According to the “2021 LexisNexis InterAction Marketing & Business Development Survey” the #1 challenge that small and solo law practices face today is competition. Other challenges include staffing, lack of technology and training, and client expectations.

Even though we will discuss five challenges that small and solo law firms face, as well as solutions for each, there are dozens more that you may experience on a daily or weekly basis.

1. Competition: Competition can be classified as small law firms competing with larger firms, not having a large marketing budget, or finding new clients. Whether you are a solo or small law practice, growing your firm can be tough and finding new clients can be a huge concern – especially after a global pandemic.

There are a few ways to combat this challenge. Although it’s hard to compete with larger firms, keeping your website updated and making sure the information is refreshed often can assist with online brand awareness and improving your rankings with Google. This process can lead to quality leads.

Another way to assist with this challenge is by posting on social media consistently. Consistency shows trust and reliability. It also helps with educating past, current, and future clients on the services that you provide.

2. Staffing: If you are experiencing high turnover, struggling with quality team members, and not having the right resources to train staff members, you are not alone. Hiring a quality team member can be time consuming, expensive, and a lot of work. Who has the time to sift through resumes to find the perfect candidate?

We do.

We have created a program called Build My Great Team^® to help take additional stress off of you as you build your ideal team. We handle all of the admin work, screening and provide you with a list of qualified candidates.

3. Technology: New technology can be overwhelming – especially when you don’t know where to start. As you focus on technology that is going to elevate your practice, you will want to prioritize value, growth, and profitability.
According to Law Technology Today, “Solo and small firms can benefit greatly from practice management systems to help organize matter information and track the work being done. Many systems are available to meet these needs for lawyers.”

4. Training: Training team members can be very time consuming – but you have to think of them as an asset and your training as valuable. Team members are there to help your business grow and to maintain current partnerships. Prepare a training packet or training course ahead of time so you know that all team members are getting the correct training that they need. There are several different ways you can train – videos, worksheets, articles, books, or in-person.
Training allows your staff to be efficient and effective. The more they know, the more they can assist clients and help move your practice forward.

5. Client expectations: We are in a time where clients expect instant results, excellent service, reasonable costs, and positive reviews. All of this combined, becomes a huge challenge, and burden, for small and solo law firms. Whether you have been in business for two years or twenty years, expectations and perceived value are two factors that make up a business. A great way to conquer this challenge is by focusing on existing revenue streams that have been successful and finding new ways to grow those streams. Communicating with your clients is also a huge determinant on perceived value.

Just because you are a solo or small law firm doesn’t mean that you can’t have advantages. Whether you are facing competitors, you have staffing challenges, you don’t know where to start with technology or training, or how to build on client expectations, we hope that we can help you discover a few solutions and build confidence in your law practice.

We help lawyers grow great practices and cultivate great lives. We have developed strategic growth concepts to help increase profitability and cashflow, sharpen focus and prioritize, attract high value clients, and build a great team. We deliver these concepts through our group and one on one coaching programs led by highly trained and certified coaches.

• Author Details

Abbie Guerrero

Abbie Guerrero

Assistant Marketing Manager/Resource Advisor

Abbie joined the Atticus team in 2021 with more than a decade of digital marketing experience. She is results driven and has an extensive background in content creation, lead generation, understanding the customer development process, solving problems, and advertising. She is an expert at building relationships and sets high quality expectations. She loves to set and exceed personal and professional goals.

Abbie is currently the Resource Advisor for Atticus livestream webinars and workshops. In addition to her Resource Advisor role, she is the Assistant Marketing Manager. In this role she leads the strategy for digital marketing, creates content for weekly newsletters, all advertising campaigns and executes many ad hoc marketing projects.

Abbie has her bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Utah Valley University. She is a blogger and published author and enjoys spending time with her family in both Utah and California.