Law Firm Marketing – By Grading Clients Increase Your Revenues
In the world of law firms, lawyer's clients are their lifeline. Busy practices cannot survive on a handful of referrals and member referrals alone. Law firm marketing is a key component to acquire new clients, so as to increase revenue and grow the practice faster. However, there is no easy or definite answer [...]
Posted by: Mimi Spencer @ 8:00 PM
Lawyer marketing and law firm best practices are very important to the successful operation of your legal practice. The following article outlines how one law firm has taken a unique approach to increase revenues and grow their business.
Posted by: Lisa Anne @ 3:03 PM
You've probably heard the expression "significant others" - that is, spouses/co-habitants. I find it interesting that lawyers prefer to use that term rather than "spouse" in referring to an attorney-client relationship where the subject of this article is concerned...
Posted by: Margie in Colorado @ 8:01 PM
Lisa Anne, You're right, that's not correct. If a husband/wife is the subject of a Law Firms marketing campaign, he/she would be referred to as "husband" or "wife." However, if you are referring to another attorney-client relationship (i.e., "significant others"), you use the term spouse. As mentioned above, some attorneys will refer to their clients as spouses when discussing the attorney-client relationship. Posted by: Mimi Spencer @ 9:52 PM
Lisa Anne, The reason I said it was interesting is because I had assumed everyone would always use "spouse" when referring to an attorney-client relationship. You've just reminded me that there are other options available. Thanks for the clarification! :) Posted by: Mimi Spencer @ 10:11 PM
Mimi Spencer, when I used the term "significant others" I wasn't referring to a spouse/co-habitant situation (although admittedly I don't know if that's the primary reason lawyers prefer to use it). Here's what I was referring to. If you're a family law attorney, you would refer to the person in an attorney-client relationship regarding an adoption as the "adoptive parents" or "adoptive parent." You wouldn't refer to them as the "parents" or "child. If you're a divorce attorney, you'd refer to the two people in an attorney-client relationship as "custodial parent" or "parent." You wouldn't refer to them as the "custodian" or "child." So, when I used the term significant others, I was referring to other people in attorney-client relationships. (I don't know if this applies to law firms who deal with more than one type of client - but I'm thinking it would.) From my perspective, the reason attorneys use the term significant others instead of spouse is that it's a more courteous way to refer to a couple/individual in an attorney-client relationship. For example, adhering to the standard of referring to a person or persons in attorney-client relationships as "spouse" could be seen as potentially offensive to an LGBT couple. Posted by: Lisa Anne @ 11:01 PM
Lisa Anne, interesting... I'd never really thought about this before! Here's another good reason for lawyers to use the term significant others instead of spouse/co-habitant... If you are dealing with a very high profile case (i.e., WikiLeaks, O.J.), and you want the public perception of your client to be that of one that is highly respectable, using the term spouse might not create the right impression. Thus, using significant others (instead of spouse) is a more polite and respectful way to refer to the two parties in an attorney-client relationship in such a high profile case. Posted by: Mimi Spencer @ 11:55 PM
Lisa Anne, One final additional reason why attorneys choose to refer to their clients as significant others instead of husband/wife: many attorneys feel that it's not offensive to use the term significant other. After all, someone might be your significant other, but could also be an ex-significant other...it depends on how you look at it, right? :) Here is what I wrote about this topic in my book "Teach Yourself Lawyer Marketing." Most attorneys have clients ...
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Posted by: Mimi Spencer @ 12:03 AM
Posted by: Lisa Anne @ 10:51 PM
Thank you so much for allowing me to guest post! I look forward to reading the rest of your article. I'm also curious about your comment that most attorneys "feel" it's not offensive to use the term significant other because someone might be their significant other, but might be an ex-significant other. That's an interesting perspective on this topic, and it got me thinking...