Practice Management

The Austin Business Journal reports that after 18 years in Austin, Texas, career coach, author and president of Career Strategists, Renée Trudeau, could not find a group that met her need to connect with women entrepreneurs who where "as passionate about their businesses as their babies", so she started her own.  She formed the support group called Business+Balance Success Group.  It now hosts about 150 women at bimonthly meetings.  Membership is free and members pay for their own dinner.  I like free, and I think a lot of others will as well.

While Trudeau is the founder and leader of the group, each meeting features a volunteer facilitator to lead the discussion, and has speakers at each meeting.

And, apparently, Trudeau is not the only one to form her own networking and support group.  For example, Bijoy Goswami founded Bootstrap Austin, which is a group that caters to entreprenuers following the bootstrapping method, which entails entrepreneurs giving the cold shoulder to big investors in favor of self-funding.

Trudeau says the keys are to grow by word-of-mouth and through online social networks.  She says that bigger is not always better, so keep it focused.  And, you should network to help others and not just yourself.

The question is how could this not be better for the Third Wave attorney?  It gives you a chance to meet, greet and build a personal relationship with those people, organizations and groups that you need to succeed.

Every two months is not constricting to anybody.  You get to learn something yourself from the speakers.  Sure you might have to buy a lunch or two, but the point is that you can cultivate those that can help you succeed in the niche practice of law -- and you can as well help them.

No field of law is divorced from lawyers and non-lawyers that can be helped from such a support group.  We can look hypothetically at some examples.

If you want to practice church law -- you want to represent churches in the various legal matters that arise, you could form a support group for legal business, liability and management issues in your area that includes church leaders, pastors, priests, and rabbis.  You do not have to center on merely legal issues.  You can talk about adding ATMs for donations at church.  You could have a speaker on the need to perform background checks on employees.  You can discuss insurance issues, zoning issues, construction management, funding issues among others.  You give them ideas (and they do not even have to be your ideas) on how to solve their problems, and they will gravitate toward you when the need arises.

If you want to practice probate, wills, trusts and estates, you could bring together grief counselors, clergy, funeral directors, life insurance professionals, those at financial institutions that must deal with these matters, and others in your area.

If you want to practice real estate law, you could of course have an loose affinity group bringing together Realtors, mortgage brokers, surveyors, appraisers, and all of those who have a mutual interest.

If you are interested in tax and bankruptcy law, bring tax professionals together to discuss avoiding and paying taxes.

I think we to often think we can  co-opt other groups and work our will.  And, I am not suggesting that you should not try.  However, forming your own support group might offer you an opportunity to become the key person in your area in dealing with the industry or group of individuals who might need your services.

Really the key is to bring people together with a common interest and not necessarily directly related to a legal theory.  Just look at those that know your perfect client and can refer that perfect client to you.  That is all you need to know.