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

2025 Quarter 2

June 30, 2025: Subscriber Count: Building Law Firm Subscriptions Is Not Easy, But It's Worthwhile

Law firms continue to experiment with different payment models, in a post-COVID environment; and, that includes subscriptions.  Subscriptions are popular, because it’s consistent recurring revenue – which everyone is looking for.  That’s one of the reasons why technology companies are so valuable.  And, if’s the same reason why lots of professional service providers (like law firms, but also like IT providers) are moving to subscription pricing.  One of the biggest challenges to implementing a subscription system is building out the inclusions.  That’s harder than setting the price point, frankly.  But, the best part about subscriptions and flat fees is that, generally speaking, law firms make more money doing work in that way, than they do on traditional billing – as much as 20-30% more, in fact.

But, back to the main question: How do you set up a subscription option?  Think of it as stacking services, and constructing an offering that is more appealing to a legal consumer than an hourly billing program.  You could, however, include a certain number of billed hours into a subscription arrangement, eg – 10 hours each month.  But, you could also (or, more likely, instead) work on a certain number of ‘active projects’ each month.   On top of that, you could offer hourly billing options for additional projects, if required, in any given month, potentially at a discounted rate.  With respect to adding value, your law firm could offer your subscribers monthly audit meetings, a special text line, faster turnaround times, document libraries, and more.  Effectively, you can build whatever kind of offering you’d like, so long as you attach an appropriate price to it – and, as long as the market will bear that price = legal consumers will pay it.

June 25, 2025: Chicken & Egg: Do Law Firms Need Clients or Talent More Right Now?

I was talking to a friend of mine, who runs a highly successful law firm, the other day.  And, he told me ‘clients aren’t the problem, I need to hire good lawyers’.  And, I thought to myself: ‘You know what – I have been hearing that a lot lately’.

Now, that makes for an interesting inflection point in the marketplace – because, I think that, if you asked lawyers what they need more, the answer would be ‘clients, I can never have enough clients’.  But, in the current job market, it’s actually harder to get good attorneys, than it is to get good clients.  Believe it or not, good clients are far more plentiful right now.  Now, this may turn around, at some point; but, there are no signs (at least currently), that this will again become an employer’s market, as it did during the start of the pandemic.

So, if you’ve got a growing firm, and you’re putting significant effort in, and stretching yourself in any direction – it’s probably that you’re bending over backwards, trying to acquire new talent.  And, you’re likely becoming continually more aggressive, acting almost like your own legal recruiter, to work to contact, proposition and close new hires.  But, that’s the only effective pathway, at the moment, in the most competitive market in the legal space: the hiring market.

June 22, 2025: Guess, Work: Regular Incentives Work Better Than Ad Hoc Bonuses

Law firms lack structure, generally; and, that’s also true of how they compensate their lawyers, beyond their salaries.  And, that’s maybe the most dangerous game to be playing in the current hiring environment – because, if you can’t keep your current staff happy, they’re more likely to be able to find an alternate position, easier and faster than they ever have before.

Most law firms rely on ad hoc bonuses for their employees; but, that’s a bad idea.  One reason that’s the case is because those sorts of bonuses come at random times for random reasons.  That creates an expectation that they’ll come along again, but without grounding for how or when.  And then, since there’s nothing tied to those bonuses aside from the whims of a managing attorney, it will inevitably lead to bad feelings for the attorneys who don’t get bonused, because there is no quantifiable reason for why or when the bonus was paid.

Now, contrast that to an environment in which bonuses and incentives are tied to clearly discernable and available data, and paid on regular intervals.  Now, attorneys now exactly why and how they will be paid extra.  Also every discussion is not a he said/she said back-and-forth, respecting the viability of the choice of how and whom to bonus.  The numbers are readily available.  Plus, in a model like this, law firm owners can access gamification, where employees will strive to hit discernable bonuses, in competition against their peers.  In the alternative, more common practice, no one know what anyone wants.

June 6, 2025: Avant Guard: AI Images Could Make Your Website Pop

Images in marketing are more important than ever – including moving images (videos).

But, you know what remains pretty boring about websites?  The stock images that are utilized at almost every single one of them to relay the value of a service or product.

So, why not shake things up a bit?  Instead of buying the same old stock photos from Getty, or using a free service like Unsplash, or even taking your own photos . . . Why not try an AI image tool to generate fresh and interesting pictures?

Most mainstream generative AI tools, at this point, can create images.

Utilize specific prompts to generate compelling images related to what you do, and avoid known IP – like, ‘make Darth Vader an estate planning lawyer’.  And, you should be good.

At least you’ll be different, which helps you to stand out, in a competitive marketplace.

June 11, 2025: Listing Agent: Contingency Law Firms Should Utilize a Payoff Sheet

Contingency firms scratch a bunch of lottery tickets, and sometimes get a (big) hit.  I mean, it’s a little better than the lottery, because there is some skill involved; but, it is a lottery.

So, when that endorphin rush of a big hit, um . . . hits – it’s easy to just plow that money into a new Maserati.  But, you have other obligations, as well.

The best strategy to employ, then, is to create a payoff sheet for settlements.  You can use whatever format you want: a document, a spreadsheet, notes in your case management system – but, it would look something like this:

First, get any disbursements out that need to be made on the case, eg – medical bill payments on behalf of the client.  (This process almost always festers in law firms; and so, you want to move through it as quickly as you can.)  Next, allocate the appropriate percentage for payments of taxes (federal and state, if applicable) from the settlement – contingent attorneys always get out over their skis with this, and end up having to make extra tax payments at the end of the year; so, get it done right away, instead.  After that, pay off any lines of credit you used to float the practice, while you supported the working up of this case (and other cases).  Then, decide whether you’d like to shovel some of that money back into your practice, as retained earnings, to supplement carrying costs, or to buy a new piece of technology, etc.  After all that – then go buy your Maserati; but, maybe it’s a Volkswagen Passat now. 

Or, save your money, and get the boss vehicle you want, over time.  In fact, that could be a line item on your payoff sheet – money set aside for the purchase of a vehicle, or a boat, or an ATV, whatever.  Some expensive toy, just for you.  That’s good motivation for the long slog of processing cases.

Good things come to those who wait, and to those contingent attorneys who use a payoff sheet.

May 28, 2025: Week Sauce: More Regular Law Firm Billing May Be To Your Clients' Liking

Most lawyers who are billing hourly (which are most lawyers) – and, even those who aren’t – continue to slavishly send out invoices at the beginning of every month, covering the fees accrued by clients for the prior month.  That’s all well and good; but, those fees can add up quickly.

That’s why some law firms are experimenting with more regular billing models.  Biweekly, and even weekly, billing is the norm with these firms.  And, it’s not just experimentation.  These firms are having success with this program – and, a lot of their clients love it.

Now, you might assume that, if clients find common billing practices to be annoying, that they would be even more annoyed by more frequent billing.  But, that’s not necessarily the case; and, in fact, lots of legal consumers appreciate recurrent billing like this, because each payment is smaller.

In any event, there is no time like the present to experiment with revised billing models, which law firm clients are more open to than ever before.

May 25, 2025: Counting the Cost: The Psychology of Pricing

Most buying decisions are emotional journeys – some short, some long.

Why did you buy the candy in line waiting to check out at the grocery store?  Your kid was being obnoxious, and you wanted to shut them up, haha.

Why did you buy that boat?  Your Dad had a boat, and you always wanted one, too.  It only took 20 years to get it.

There are a lot of emotional buying decisions that happen in legal, as well.

No one really buys an estate plan – they want peace of mind for their family.

No one really buys a set of business formation documents – they want to protect their assets against seizure.

Smart attorneys don’t just set prices; they have an understanding of the psychological components of pricing.

Want to get a better handle about how the way you relay pricing information affects consumers?  Check out Nick Kolenda’s infographic-laced site, which is sure to blow your mind.

May 18, 2025: Out of Network: How Your Current Employees Can Help You Find Your Next One

There are a number of different ways to look for new staff as a law firm, whether you’re seeking attorneys, paralegals or administrators.  But, it’s also kind of a crapshoot.  And, it’s also sort of true that the best hires usually come from your personal network.

Now, if you’re an experienced attorney who owns a law firm, the problem is that you may not know the people you want to hire.  If you’ve got 20 years’ experience, and have run your own firm for the last 10 – you likely don’t know any attorneys with 3 years’ experience, or a newly-minted paralegal, or a recent college graduate, who could become an administrative assistant at your firm.

But, you know who might know those sorts of people?  Your existing staff.

So, empower your staff to help you find candidates for new roles.  Heck, if you like to work with your staff, their friends are probably also the sort of people you’d like to work with.  Simply speaking out loud that you want some help finding a new hire, might awaken something in your existing staff – don’t assume that they know or understand that this would be useful to you.

And, you know what makes everyone up their effort level, just a bit more?  Cold, hard cash.  Guess what, you can also incentivize your staff by offering a bonus related to the hiring of someone they recommend.

Good help is hard to find, yes; but, that’s precisely why you need more people to help you look.

May 7, 2025: Sociable: Why Social Media Job Posting Services Are Great

There are two primary ways that attorneys look to fill jobs in their law firms.  First, they access their personal networks; and, next: they look at traditional job posting services, like ZipRecruiter or Indeed.  But, what if you strike out there?  What’s next?

Well, social media services have job posting options, as well.  And, they may be better than the traditional alternatives.  Facebook and LinkedIn have job posting platforms; and, X (formerly, and forever, Twitter, as far as I’m concerned) will have one shortly.  What makes these options different is that you can align your job posting with your social presence, giving your candidates a wider window into who you are, and what you stand for – at least as far as your business principles are concerned.  Plus, these systems have huge numbers of users, which will widen the group of potential candidates you can access, outside of just active job seekers.  Some even allow you to buttress your profile, by adding some notification to your followers/friends/connections that you’re hiring – like LinkedIn’s #hiring banner around your avatar.  You can also reach out directly to existing connections (or, new ones you make), who may be viable candidates for your role.

There’s just a lot more that you can manage with a job posting on social media, than almost anywhere else.

So, the next time you’re seeking after a new hire, take a fresh look at your social media services.

May 1, 2025: Is It Legal? Lots of Legal Software Isn’t Original, But That’s Okay

I’ve got some surprising news: some lawyer didn’t invent the idea of CRM software.  Neither were the relational databases that serve as the backbone for law practice management softwares built for law firms.  But, that’s okay.  Because lots of software is derivative – including within the legal vertical, where there are uncountable numbers of copycats of Clio and RocketMatter, which introduced the first cloud-based case management softwares to lawyers.

Is any legal version of a CRM going to be as impactful, widely-used or feature-rich as Salesforce is?  Decidedly not.  So, you may be asking yourself the question – Why would I ever use any legal software, if it’s not as good as the alternatives?  Don’t I want to be using the best software?

Well, yes; but, let me add an important caveat to that formulation: You want to be using the best software for your law firm, which means that you may not end up choosing the worldwide leader.

Why not?  Well, there are several reasons.  First of all, software built for lawyers is more likely to house features that attorneys care about.  Secondly (and maybe most importantly), law firm software is more likely to integrate directly with other law firm software – so, you don’t have to connect it via a third party tool, which will add an additional cost.  Third, some law firm softwares (and other non-law firm softwares) are cheaper than mammoth providers, like Salesforce – which small businesses often get priced out of.  Lastly, legal-specific software tools generally feature executives and costumer service reps who have a better understanding of attorneys’ needs.

While it may not be perfect, there is a lot to recommend legal-facing software tools.

April 25, 2025: Site Map: 4 Options for Designing a Law Firm Website

Law firms have quite a few options for getting their first, or a revised, website built (rebuilt).  So, if it’s time to formalize (reformalize) your web presence, your website still needs to be the anchor – let’s talk over some courses of action.

The most obvious option for designing a website is doing it yourself (DIY); but, let’s be real – even if you’re the best website designer in the world, you still don’t want to do it.  Sounds weird, I know – but, this relates back to a big problem that attorneys have: that they can’t seem to let go of doing everything, because lawyers feel like they’re the best at everything.  They can make the best coffee; they can print the best copies.  They can design the best websites.  But, of course: that’s largely a waste of time for lawyers, who make far more money billing out legal work, instead of doing things like designing websites.  No website designer is going to bill out over your hourly rate; so, the math just makes sense.  Of course, if you’re not designing your website yourself, who you gonna call?

Well, one option is to use a website design firm, that will build a unique website for your law firm.  Now, it’s great to own a coded website, that is completely yours – but, the cost is not small.  We’re talking $6k-$10k, on average.  (Now, while a digital marketing agency would offer a website build, as well – you’re paying a whole lot more than that initial investment for SEO services on a monthly basis, for the privilege of acquiring a website.)

If that sounds like it’s beyond your budget, you can look at a contractor, many of whom charge between $500-$1500 for the build.  And, you can look for web design contractors on services like Fiverr or UpWork.  The challenge there is that, while the cost is reduced, a website design firm will stick around to provide continuing services, if needed.  A contractor, who may have another full-time job?  It’s an open question.

A final option is to utilize a website subscription service, which offers the lowest buy-in.  Law firms that choose this option pick a templated site, and manage it themselves via a consumer-friendly back-end.  Now, the issue here is that, if you don’t want to pay your subscription anymore, you no longer have a website.  (This is usually also the case with websites that are generated by digital marketing agencies, who may revert the site, if you stop paying for their services.)  Legal-specific website subscription tools are offered by LawLytics and Convert It Marketing.

April 18, 2025: Casting a Wide Net: How to Get Booked on Podcasts

It can be really valuable for business owners, including lawyers, to get booked as guests on podcasts.  Not only are podcasts really popular; but, it’s a great way to display your expertise as an attorney – which is all that clients and referral sources want to know about, anyway.  Plus, podcasts are great for backlinks – links to your website from other prominent websites, which increases your ‘domain authority’ in search.

Of course, it’s not necessarily easy to get booked on podcasts, especially if you’re not already being invited to join them regularly.  So, you can create a list of shows you want to be on, find the right contacts, and reach out with your pitch.

However, that’s a lot to ask for a busy attorney to do.  So, maybe you pass off that assignment to an admin person, or a law clerk or intern.  Taking a step up from there, you could enlist the help of a PR firm.  And, there are even software platforms, like Rephonic, that help you to book podcast appearances, by connecting you with creators.

So, if you want to be on podcasts, you’ve got options.

(Thanks to David Libby, for turning me on to Rephonic.)

April 11, 2025: Bring a Cannon to a Knife Fight: Why It's Important to Stand Out

Law firm branding is pretty darn similar, when it comes right down to it.  Logos feature the same items (like initials, gavels, columns), and color schemes are largely washed in blue, gray and white.  Lawyer bios are similar, as well: went to awesome law school, won big awards, had great achievements – without a word to say about how the attorney actually helps clients.

So, it’s easy to say that law firms all act alike and look alike, but it’s difficult to really bring home that point, lacking a graphical interpretation.  Now, while I still don’t have a graphical interpretation of how law firms are similar, we can generate an analogy using punk rock bands.

Yes, punk rock bands 😊.  Any band stand out to you in this poster from a death metal festival in San Francisco?

Yeah, Party Cannon, right?  Every other band has basically the same logo style, in the same way that every law firm has the same logo style.

This is how you stand out.

(Thanks to New York graphic designer, Sam Oliver, for sending this poster my way.)

April 2, 2025: Last Child: Document Assembly Is Your Next Step

Have you ever had to write a client’s name over and over again – so many times, that you mess it up?  They really hate that.  How about adding the last of 5 children to an estate plan?  Now, was her middle name Elise of Eliza?  Honestly, who even knows any more.

These sorts of simple errors are really obnoxious for clients; but, it’s also totally understandable why attorneys commit them.  Lawyers aren’t robots – at least, not yet – so, it’s easy to make these mistakes, when you’re tired, or frustrated.

But, wait: You know what is a machine, and what does not run into these sorts of issues, or even get tired?  Document assembly software!  Get this, you type in something once, and the field is applied globally.  You can use repeating dialogues to enter repetitive information.  Clauses are selected automatically, based on your logic choices.

Even better still, lots of softwares allow for direct input from ciients and leads, so that you can pass off the drafting responsibility.

So, what’s left?  Kicking up your heels, reviewing final documents, and attending signing meetings.

Sounds pretty dope, right?

It’s within your grasp.

. . .

Want to find out more about how automation tools, including document assembly softwares, can help your law firm?  Check in with us.