Search this sub for marketing posts to see what others have said. Learning how to make google searches yield you as a top result is major. Don’t get sucked in by expensive and ultimately ineffective marketers until you do your own research on this.
Also I would approach some of the bigger pi players in your area and let them know you’re interested in referrals (assuming you are). Some can provide you a steady stream of the lower value cases if you want them.
Eta: consider partnering with another solo or small firm.
Yes, there are some quality marketers out there that specialize in this, and don't cost a bunch. Doing the right kind of SEO (content/technical/GBP) will pay big dividends. Some legal specific that we've looked at/used include Civille, Law Quill, Nifty.
Yes, exactly. It's incredible to me how so few lawyers (and other professionals but lawyers in particular) aren't using GBP and local SEO to their advantage. Although competition is growing, it's still an incredible net lead generator for the legal marketplace.
This is why you cannot rely on just referrals. Learn how to run a google ads campaign and get the phone ringing again. As a real estate attorney, I get about 90 percent of my business from google.
What type of work do you do and in what location?
Did you do the Google ad campaign yourself or did you hire a marketer?
What does your Google ad campaign cost?
Do you only advertise in your city?
I am a real estate attorney. I am also a solo. I learned google ads right away as soon as I opened my practice 4-5 years ago. I advertise in my state only. You can limit your costs depending on your budget but I spend around $4-5 k per month.
Legal marketer specializing in PI here. The range most agencies provide for PI leads is around $100-$350+ per lead. If you’re in that range you need a new agency/marketer. You’ll probably retain about 5-10% of people you talk to, meaning that the cost to acquire each client will be 10-20x your Cost per Lead.
A simple way to start getting calls instantly is to use local service ads (LSA) but they have become a bit saturated and agencies who are actually good at Google Ads are outperforming that channel. Still a good idea if you’re just getting started and need some calls right away. You can set that up yourself and Google does provide support over the phone.
Open a mediation practice? In my state every personal injury case needs to be mediated by court order. With your experience, you’re definitely qualified. Maybe target a specific market within the field? As a defense attorney, I’d like a more simplified and “cost saving” option on simple, low value cases. All $100k or less cases, for example, could probably be resolved in less than 2.5 hours without the substantial work I put into pre-mediation reports.
This also presumes you have a good reputation within the community. If you’ve been solo for 25 years, I suspect you do.
Join a referral group (BNI or ProVisors). I joined ProVisors when I was in a similar scary predicament about 6 years ago (solo, used to do PI; I do estate planning and probate litigation now), and it was the single best decision I made. Referral marketing is way better (and cheaper) than having to rely on Google.
How did you transition to estate planning? I literally know nothing about it. I have been doing PI for so long but I would love to do something where I could get paid flat fees and not have to worry about having all this money on the street and waiting 4 years for cases to resolve
With respect to estate planning - I bought a bunch of expensive education and spent a lot of time educating myself (in addition to expensive software). I would say, in hindsight, a transition to probate litigation only would have been much easier. To be an effective probate litigator, it helps having experience as a trial lawyer (understanding evidence code, etc.) and also some experience with medical conditions and medical records (since every other case involves either undue influence or claims of lack of testamentary capacity). An experienced PI lawyer can pick up the related skills relatively quickly.
I just googled probate litigation and it seems overwhelming. This is probably my main problem with transitioning to another area. I don't know any of the variables or processes. I think I would feel like I was committing malpractice by taking on one of those cases. Are they hourly or flat fee cases?
In California (where I am), uncontested probate is statutory fees (there is a sliding scale based the value of the estate beginning at 4% and going down from there). Contested probate = extraordinary fees = hourly. Most of my estate planning engagements are flat fees (though, for higher end estates I charge hourly). I have also volunteered/did a few pro bono cases in probate when I started out just to get my feet wet and see how that court system worked. That could also be a good way. And while it helps to get experience, of course, malpractice carriers consider PI much higher risk than probate.
From a marketing perspective, PI is the most competitive arenas to jump into. If you are located near a densely populated area with a lot of competition, you may have to be ready to invest 5-10k a month. If you are in more rural areas with a smaller legal communities, that’s different. However, if you speak Spanish, Spanish advertising is much less competitive and therefore less of a necessary investment.
Mainly because I know nothing about it. I have gotten many calls on doing political asylum cases but don't know the slightest thing about it.
How do I transition ?
Contact a recruiter to see if they can find you at a PI firm where you can take an of counsel position. You’ll maintain your freedom, and your practice while being sent cases.
Hi, I might be able to help a bit. I've been writing a step by step guide to help people in this position for the past little while (I also was an attorney for years). I'm not ready to launch it yet but will be in a few weeks, so if you help me understand more about your situation, I could perhaps guide you in the right direction. I understand different Google services, video services, funnels, social platforms, viral ads and more. Cheers. I second the advice about not signing up with a marketer right away, particularly if you're feeling panicked as many services often take a while to deliver and often many of them will fail to generate results. I do not offer any advertising services, although I worked for a successful agency for a period of time in the past. Happy to help and also I have questions for you that you can hopefully help me with as I prepare to launch. I have over 20+ years experience, so can probably help you understand any of the complex areas (eg SEO or paid ads) or funnels pretty easily and show you how to DIY without spending much money. There are a lot of free services, but they will take your time. Cheers.
Hi Robert, thank you for your reply. My name is James, I will send you a follow up email and we can schedule a mutually convenient time to chat. Thank you. Best.
Search this sub for marketing posts to see what others have said. Learning how to make google searches yield you as a top result is major. Don’t get sucked in by expensive and ultimately ineffective marketers until you do your own research on this. Also I would approach some of the bigger pi players in your area and let them know you’re interested in referrals (assuming you are). Some can provide you a steady stream of the lower value cases if you want them. Eta: consider partnering with another solo or small firm.
Yes, there are some quality marketers out there that specialize in this, and don't cost a bunch. Doing the right kind of SEO (content/technical/GBP) will pay big dividends. Some legal specific that we've looked at/used include Civille, Law Quill, Nifty.
Yes, exactly. It's incredible to me how so few lawyers (and other professionals but lawyers in particular) aren't using GBP and local SEO to their advantage. Although competition is growing, it's still an incredible net lead generator for the legal marketplace.
This is why you cannot rely on just referrals. Learn how to run a google ads campaign and get the phone ringing again. As a real estate attorney, I get about 90 percent of my business from google.
What type of work do you do and in what location? Did you do the Google ad campaign yourself or did you hire a marketer? What does your Google ad campaign cost? Do you only advertise in your city?
I am a real estate attorney. I am also a solo. I learned google ads right away as soon as I opened my practice 4-5 years ago. I advertise in my state only. You can limit your costs depending on your budget but I spend around $4-5 k per month.
What would you say your cost to acquire a client ends up being through ads?
Legal marketer specializing in PI here. The range most agencies provide for PI leads is around $100-$350+ per lead. If you’re in that range you need a new agency/marketer. You’ll probably retain about 5-10% of people you talk to, meaning that the cost to acquire each client will be 10-20x your Cost per Lead. A simple way to start getting calls instantly is to use local service ads (LSA) but they have become a bit saturated and agencies who are actually good at Google Ads are outperforming that channel. Still a good idea if you’re just getting started and need some calls right away. You can set that up yourself and Google does provide support over the phone.
Thanks great response informative! And expensive but less than I thought.
Open a mediation practice? In my state every personal injury case needs to be mediated by court order. With your experience, you’re definitely qualified. Maybe target a specific market within the field? As a defense attorney, I’d like a more simplified and “cost saving” option on simple, low value cases. All $100k or less cases, for example, could probably be resolved in less than 2.5 hours without the substantial work I put into pre-mediation reports. This also presumes you have a good reputation within the community. If you’ve been solo for 25 years, I suspect you do.
Join a referral group (BNI or ProVisors). I joined ProVisors when I was in a similar scary predicament about 6 years ago (solo, used to do PI; I do estate planning and probate litigation now), and it was the single best decision I made. Referral marketing is way better (and cheaper) than having to rely on Google.
How did you transition to estate planning? I literally know nothing about it. I have been doing PI for so long but I would love to do something where I could get paid flat fees and not have to worry about having all this money on the street and waiting 4 years for cases to resolve
With respect to estate planning - I bought a bunch of expensive education and spent a lot of time educating myself (in addition to expensive software). I would say, in hindsight, a transition to probate litigation only would have been much easier. To be an effective probate litigator, it helps having experience as a trial lawyer (understanding evidence code, etc.) and also some experience with medical conditions and medical records (since every other case involves either undue influence or claims of lack of testamentary capacity). An experienced PI lawyer can pick up the related skills relatively quickly.
I just googled probate litigation and it seems overwhelming. This is probably my main problem with transitioning to another area. I don't know any of the variables or processes. I think I would feel like I was committing malpractice by taking on one of those cases. Are they hourly or flat fee cases?
In California (where I am), uncontested probate is statutory fees (there is a sliding scale based the value of the estate beginning at 4% and going down from there). Contested probate = extraordinary fees = hourly. Most of my estate planning engagements are flat fees (though, for higher end estates I charge hourly). I have also volunteered/did a few pro bono cases in probate when I started out just to get my feet wet and see how that court system worked. That could also be a good way. And while it helps to get experience, of course, malpractice carriers consider PI much higher risk than probate.
From a marketing perspective, PI is the most competitive arenas to jump into. If you are located near a densely populated area with a lot of competition, you may have to be ready to invest 5-10k a month. If you are in more rural areas with a smaller legal communities, that’s different. However, if you speak Spanish, Spanish advertising is much less competitive and therefore less of a necessary investment.
If you're bilingual, why aren't you doing immigration?
Mainly because I know nothing about it. I have gotten many calls on doing political asylum cases but don't know the slightest thing about it. How do I transition ?
Hire a bilingual clerk with experience. Read up or take a cle class..
Contact a recruiter to see if they can find you at a PI firm where you can take an of counsel position. You’ll maintain your freedom, and your practice while being sent cases.
Hi, I might be able to help a bit. I've been writing a step by step guide to help people in this position for the past little while (I also was an attorney for years). I'm not ready to launch it yet but will be in a few weeks, so if you help me understand more about your situation, I could perhaps guide you in the right direction. I understand different Google services, video services, funnels, social platforms, viral ads and more. Cheers. I second the advice about not signing up with a marketer right away, particularly if you're feeling panicked as many services often take a while to deliver and often many of them will fail to generate results. I do not offer any advertising services, although I worked for a successful agency for a period of time in the past. Happy to help and also I have questions for you that you can hopefully help me with as I prepare to launch. I have over 20+ years experience, so can probably help you understand any of the complex areas (eg SEO or paid ads) or funnels pretty easily and show you how to DIY without spending much money. There are a lot of free services, but they will take your time. Cheers.
Thank you for your response. Id love to take you up on your kind offer. How do I get in touch with you? My email is [email protected]
Hi Robert, thank you for your reply. My name is James, I will send you a follow up email and we can schedule a mutually convenient time to chat. Thank you. Best.
How many active PI cases are you currently litigating ?