Next Firm Links Meeting

June 26, 2009

Firm Links had its inaugural meeting on 2nd June.  The meeting focused on PI insurance, and proved very useful.  As a result various separate initiatives have got under way.  Also we decided to schedule a second meeting for Friday 10th July at the slightly later time of 8.15am.  The meeting will finish at 9.30.

Agenda
As before, the meeting format will be to allow for brief introductions and “elevator speeches” from everyone round the table, before moving on to discuss this month’s topic – marketing.

The latest Business Barometer reported that business confidence in the UK rose for a third consecutive month in May to its highest level in nearly a year. The survey of more than 200 businesses found that 44% expect their activity to increase during the next 12 months, compared with 35% who stated this in April. Only 16% of respondents expect business activity to decrease, down from 21% who thought this in the previous month.  Do you share these thoughts? How would you describe your business confidence since the start of the year?

What are the available options for marketing legal services?  Are advertisements in the yellow pages effective?  How about social media? Word of mouth marketing, such as BNI?   How do people cope with all the demands of running a practice, as well as marketing?  Has anyone successfully outsourced marketing and what worked and what didn’t?

Is the latest news in Time Online about the legal industry facing loss of 10,000 lawyers good for smaller firms?  Does it present any marketing opportunities?

Referrals
As referrals are an excellent way to bring in new business for your business, one good reason to attend this event is the opportunity to discuss the different types of arrangements, such as reciprocal understandings or referral fees, and potentially meet the right people to begin or expand your referral contacts.

In general referral fees paid between lawyers are not subject to Code of Conduct rules requiring disclosure to the client (because solicitors are deemed to have sufficient independence of judgment).  Whether people want to charge referral fees or not, it makes sound business sense to have a variety of other legal professionals to whom you can refer work and from whom you would hope to receive referrals.

There are still places left, so if any solicitors from firms of fewer than 5 partners would like to attend please get in touch:[email protected]