Practice Management

Forget About The Jones

By chucknewton

"I just couldn't give up my office.  My clients expect me to maintain a certain image".

Really?

What image is that?  Greed?

"I am not like you.  I represent regular people and I have to have an office to meet with my client".

Who says?

What I have discovered over the years is that it does not matter if your client is Dow Jones or Doug Jones, Wall Street or Main Street, most clients could care less about your fancy office, or the fact that you have one.  The barrier to moving out is all in your head.  In fact, especially in hard times, I think the opposite is true.

Not long ago I had to visit one of the Big Law offices, and I can tell you that I was personally offended by the opulence of the place.  And, the thing is that the lawyers in the firm, representing insurance companies, large corporations, media and big financial institutions rarely have clients that visit the office.  The space was for my benefit.  it was to try and intimidate me.  It is also an ego trip and and a recruiting tool.  They want to use the space to reel in the high scoring law student who want the same ego trip they are riding.

But, can you imagine an actual client who is responsible for paying for this type of setting sitting in the waiting room?  That client has to know that it is  are paying for this overstatement, and that maybe for a $100 less an hour it might be able to find a competent lawyer who has a nice clean but cozy space.

And then there is the Doug Jones aspect of the argument.  I tend to think that an office and a desk gives an attorney a since of power, but it ignores the realities that we sell an intangible asset.  Doug Jones no more wants to come to your office than you need the space.  He is there mainly because you require it and he needs an attorney.

There are so many alternatives for meeting arrangements.  The courthouse is one.  The library.  Starbucks.  Some other attorneys' conference room.  Executive suites.

Well, what if my client needs to drop something off?

I run into this every day.  I simply tell them I work out of my home and ask if they can fax it or email it to me.  It is truly amazing these days the number of consumers that have access to a fax machine or a scanner.  Alternatively, ask them to mail it.

But, what if they are wanting to drop off money?

Offer to meet them somewhere.  Why trust that task to anybody else?  You are more likely to collect the money if you set an appointment anyway.  Get a merchant's account, take debit and credit cards, set up a paypal account, accept ACH checks.  There are a lot of alternative here as well.

So, forget about the Jones.  Neither Dow Jones or Doug Jones are demanding that you maintain a traditional office.  If you think so, you are putting words in their mouths.  It is you that has delusions of grandeur.  And, even if the client does have delusions of grandeur, it is not your grandeur they are concerned about.  What both want is good legal representation at a reasonable price.

What you need is a little more humility and a lot less overhead.

Full post as published by Chuck Newton on January 24, 2008 (boomark / email).