Resources

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

2026 Quarter 1

March 25, 2026: All Together Now: If You’re Not a Solo, You Need a PreNup

Any divorce lawyer, if they could get to a client when they were about to get married, would advise a prenup.  Similarly, and more relevant to the current topic, any business or corporate attorney would tell any partners in a business venture, to make sure to sign a partnership agreement or operating agreement before joining together.  The thesis for both scenarios is pretty similar, in that it presumes the ‘un’happy ending – which no one wants to think about before starting a new journey, even if it’s the most likely outcome.  The fact is that marriages break up, and businesses break up – and, everybody’s better off, if there is agreement on the end, at the beginning.

Of course, there are a whole lot of other things that need to be managed in a business – which is kind of like a marriage, for the partners.  And so, an operating agreement or a partnership agreement is vital for maintaining that arrangement, as well as closing it down.

So, if you’re starting up a new venture with a new partner, or adding to your existing partnership – or, even if you’ve had a partnership for a while now, and never documented anything – it’s a good time to get a partnership or operating agreements drafted now, and signed.

Take a basic, draft term sheet to a business attorney, and they can handle the rest.

And, if you want a rundown of the common terms included in an agreement, check out this fantastic article on the topic.

March 21, 2026: Two-fer: Law Firms Need to Consider the Second Phase of the Client Intake Process

Generally speaking, most law firm intake systems need a whole heck of a lot of work.  But, while many law firms lose leads through their client journey, that probably could have been converted – there is one thing that law firms usually get right, in the intake process.

Law firms tend to generate short initial intake forms, which is great – because legal consumers don’t want to jump through a lot of hoops before they’re allowed to talk to their potential attorney.  Ask for basic information; confirm the case type; offer the click-through disclaimer . . . and, get out.

Now, the problem from there, becomes: once you have that basic information, you still need more, before you can start work on your new clients’ cases.  That’s where the second stage of intake comes in; and, it’s probably the biggest law firm process bottleneck there is.

In many cases, before attorneys can begin work on their clients’ claims – they need to gather some more preliminary information.  For a personal injury lawyer, that could be asking for treatment records.  For an estate planning lawyer, it’s seeking information about the person’s family and assets.  For a bankruptcy or immigration attorney, it’s gearing up to complete court and administrative forms.

So, the smoother you can make your process, the quicker you can onboard your new client, and the sooner you can get moving on their case.  That means that you’ll finish the case faster & increase the volume of work you can do, inside of your practice.

Every time you save time, onboarding new clients – you increase your law firm’s case capacity.  The simplest pathway to making more money in your law firm, is to increase your case volume.  Effectively managing this second stage of intake, is one major way to achieve that.

March 11, 2026: Stretch Big: Setting a Revenue Goal is the Simplest Way to Make More Money

Law firm owners are heavily focused on revenue; but, maybe: not in the right way.  Because, when I say that law firm owners are ‘focused on revenue’, I really mean that they ‘worry about it constantly’.  But, that’s not productive.  A more productive way to express your concern over the revenue your business generates is to focus on growth.

The simplest step that a managing lawyer can take, in the right direction, when it comes to revenue growth, is to just set a goal.  Setting a goal forces you to try to achieve it, which means that you’re likely to get closer to it, than you otherwise would have – even if you don’t reach it.  So, if your law firm has been generating 5% year-over-year growth, try for 10%, next year.

The more important thing to note here, is that, if you take this goal seriously, it will force you to have other, relevant conversations about your law practice & how to improve it.  For instance, if you need more leads, to get to your revenue goal – now, you’re addressing marketing.  Or, if you need to be more productive, to reach your revenue goal – you have to figure out if your technology stack is right, and whether you need better processes.  And, those kinds of conversations can lead to improvements across the law practice.

March 4, 2026: Flow State: Is Your Process Management Software As Fully Functional As You Think?

If you’ve got workflow software you’re trying to launch or implement, and if it’s become a frustrating process – it may not be you, it might be them.  Some process management software is too simple, for modern business use cases; and, if you get even a little bit sophisticated, you may run out of road, quick.

That’s because some process management softwares only allow you to create manual task lists.  A step up from there, would be to start employing subtasks – only, that feature is not accessible, in some programs.  From there, you may want to automate certain tasks, so that humans won’t have to perform them – instead, the software can effectively follow up on requests.  This will be even more outrageous, moving forward, when ‘autonomous agents’ (powered by AI), will manage entire workflows, all on their own.

But, you don’t need to get all the way into AI-generated workflows, like, tomorrow.  That can be a stretch goal.  However, if you want to take advantage of subtasks and automations, those would be two useful next moves for your firm.  And, if your current software programs don’t offer those options, it may be time to look around.

February 25, 2026: Equitable Distribution: Look Before You Leap Into a Partnership

One thing I have found to be true about pretty much every lawyer I’ve ever encountered, is that they all just want to help people, when it comes down to it.  At heart, they are generous of spirit; and, they truly do want to improve the lives of their clients.

Now, I’ve also seen that approach extend to other business decisions.  And, while that is generally a good thing, sometimes it causes attorneys to overreach.  Lots of times, lawyers take on partners when they shouldn’t.  That’s often because they like the potential partner, on a personal level, or because they’re thinking of the benefits to that person, rather than considering what’s best for the business, or themselves.

But, selecting a partner, and making the choice to give away equity in your law firm, should really be a cold and calculated decision, based on the matching of skills, and the capabilities of your potential partner.  If there isn’t a business reason to select a law firm partner, including a viable profitability calculation . . . just move on, and wait for the next opportunity – even if that’s a difficult decision, or one that could hurt your personal relationships.

Running a law firm is serious business; and, you should not give away control and reduce your earning capacity, for just anyone.

February 18, 2026: Trade Up: This Is Your Reminder That Brand Names Are Valuable for Law Firms

Pre-pandemic, attorneys in a not insignificant number of states were disallowed from using ‘trade’ or ‘brand’ names for their law firms.  You know, like ‘Taco Bell’ – though, you probably wouldn’t actually name your law firm Taco Bell.

That meant that lawyers were basically left with naming their businesses after themselves – usually some combination of hard-to-pronounce last names.  But, during and after the pandemic, those rules fell off; and, every jurisdiction in the United States now allows for law firms to select brand names.

And, yet: few have.  That may because attorneys are unaware of opportunity; but, it’s more likely that lawyers are just not keyed into the value of brand names, or don’t want the hassle of changing an existing name – though, it is worth it.  Why?  Well, there are a few primary reasons: First, it’s easier to transition work to non-name partners in the firm, with a trade name.  Second, it can provide a more direct attribution to the type of work you do: Call yourself an ‘injury’ law firm, if you handle personal injury claims; or, use a shield in your logo, if you’re running an estate planning firm and seeking to protect your clients’ assets.  Third, your unique brand & logo will become an asset; and, that’s true whether you keep or sell your law firm.

So, if you’ve not considered a trade name for your law firm, it’s probably past time to think about making the swap.

February 15, 2026: Drop Anchor: What Is Your Flagship Content?

I talk to lawyers a lot about generating in-house content, that features them, and that is authentic to their personalities.  Of course, I’m pushy: So, sometimes, attorneys get frustrated with me, and say: ‘Hey, I’ve got a lot going on!’  I get it.  It’s tough to find the time – which is why it makes sense to specialize.

Individual lawyers, then, should have ‘anchor’ content = the primary content you produce, that you can leverage in a number of different ways, and repurpose.  It’s, hopefully, something you enjoy putting together, since you’ll be doing a lot of it.

Let’s flesh this out, with an example: Suppose you decide to host an interview-based podcast, and you do that every month.  Well, you can easily create a transcript of the audio & republish it, in full or in snippets – as blog posts, or articles, or white papers.  And, you can also record video, and publish the whole thing, or shorter snippets – with or without closed captions.  Then, you can publish all that content via various social media channels, or through remarketing campaigns – via email, text, carrier pigeon, etc.  Plus, if you’ve got a new podcast guest every time, you can share any or all of that content with them, so they can promote you, too.  And, thus: your efforts begin to proliferate.

The point is: you can do one thing, and get multiples of value from it.  And, if you’ve got staff, you can just be the talent, while they cut, paste, copy and post.

February 2, 2026: It Ain't Done Until It's When: Following Through on Processes Is Essential

Business owners, including law firm managers, tend to make a lot of assumptions.  The most potentially dangerous of those assumptions, is that a process, once initiated, is bound to be completed.  But, that’s a dicey proposition.  In many cases, there’s no end in sight.

That’s because business processes aren’t usually mapped out, as tightly as they should be.  So, ask yourself: Does every process you engage actually have an end point (when it’s done)?  Do you have followup requirements for every request made?  Does each task have an owner and a supervisor (where necessary) attached?  If you’ve got the hat trick of ‘no’ answers, in play – then, the good news is that you’ve now got some really simple strategies for improving your workflows.

The point is, in business, you should never assume completion.  The idea is to know for sure, that things have been – not hope that they will be.  If you can ensure that the finish tape is breasted, you’ll have fewer mistakes and complaints on your hands.

January 28, 2026: Away Game: Law Firms Need Policies for Remote Workers

Working from home ain’t the same as working in the office.  I mean, you can’t do your laundry at the office – unless you have a really nice office setup.  Now, the thing that’s interesting is that most law firms – most employers, I would go so far as to say – treat in-office and virtual employees the same way.  That’s a combination of inertia, and a failure of imagination.  But, that’s not the only problem.  Remote employees also require law firms to adopt additional policies.

The most obvious, bedrock policy in that regard is the remote work policy.  But, it also makes sense to build a data security policy (also known as a written information security program (WISP)), which does not have to be a huge document (1-2 pages suffice), and which may be required by state law.  That would cover your data protection guidelines, inside of and outside of the office.  If your outsourced staff are contractors, you should also have an independent contractor agreement, with each of them, while making sure these folks are actually independent contractors, and not employees.

When the nature of work changes, the collection of your office policies needs to be updated.

January 25, 2026: Checkmate: Transfer Portal: Sharing Files Securely is a Piece of Cake Now

If you’re still sharing files with clients, referral sources and other attorneys, via email attachment – or, heaven forfend: fax! – you need to step up your game.  Email is an inherently unsecure technology; so, if you’re sending confidential information via email, you need to secure that information, by encrypting it – at the document level, or at the system level.  But, that takes additional time and effort, and costs more.

Instead, why not share confidential information through a secure, encrypted platform, through which the person who is to receive the information logs into, thereby bypassing the email problem, where that information passes through several servers (some of which may be unencrypted), before reaching its final destination.  With a client portal, your document stays where it is (safely encrypted), and your recipient comes in to get it.

Now, you can share files and documents via document storage programs in this fashion, using tools like OneDrive/Sharepoint, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.  But, the best option is to utilize a client portal attached to a case management software, like: MyCase, Clio, FileVine, etc. – because, while the functionality is the same, there’s just a lot more information organized at that platform, that you can more easily share (like documents, files, time & billing and other, associated case information).

January 14, 2026: Range Finder: How Do You Niche Down, When You're Already Practicing Law?

Niche practices are successful, in part, because these effectively reduce competition for law firms, and also because it’s easier to market just one thing, rather than several.  Now, it’s easy to build a niche practice right from the start of your law firm, because you can just pick what you want to do.  But, if you’re already running a law practice, and want to niche down – the calculation becomes a bit more complex.  Specifically, in order to niche down, you need to give something else up, as you take on more work in another category.  So, if you want to focus more on estate planning, maybe you need to back off of your real estate work.

And, that may be enough of a challenge to make you want to avoid the whole endeavor.  But, as with most things: if you make the change over time, it becomes easier.  So, you can begin to wind down one practice – when cases age out, and as you convert fewer leads – as you ramp the other up – by putting in some additional marketing efforts/dollars, or by trying to increase your conversion rate.

That may be the easy part, though – because you may be starting well ahead of that.  So, maybe you know that you want to niche down, but the question may be: To what?  And, that’s always answered in two ways: First, ask yourself what you like to do.  Second, figure out where the money trail goes – what are the trends in your practice, in terms of your finances.  Hopefully, those paths align – if not, you’ve got some decisions to make.

And, when you decide to niche down, into a specific practice area/practice areas – then, you’ll want to set some goals.  Put down some revenue and process goals, for building your niche.  Develop a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal), as your long-range, stretch plan.

 

January 7, 2026: Order of Operations: Tracking Systems Come Before Paid Advertising

It’s easy to get keyed up on a new paid advertising campaign you’re about to launch – especially if you’re one of the bold solo or small firm practitioners to actually be brave enough to launch one!  But, if you haven’t built a formal intake program, through which you can track those online leads – it’s gonna be tough to measure the value of what you’re doing.  Now, I get it: this sounds like the obvious thing to do; but, I still see law firms trying to launch paid advertising campaigns, while simultaneously trying to create reliable intake programs, with the correct reporting methodology – and, that’s even in some cases, where those law firms are working with digital marketing agencies (who should really know better).

There are two major components you need to be aware of, in order to do this the right way.  First, you have to design an intake workflow before you launch it via a software program.  Second, you need to understand the software you’re using, for when you launch that intake workflow – even if someone else is building out your intake program.  It’s your firm; and, the buck stops with you, as the managing attorney.  If everything crumbles around you: vendors, staff, etc. – you still need to understand your workflows, and how they’re managed.

So, take the time to build your intake machine, before you pay for any advertising – because, if you don’t, you’ll have no idea what you’re paying for.

January 3, 2026: Sum Certain: Cashflow Projections Build Confidence for Lawyers

Law firm revenue usually has an ebb & flow to it, especially when you talk about firms that rely on hourly billing.  Most attorneys would probably say that their revenue is pretty unpredictable.

The only problem with that thesis is that it’s not entirely true.  Law firms can design some assumptions about what they’ll make by utilizing revenue projections.  Compare that to historical data, and you’re bound to find trends (and, likely, seasonality), as well as recurring themes around how and when you make money.

And, you don’t have to do it on your own.  If you utilize an accountant, bookkeeper, or (fractional) chief financial officer (CFO), you can ask that person to develop ‘cashflow projections’ for you; and, you can do that on an annual basis, at the start of every new year.  The more you do that, the more accurate those projections will become.

Lots of law firms I talk to will say they’re having a bad month, from time to time.  And, the followup question is always: ‘Compared to what?’  If you think you’re having a bad August, is that really true, compared to what you did August of last year, or the year before that?

In the end, when law firms generate cashflow projections and compare them to actual cashflow, firm owners can gain fresh confidence around their finances.  If you understand your cashflow at depth, your revenue models become more predictable and accessible, over time.