C V N   D I S C O V E R Y

Michael Geoffroy and Gordon Glover on How to Build a Solo Practice to Withstand a Pandemic

"You want to be steering the ship, not letting it steer you."

The coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the legal industry can be particularly hard for solo practitioners and small firms. Court closures and docket backlogs raise the hurdles a small practice already faces in securing, managing, and clearing cases.  But the slowdown can also provide an opportunity to review a small practice's operations and emerge stronger than ever.

That's why veteran attorneys Michael Geoffroy and Gordon Glover, who have successfully led practices for years in Georgia and Florida, hosted a webinar focused on what solo practitioners and small firms can do to strengthen their practice during the coronavirus-driven court slowdown and beyond. 

This hour-long webinar features practical advice and tools from two attorneys with real-world success running firms for decades, and it's designed to make a solo practice more efficient and better address client needs in today's legal market.

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Geoffroy & Glover: Building a Solo Practice to Withstand a Pandemic

Michael Geoffroy

MG Law’s Michael Geoffroy is a trial lawyer practicing in Atlanta, Conyers, and Covington, Georgia for more than 20 years. Michael was a founding instructor of the State Bar of Georgia Leadership Academy and founding Chair of the Georgia Trial Lawyers LEAD program. Michael has been recognized by the Georgia Pro Bono Legal Project and Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia with their Signature Service Award. Michael says he is a bad golfer but a good cook.

Gordon Glover

Gordon Glover, of the Glover Law Firm, with offices in Ocala and The Villages, Florida, has spent more than 15 years leading a successful practice focusing on personal injury and business litigation. An adjunct professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, he is a past member of The Florida Bar Board of Governors and currently serves on the Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice.

Topics in "Building a Solo Practice to Withstand a Pandemic"

Click each topic below to skip directly to the discussion. 

Introduction

Michael Geoffroy and Gordon Glover discuss their firms and highlight how they have used technology and data to streamline their practices. 

What you'll learn:

• The importance of using data and technology in building a successful solo practice.
• Why regularly auditing your practice's business is a key to long-term growth. 

Quotable moment:

“It is important to… pop the hood...and look at the engine and all the parts that you have with your firm.” — Geoffroy on the importance of reviewing your firm's business with an eye toward strengthening it. 

Legal trends and market research

Glover highlights the results of key studies, including Clio's 2020 Legal Trends Report  and The 2021 State of the Legal Market by Thompson Reuters, and the pair discuss how both coronavirus and technology have impacted the legal market and client expectations surrounding legal services. 

What you'll learn:

• The most effective options for reducing costs across a firm.
• What studies have shown clients now find most important when selecting an attorney.
• A key tool to tapping the underserved legal market.

Quotable moment:

The consumer today really doesn’t care, to be honest, if you have a commercial office space or not. — Glover on statistics that show that consumers rank commercial space low on their list of priorities in selecting an attorney. 

Client growth and referrals

The pair talk about how to grow a small business through the smart use of referral groups and targeting underserved markets. 

What you'll learn:

• Selecting the right lawyers for a referral group that can drive increased business.
• The value of providing clients with post-service referral lists and breakdowns.   
• How to develop clients that can drive increased business.
• "Low-bono" work as part of an untapped legal market.

Quotable moment: 

I think that’s the huge untapped market for solo and small firms to go after… are those individuals who can pay a smaller fixed fee for a will or other type of document, or who can pay a smaller fixed rate on an uncontested divorce… .  It’s really those individuals who I think we can target.— Glover on the best potential clients in a vast untapped market for legal services. 

Moving practice and case management to the cloud

Geoffroy and Glover discuss the benefits of using cloud-based options in a small practice and provide recommendations of what they've found to be successful. 

What you'll learn:

• Why cloud-based options can make a practice more efficient. 
• How to research and select the right solution among a range of cloud-based options. 

Quotable moment:

A good investigation, look before you leap, is something that’s really going to pay you back when you’re talking about software or cloud storage. You want to find what works best for you. — Geoffroy on the importance of finding the right fit in cloud-based case management and storage. 

Auditing your practice. 

Geoffroy highlights reports he uses to provide retrospective, current, and prospective views of his practice, and the two attorneys discuss the importance of data-driven analysis. 

What you'll learn:

• The data points that are critical to track throughout a case's life.
• How tracking data on closed and settled cases can help drive future growth in a chosen direction. 

Quotable moment:

You really don’t want to have those blinders on. You want to be steering the ship, not letting it steer you. — Geoffroy on the importance of auditing your firm and its cases.  

Time management

Glover and Geoffroy discuss how to best allocate time to the value of a case and streamline a firm's workflow while improving client satisfaction.

What you'll learn: 

• How to prioritize client workload based on case value. 
• The importance of proactive communication with clients and its role in firm efficiency.
• Technological tools that streamline a firm's workflow.

Quotable moment:

G.I. Joe taught me that "Knowing is half the battle," so you want to know which cases… that you want to work on. — Geoffroy on auditing cases to better allocate time to relative value to the practice.  

Additional tech recommendations

Glover and Geoffroy discuss additional programs and services that have helped their practices. 

Next Steps

Geoffroy and Glover discussed  a wide range of resources for solo practitioners and attorneys at small firms. Here's where to head next.

Download a .pdf of resources selected by Gordon Glover. 

Visit a page of resources and information selected by Michael Geoffroy.