Resources

Red Cave Law Firm Consulting's Technology Blog Series (from CEO Jared D. Correia, Esq.)

2025 Quarter 1

March 29, 2025: Responsorial: How to Communicate with Reviewers Online

Generally speaking, there are three types of reviews you’ll get online: great, middling and poor.

You can (and perhaps, should) respond to every last one; but, each one requires a different level of tact.

If you’re given a poor review online, you’re likely to be pretty peeved; but, you can’t respond in kind, or release client confidences (ethics rules, people!) – instead, you need to be diplomatic.  Remember this reviewer already hates you, so you’re writing a response for your next potential client to see.  So, you can express your regret over what happened, talk about how your law firm strives to assist clients in whatever way it can, and let the reviewer know that they can reach out to you to address any issues they had with you.  It doesn’t matter if they never call (and, hopefully: they won’t), because you’re composing this for your next set of clients.  The more measured, balanced and thoughtful you sound, the more stable you appear, as against what is likely an angry review.  Thusly, you’ve effectively turned the tables.  (Now, if you want to write your angry response, do it as a ‘Ben Franklin letter’ – draft it, for cathartic reasons, but pocket it: don’t ever publish it.  Trust me: you’ll feel a whole lot better.

If you get a great review, that’s an easy one: Just say, ‘Hey, it was great working with you, too!’  This shows that you’re engaged online, and that your former clients don’t disappear from your mind, as soon as their case is closed.

Now, if you get a middling review, that’s maybe the most challenging response type.  Because, anything less than a 5-star review, these days, usually contains at least one backhanded compliment.  So, for that one, you can say something like: ‘Thank you for the kind words.  We strive to provide five-star service to all of our clients.  Please let us know if there is anything further we can do for you.’  This sort of middling response requires a down-the-middle answer – but, one that can convey your client focus, while also making you look authentic and approachable.

Getting reviews is only half the battle; and, if you don’t let sleeping reviews lie, it’s another way to separate your law firm from the pack.

. . .

As it happens, we also strive to provide 5-star service to our clients!  Just reach out, if you’d like to talk more about online review management.

March 23, 2025: Top Shelf: How to Maximize Lawyer Staff in a Modern Law Firm

Broadly speaking, lawyers take on too much.  You know: at work, emotionally.  They’re probably also trying to carry too many grocery bags into the house at one time.  You know how it is.

This, of course, leads to a whole host of problems, including that attorneys have higher incidences of alcohol and drug dependence, as well as depression, than does the general population.  Maybe you already knew that.  But, the fact is that this also has a direct effect on how much a lawyer can make.

Hear me out: Because lawyers try to do everything, and to do everything perfectly, they’re also more prone than the general population to take on more work than they need to.  For example, they’re unwilling to delegate, including to paralegal and administrative staff, but also to other attorneys.  That means that lawyers end up being chief cook and bottlewasher, rather than focusing on the high-end work (strategy, client engagement), that they get paid the most for.

That’s why developing processes, ie – workflows, in law firms, is so essential.  Because it can push all that other stuff down, and let lawyers be (exclusively) lawyers.

So, if you want to run the most efficient law practice possible, and to accommodate as much billable work as you can – thus, making the most revenue – you will want to delegate (to staff) or automate (via technology) as much non-substantive (read: administrative) work as you can.

You might be surprised by how much work your attorneys don’t have to do.

March 16, 2025: Hiring Percentage: What is the Law Firm Hit Rate for Bringing on Staff?

Some lawyers get burned hiring staff, whether it’s legal assistants, paralegals or other attorneys.  But, just because you miss out once, in trying to hire somebody, doesn’t mean you should give up forever.  There are distinct advantages to bringing on employees, including increased control over work product + improved revenue generation models.

In my experience, I’ve found that law firms connect on a successful hire (across all employee categories) about 40% of the time.  That may seem like a low number, but it represents about a 50% hit rate, meaning that every other hire should yield a viable staffperson, who’ll stay on between 3-5 years – which is not too bad, in the modern economy.

Putting that into baseball terms, which folks often do when trying to rationalize failure: your hiring batting average as a law firm, is about equivalent to Ted Williams’ 1941 season, when he was the last baseball player to hit .400 over a full seasons . . . over 80 years ago.

That ain’t bad.

March 8, 2025: Speak Now: You Don't Really Need to Buy a Separate Dictation Tool Anymore

There is still a not insignificant subset of attorneys who still dictate communications.  Some lawyers will dictate to staffpeople, while others use standalone technology, like Dragon Naturally Speaking, to manage the trick.

But, you don’t really need any substitute technology to dictate, any longer.  All of Microsoft Word, Google Docs and Apple Pages feature dictation tools built-in, at no extra cost.  And, the majority of lawyers have access to at least one of those softwares, with some having access to all three.

And, each of those softwares does a pretty good job of capturing your voice.  How good?  Well, a great way to test dictation software is to see whether it can capture the lyrics of complex, sped-up songs.  Try Johnny Cash’s ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’, and see how your dictation tool holds up.  If you’re using one of these major drafting softwares, it should be able to keep up.

March 1, 2025: Your Regularly Scheduled Programming: Why Your Law Firm Needs a Data Security Management Document

One of the biggest issues attorneys have with developing effective content marketing profiles is that they can’t find the time to write or produce the content they ultimately need to distribute.  That’s always been the sticking point.

Enter AI, which is taking the world by storm, via ChatGPT, a generative AI tool, which will produce information for you based on queries, or ‘prompts’.  Effectively, you ask it to do something, and it will.  So, you can ask ChatGPT to draft you a 250-word blog post, on a specific topic.  And, you can then tweak it (via additional prompts), as you see fit.  Even if what ChatGPT produces is not the final version, that’s okay – because if it gets you 90% of the way to the finish, you can polish it from there.  With ChatGPT, you can crank out content, like it was coming off an assembly line.

The good news is that most of the generative AI tools you would use at this point are free – though, ChatGPT has a paid version, Plus – which offers better access to the tool, and first access to new features.  But, if ChatGPT is busy/unavailable, which can often be the case, you could, for example, switch to Google Bard, a similar tool, that is more accessible, because it’s less popular.

And, since Google is all-in on AI, AI-generated content will still rank in search.

If you’re avoiding content marketing, because of the effort of developing content – you can slash that effort using generative AI.

February 17, 2025: Your Regularly Scheduled Programming: Why Your Law Firm Needs a Data Security Management Document

Data breaches are quite common for small law firms; and, they happen far more often than you might expect.  The obvious implication is that one could happen to you.

But, if you create and observe a data management program, you’ll be able to reduce your risk significantly – since that document will force you to outline data security threats + how to manage them.

Some states actually require businesses that maintain certain types of sensitive data to build and maintain a written information security program (WISP); but, even if you’re not required to do so, it’s still a good idea.

Neither does the document itself need to be overlong.  For a small business, 2-4 pages is probably enough coverage.

The truth of the matter, though, is that, if you’re not managing your data: it’s managing you.

February 12, 2025: A Domain By Any Other Name: Do You Need a .Esq?

For a while now, alternate domain extensions have been available, beyond the traditional .com.  Of particular interest to attorneys is that .law and .lawyer have been available for a little while now; .esq is also available.  That’s more inline with the .attorney extension – also available.  One of the advantages of buying new domain extensions is getting access to basic domain names that have long been unavailable under the traditional .com formation.  Like, you could have bought personalinjury.esq, if you were quick on the trigger.  (Yeah, it’s already taken.)  But, now that the most desirable domains are already gone, is it still worth buying a .esq domain?

There are, of course, pros and cons.  In the positive column, having a .esq domain positively identifies you/your business, as a law firm.  (Assuming consumers understand what an ‘esq’ even is – most of your referral sources (at least those who are attorneys) will know.)  And, you could potentially use .esq domains for landing pages, potentially for nesting ebooks as lead magnets.  Plus, domain names are pretty cheap to buy, so you can mess around with industry-specific urls, without breaking the bank.  .esq domains are more expensive than standard domains (about 3x as much = $30), but not to the point where it would be such a massive investment that you’d avoid the purchase out of hand.  The .esq domain, like all those other domain types, are referred to as ‘top level domains’ – but, in terms of search, those ‘tld’s are basically treated the same way, for search purposes, as any other urls; so, in the negative column, you’re not really advantaged there.

In the end, this is really a branding question; and, while .esq can extend your law firm brand in a similar way that .attorney or .lawyer would, before making the (minimal) investment required for the top level domain, you’ll want to have an idea of how the use of that domain can be incorporated into your overall marketing strategy.

February 5, 2025: The Difference: The Demands of Content Marketing Require Creativity

‘The Simpsons’ has a long-running ‘couch gag’ at the end of its opening credits, in which the Simpsons family attempts to squeeze onto their small couch together.  They never quite get it right – and, hilarity ensues.  But, it’s certainly a difficult thing to pull off = to set up the same joke each week, and to try to create a new and different punchline.  Especially considering that ‘The Simpsons’ have been doing it for 34 seasons of television.  Of course, viewed another way, it’s an interesting challenge, to attempt to conquer.

This is not dissimilar to what lawyers need to do to establish an effective content marketing program.  Lawyers need to present as experts to potential clients and referral sources; and, there are a number of things you can talk about, in terms of your expertise – but, not an infinite number of things.  So, it becomes pretty similar to The Simpsons’ couch gag, in the sense that you have to find new and interesting ways to assemble and reassemble the same sort of information.  The demands of content marketing require you to generate new materials consistently, and that material needs to be sufficiently diversified to ensure that it is consistently interesting.  Such that, even if you rely on 5 or 6 themes to talk about, over and over again – you need to put a different spin on those themes, time and time again, to keep your audience invested in what you do.

So, if you can unlock how to differentiate your content, you can take your web presence to the next level.

February 2, 2025: Building Blocks: Buying a Building Is Almost Never a Bad Idea for Attorneys

A lot of lawyers eventually become commercial real estate owners.  And, while that’s always a big decision to make, given the buy-in cost – it’s almost always the right move.

There are a number of things that recommend the maneuver.  For one, especially if you can buy a property with existing tenants, and assuming you can scrape up a down payment, your mortgage will likely be covered substantially, or in full – as will, perhaps your maintenance and property tax (if applicable) costs.  But, perhaps the best thing about the arrangement is that, as a landlord, you can select your tenants, which means that you can align your business interests with your real estate interests.  Find people and businesses who are excellent referral sources for you, and bring them in close.  You’re more likely to get those referrals, if you’re all in closer proximity.

Plus, there’s lots of unique ways that you can build out your space.  A friend of mine converted an old post office, housed his law firm there, and built his own version of a coworking space, renting out offices on a non-traditional basis.  You can also host events in your space, including for and with your tenants.  If you’re an estate planning lawyer, you can have a workshop.  You can invite everyone in your space and in your network to a grand opening party.

Buying commercial property for your law firm, where you can also rent space to others, is not just an additional revenue stream – it can be a cash cow.

January 22, 2025: Care and Feeding: How to Keep Clients Updated on Cases

Even at this late stage, with all of the technology available to lawyers and law firms, one of the major complaints of clients is that law firms don’t communicate with them, or keep them abreast of what’s happening with their cases. 

So, if you’re hearing that your clients aren’t hearing from you, here are some strategies to employ, to better develop those relationships, and to keep your clients happy:

Communication Tasks Related to Workflows.  Modern law firms should be built on workflows; you’ll want to have a workflow in place for managing every part of your law firm – from intake to cases to administration.  So, it goes without saying that some of those case-specific tasks would involve tasks you’re doing on behalf of clients – no, wait: that all of those tasks.  That means that each time you complete a task for a client, you could update the client on that task.  Of course, you don’t need to do that for everything (don’t make the move from being non-communicative to annoying), eg – you don’t have to tell the client that you drafted a motion, but you will likely want to let them know when you bring that motion before the court, and the result.  Now, you can simply add a subtask to each of those tasks that you want to notify your clients about, and request that the task owner send a text or email (whatever, really) to the client.  And, if you are able to access automations in your software, that next task may not even be required to be done by a human – the system can run on autopilot.  Case management software and standalone task management software both offer workflow features, that you can leverage in this way.

Client Portals.  You can also easily share files and folders, as well as invoices, contracts and notifications via the ‘client portals’ that are now built into most case management and customer relationship management software.  Those notifications are often pushed manually; but, some can be automated, including as part of workflows.  This method is also far more secure than sharing the same information via email, because it remains in an encrypted container that your clients must create a unique login to access.  Popular productivity softwares, like Microsoft 365 (via OneDrive/Sharepoint) and Google Workspace (via Google Drive), as well as standalone document drive tools, like Dropbox and Box, offer similar features.

Notification Software.  There are even some softwares that focus entirely on automating the notification process via workflows, and which softwares can integrate with productivity, case management and CRM tools.  CaseStatus and Hona are the leading companies in this category.

January 17, 2025: Data Transfer: The Embedded Client Portal Solution for Law Firms

Law practice management software – which is effectively a relational database for case management -- can also include almost of the related data for your cases, in its cloud iteration, via integrations.  And, if you’ve heard of case management software, you’ve probably also heard of ‘client portals’, which is a way for law firms to share information hosted or available through the case management software directly with clients.

Now, this is advantageous, because that data remains in its encrypted form, at the case management software program, and isn’t sent anywhere, i.e. – it’s never exposed.  So, the client creates a password, and views the data in its secure format.  Now, the client may download or save the file or document – but then, it’s on them to secure it.  This method is safer/more secure than sending sensitive data via email, where that information can pass through a number of unencrypted servers, before reaching its final destination.

So, if you have law practice management software: heck, yes! – use it to share secure data.

But, what if you don’t have a law practice management software tool?

Well, you can still use this technique, for documents and files.  If you have a subscription to either Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, you can share files and folders in effectively the same way, using Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive.  Now, it’s a little less streamlined than using a case management software – because, in that system, you can directly share invoices via the time & billing feature, for example, whereas in a traditional document management system, you have to build the invoice first, and then share it.  But, honestly, if you put in a little more prep work, you can end up sharing all the things you share in a case management software via a productivity software.

So, while it still makes good sense for law firms to also use a case management software (and potentially opt for that version of the client portal), even if you don’t have one, you can still get the benefit of secure file sharing.

January 8, 2025: Glide Path: Revisiting the Client Journey

It’s important for law firms to create and manage a ‘client journey’.  In layperson’s terms, that’s really just an intake process.  So, you have to ask yourself the question: ‘How do leads become clients of my firm?’  And then, you need to follow that primary question down all pathways, eg – How many times do we followup to schedule an initial intake, before giving it up?  When does a lead become a ‘lost lead’, that we just revert to a followup drip campaign, to see if that person ever reenters the top of the funnel?

This kind of thinking offers your law firm a discrete competitive advantage, in that most other law firms will take on a new lead, and then ask them to make a single next step . . . before entirely forgetting about them, and never doing any kind of followup.  You can potentially poach lots of leads from other law firms, if you focus on the conversion process, as architected through a client journey.

Now, what’s great is that, over the past several years, law firms have been given access to new and exciting options for constructing a client journey, as the software law firms use for intake has improved.  CRMs and marketing automation tools, as well as some law practice management softwares, now offer a plethora of lead management features, that make it easier than ever before to generate lead conversion pathways, including via different communication models, like: text, video, audio, and even managing traditional phone calls.  Couple that with the prevalence of automations, and you can be right on top of converting leads without ever relying on human actions – aside from determining whether there is a potential conflict and having an initial consultation meeting.

If you haven’t revisited your intake program in a while, it may make sense to take a fresh look at your client journey, to see whether and how you can improve that program – and generate additional revenue for your law firms.

January 5, 2025: Back to School: Interns Can Be Really Valuable for Law Firms

Law firms looking to hire traditional help are on the struggle bus right now.  It’s really hard to find good people now; and salaries are at an all-time high.  But, there are a number of alternatives for law firms seeking assistance, from AI to non-traditional employees or contractors.

But, one place that law firms have traditionally been able to generate good work is through interns – by bringing on students from law schools, or from colleges or universities.  Now, there has to be an educational component for every internship; but, that doesn’t mean that interns can’t directly assist in your business.  They can do things like: engaging research projects, drafting publishable content (for which they can get full or partial authorship credit) and helping you to better understand and utilize technology.

If you’re looking for help in your law firm, and struggling to find it, maybe it’s time to go back to school.  Reach out to the career development offices at your local colleges, universities and law schools + see if there’s a fit for your firm.