Lawyers, The Competition That Kills You Might Not Look Like You by Nancy Myrland
At
the recent Legal Marketing Association conference (#LMA22) in Las Vegas, our keynote presenters on the first day were Richard and Daniel Susskind, the visionaries we have all come to know, like, trust, and respect in this industry and profession. Richard and Daniel study and look at the future of the profession and give recommendations and insight as to how firms can protect, nurture, and grow their businesses. During the conversation, Richard shared a reminder that the competition that kills you might not look like you. That got a lot of people in the audience thinking because, in the legal profession, many tend to look at the law firm down the street, or across the country, or across the world as their primary competition. These are the obvious choices because they have been for a very long time. We can see them.
The Not So Obvious Sources of Competition for Lawyers Today and in the future, you must realize that your competition does not just come from traditionally structured law firms, but from those you might not even be imagining. What would happen if groups of lawyers from different firms went out on their own and created completely different business models that allow them to serve your clients just as well, if not better than you do? It’s easy to say that this won’t happen, or that others have tried it and failed. You are safe because your business is healthy. It is easy to put those blinders on, but let’s look at what has happened in other industries. • Look at taxis that have been eaten alive by Uber and Lyft. • Look at traditional bookstores that have been replaced by online digital sources of information. • Look at the retail industry that has been decimated by efficient and not always less expensive digital powerhouses such as Amazon. • Look at CPAs who have lost a bit of business to those who use TurboTax at home. 6
Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 196, 2022
The Pandemic Has Changed Everything Richard told us that more people signed up for Harvard’s online services in one year during the pandemic than had enrolled in Harvard’s history. Harvard offered, and students found, a solution that was likely never imagined by Harvard 10 years ago. Just as with institutions like Harvard, the pandemic forced you and your clients to embrace technology in order to continue to communicate and conduct business. This trend will not reverse. It is nearly impossible to forget or unlearn those skills and ways of doing business that you and your clients have learned.
Alternative Service Providers (ALSPs) Will Figure out How to Give Your Clients What They Want and Need The point is that there are people out there thinking about better ways to do what you do. You can’t get complacent, thinking that won’t happen. A wise course of action is to figure out what your clients want, need, and expect, even if it isn’t obvious to them. Richard reminded us that your clients don’t want lawyers, they want the results you offer.
Do the Results You Offer Match What Your Clients Need? Knowing that your clients want results, it would be wise to regularly ask yourself what results you are offering your clients. What results are they looking for? What emotions, problems, anxiety, fears, and other challenges lie beneath the challenges they are able to articulate?
