r/LawFirm

I know a handful of small litigation firms that employ full-time associates but that do not list said associates on their firm's website. Instead, the website only includes the bios of the equity partner(s). On the other hand, I'm also aware of firms that list the kitchen sink of employees at their firm, including not only associates, but paralegals, secretaries, intake specialists, etc.

What's your firm's practice and why? The practice of not listing even associates strikes me as odd because I would imagine that the bigger your firm--the more people, especially attorneys, you employ--the more credible you would come across to potential clients. Not recognizing your employees, especially associates, also seems like a sure fire way to reduce morale and encourage turnover.

I'm curious how other attorneys handle the economics of practices where clients don't naturally come back very often.

For example, I'm a trademark attorney, and many businesses only need one trademark every few years or sometimes just once. That means client acquisition can be expensive relative to client lifetime value.

I imagine this isn't unique to trademark law. Many transactional practice areas probably face a similar challenge, where clients hire you for a specific project and then don't need your services again for quite some time.

For those of you in similar practices, how have you built a sustainable business?

You also can’t market like a random local business. Solicitation rules, bar guidelines, disclaimers, jurisdiction limits, and “legal information vs legal advice” all shape what can actually be published.

I’ve spent 7 years building growth systems across startups, SaaS, local businesses, and service firms. 1 year ago, I left my job to start an agency focused on SEO/content growth.

The biggest wins we’ve seen usually don’t come from generic blogs. They come from high-intent practice-area pages, local search gaps, stronger internal linking, better intake paths, and content that educates without crossing ethical lines.

I’m trying to go deeper into law firm SEO/AIO specifically, because the constraints excite me.

If you run or work at a firm, drop your website in the comments or DM. I’ll point out one missed search opportunity or structural SEO issue asap.

I need help deciding whether to stay at my current firm or accept a job offer.

Background: I am three years into practice, and I’ve worked at two firms thus far (about a year at each). I am in a MCOL area in the south. Partnership not necessarily a goal. I just want to do interesting work and live a decent life. Would love to go in-house someday.

Current firm:
I love the people
It’s about 20 attorneys
I get decent feedback and am well-liked.
Salary: 100,000
Bonus: difficult to hit / opportunity won’t come for several years.
1850 hrs
I practice litigation and some real estate transactional work. Commute is 15 minute drive
5 days a week in office mandatory

Job offer:
About 130 attorneys (5 regional offices)
Salary: $195,000
Bonus: aprons starting at 1800 hours, no billable requirement other than that.
All real estate transactional (which I love)
Hybrid schedule (3 days in office suggested)
1 hour commute by train (nice regional rail line)
Enjoyed my interviews with the partners and other associates - seems like a decent culture

I think the money is too good to pass up this early on in my career. I love the people at my job and would have a really tough time leaving, but this opportunity arose and I’m struggling to decide.

I’ve been experimenting with consultation models and would appreciate input from other law firms.

I’ve found that almost nobody wants to pay for a consultation in advance. Because of that, I moved to free consultations. The problem is that free consults come with their own issues: sometimes people don’t show up, and sometimes they do show up but haven’t completed the intake form or provided enough information to make the meeting productive.

I’m now thinking about testing a different model:

The “free consultation” would really be a short 15-minute discovery call. The purpose would be to briefly understand the issue, weed out tire kickers, run conflict checks, confirm whether the matter is something I can potentially assist with, and explain the next steps.

If it seems like a fit, I would then send the intake form, request any relevant documents, and book them for a 30-minute paid consultation where I would actually review the documents and provide substantive advice.

Has anyone here tried this type of structure? Did clients understand the distinction between a free discovery call and a paid substantive consultation? Did it help with no-shows, incomplete intake forms, or tire kickers?

Would appreciate hearing what has worked or not worked for others.

I’ve been working in an in-house public sector role for the last year. Hasn’t been what I thought it would be, and have had some challenges with work personalities.

I received an offer for a junior solicitor role in a small and private firm. This will be my first time in a private firm, as I’ve been in-house since graduating 3 years ago.

What should I do? There will be a pay decrease, but I’ve heard it gets harder to switch to private later in your career so idk if now’s the time. Any advice?

Venting here. The CAL BAR is unhinged. Ever since the Girardi bullshit, they’ve supremely over regulated the profession so much that I have three different logins for portals that are all mandatory, including an IOLTA auditing process. I literally just saw in a fb group TO-DAY that we have to serve our bank with our contact information for the IOLTA account. Don’t they already have this information for whoever opened the account?? They list a link to find the address for service of process, and there are only 10 banks listed. Of course my bank is not on there. So I have to walk into a branch and hand to a clerk or manager a piece of paper with ALL of my IOLTA bank account information on it - my full legal name, name of my firm, and the entire IOLTA account number. What the actual fuck is the purpose of this?? I am on my way out of this profession, so I just wanted to say, get fucked Cal Bar.

Here’s the link to the form: https://www.calbar.ca.gov/sites/default/files/2025-11/Notice-Financial-Institutions-Establish-Trust-Account-Provide-Designated-Licensee-Name-State-Bar-Number.pdf

Is it common for small law firms of 3 attorneys to do a background check for a legal receptionist position?

I was just thinking yesterday about my still-stalled practice and started chuckling on considering that I lack nothing but the capital to operate and the skill with which to succeed.

That's not quite fair to myself. I have both some skill and a small pool of money. But it seemed like a funny way to look at it.

I’m about to say yes to a $25k raise for attorney to a junior attorney position.

I’m already fully remote with some in person days if I so choose

On paper I have 3 weeks of PTO but I don’t think this is a hard number. I’m thinking about asking for 5 weeks? Right now 1 week rolls over so I have 4 this year and have only taken 1 week so I don’t even know what I would do with 5.

Bar dues weren’t formally mentioned during my initial hire but it was communicated to me after that the renewal fees would be covered

2 personal days (kind of irrelevant given the PTO)

Any thoughts or what else I should ask for before accepting?? I’m at a lost. I asked for a raise and an even larger raise and promotion was offered. I’m NOT trying to be greedy but this promotion was kind of sprung on me so I feel like this is an opportunity to ask for something.

Additional information: I have health insurance covered entirely by the firm.

I’m going to sign up for 401k. There’s no employer matching

Someone mentioned CLEs, which is a nice idea so that’s about $500 extra.

So I quoted a reasonable flat rate fee to resolve a real estate matter for a former divorce client.

She then uses AI to draft up some bare-bones documents and instructions and emails them to me. The documents will not fully resolve her issues, and may cause other problems.

She then asked me to requote my fee. She is not a rude person by nature, but here we are.

I responded back that the documents she sent are not what we would file, that the Court would not likely do what she is asking, and that other important documents are missing.

And then I politely gave her the same quote.

Would have done anything different?

BTW - we do use paid AI tools in our firm, and it is obvious she is using the most generic tools freely available, and her prompts are likely lacking.

I had to fire a new receptionist after less than one week on the job. When I interviewed her, we discussed her skills at length. I asked her questions about software and basic PC knowledge. This person had 20 years of law firm experience, with 15 of them at one firm. She interviewed extremely well.

What we got in person was the total opposite. Almost as if she were a different person.

I decided that I need to do some advanced skills testing before hiring the next one. I have only used Indeed for skills testing but I’m curious of other, more advanced/detailed services out there. Had anyone used a service like this they recommend? We are a small firm so a subscription service does not make sense. I’ve called a few, but they all seem to cater to huge firms. I’m looking for something that I can pay as I go.

Guys guess what I have heard that a Male Partner (35) having extra marital affair with a female associate (25) since the time she was assessment intern and they both were together in tier 3 firm few years ago but things got so worse that they were fired for miss appropriation of funds of the office and moonlighting. Do you have any idea who could be this it’s gonna be interesting to spill some tea here!!!

Hey team,

So, I started my first attorney gig since passing the bar at a small practice. A principal and another associate who has worked at the firm for two months longer than me. I just finished my first month. I’m getting comfortable with my daily court calls and orders. This issue is, I’m not getting much feedback at all. I do everything that is assigned to me on the practice panther software and still sometimes just sit around for hours at a time. My boss was gone for several weeks at his other office. Now he’s back at the office I work at and I feel weird just sitting there and reading files for stuff that will come up in the future. He’s a very busy guy and doesn’t really want to be disturbed a lot. It seems like the other associate gets more work assigned and I’d just like more stuff to do. Also, when he’s here I feel like leaving at 5 is early because he stays late, but I’m always in the office at 8. The anxiety is just destroying me.

I’m a pro se plaintiff in federal court. The defendant filed a streamlined summary judgment motion arguing my case is untimely. The issue before the court right now is not the merits of the discrimination claim itself, but whether my lawsuit was filed within the applicable deadline.
Earlier in the case, the judge denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss and allowed the case to proceed. The judge has also been patient and understanding regarding my pro se status. I’ve now filed my opposition, declaration, and supporting evidence, and I’m waiting for a ruling.
The defendant has made settlement offers ($10,000 and later $12,500), which I declined.
Has anyone seen a pro se plaintiff survive or defeat summary judgment where the primary issue was timeliness or the date notice was actually received/accessed? What factors seemed to matter most to the court?
Looking for experiences and insight, not legal advice.

Has anyone served as a reference for a California moral character and fitness application?

What types of questions do they ask?

How many questions do they ask?

Do they follow up with additional questions based on the answers?

Do they contact you by phone or email?

Hi everyone,

I am currently using LAWCUS in my firm (along with cosmolex for accounting), however, I have a number of issues with some of jank.

Unfortunately, Clio Grow is not available to try without a subscription and I would very much like to know how it compares with LAWCUS before paying to test it.

If anyone has any experiences they would be able to share, please let me know.

Hi. New solo here. I’m expanding to include litigation in my practice and have a medical malpractice case. I have to give notice in my state months before filing suit. I’m in process of getting a physical office but it’s the size of a closet. I will mainly be using it for the conference room for client meetings and physical address for Google business profile. I mainly will be doing my non-client facing work at home. The office I am considering does not have a receptionist or mail room.
1)Should I use this office space or consider a local coworking company that includes a receptionist? They offer virtual office plans too and are not national.
2)If I use the real office with no receptionist, should I use A) a registered agent for the defendant /insurance company to respond OR B)just go by the office weekly and pick up mail OR C) use my law firm email for reply.

I have no idea how to ask this without sounding like a “boomer” late 40’s equity partner with thinning hair that’s just trying to alimony. But if the toupee fits…

I need to find a way better understand new lawyers. Based on my experience, going to law school prepares you to be lawyer the same way buying an ice cream prepares you to rebuild the carburetor of a Ford Pinto. Nevertheless, every single one of them wants more money “because they have been practicing for 3 years”. But in the same breath, I am expected to walk into their office 6 times a day and ask “can I help you progress and forgo my own obligations?”

We are a mid size full service law firm with under 15 attorneys, handling roughly 2,000-3,000 files per year. We need to replace Adarent Total Office, which is reaching end of life. We are currently evaluating option like Filevine, Litify, Advologix, and potentially a custom tech stack but feedback has been mixed.

Licensing cost is not the main concern. What we are more focused on are migration complexity and risk, setup effort and time required, ongoing customization overhead, and overall stability for high volume case management.

We are specifically looking for a single integrated practice management suite rather than assembling multiple tools.

Would appreciate input from firms with similar volume and structure on what has worked reliably in practice, not just in demos.