FROMTHEEXPERTS
FROMTHEEXPERTS
THE FIVE STAGES OF LAW FIRM GROWTH
By Ken Hardison
Being a talented trial lawyer , while foundational , does not ensure that you will be able to build and sustain a successful and lucrative personal injury law practice in today ’ s market . Gone are the days when hanging your shingle and simply doing good work for your clients was the requisite blueprint for enjoying a thriving law practice .
But the good news is that you can build a successful and highly profitable law practice in today ’ s market — and you can do so without compromising excellent client service — if you are focused , disciplined , and implement effective marketing and management strategies . But the hard truth is : law school doesn ’ t teach you how to market your practice , manage your practice , grow your practice , or even how to run your practice .
During the last 15 years I ’ ve worked with hundreds of personal injury law firms . Each firm had its own challenges that were holding them back from taking their firm to the next level . For each individual law firm owner these challenges may have felt unique ; but over time I began to recognize a distinct pattern to law firm growth — a pattern no one else in the industry had identified , but which became increasingly clear the longer I consulted with and mentored law firms from across the country . I discovered that all law firms fall into one of five distinct stages of law firm growth . Furthermore , the sets of challenges they face and strategies they must implement to overcome these challenges depend on the stage of law firm growth they are currently in . Success is not a one-size fits all formula .
For example , solo practices and mega firms differ greatly in the challenges they face and the resources available with which to meet those challenges . Despite this reality , far too often marketing and management vendors or consultants
14 x The Trial Lawyer offer one size fits all solutions , or large firm experiences small firms can ’ t afford . This is why understanding where your law firm fits in the 5 stage growth trajectory and the associated sticking points and strategies needed at this stage will give you clarity and help you build a more successful law firm in today ’ s market .
The Five Stages of Law Firm Growth , as detailed in Figure 1 , are :
1 ) The Solo Practice 2 ) The Small Practice 3 ) The Midsize Practice 4 ) The Large Practice 5 ) The Mega Practice .
While the 5 stages may seem selfevident , what is significant in the analysis is that each stage has its own set of typical challenges and sticking points impeding growth and effective management . Each stage has its own symptoms and solutions . Each has a desired mindset and its own success factors .
When I went from a solo practice to running a multimillion-dollar law practice , I faced different challenges at different stages of my law firm ’ s growth . And every time we doubled our growth , we had to re-engineer things and make changes so we could smoothly scale to the next level . I have observed this same scenario repeatedly with the law firms I have helped experience exponential growth . The diverse but categorical stages of law firm growth and the formula for success at these varying stages is exactly why PILMMA ’ s Mastermind program offers multiple groups at three different levels , depending in large part upon the size of the participating law firm .
The Five Stages of Law Firm Growth are summarized below , but I encourage you to study in detail the growth chart in Figure 1 . While there are exceptions to every rule , and the chart will not apply to every firm in its entirety , I have found it to be on point at least 95 percent of the time .
Stage 1 :
SOLO PRACTICE
A solo practitioner is always running behind on cash flow , experiencing roller coaster income fluctuations and dips in productivity . As a one person show , you ’ re putting out fires daily . The big sticking point is that you need more cases . You need a vision for your endgame . Your time management is probably terrible , because you simply don ’ t have enough hours in the day . You may feel a great fear of the unknown — you probably don ’ t know your critical numbers , and you find yourself being reactive rather than proactive when problems arise .
In this stage , you need a shift in mindset . You need to create mission and vision statements , identify your firm ’ s core values , and begin strategic planning .