You've heard me say it here repeatedly, the traditional law practice model is broken. And, if you do not make a change in the way you practice law and serve clients, you are going to get caught behind the 8-ball, and keep struggling and maybe even give up the practice of law altogether.
And with the rise of technology like estate planning software for lawyers and do it yourself legal document drafting systems for consumers, you might have other reasons to think you have to compete on fees to get hired.
But, you don't. And trying to compete on fees will run you into the ground.
Fair enough. I get that perspective. It may seem like it's in service to your community to provide affordable legal services. But that’s not the case if it means that you are killing yourself to do it.
And, in your quest to be the “affordable lawyer”, you are actually leaving your clients (and yourself) worse off as a result.
Think about it this way: let’s imagine that you are the most affordable estate planning lawyer in town, and you do “trusts for $500!”, but that trust never gets updated, or your clients assets never get transferred, or your client never talks to their family about their planning, or why they did it, or how to find their assets.
So your client got a cheap estate plan, and you were the most affordable lawyer in town, but did they really get what they needed?
A cheap estate plan cost my family tens of thousands of dollars to deal with my father-in-law’s ex-wife and the probate court after he died and his estate planning documents failed us.
Being the most affordable lawyer in town does NOT mean incorporating a clients’ business for $1,500, and then never being in touch with your client again until they contact you because their bank account got levied for $11,000 by the EDD because they did not properly send in reports on what they paid their contractors.
Being the most affordable solution for your business owner client is making sure they have all of the legal, insurance, financial and tax systems they need in place to support their business visions and dreams so they are able to earn and keep more money.
But what about online legal document services, like LegalZoom® and RocketLawyer® or even upstarts like TrustandWill.com?
It's not only impossible for you to compete with online legal document services, but it's also a huge disservice to you and your clients.
For example, if you are an estate planning lawyer, you should definitely be using document drafting software to ensure your legal documents are the most up to date, and so that you are highly efficient at drafting. At the same time, do not get caught in the trap of thinking that just because you have the best documents, that you are selling and getting paid for your legal documents.
Your clients can fill out legal drafting software online themselves. That is NOT why they are hiring you, and if you frame your services that way, you will be stuck in the race to the bottom on your fees along with all the other lawyers who are stuck thinking they are selling documents.
Affordable is helping your clients choose the right fee to work with you, for a service that achieves their desired outcomes. The right fee is meaningful enough to allow you to have the income you need, while you provide a great service, without sacrificing your life to do it, and while still being the most “affordable” solution for your clients. This is what we call “The Affordability Paradox.”
Affordable is charging your business owner clients enough so that you get paid to set them up properly, with everything they need to succeed — entity protection, contracts, IP protection, insurance, financial systems, and tax guidance.
And then, getting paid on a recurring fee basis to make sure they aren’t overlooking any of the pieces they need to grow and scale the vision of their business.
Remember, we are attorneys and counselors at law.
What you want to do is develop your skills as a highly trained counselor.
When you can leverage technology to become the most efficient provider of documents and at the same time be a highly skilled and effective counselor who knows how to keep your clients out of court and out of conflict, you get to command premium fees and still be the most affordable solution for your clients.
That's the Affordability Paradox in action. And It's the best thing ever!
You get paid well, your clients get the most affordable and best outcome possible, and you never have to go to court, never have to sacrifice your life, work with horrible opposing counsel, and you get to love what you do.
Transactional business lawyers are easily replaced. No client needs you to incorporate their business. Or to create a contract. If they're smart, they can do that themselves. Or at least they think they can. Or will think they can once LegalZoom's marketing department gets to them.
What business owners do need you to do is educate them, advise them, partner with them, strategize with them, and be the voice of reason they likely do not have because they are too close to their business and dreams.
It's your job to know their industry even better than they do, so you can question their business model and help them to make it even better. Your job is to help them to crystallize their vision- and then make sure they have the legal, insurance, financial and tax systems to support their vision happening.
Most business lawyers have no idea how to do this. If you do, you've got a skill that you should be commanding premiums fees for, and my guess is that you are currently giving it away and selling your documents or your time, because that's what the traditional legal model has taught us to do.
By packaging your legal services to be worthy of your clients paying “affordable premium fees”, and by providing so much value that hiring you results in your clients saving more than they paid you, and making more than they would have without you – YOU become the most affordable solution. And, in the best way possible.
If you’d like to learn more about making this critical shift toward becoming a lawyer that is truly the most affordable solution for your clients, watch this masterclass training to find out about the five shifts our member lawyers make to build high-six and seven-figure law practices serving families and small business owners - and we'll share all the details.
