Re: Meanwhile, for those of you who practice law.....

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I am in a city, not a rural area. For the past five years, I have
mostly represented real estate developers, sellers, buyers, and
lenders (in Massachusetts, only attorneys can conduct closings,
not the title companies directly). As I stated in my posts, lately
the real estate market has been slow, so I have supplemented with
wills, estates, trusts, bankruptcies, and now business law. I will
not state my income, but on average a real estate closing,
including title insurance commission, brings me about $1500.00
(mostly sales, not many refis), and I typically do double figures
in monthly volume, even in slow times. So I do o.k., although
overhead is high.

On 5/15/06, Ronald wrote:
> What kind of work do you get hired to do? Are you in a small
> rural community? How much is your yearly profit from law
> practice?
>
> Thank you in advance.
>
> On 5/15/06, JF wrote:
>> You misunderstood my post. I am not chasing the people who
>> already have filed. I never said I would send out a "nice
>> letter". I said that I am now holding myself out to the
>> director of my Chamber of Commerce as a business lawyer,
>> meaning that when new lawyers call her for a referral, she
>> will give my name. I will then advise the new business as to
>> typical start-up issues such as: forming an LLC, corporation,
>> or partnership agreement; reviewing and negotiating commercial
>> leases; assisting with commercial financing and related UCC
>> issues; preparation and review of business acquisition
>> documents when necessary; assisting with permitting; filing of
>> business certificates; etc. Yes, most of these businesses will
>> not survive, but hopefully the ones who do will remain clients.
>>
>> What other name do you write posts under?
>>
>>
>> On 5/15/06, Jimmy wrote:
>>> JF,
>>>
>>> Exactly what kind of business do you do for new startups?
>>> They have already established their entity, hence the public
>>> filing, and they are usually broke and undercapitalized,
>>> hence the fact that they will go out of business, in all
>>> likelihood (Your words). So, what do you do? Handle the
>>> traffic ticket if the business owner speeds? I'm asking,
>>> because several years ago, I did exactly what you have
>>> recommended. I sent out a nice letter. Maybe 2 ot of 100
>>> called me, and they were looking for free advice, as usual.
>>>
>>> On 5/15/06, JF wrote:
>>>> For better or for worse, I continue to occasionally write
>>>> posts that may actually help those drowning solos actually
>>>> build their practices. I have been practicing real estate
>>>> law for a number of years, but the downturn in the real
>>>> estate market has forced me to expand into other areas. I
>>>> have had no problem obtaining new clients and new types of
>>>> work, and I do this by fishing where the fish are. For
>>>> example, in the past, I have suggested that solos hand
>>>> out "Have You Made a Will?" brochures to their existing
>>>> clients. A great way to get your client to come in for
>>>> some estate planning. When the new bankruptcy law went
>>>> into effect, many bankruptcy lawyers dropped that area of
>>>> practice. I spent an afternoon on the phone calling these
>>>> lawyers, telling them that I am practicing bankruptcy law,
>>>> and now a number of them have used me as their referral
>>>> attorney. I originally built my real estate practice by
>>>> opening my office next door to a large, busy real estate
>>>> broker office. The referrals came quickly and
>>>> consistently. Again, fishing where the fish are. All this
>>>> has been supplemented by bar lawyer referral programs.
>>>>
>>>> My newest marketing endeavor targets business entities,
>>>> who (in my opinion) ultimately make the best clients. I
>>>> had ignored business clients in the past (with the
>>>> exception of real estate developers) largely because I did
>>>> not believe there were many new businesses in my area, and
>>>> existing businesses typically already have counsel. Then I
>>>> checked the new business certificate filings in the city
>>>> that I practice in and found that there are many new
>>>> business filings every month. I have been active in the
>>>> local Chamber of Commerce for over a year, and I am the
>>>> only lawyer who gives them my time. So I simply called the
>>>> Chamber director, who confirmed that, yes, a good amount
>>>> of new business people call her for lawyer referrals, and
>>>> from now on she will certainly give them my name (since
>>>> I'm the only lawyer in town who bothers with them). I had
>>>> my first client within a week. Granted, many of these new
>>>> businesses will fail, but I will receive the start-up work
>>>> and retain those that succeed.
>>>>
>>>> Virtually all solos know how to practice law. The hard
>>>> part is obtaining clients, which seems to be the problem
>>>> people have here. The work is out there; you just have to
>>>> reach out and grab it. It's all about relationship
>>>> building, making yourself visible in the community, and
>>>> letting people know what you do.
>>>>