Adapting to a New Age
THE LAW INDUSTRY is older than Homer’s Odyssey and came before the fault of Achilles’ heal, but for years the profession has stumbled into the Internet age. From constant contact to an open-source work environment and SEO, law firms are finally experiencing a new transition.
In the 20th century, the consistency of law firms was punctuated only by adding another partner’s name to the signage. There was a boss at the top and eager young clerks fresh out of law school scrambling at the bottom. Historically, becoming partner in a firm signified making it to young lawyers.
“Once you were a partner, you were a partner for life,” says Milt Harper of Harper, Evans, Wade and Netemeyer. But the law firm structure has had to adapt to a changing landscape. Not only do local firms now have to compete with national firms, global firms, virtual firms and legal outsourcing, but they have also had to adapt to the demands of a 24/7 society.
Harper says it’s more common nowadays to see young lawyers who aren’t willing to wait eight or 10 years to become partner and instead start their own firm. As this trend continues, competition among firms will only become fiercer and change more rapid.
A firm of their own
Greta Bassett-Seymour was one of those young lawyers. In 2004, she was working in social security law and decided she wanted to be doing things a bit differently and a bit better than the firm she was currently working for. “If you would have asked me when I first became a lawyer if I wanted to have my own firm, I would have said never,” she said. But later, she changed her mind, “I began to think of it more as an immediate opportunity.”
Bassett Law Firm one of the largest in Columbia, also practices social security and veterans benefits law nationwide. Although Bassett-Seymour is the only partner, employees like Maren Mellem and Danielle Eldred have been encouraged to make their departments their own.
The situation is similar at Harper, Evans, Wade and Netemeyer. “Everybody is a partner in certain aspects,” Harper says. “I think the old law firm structure of one person dictating to a bunch of people is long gone.”
According to Jeffrey Parshall of Ford, Parshall and Baker, cases are also becoming more complex. He says there are more medical negligence and nursing home cases that are much more involved than auto accidents. “Even auto accidents are becoming more complex with more and more expert witnesses and information from the other party.”
Harper gives the example of a client who’s been in a car accident. “The scene isn’t preserved forever, and you want to get there before memories dim and things change,” he says. A 24-hour firm is a necessity.
“If you go to the doctor’s office, he has assistants and nurses,” Harper says. “Someone is always available to take care of you.” His firm has decided to restructure into teams, including a lawyer, an associate and a case manager. Many law firms are assigning teams to the most complex cases.
In this landscape of increasing competition, it’s important that law improve client services to gain more referrals and repeat business. “The greatest impression you can make on a client is giving them constant access to their attorney,” Bill Rotts, of Rotts and Gibbs, says. “Now society insists on immediate action.”
Advertising vs. word of mouth
Although much of a law firm’s business depends on referrals and word of mouth, particularly for the defendant side, Parshall adds, advertising has also become a fact of existence for many firms.
Before 1977, legal advertising was unheard of. In fact, it was banned by the American Bar Association until an Arizona lawyer was sued for airing legal ads. John Bates took his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and won the right to promote his legal services under the First Amendment.
“Advertising was something forced on us because now we have to tell people who we are and what we know,” Harper says. When he began practicing law 42 years ago, he says most people in town knew who the good lawyers and the bad lawyers were. Now, there’s no time for that, and most clients choose by advertising presence.
Bassett-Seymour does this by local advertisements in print and on TV but also by search engine optimization so her firm will be a top Google result. “We get at least one or two clients from Google each week,” she says.
Advertising is a change we can all see; legal ads are everywhere, from billboards and primetime television, radio ads and magazines. But some of the other quieter changes such as expanded services, better representation and more thorough discovery are far more valuable.