As a law firm owner, if you want to grow your firm, one of the first things you should focus on is building your non-lawyer team. Sure, you need paralegals and attorneys to manage some of the workflow, but it’s the non-lawyer side that will truly drive your firm’s growth. If you don't focus on this, you're likely to build your capacity backwards, which is why many law firms struggle to grow profitably.
Partners Club member and Entreprenurial Attorney of the Year winner, Attorney David Martay’s law firm wasn’t much different from the many others we work with. Before joining Partners Club, his time wasn’t his own. He was constantly in meetings with new potential clients, juggling calls, handling intake, and trying to balance his business with his life. It was exhausting, and it left him with little time for the things that matter most.
This is a problem many law firm owners face. They’re overwhelmed with day-to-day tasks, and they’re doing everything themselves, including client acquisition. They might have a great legal team, but without a solid sales process or a dedicated salesperson, they’re stuck.
David knew he needed to make a change. So, he took the leap and hired a non-attorney salesperson to handle the firm’s intake and consultations.
Fast forward a few months and David’s firm is thriving, plus he’s the 2024 EAY champion! By hiring a non-attorney sales rep, he was able to delegate all the client acquisition work he used to do. His sales rep was trained to manage the intake process, qualify leads, and set appointments. David’s time was freed up to focus on growing the business, managing his team, and, most importantly, spending time with his family.
Not only did his conversion rates improve, but his team was able to focus on what they do best: providing excellent legal services. And, because he had the right person in the right role, David saw an increase in both revenue and efficiency.
To grow a profitable firm, you must first focus on building a Non-Attorney Growth Plan. This is where we look at the labor force needed to grow your firm. As you scale, your team members will move up this ladder of difficulty. What’s key is that you build a farm team: a group of non-attorneys you can promote from within. This way, when people leave, whether for retirement, burnout, or other reasons, you have a pool of trained people ready to step in.
Building a Farm Team
When I built a law firm in Phoenix, our first hires were non-lawyers. The key to scaling your firm is hiring non-attorneys to handle the non-legal side of the business. Filling these roles allow you to build capacity without being trapped in the grind of client acquisition, case management, and administrative tasks.
Malcolm Gladwell suggests it takes 10,000 hours to master something. While it doesn’t take that long in a law firm setting, it does take time. Some roles take longer than others to master, so we'll break down the difficulty of these positions to help you understand where to focus your efforts.
Roles Breakdown:
- Director of First Impressions (DFI)
This is your receptionist role, the first person clients meet in-person or virtually. It’s an easier role to train and a great starting point for non-attorneys. Their job is to manage initial contacts and assist with routing clients appropriately. It's a vital role but simpler to onboard compared to others. - Red, Yellow, Green (Client Success)
This role focuses on proactive client success, where someone calls existing clients to check in and assess their satisfaction. If a client is satisfied, they’re marked green; if there’s a problem, it’s yellow or red. This role is about maintaining relationships and ensuring clients are happy throughout their journey with the firm. It requires lots of communication, mainly outbound calls, emails, and texts. - Appointment Setter
The appointment setter handles lead generation and sets consultations. This role is crucial if you offer free consultations. They manage leads through forms, emails, phone calls, and follow-ups. They have a sales-like mindset since they’re measured on conversion and production. It’s a step up in difficulty but is vital to a firm’s growth. - Initial Consultations (Contingency-Based Firms)
This role involves handling the initial consultation without requiring payment upfront. It’s a similar role to the appointment setter, but the key difference is they focus on securing signatures, whether physical or digital. While it’s an easy role compared to others, it’s essential in contingency-based firms like PI or workers’ comp. - Document Collection (Case Managers)
Handling documents is an essential but often overlooked task. Many law firms mistakenly assign this to paralegals. Instead, it’s more of a high-level customer service job. This person collects necessary documents from clients and ensures everything is in place for the case. It’s crucial for maintaining workflow but doesn’t require legal expertise. - Paid Appointment Setter
As your firm grows, this role becomes more difficult. You may have an appointment setter, but they’re responsible for ensuring qualified prospects actually pay for consultations. This requires specific skills and training to maximize the set and show rates. It’s not an easy job, but it’s necessary for profitability. - AR/Collections
The person handling collections ensures clients pay their fees, whether upfront or over time. This role requires knowledge of the case’s stages and the ability to manage the money side of things. This position gets more complicated as the firm scales but is crucial for maintaining a healthy cash flow. - Paid Initial Consultations (Higher Difficulty)
The most challenging non-attorney role in a law firm is the person who conducts paid initial consultations. While some firms might resist using non-attorneys for this role, it’s proven that non-attorneys often convert at higher rates. They don’t need to give legal advice, but they do need to be skilled at managing consultations and securing client retention.
Building for the Future
If you’re serious about growing your firm, you must focus on building a strong non-attorney team. Whether you’re in a small solo practice or a firm nearing $10 million in revenue, these roles exist at every level. Early on, you may have one person wearing many hats, but as you scale, these roles need to be specialized.
When I built my firm in Phoenix, my first hire was a non-attorney who could handle multiple roles… answering phones, setting appointments, handling client success, conducting consultations, and more. As we grew, we specialized, but I always prioritized non-attorney growth.
I hope this gives you clarity on how to approach your firm’s growth through non-attorney roles. We're here to help you build a better law firm, one non-attorney role at a time.
