SMALL LAW FIRM CHALLENGE:
Acquiring New Business

In the 2016 State of U.S. Small Law Firms Study conducted by Thomson Reuters, 300 small law firm leaders were asked about the challenges they face, how they define success, and changes they’ve made (or should be making) to support a long-term strategy.

One of the major challenges identified by these small law firms was acquiring new client business.

In the study, small law firm leaders were asked:

Is “acquiring new client business” a challenge at your firm?

78% of small law firms say “acquiring new client business” is a challenge for their firm. But even among those that say it’s a significant challenge, only 37% (see chart below) have implemented changes to address the issue.

Has your firm implemented changes to address this issue?

Attorney's that choose to ignore this challenge cope by either working more hours to manage the mounting non-billable tasks or by writing time off to meet clients' expectations. They ignore the likelihood that this will continue to worsen overtime, putting client loyalty, repeat business and referrals at risk. This begs the question - what can you do about it?