The Biggest Mistakes Law Firm Owners Are Making In 2024 (And How To Avoid Them)
The legal landscape is constantly evolving, whether this be to keep up with employment trends, technological shifts, or even changes to the law itself.
However, this can often make it difficult for smaller law firms to remain competitive, especially if they do not have a plan of action for how they can keep up. After all, this opens the doors to numerous mistakes that could put their business on the path to closure.
With that in mind, here are some of the biggest mistakes law firm owners are still making in 2024 and the steps you can take to avoid them!
Mistake One: Overburdening their teams.
When you hire a lawyer (of any seniority level) to join your team, you do so because their legal expertise and skillset are essential to your growth. However, when you then fill their schedule with an endless array of deadlines and non-essential administrative work, you make it near-impossible for them to carry out the work you actually hire them for. Not only that, but you also increase the chances of them dealing with burnout, too.
How to avoid this mistake:
There are numerous approaches you can take to avoid overburdening your team. For example, you should find a way to automate time-consuming, routine tasks such as responding to customer inquiries and scheduling. After all, it’s estimated that the average employee spends just under two hours a day responding to emails. That means that two billable hours are going to be wasted for each employee in your team!
Alternatively, you may want to hire administrative staff or virtual assistants who can take over the reins on these tasks, allowing your employees to return to the task at hand.
Mistake Two: Underutilizing Technolgy.
Riding the technological wave is key to surviving within the legal sector. After all, firms that rely on dated practices will find it harder and harder to keep up with their competition due to the fact that they will not be able to work as quickly or effectively. Despite this, “only 24% of small firm lawyers have any actual plans to implement new technology in the next 12 months.”
How to avoid this mistake:
Avoiding this mistake is relatively simple. You simply need to ensure that you invest in technology that:
- Adds value to your services
- Automates certain processes on behalf of your team
- Improves efficiency and productivity rates
- Saves valuable time and energy
There are many different scenarios in which these tools can be utilized, making them well worth the initial investment. For example, you could use project management software in order to optimize internal processes.
Mistake Three: Trying to handle their finances independently.
When you rely on those without prior accounting experience to manage your finances, you open the door to a plethora of errors. From data entry mistakes to missed invoices and poor budgeting, this can quickly put your firm in the red. Despite this, many law firm owners are reluctant to hire or outsource accountants, as they view this as an additional expense.
How to avoid this mistake:
You can help to improve your firm’s financial situation by hiring a fractional CFO or accountant. Not only is this generally cheaper than hiring full-time accounting staff, but it also means that you can eliminate the mistakes listed above. This will help you take your firm’s finances under control, as you can improve everything from your forecasting and budgets to cash flow!
If you’d like to find out more, please do not hesitate to get in touch today!
