how do i get clients as a single startup lawyer with no experience?

What does it take to be a startup lawyer?

How to Get New Clients as a Lawyer. 28% of Lawyers get new clients from directories; 31% of new clients you can get by referral from other attornies; 40% of clients find a lawyer on Google; 62% of clients came from friends; So, digital marketing for lawyers may bring you more than 50% of all possible customers.

How can I get more clients for my law firm?

It would definitely help to be a senior M&A attorney at a large law firm, but working with startup clients requires a different skill-set. ” Gray, who started his career as an M&A lawyer at Latham & Watkins , adds: “ Most of my job is actually like being a business psychologist, and sometimes it feels like only 5% of it is actually legal work.

How do I get clients with no experience?

Referrals are the single best way to get clients. Repeat business is also a great way to get them. Some areas lend themselves more to these areas though, and of course, if you are just getting started, it is almost impossible.

Is it possible to be a good lawyer without a business?

Sep 25, 2021 · If you have no experience, no clients, and no way of getting clients – reach out to someone you know that needs help and offer to do something for them for free in exchange for a testimonial. You don’t need to run a full-fledged marketing campaign for them, but help them build a landing page, or do some small tasks. Working for free helps you:

Why is the internet important for lawyers?

The seeming reluctance of lawyers to have an online presence has a lot to do with the old legal practice of not advertising. But there are great ways to use the internet without running afoul of the restrictions on an advertisement. One of the advantages of the internet is that it is a good place to get clients as a new lawyer.

What are the advantages of being a young lawyer?

One such advantage is the use of social media. Sadly, many use it for recreation instead of business.

Why is networking important in law?

The importance of networking in attracting clients to your law firm cannot be underestimated . Networking is the process of building and nurturing mutually valuable relationships with other people. There are several ways to network. So decide on the best one for you and make yourself visible and available.

Is getting clients an art?

Getting clients in the legal profession, therefore, is an art, and only those who have mastered it thrive. Below are a few tips to help you get clients as a new lawyer and break-even in the profession.

Does the legal profession advertise?

Unlike most professions that advertise their products and services, the legal profession allows little or no advert for its members. The process of attracting clients is particularly hard for new lawyers who have just finished law school or who’ve decided to set up their own office.

Should new lawyers underestimate the importance of a case?

If you expect big clients to start walking into your brand new law firm with fat briefs, then you aren’t being realistic. New lawyers should never underestimate the importance of any case. Do not reject any matter because you consider it a small case.

Do corporate lawyers prefer business?

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a corporate lawyer secretly—or, in many cases, not so secretly—would prefer a career in business. Any recruiter who speaks regularly with corporate/transactional associates at big law firms invariably hears that their eventual goal is to move over to the business side, or at least to get closer to the business. But what many of these attorneys fail to realize is that there are ways to continue practicing law while still getting to flex those business muscles as a key member of the top-level strategic team at fast-paced, growing companies. Now, does that sound like something you might be interested in?

Is a startup a risky endeavor?

Startups are inherently risky endeavors. As Whistler Managing Director Kathleen Mon sees it: “ Startups are disruptors. If you want that life, you have to be about that life. If you want to work in this space, you can't expect to follow the typical legal career path.

What to do if you have no experience?

If you have no experience, no clients, and no way of getting clients – reach out to someone you know that needs help and offer to do something for them for free in exchange for a testimonial. You don’t need to run a full-fledged marketing campaign for them, but help them build a landing page, or do some small tasks.

What is the best way to meet people in your industry?

Attend Conferences (AKA More Networking) Conferences are a great place to meet people in your industry and possibly find new clients, or even business partnerships. Not only can you meet people, but you can get some great ideas from some of the speakers who share knowledge.

Can a web designer partner with a marketing agency?

A web designer could partner with a marketing agency who doesn’t build websites, and they can send them marketing clients, while the marketing agency can send the designer website clients. Get creative! This is a great way to help support small business owners while driving more clients to your own. 13.

Do you get experience working for yourself?

You get experience. And that is the name of the game when it comes to working for yourself. Most of the time you will get a yes , but you will get your fair share of no’s too – a lot of people are hesitant of free work, so you might have to do some convincing – that’s normal.

Is coworking a good idea?

This is NOT a bad thing.

What is a law firm?

Law firms are made up of attorneys with various levels of experience and billable rates – from partners to junior associate lawyers. You should know what the day to day (or month to month) communication with the legal team will look and feel like.

What is a law firm culture?

Law firm culture. A law firm’s culture can be very relevant to its clients. In firms with a collaborative or ‘team’ culture, your lawyer is better able to leverage the collective knowledge of his or her colleagues to offer more effective and efficient legal counsel, quicker responses and business-friendly answers.

How to keep lawyer fees in check?

Given that background, there are a number of things you can do to help keep your lawyer fees in check: 1. Hire lawyers who have experience with the particular task you are asking them to perform. Most lawyers have a specialty of some sort (however broadly defined) in which they are most adept and therefore efficient.

How to train a robot to navigate a house?

To train a robot to navigate a house, you either need to give it a lot of real time in a lot of real houses, or a lot of virtual time in a lot of virtual houses. The latter is definitely the better...

Do lawyers list their practice areas?

Lawyers will generally list their core practice areas on their website , and it is in these areas they are most likely to be proficient. It would be a mistake in my opinion to hire a lawyer to do any work outside the explicitly enumerated practice areas shown on their website.

Do lawyers work with startups?

Most lawyers who work with startups are willing to provide discounts to smaller companies: in the case of large firms, to attract the most well-funded startups; and in the case of smaller firms or solo practitioners, to better serve their primary client type — small, undercapitalized enterprises.

What do startup lawyers do?

Startup lawyers spend most of a typical day working on bigger transactions for their clients (to the extent they have any at the moment), while trying to spend the short lulls in between handling small questions or requests from clients that don’t have active deals pending. It can be a lot to juggle!

Who do attorneys work with?

Attorneys in this practice area work very closely with the founders and executives at their startup company clients, and eventually the company’s general counsel (once the company has reached a stage where they’ve hired an in-house lawyer). Attorneys representing investors work directly with the venture capitalist making the investment and possibly the fund’s GC or COO. Whichever side startup lawyers are on, they’re likely also interacting a lot with lawyers representing the counterparties on the transactions.

Why are junior lawyers important?

Partners rely on junior lawyers to manage the day-to-day in order to provide the client with an accessible on-demand resource and to keep the client’s costs down. This gives junior startup lawyers the opportunity to develop more quickly, though it also means that junior lawyers need to demonstrate good judgment, maturity and independence early in their careers . That substantial early experience can come in handy, whether these attorneys eventually become law firm partners, go in-house at companies or VC funds, or launch startups of their own.

Why are startup practices countercyclical?

Startup practices can sometimes be countercyclical, because people who are laid off in economic downturns often decide to start their own businesses. However, by and large, this practice area is closely tied to the strength of the VC funding market, as well as M&A and IPO activity.

Why do people go into corporate law?

Many lawyers go into corporate law because they’re also interested in the business side. Unlike most corporate lawyers, however, startup lawyers are regularly asked to give business advice to their company clients. These clients, many of whom are launching a business for the first time, turn to their lawyers for help with deal terms as well as advice on finding and managing investors, and startup lawyers often enjoy being a business and strategic adviser in addition to a legal counselor.

What is the first time a founder has unrealistic expectations?

First-time founders, in particular, often have unrealistic expectations about how long deals —and legal work, in general—should take. Thus, it’s a constant negotiation, not with the other side but with the startup lawyer’s own client, about timing expectations.

Is it easier to work with VCs or investment bankers?

There’s typically less work to do when representing investors, and the client is also usually more sophisticated about how these deals get done (since they do deals for a living). VCs tend to be easier to work with than investment bankers or private equity investors.