Andrew McDermott

You’re sitting on a gold mine.

A digital treasure chest full of important data. You have access to incredibly sensitive data; medical records, bank and financial data, IP, even corporate and government secrets.

You’re outstanding at your job.

How good are you at protecting your firm’s data? If you’re like most firms, the answer is frightening.

The vast majority of firms are vulnerable

A recent report from LogicForce found that law firms were unprepared for the cyber threats they face. Some major findings from their report:

• 10,000 intrusions/attacks targeting law firms occur on a daily basis
• Solo, small and large firms are equally at risk
• Attackers are aggressively targeting law firms and their data
• 95 percent of assessed firms don’t comply with their own data security policies
• 100 percent of the firms surveyed were not compliant with their client’s data security policies
• 40 percent of firms weren’t even aware they were breached

In fact, a whopping 4.2 billion records were compromised across 4,169 confirmed breaches in 2016. The size of your firm, your revenues, status or performance doesn’t matter.

Only one thing matters.

Data. If you have access to private or potentially sensitive data malicious threat actors want it. They’re willing to lie, cheat and steal from you to get it.

Which is why you need a legal tech consultant

A legal tech consultant protects you from threats inside and outside your firm.

Only 23% of firms have cyber security insurance policies in place to protect their business. You protect your clients from harm. A legal tech consultant protects your firm from digital threats and the litigation that will surely follow if you fail.

This isn’t optional.

Twenty five states now have an ethical duty of technological competence.

Meaning what exactly?

California Bar Formal Opinion No. 2015-193

An attorney lacking the required competence for e-discovery issues has three options: (1.) acquire sufficient learning and skill before performance is required; (2.) associate with or consult technical consultants or competent counsel; or (3.) decline client representation

Alright.

Let’s say you’re convinced. You’re open to the idea of hiring a consultant for your firm.

What exactly do legal tech consultants do?

It’s fairly straightforward.

They handle complex technology tasks that an attorney cannot or should not handle themselves.

• Cloud and SaaS due diligence
• Disaster recovery planning
• Document management
• E-discovery
• Hardware selection/advisement
• Migrating data to new systems
• Network administration
• Security reviews
• Social media evidence gathering
• Software selection/advisement
• Trial technology preparation

Most firms aren’t focused on these items. When it comes up the response is predictable. Ignore these issues and hope the problem goes away.

It won’t.

This brings us to another question. What should you look for in a legal consultant?

The best legal tech consultants are dedicated

As an attorney you know your value.

An outstanding attorney is worth thousands, possibly millions in value – via reduced expenses, increased productivity or revenue generated.

Here’s the confusing part.

When many attorneys look for a consultant they look for the cheapest option they can find.  Legal tech consultants provide your firm with the same things you provide to your clients.

Protection.

Say you’re ready to hire a consultant. What would you look for?

• They work with lawyers primarily or better yet, exclusively. They have a detailed understanding of your business. They know how law firms work, what attorneys need and how to provide it.
• No conflict of interest. Ideally, you’ll want to work with a consultant who works with multiple product vendors. This ensures their recommendations are a good fit for your firm.
• Have broad + precise experience to meet your needs. They’re capable with both cloud (Saas) offerings and on-premise solutions. They’re able to meet you where you are now, rather than forcing you into a solution that may not be right for you.
• Provide a clear plan of action. Your legal tech consultant can provide you with a 30, 60 and 90 day technology blueprint to protect your firm including: data breach and disaster recovery, service delivery, on-site and remote administration, etc.
• An outline of what they’ll provide. Will they focus on specialty areas like data security and network administration? Or will they also develop, host and manage your website? You’ll need a list of their capabilities up front.
• Prepare to scale your business. A good legal technology consultant knows how to prepare your business for growth. They’ll help you navigate through overlooked details like user rights management, compliance, data security and quality assurance.
• Go the extra mile with advanced services like litigation readiness assessments, threat readiness testing, intrusion detection and more.
• Work full time. Some professionals moonlight as legal tech consultants. They’re part timers or they have a day job. Working with these consultants means your firm’s stability is at the mercy of their day job or schedule. Instead, choose to work with full timers.

Make sense?

Next step. How do you go about finding a legal tech consultant?

Create a virtual bench to find the right consultants

You can use specialized platforms like ClearHub and Dice to find the people you need. You can use recruitment houses like Robert Half.  You could use legal technology firms like NexFirm. Or, you can place job ads on sites like CareerBuilder, Monster and Indeed. Finding a legal tech consultant is easier when you know what you’re looking for.

You’ll need two things.

Major and minor work. Your minor work is simple work that doesn’t require a significant amount of trust or access.

Here’s how it works.

You hire consultants and you test them. Security reviews, disaster recovery plans, hardware and software recommendations are all great examples of minor projects.

It’s basically an audition.

But you only hire these recommended consultants on a freelance basis. You keep them on your virtual bench bringing them in from time to time. Then, once you have an opening, you open it up to your virtual bench.

When consultants compete, you win!

Your law firm is a gold mine

It needs to be protected.

Your firm is a treasure chest of valuable data. Most firms aren’t protected. They’re vulnerable and exposed. Law firms are targeted 10,000 times per day. It’s not a question of if you’re attacked but when.

A legal tech consultant is so much more.

Want your firm to grow? You’re going to need help. With the right legal tech consultant, you’ll have the tools and resources you need to protect your firm and your gold mine.

They’re not sure about you.

Your colleagues aren’t sure if you’re still the capable and formidable attorney they grew to respect. Their bias means they may hold your age against you. But the opposite is actually true.

As an older attorney you have an advantage.

You’ve accumulated a massive amount of knowledge, experience and timing. If you’re great at your job (and you are) you have a clear idea about the details that matter.

This means…

You have something your younger colleagues don’t

Your mind is still incredibly sharp.

Here’s what’s interesting about that. Contrary to popular belief, you’re actually getting smarter as you age. That’s strange because the assumption is we decline as we age. Here I am suggesting it’s the opposite.

How’s that possible?

It’s simple. There are two different kinds of intelligence.

• Fluid intelligence. Your ability to reason and to solve new problems, independent of any knowledge from the past. It’s pattern recognition and the ability to adapt to things you’ve never seen before.
• Crystallized intelligence. Your ability to use your skills, knowledge, timing and experience. It’s intellectual achievement over the course of your life that you can call on whenever you need it.

Here’s why you’re at an advantage.

Fluid intelligence peaks in young adulthood then decreases afterwards. Crystallized intelligence continues to grow well into your old age. When it finally begins to decline, you’re still left with a large degree of crystallized intelligence you can use for quite some time.

What does this look like?

Can you see what’s happening?

This is why younger attorneys, whether they’re in an independent or in-house environment, struggle at first. There’s an initial decline in fluid intelligence during young adulthood. Their struggle is inevitable.

You’ve come through this.

We all lose… eventually

While we keep crystallized intelligence well into our old age, it eventually begins to decline as well. Raymond Cattell theorized the existence of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Yet he remained sharp, continuing to publish scientific works into his late 80s.

How did he do it?

More importantly, how can you accomplish the same in your career?

Are you focused on what matters?

As the saying goes, use it or lose it.

Cattell focused on what matters. What your mind focuses on, you get to keep. Want to stay sharp throughout your career? Focus on the parts of your job you value.

Outsource, delegate or minimize the rest.

Prefer to focus on litigation? Aim your attention and focus there. View well-made contracts as a work of art? Dive deep into your preferred practice area.

And the rest?

Use software to optimize your performance. Here are a few software tools and strategies you can use to manage your career or practice.

Tip #1: Rely on automated workflows

Use software tools to automate your workflow. Doing this means you get the apps you use to talk to each other. It’s an “if X, then Y” sort of thing. Hate checking email? Use an automated workflow to check it for you. Here are a few options you can use immediately.

• Microsoft Flow
• Zapier
• IFTTT

Here’s what that looks like.

Tip #2: Offload repetitive or unproductive work

Working on the same projects over and over can be tedious. You have the right approach and an incredible amount of knowledge and experience. Teach the right freelance lawyer to do things your way. Bill clients for the value and experience you provide.

Here are a few tools you can use.

• Law Clerk
• LegisOne
• Montage Legal Group
• Hire An Esquire
• FlexLegal

Can you see what’s happening?

You can structure deals around your knowledge and experience. You can take on more work, spending less time on tedious tasks and more time on what matters. You can maintain a high work volume, even if you decide to scale things back personally.

Tip #3: Stop managing your time and calendar

Don’t obsess over your day. Plan your time, create a schedule then use the right tools to forget about it. Use client, time and calendar management tools to create structure and clarity around your day. This gives you the time you need to focus on the work that matters.

You can use time management tools like:

• Calendly enables you to schedule meeting times automatically without the back and forth emails
• Calendar and productivity plugins for Microsoft Outlook
• Bill4Time legal practice and project management that enables you to track, manage and record your billable time.
• Law Ruler, an AI-powered CRM tool that integrates with Microsoft Outlook
• ProphetCRM enables you to manage CRM from Outlook directly
• Lexicata client intake software

Tip #4: Speed up your legal research

Time is money. The easier it is for you to find the legal research you need, the better your performance will be.

• Westlaw from Thompson Reuters gives you immediate access to a comprehensive legal database. They’re the 800 lbs. gorilla in the room so you get the backing of a major corporation
• Fastcase gives you access to a national law library offering citation analysis and comprehensive coverage
• Casemaker is a low-cost option for legal research. Your local bar association may offer free access to their service
• Casetextenables users to search through a database of millions of cases and review annotations about specific points in those cases. Points are created by legal scholars and practitioners

This is obvious, why does it matter?

Clients are demanding more value and efficiency. What does that mean for you? Clients aren’t all that happy about being billed for legal research.

Follow the trend and this ceases to be a billable item.

The implications here are clear. The faster your legal research platform, the more profit your firm stands to make.

You have something your younger colleagues don’t

An accumulated amount of knowledge, experience and timing. As an older attorney, you have an advantage. Use it or lose it. What your mind focuses on, you get to keep. Outsource, delegate or minimize the rest.

Start now.

Focus your attention on the areas you enjoy. Then use software and outsourcing to handle the tedious minutia you’d prefer to avoid. Use the right resources to optimize your performance. Start now and you’ll have everything you need to manage a thriving practice for years to come.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to attract an avalanche of customer attention, wherever and whenever you wanted? A never-ending stream of clients and revenue for your solo or small practice?

Not only is it possible it’s completely doable.

It’s something that solo, small and even large firms can do. Today I’m going to show you how that’s done.

It’s impossible, small firms can’t earn PR

It’s there, isn’t it?

The unspoken fear lurking in your subconscious. Or maybe it’s hopelessness. The despair and frustration that you simply don’t know how to attract any kind of PR.

It’s tough.

What if you aren’t connected? What if you don’t have a thick address book filled with well-known influencers and power brokers who owe you a favor?

You can still do it.

You can use the strategies and tactics I’m about to share with you to generate the kind of press most attorneys dream about. In reality, there’s really only one thing in your way.

It’s you.

Here’s a mistake many people make when they read content like this. They read it with a skeptical eye. As if they’re jaded and disillusioned. Life as an attorney has taught you some harsh lessons.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is

Am I right?

This is a common mistake. Here’s how it works.

People achieve the seemingly impossible. They share their strategies and tactics with others. Then, they’re shouted down as naive, dishonest or unrealistic.

Resist this.

Why?

Because the strategies and tactics high-achievers use often seems silly or counterproductive. What works for the high achievers is often ignored by underachievers.

Ready for some PR? Let’s get started.

Strategy #1: Newsjacking

David Meerman Scott coined the term “newsjacking” to describe the age old practice of getting others to promote and evangelize your business.

Here’s how he describes it.

“Newsjacking is the art and science of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story and generating tons of media coverage and social media engagement.”

1. You find a trending topic or story.
2. You create a relevant hook that goes with that story. You combine the two.
3. Then you share your combined story with seeders and influencers.
4. Ride the PR wave as interested parties flock to your site.

While Scott coined the phrase “newsjacking” he didn’t invent the practice. It’s something people-in-the-know have used to attract a massive amount of attention and traction.

Newsjacking is a straightforward way to “go viral.”

How do you jump in front of a trending or breaking news story? You use tools. First, create a list of broad keywords that are both directly and indirectly related to your practice area. If your focus is family law, keywords like “divorce,” “celebrity divorce,” or “custody battle.”

Next, head to Google Alerts and add your keywords.

Change your settings so you’re notified as-it-happens. Newsjacking is a time sensitive strategy. The sooner you’re publishing content related to a trending story the better your results.

Strategy #2: Become a trending or pop culture pirate

Breaking Bad was a pop culture phenomenon.

It followed the story of Walter White, a high school teacher who decided to become a drug kingpin. This critically acclaimed show featured a crooked but lovable attorney by the name of Saul Goodman.

Vice had a simple question. Was there a real life Saul Goodman? They found a real life Walter White. Could they find an attorney who was just as effective as Goodman?

As it turns out there was.

Howard Greenberg is, thankfully, not a criminal.

Vice pursued Greenberg but you can pitch interested parties (e.g. journalists, publications, influential YouTube channels, etc.).

Here’s how it works.

1. You create a compelling story, angle or hook. (doesn’t need to be sleazy or unethical to be compelling)
2. Next, you identify the influencer who would be interested in your story. It’s absolutely crucial that your story is interesting to your target.
3. Then, you pitch your story focusing entirely on your target’s desired angle. This isn’t about you, it’s about the story they’re looking for and the value you can provide.

Where do you find these influencers?

• ProfNet
• Expertise Finder
• Help a Reporter Out
• Muck Rack
• SourceBottle
• The Kiti
• PitchBox
• GroupHigh

If you’re not sure how to pitch your story, use the four step process outlined in Newsjacking.

Strategy #3: Use group emotional contagion

Researchers made an interesting discovery.

Our emotions are contagious.

There are specific emotions that facilitate sharing like awe and joy. Some emotions, like sadness don’t facilitate sharing. There’s one emotion however that gets people to share aggressively.

Anger.

You’re probably wondering why. It’s our thought germs.

See what I mean?

Okay. How do you go about using group emotional contagion to earn PR?

1. Find a worthwhile story or cause (e.g. unfair parking tickets) OR an upsetting cause (defending neo nazi trolls).
2. Position yourself behind the anger (e.g. this is terrible, let’s fix it). Be prepared to explain specifically why your story or cause is an outrage OR
3. Position yourself in front of the anger (e.g. I’m going to defend horrible evil people, here’s why). Be prepared for the backlash that comes your way. Provide people with a viable or morally justifiable reason for your choice.
4. Use advertising, journalist databases from strategy #2 and social media to jump start your story.

Here’s the thing with this strategy.

Anger spreads fast. Once it begins to spread you’ll lose control over the story. It’ll begin to take on a life of its own. It’s crucial that you get the narrative right before you launch your campaign. You won’t be able to change it later. Get it wrong and the consequences could be dire.

Here’s an example of an attorney positioning himself in front of the anger (e.g. how could you do this?).

And someone positioned behind the anger (let’s stop this together!).

See the difference?

Solo firms can earn a massive amount of PR

As Daniel Muessig showed us, size isn’t a limitation. It’s about your willingness to do the impossible. It’s only impossible until it’s done. It all comes down to a simple formula.

Do what others can’t or won’t.

Serve in a way that’s difficult or impossible for others to do it. These aren’t the only strategies you can use, but they’re effective ways to generate a massive amount of attention for your small or solo practice.

Isn’t it wonderful?

With the right strategies achieving the impossible becomes, possible.