A Decision That EVERY Attorney Needs To Face (Sooner Or Later)

Here’s a decision that almost every solo attorney, and owner of a small law firm, is going to have to face sooner or later:

Do you accept the “market rate” for legal services? Or, do you give potentials a meaningful reason to pay a premium and hire your firm (as opposed to the attorney on the next block who is cheaper)?

There’s nothing wrong with being a “market rate” lawyer.

It’s what most attorneys are, after all.

However, if you’re reading this newsletter, then something tells me that you want more out of life than just scraping by, and I respect that.

So, I wanted to share a few thoughts with you:

First thought — There are several ways to differentiate your firm from competitors, and create the kind of positioning you need to be able to charge a premium. The method we advocate — see below — is just one way.

It might, or might not, be the right method for you.

And, do you know what? If it’s not, that’s okay. What’s important is that you find some way of elevating your firm’s positioning.

Otherwise, you’re at the mercy of the “market rate” for legal fees in your metro/practice area — which, as you and I both know, can be cut to the bone by some dumb junior attorney who is desperate for experience.

Second thought — Most of your competitors (even junior) are, just like you, highly qualified people and certified practitioners of a respected profession.

For this reason, terms like “board certified” or “former prosecutor” do little, if anything, to differentiate your firm in the minds of potential clients.

At most, they give you a marginal advantage.

What you need is a “game-changer” advantage. Something that makes potentials believe you offer something other firms in your metro/practice area cannot. Something that leaves your competitors choking in your dust.

Third — Very few attorneys are published authors.

In fact, there’s a good chance that, at least right now, no other attorney in your metro/practice area is a published author.

This could be your opportunity.

When you’ve given three years or more of your life — and, figuratively speaking, crawled over glass naked — to get through law school and pass the bar exam, authoring a small book might not seem like a big deal.

And you’re right — it’s not a noteworthy achievement.

However, this is not how potential clients perceive it. From their point of view, when they search Google for information about their charge or legal situation, and they see that you wrote a book about it, you’re no longer “just a lawyer”; you are, by default, the AUTHORITY on cases like their case.

This perceived authority is your passport to higher fees.

It’s a small thing, compared to being a board-certified attorney-at-law, but being a published author puts you in a category of one in potentials’ eyes.

It gives them a meaningful reason to feel like other attorneys in your metro/practice area, who are NOT authors, now offer less value.

This psychological shift is HUGE.

It allows you to charger higher fees, to be more “picky” about who you take on as clients, and still to have potentials beating a path to your office.

While almost every other attorney in town is breaking their back just to stay in business and keep the wolves from the door, you can stuff your bank account full of cash, give yourself a raise, and build serious equity in your practice.

Why should you care?

Well, if you schedule a Speak-a-Book discovery consultation — where we jump on the phone, brainstorm book ideas, and discuss the full terms and conditions — before then, we’ll do more than “just” make you an author.

We will also help you get your firm to the top of Google — so that every potential who searches Google for an attorney knows about your new status.

How?

By: (a) repurposing your book’s content into 18-24 separate content articles, which we publish on your firm’s website to increase its PageRank authority; and (b) syndicating that same content out to third-party websites, like Avvo, so that potentials (and search engines) see that you’re everywhere.

Tracy Merda

Tracy Merda is the Senior Project Manager of Jacobs & Whitehall Publishing, a publishing house that helps respected professionals who are too busy to write a book the “traditional” way author their own book, ethically, in just 2-3 hours using a proprietary interview method. Since 2018, Tracy has helped 70+ attorneys, dentists, physicians, consultants, engineers, and other professionals become published authors.