Earlier this summer, I was asked by Mario Ferrer of Responsea, an online lawyer platform in Spain,  if I could answer a few questions for their readers, especially those who are just starting off in the law or grappling with the onslaught of technology. My brief replies sound much better and more elegant when translated into Spanish, as the resulting Responsea post demonstrates. But I thought you might be interested in reading the original English version, especially if you’re in the early stages of your legal career.

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1. How can a lawyer prepare himself or herself to prepare for the future?

There are three things every lawyer must know as well as possible in order to thrive in the new legal market:

1. Your clients. Understand their concerns, walk in their shoes, look at the world through their eyes. Identify their goals and hopes, worries and ambitions, so that you can advise them as well as possible. Help them anticipate problems and opportunities before they arise.

2. Your competition. Not all your competitors will be other lawyers: online providers and non-lawyer rivals will become more common in the next several years. But among lawyers, understand clearly who else wants to serve your chosen client group in your chosen area, and what they offer in terms of service and price.

3. Your business. Too few law firms have a sufficiently clear picture of how much they spend to provide their legal services. Fewer still have installed tools and procedures to help make their businesses more efficient and productive. Run your legal business to be as cost-effective and quality-controlled as you can manage, and always be aware of your cash flow.

2. How can a law firm be competitive nowadays?

You can’t be competitive for every client in every market for every type of work. You also can’t be competitive for work that just walks in off the street. You can only be truly competitive when you identify the specific type of work you want to do, for the specific type of client you want to serve, to accomplish specific sorts of outcomes or values for those clients. If you know all of these, and if you can explain why you’re the right choice in these circumstances, you’ll have no difficulty outclassing other firms in these areas.  [do_widget id=”text-7″ title=false]

3. Which are the priorities of today’s clients? Time, money …?

Clients want different things in different contexts: the multinational corporation and the single mother are obviously completely different entities. What all clients want, however, is peace of mind. They want a worry resolved, a pain eliminated, an opportunity filled, a step forward taken. How can you give your client peace of mind? Answer that question, and you’re well on your way to meeting the client’s priorities.

4. How can a law firm encourage its workers to adapt to the online environment?

Everyone now searches for everything on the internet. Vast numbers of people buy vast quantities of products and services on the internet. Having a weak or non-existent internet presence is like moving your law office out of a prime commercial office building in a major city and into an unmarked house on the outskirts of a small town. It’s really no more complicated than that.

5. Which are the most common errors committed by the legal sector on the Internet?

The failure of lawyers to offer products and services that are created and delivered partly or entirely through the internet is the error that will cost law firms the most in the years to come. Some legal services can only be delivered face-to-face, hand-in-hand, in person. But many, if not most, can be delivered partly or wholly online. If you believe the internet is useful only for hosting your firm’s website, then you’re going to miss out on some valuable emerging opportunities in the near future.

6. What would you recommend to a lawyer who decides to open an office on his or her own? 

Never assume that the legal market owes you anything. The market asks, of every provider who enters it, “Who are you, and why should I care?” You need to have an answer ready. Create a website that tells your chosen market who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and what results your clients will get from using you. Write posts on your website showing off what you know and giving people information they can use. Speak to gatherings of and in the communities you want to serve. Hang around afterwards to answer questions.

Act like a startup. Even better, act like you’re still in law school. Keep your costs under tight control. Be frugal and innovative: do more with less. Buy nothing unless it’s truly a necessity or truly an investment. Be humble. Be grateful. Be helpful. Be trustworthy. Be the kind of lawyer you’d recommend your parents hire. Be the kind of lawyer your grandchildren will boast about someday. Serve your clients and your community with integrity, class, and grace under pressure. Everything else will fall into place.

Jordan Furlong is a lawyer, consultant, and legal industry analyst who forecasts the impact of the changing legal market on lawyers, clients, and legal organizations. He has delivered dozens of addresses to law firms, state bars, law societies, law schools, judges, and many others throughout the United States and Canada on the evolution of the legal services marketplace.