How Technology Is Helping Small Law Firms Challenge Their Larger Competitors

To succeed as a law firm, you don’t need to be in business for fifty years, or have a stellar reputation.

With IT and technology, you can easily compete with larger competitors to attract and bill new clients.

From networking opportunities online, gaining access to prospects, the ability to hire remote workers at a fraction of the cost over local alternatives, today’s smaller law firms can build sales and client funnels that easily help them compete with large law firms.

Here are a few benefits available to today’s law firms, thanks to technology.

No corner office with a window. (yet)

With technology, today’s startup law firms have more options to help compete when it comes to the high expenses of office space.

When you start your first law practice, you won’t be driving a brand new Mercedes, and have a staff of 50 employees. You dream and dream of finishing law school only to find success as a new, fledgling attorney. But when you begin, there are expenses to be paid.

Expenses like rent.

Early on, you need to be open to utilize the power of technology and work from home, to cut costs. There are a growing number of practices using co-working spaces to establish their businesses.

Be willing to use alternative office spaces to grow, when just starting out.

And be patient. You’ll have that expensive corner office someday.

Business development on the web.

Technology like Skype, Google Hangouts and the like, gives you the opportunity to effectively represent clients on the other side of the world.

When it comes to finding these clients, whether local or regional, small law practices have marketing and advertising options that are effective, efficient and low cost.

For instance, instead of running expensive ads on radio and tv, smaller law firms can promote themselves by reaching audiences on social media, like Facebook and LinkedIn, through paid ads.

Smaller law firms can also attract clients by publishing marketing content like blogs and by performing effective website SEO to generate leads through positive search engine results.

Even if these activities are outsourced to freelancers or digital marketing agencies, the initial outlay still tends to be much lower than the required investment in traditional media buys.

Virtual back offices.

Hiring an accountant is expensive.

The financial burn continues when that same employee requires expensive software in order to do her job. Technology and cloud-based software has leveled the playing field for small solo law firms.

With just a few clicks of a mouse, attorneys and small practices can have entire virtual practices created that allow them to begin handling clients in minutes.

Using websites like UpCounsel is a great way to find clients to represent.

UpCounsel is an online community of people seeking legal help. You simply create an account, post your law background and specialty, and you can now find those who are in need of an attorney. It’s not a sure fire method, but it will definitely help you compete with larger law firms.

Be willing to invest in other technology, like online billing and accounting services that will help you get (and keep) your business finances in order.

Remote workforce.

Suppose you want to expand your growing practice.

Bringing on additional help requires capital and revenue to hire full-time employees. Thanks to technology, lawyers are taking this one step further and hiring remote lawyers through branded networks.

Legal researchers and staff can be found using sites like Upwork.com.

Sites like Upwork.com can also be used to find administrative help, admin assistants, marketing, HR, and accounting help. Imagine waking up in the morning to see that your India-based accountant has reconciled your accounts using information provided.

There’s never been a better time to be an attorney.

At DigiSync Technology Solutions, we’re here to help you plan and execute your technology plans, so you can grow your law firm.

It doesn’t matter to us whether you’re a larger law firm or a smaller practice.

For more help with this and other IT topics, email us here to learn more about how we can help you with your outsourced IT issues.