In recent articles, I’ve talked about how to Define Your Goals, Know Your Clients, and Evaluate Your Competitors. The fourth pillar of a solid marketing foundation is to know the environment in which you do business.

Legal Industry Statistics

The number of lawyers is growing at a rapid pace. According to the American Bar Association, there were1,049,751 lawyers in 2000 – or one lawyer for every 270 people. In 1980, there was only one lawyer for every 400 people.

Reginald Harris gives a number of interesting statistics about the law profession in his book, Lawyers’ Guide to Strategic Marketing. For instance:

  • Since the 1980s, the overhead per lawyer has increased 80% but lawyer revenues have only increased 60%.
  • Billable hours recorded by partners increase at a rate of 1% per year.
  • As of 2003, 22% of licensed lawyers were women, but 50% of law school attendees were women.
  • The average age of a US attorney is in the upper 30s.

Situation Analysis

When creating your marketing plan, it’s important to keep an eye on the big picture so you’re aware of some of the trends that could impact the legal industry in the future. A situation analysis looks beyond your clients and competitors to your industry as a whole and tries to uncover opportunities for business growth and threats to your business. It takes into account the following trends:

  1. Economic Trends – What are the major economic factors that are influencing your practice? These can be anything from how inflation rates, taxes, or unemployment levels are affecting your business to pricing issues like what is keeping your overhead high and your price levels where they are. It also takes into account the needs of lawyers in the firm. As more women join firms, there is more need for maternity leave, work/life balance, and flex time for parents. (Law firms still have a long way to go, as the recent firing of prominent blawger, Denise Howell, demonstrates.) For many young lawyers, paying off student loans and mortgages takes priority over retirement plans.
  2. Social Trends – How does the public perceive lawyers? In April 2002, the American Bar Association found that many Americans think lawyers are “greedy, manipulative, and corrupt. Personal experiences with lawyers substantiate these beliefs. Consumers tell stories of lawyers who misrepresent their qualifications, overpromise, are not upfront about their fees, charge too much for their services, take too long to resolve matters, and fail to return client phone calls.” (see Summary of Findings (PDF), Full Survey (PDF), or my Quick Stats articles).
  3. Political Trends – What issues are politicians pushing that effect your market? For instance, every election year, tort reform seems to become a big issue. Issues like globalization, immigration reform, cyber laws, and corporate policing also keep coming up.
  4. Legal and Regulatory Trends – According to the previously mentioned ABA study, “Americans also believe that lawyers do a poor job of policing themselves. Bar associations are not viewed as protectors of the public or the public interest, but as clubs to protect lawyers.” This has become a huge issue in New York, which has proposed sweeping restrictions to how attorneys can market themselves and what should be done to deter unethical lawyers. In addition, there is also the question of whether lawyers should be allowed to pay a referral fee to non-lawyers for referrals. How these changes will be imposed and what they mean for the rest of the US is up in the air at the moment.
  5. Technology Trends – Finally, technology is making it much easier for lawyers to do business. Many firms are considering paperless options, blawgs and client extranets have become popular, and lawyers are integrating technology to communicate with clients on the go through Blackberries, wireless connections, and audio and video conferencing. Dennis Kennedy wrote a great article on 2006 legal technology trends earlier this year.

These are just some of the issues you may want to consider when putting together your marketing plan. For any situation analysis, you want to look at the macrocosm – the entire legal profession – and the microcosm – the market for legal services in your city or area of practice.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply