketing, (2) Case Management and (3) Income and Revenue. The monthly reports will be reviewed and discussed at the weekly Goal Meeting on the first Monday of every month.
Websites & Marketing
Topics for Monthly Reports
- # of Website Visitors
- # of Unique Website Visitors
- # of Inbound Links (InstantLink.com)
- # of New Website Pages
- # of Email Subscribers
- # of Facebook friends/followers
Note: The website data should be reported for both websites, ProtectingPatientRights.com and UltimateInjuryLaw.com.
Goals for Websites & Marketing
Goal #1: 15,000 website visitors/month (ProtectingPatientRights.com)
Goal #2: 10,000 email subscribers (UltimateInjuryLaw.com)
To-Do List for Website & Marketing
- Alyssa to create new Facebook fan page for law firm.
- We need to eliminate broken links to our websites.
Corina’s Idea: Hand deliver the referral fee check to our referral partner, with a copy of the settlement statement and buy lunch for the law firm.
Case Management
Topics for Monthly Reports:
1: # of Active Lawsuits
2: # of Potential Cases
3: # of New Intakes
4: # of Trial Dates (Scheduled, completed and settled)
5: # of Referral Partners
Goals for Case Management:
Goal #1: 20 Active Lawsuits, each with a minimum settlement value of $300k
Goal #2: 12 Trial Dates/Year
Goal #3: 500 Referral Partners by October 19, 2017
To-Do List for Case Management:
- Begin using “Call Ruby” for new case intake phone calls—get terms and budget from Call Ruby;
- Post the Net Promoter Scores in the conference room. Alyssa will bring hard copies of the Net Promoter Scores to the team members when we receive them;
- Need better follow through from John on the 12 Week Plans. Discuss the weekly to-do list at the weekly Goal Meetings;
- Post referral partners in a centralized database, i.e., Infusionsoft;
- Ask my daughter, Lily, to add names and addresses of referral partners to “Referral Partner” campaign in Infusionsoft;
- Schedule another 1-2 day training session with Brett Farr re: client updates/communication through Infusionsoft;
- Check with Trialworks about integration with Infusionsoft;
- John will change message on cell phone directing new clients to call Alyssa at 845-802-0047, i.e., “This is my personal cell phone. If you are calling about a case, please call Alyssa at 845-802-0047.”
Note: Create form in Trialworks for the revised “Our Key Performance Indicators” as follows:
#1: Receipt of Discovery Demands to service of Plaintiff’s Bill of Particulars: 30 days
#2: Service of Plaintiff’s Bill of Particulars until completion of Depositions: 180 days (6 month)
#3: Receipt of Answer to filing of Note of Issue: 270 days (9 months)
#4: Filing of Lawsuit until Settlement/Trial date: 1 year, 6 months
Our Key Performance Indicators should be completed at the end of every case and signed by everyone who worked on the case.
Income & Revenue
Topics for Monthly Reports:
#1: Current Income/calendar year
#2: Projected Income/calendar year
#3: Current Revenue/calendar year
#4: Projected Revenue/calendar year
#5: Actual Expenses/calendar year
#6: Projected Expenses/calendar year
Goal for Income & Revenue
#1: Annual Income of $1.5 million
Note: Projections for income and revenue are based on trial dates in the calendar year. We will need Mekela to provide the monthly income & revenue reports.
Our Perfect Law Firm
#1: 15,000 website visitors/month (ProtectingPatientRights.com)
#2: 10,000 email subscribers (UltimateInjuryLaw.com)
#3: 20 Active Lawsuits, each with a minimum settlement value of $300k
#4: 12 Trial Dates/Year
#5: 500 Referral Partners by October 19, 2017
#6: Annual Income of $1.5 million
photo credit: Brainstorming 73/366 via photopin (license)
