How Your Law Practice Can Compete With Bigger Firms
When it comes to figuring out the best way to run your practice, it can be difficult to know to start. Especially when it seems like there are bigger more established law firms in every direction. Thinking about your target clients and then how to reach them will help you stand out against the competition.
Focus on a Niche
Focus on a niche in law to make your practice stand out. This is perhaps one of the most important things you can do to compete with bigger firms. Because bigger firms cover large cases for bigger clients, they aren’t typically equipped to handle cases that fall within a smaller niche. Simply put, niche cases are typically part of a niche market which won’t provide a big firm with enough business.
But if you’re able to corner a niche market, you’ll be able to pull in a significant number of clients and set yourself apart.
Create a Digital Marketing Strategy
Another important thing you can do to attract more clients is to refine your digital marketing strategy. Depending on your practice, you may be able to reach some of your target clients best with an online approach.
And even if you don’t think that your target clients are likely to be reached by online ads, know that having a digital marketing strategy can only increase the number of people exposed to your practice. In fact, ranking higher in search engines can lead to more clicks and more clients for your practice.
Expand Your Target Client Base
In addition to creating an effective digital marketing strategy, it may be a good idea to try and branch out with the types of clients you look for. Depending on your practice, you may be qualified to practice in other states or even other countries. For example, if your practice is involved with trademarks in given areas, you may be able to actually work with clients outside the US who want to get a trademark that can operate in the US.
Expanding your clientele to clients outside of the US can make it much easier to compete with bigger firms who may not have the resources to handle these types of cases.
Figuring out to build an effective profitable law practice can be difficult at first. But it doesn’t have to be. Starting with these suggestions will help you identify the best ways for you to stand out against bigger firms.
Actions That Can Land Your Business in Hot Water
Keeping your business in the positive public eye is essential. One wrong move can inspire countless “boycotts” of your products, and may incite legal action against you. The best cure for this is preventing problems in the first place or penalizing bad action within your company as soon as it occurs.
Not Paying Taxes
If you have avoided paying taxes throughout your business’s life, you could be facing serious trouble. Tax evasion is one of the most common federal crimes that occurs. It is illegal and reflects poorly on the company and the business owner. Before you know it, you will have no money due to legal fees and government fines. Nothing will sink a business faster.
Obviously, the best way to stay out of trouble is by paying your taxes annually. Start the process early. If you don’t like doing it yourself, hire an accountant to handle your business’s financial paperwork. While you may have to pay a high price, it may be worth it to you.
Failing to Protect Employees
Employee mistreatment will also get you under the magnifying glass of the press. You may face problems by not protecting or informing your employees of potential hazards. Some companies overwork their employees—causing permanent health problems and mental health collapses.
As the employer, you should seek to protect your workers by any means necessary. Knowing your incident rate is crucial to understanding the risks your employees face. Perform frequent equipment audits. If the work you need done is insurmountable for the team you have, hire more people instead of keeping them around for exorbitant amounts of time.
Bad Customer Service
One bad phone call with a customer could put your business in serious scrutiny. In the worst-case scenario, your business could suffer major lawsuits that plummet your business’s ratings. How does a business recover from such a situation?
The solution to bad reviews is more communication. Talk with people who seem upset about their experience. Get all the facts from the employee in question, the customer, and follow through on logical decision-making. Hire the best people for customer service jobs that you can. Put them through annual training and take action to fire them if necessary.
By making sure your business is healthy and thoughtful from within, you will prevent serious threats against you in the future. Train your customers, pay your taxes, and protect your employees. These actions will keep your business afloat and prevent debilitating problems.
Industries That Make Competent Legal Representation a Must
Hiring a legal team (or at the very least a company lawyer) is smart regardless of what industry you’re in. But for some companies, this legal counsel is an outright necessity. The reasons vary depending on the seriousness of the business and the content it covers, but it’s safe to say that companies under these branches should always have a lawyer ready.
Healthcare
The healthcare industry is obviously an important business to have a legal team for. You are dealing with people’s lives, and occasionally a life-or-death situation can leave you in a tight legal bind. For all you know, a former patient may make unwarranted claims that can get you in hot water, and they might not even be true!
A lawyer can give you advice to secure yourself from any false allegations. They can also help you protect your employees who are only trying to do their best. Fortunately, most doctors and hospitals have the money to make this happen. Just make sure to hire someone legally competent.
Banking
In the financial world, you are working with peoples’ lives in a different sort of way. Rather than helping people recover from illness, you are managing people’s money, which can also create huge legal problems if you aren’t careful. If you aren’t careful, trust in your business can collapse.
To prevent these problems, Dodd-Frank requires financial institutions to institute risk controls in their business. Lawyers can analyze your situation and determine whether you are following protocol. When you are not, they can point out the areas you need to fix to be in accordance with the law.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is a little bit different. It doesn’t have the life-altering role like healthcare and banking do, but it is still important to have a lawyer for your company. Manufacturing jobs can be pretty dangerous, as workers are surrounded by heavy machinery day in and day out. Therefore, injury is pretty common on these sites. An injury lawyer can inspect your work environment to determine that everything is up to code. If someone does get hurt, you can reach out to them for help. It’s also important to cover your liabilities for any product flaws that may occur in manufacturing.
A thoughtful and proactive legal team can help you dramatically. Not only can they catch potential liabilities before an incident happens, but they can closely work through lawsuits you will inevitably receive. As with all things, hire before you desperately need them.
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Why Landlords Need to Stay on Top of Housing Law
There is a lot of legislation in the real estate business. There are laws regarding how you communicate with people, how you set your prices and rent, how you sell or rent, who you sell to or rent, and so much more. What’s more, the laws are constantly changing. In order to keep yourself out of hot water, you need to make sure that you know what the current laws state.
Maintain Goodwill with Tenants
Bad tenant relations are the bane of all landlords. If a tenant is upset, they can cause serious damage to your property, refuse to pay rent or vacate the premises. This isn’t legal behavior and can be a pain to deal with. If you follow the law regarding how you treat your tenants, they will be more likely to be happy with you. For example, you will keep the place in good repair. Your contract will be clear and open about fees and deposits. You will respect your tenant’s privacy. In short, you’ll be aware of the tenant’s rights and not violate them. This will help keep your tenants in a good mood.
Prevent Lawsuits
Getting a lawsuit as a landlord is no fun. There are a few ways that you can be held liable in a court of law. One is through the way that you raise your rent. There are rules and regulations regarding when, how, why, and by how much you raise your rent. You should be aware that tenants can fight illegal rent increases. Another potential lawsuit can come from injuries due to your negligence. If you fail to keep the property in good repair and someone is injured as a result, you could be held liable. You may be required to compensate them for medical bills and loss of income due to an inability to work.
Know Your Rights
Another reason to keep on top of the housing law is so that you are aware of your own rights as a landlord. Some tenants aren’t above trying to bully their landlord, so knowing these rights can help you in a sticky situation. Some of your basic rights include, choosing your tenants, setting tenancy terms, collecting something in exchange for rent, ability to evict tenants that break their contract, and selling your property. However, it’s important to realize that these rights do have limitations. For example, while you are allowed to choose your tenants, it is illegal to refuse to rent to someone based upon their race.
With all the ins and outs and jargon in real estate law, it can sometimes be a little difficult to know exactly what you can and can’t do. While blog articles may help you with general items, you should probably get legal advice for the details. While a lawyer may be expensive, it isn’t nearly as expensive as dealing with a lawsuit for failure to comply with the law.
Industries That Need to Pay Extra Attention to Regulations
It’s important to pay attention to regulatory changes that affect your sector of business. Your business cannot survive—fiscally or legally—without meeting those requirements. Even if you somehow manage to, you may not be able to recover your reputation, which will also put you out of business. You never want to end up on the wrong side of business regulations. However, some industries have more specialized regulations that merit extra attention.
Healthcare
The healthcare industry in the U.S. is one of the most highly regulated. Along with the most obvious HIPAA regulations, there are many other legal issues that you need to take care of. You need to protect against medical malpractice, naturally. But along with this, you also have to protect against identity theft and data theft of patient’s confidential information. The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought to light how and where telemedicine laws come into play. As more patients opt to receive medical care from their homes, these regulations have become increasingly important.
Finance
If you work in finance, you probably know how important it is to follow all regulations for your corporation. When it comes to money, the legal aspect of things can be tricky. It’s extremely important to hire a certified regulatory compliance manager (CRCM) who knows the ins and outs of the legal aspects of money. They can help you to make sure you comply with all of them. Having a specialist on-site whose job it is to make sure you comply will save you a lot of missed sleep later on because you will know that you are already following all of the rules. Hiring a CRCM can help you make decisions with confidence.
Legal
With the ever-shifting tide of legal requirements in the U.S., legal firms also need to constantly be prepared for regulatory oversight. Being able to comply with new data regulations and keeping records secure is critical. Having an excellent cybersecurity specialist can help make sure that client data is safe and all new data regulations are followed.
If your company is one of the most highly regulated types in the nation, recognizing that you need to be precise in following data, cyber, and HIPAA regulations is important. Without being able to stay compliant with all the regulations, you can’t function as a business. Keep within the law and hire specialists to make sure you don’t have to worry about these legal issues.
Why You Need a Lawyer Before Starting a Lending Business
While a normal business creates a lot of stress and risk assessment, creating a lending company can be even more nerve-wracking. Not only are you counting on your idea to succeed, but you may be worried you will lose your cash from bad patrons. What is the first step you should make before you start this kind of company? Hire a lawyer.
Reduce Your Liability
The first problem a lawyer can help you solve is reducing your overall liability. This means that it is harder for people to get away with stealing the money or product you lend them without facing serious legal consequences. Hearing this should already feel relieving.
A lawyer can be a great reactionary solution to someone stealing, but they can also offer advice to prevent these sorts of things from happening. They can point you to better insurance options, create a smoother business structure, and identify potential risks in your streamlined process. All of these can take a huge burden off you—it’s like having permanent back-up!
Deal with Federal Regulations
When businesses take in large sums of money, they are placed under the jurisdiction of certain financial rules. Laws like Dodd-Frank have strict requirements for risk management and reporting. A casual business owner might not realize they are ignoring rules, but a seasoned lawyer can point this out to them—protecting them from government fines.
This can be especially helpful if legalese isn’t your expertise. The lawyers can help you understand different contracts and permits necessary for a lending business. Hire a lawyer if you know this aspect of business will be tough for you.
Stabilize Internal Conflicts
Another great thing lawyers do when you are creating a business is lay proper groundwork. This is essential if you have a business partner or group who all want a cut of the profits. Rather than figuring everything out on your own, a company lawyer can help you divide up the company assets in a peaceful way.
They can also draft agreements for your employees, which becomes essential when your business is up and running. The documents that your employees and business partners sign early will make your life much easier later down the road.
There are so many benefits to hiring a lawyer when your business is starting up. It protects you from debilitating lawsuits, prevents internal conflict, and manages your liability. These are essential in the lending industry, which can be unpredictable enough. Make your life easier by hiring a lawyer!
Why Does Digital Marketing Matter for Law Firms?
When you are a lawyer, you often want the work and time you have put in to speak for itself. However, it can’t be done if people aren’t able to see the good work you have been doing. That’s why digital marketing can be an important asset for law firms to help you reach a broader audience and show them what your firm has to offer.
Building a Reputation
One of the most important things you need to do for your law firm is to establish a positive reputation in your community. Your digital marketing can help you to do this and make your law firm more recognizable. When you have high-quality digital marketing that points people to your well-designed website it helps your firm to establish credibility and improve your reputation every day. The more you streamline your digital marketing to help you meet your goals, the better it will be for the reputation of your law firm.
Keeping Up with Your Competition
Other law firms are already using digital marketing to help meet their goals, so without it, your firm may not be able to keep up with the competition. Most people look for the services they use, including lawyers, online, so having a strong digital presence is essential to keeping up with competing firms. Up to 65 percent of the budget goes to internet marketing and websites for most firms. If you aren’t spending a similar amount, you may find yourself falling behind and having difficulty getting new clients.
Reaching a Wider Audience
When you have digital marketing as part of your strategy, it allows you to reach a wider audience and bring in new clients. Whatever field of law you are in, your firm can use the boost of regular clientele that you can get from a strong digital marketing campaign. The internet is an incredible tool for finding services, and that makes it a great tool for showing your services to potential clients. The easier it is for your law firm to be found, the more access you will have to a growing client pool.
Digital marketing is an essential part of any modern business, from retail locations to law firms. Without a digital marketing strategy, you could find yourself without clients and struggling to keep your firm afloat. Implementing digital marketing will help you to improve your reach and continue improving your firm’s reputation.
Practices Your Business Needs to Put in Place to Reduce Workplace Accidents and Injuries
You are responsible for everything that goes on in your business property. This of course includes all the wonderful work and production you accomplish. However, it also includes the accidents and injuries that are sustained on that property. Those are what you want to minimize. Here are a few practices to implement in your workplace that will reduce the likelihood of accidents on the job!
Safety Inspections
Have a professional visit your property to inspect the entirety of the building or area for potential hazards. They know what to look for! You may assume the most logical safety measures that should be taken, but safety inspectors can point out the smaller things you may overlook or not understand. Once that evaluation has taken place, you can feel confident that you are aware of and have addressed every risk. These inspections also invite your employees to express any concerns or questions that they may have—their perspective is invaluable as they are the ones on the front lines of your production. Inspectors also provide reliable advice for how to fix those risks.
Administrative Controls
There are different types of administrative controls you can put in place, all of which are intended to control workplace hazards. Rules, regulations, guidelines, whatever you call them, are the ways you decrease the risk of human error that leads to unfortunate (even dangerous) mistakes. They also give you more awareness and a central understanding or expectation of what production should look like, meaning that every employee becomes accountable to follow your rules; no accident can be blamed on your ignorance or lack of involvement for their safety, it can only be attributed to misfortune or disregard of your policies.
Effective Communication
As simple as it sounds, one of the easiest things to undervalue is the communication of safety measures to employees, customers, or visitors. For your employees, make frequent efforts to assure that they understand and are adhering to the safety guidelines you have created to protect them. Customers or visitors of your properties should be similarly briefed on basic safety protocols, and required to adhere to those standards while within your responsibility. Make this information bold, straightforward, and non-negotiable. It may also be helpful to explain the purpose of these safety measures, to help those under your jurisdiction feel the importance of following those rules.
Keep people safe and your business safe! Be aware of risks and implement precautions to limit those risks from becoming a reality. Make sure everyone is aware of the necessary measures to keep them protected from accident or injury. They will thank you!
Read this next: Industries That Need to Pay Extra Attention to Regulations
Dangers Your Child Will Likely Encounter and How to Protect Them
You want your children to grow and develop; you don’t want your children to be harmed by some things they are undoubtedly going to encounter. Unfamiliar dogs, pools (or any large body of water), and even the dangers of the internet are all hazards to your children until (and unless) you teach them the necessary skills to help them through those inevitable encounters.
Unfamiliar Dogs
Many children love dogs, but when you don’t know the dog, extra caution is needed. You don’t know if it’s unfriendly, and you don’t know what their dog’s training is like. To prevent your child from developing an inherent fear of dogs, make sure you emphasize respect and appreciation of all animals! Animals are very intuitive with the emotions of people around them, so if your child is uneasy around the dog the dog is more likely to become uneasy around the child. Teach your child to give dogs their space, to not attempt interaction especially if the owner is not around, and to even ignore the dog and calmly walk away from dogs that may look threatening or angry.
Pools
Pools are fun, but they’re called an attractive nuisance for a reason. They can be dangerous areas for children, especially when unsupervised. The leading cause of death among US youth is drowning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Make swimming a priority skill for your child to learn as early as possible! Invest in lessons that will prepare your child for emergencies in and around pools. Encourage caution and safety measures that will prevent accidents at all, like staying away from canals and wearing life jackets on boats or around rivers and lakes.
Internet Issues
Unfortunately, even the internet has become a dangerous place for kids. Unsavory websites pervade even the most innocent of searches. Predators take advantage of anonymous gaming site chatrooms to connect with naïve children. Bullying is an easy activity with screens as buffers. Your software may even be at risk of viruses disguised as exciting downloads, asking for your child to click. Because computers are such a core element of society today, you must teach your children how to stay safe from these things they are sure to come across! Foster a feeling of open trust and communication so they feel safe coming to you for help. Warn them to not click anything they are not familiar with, and to check with you before clicking things they are unsure of!
Teach your children to be aware, careful, and to communicate with you. Keep them safe while allowing them to enjoy the exploration that comes with childhood!
Read this next: What Should I Do If I Was Attacked by a Dog?
What is the Purpose of a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
A personal injury lawsuit occurs when you have been injured at the fault of someone else. The aim of a personal injury lawsuit is to receive compensation from the other party to cover any medical bills and to address any further suffering you have faced. These cases can either be formal and settled in court or they may be informally settled before reaching court.
Force Change
According to FindLaw, part of the reason you would file a personal injury lawsuit is to encourage some type of change. When you are injured at the fault of someone else, you want to make sure that what happened to you does not happen again. These cases come into play because they call attention to whatever caused the injury. For example, if you were injured due to some type of negligence in your workplace, your case can point out this negligence and require a change to be made. The faulty party will likely not want to cause any more problems and they will make changes or adjustments to prevent further issues.
Receive Compensation
In addition to making changes that prevent more accidents or injuries, you also want to make sure you are fairly compensated. In these cases, you can receive some sort of payout to cover anything you have gone through. According to Ahlander Injury Law, the payout can help with medical bills, lost wages, and any additional pain and suffering. This can include compensation for any emotional suffering, long lasting pain/injuries, and even compensation for damaged relationships. In many cases, the faulty party will choose to reach a settlement before going to court. This is usually so they can avoid any heat from the situation, so it is likely you will be compensated before a court hearing.
Penalize Defendant
In some cases, according to NOLO, you can receive payment beyond regular compensation. These payments are known as punitive damages. Often, these payments are required simply to penalize the defendant especially if they were extremely negligent or their actions are deemed rather appalling. Punitive damages are designed to “hurt” their pocketbook and to deter the defendant from making a similar mistake in the future. These charges can often be very expensive (in the tens of millions) so some states have a cap on punitive damage charges.
There are many reasons to file a personal injury lawsuit. They aren’t ideal for every situation, but if your situation is fairly serious it might be the right choice for you. Make sure you understand what you hope to get from the lawsuit and make sure the law will be on your side of the situation.
Read this next: Industries That Make Competent Legal Representation a Must