Law Firm Coaching: How to Grow Your Practice With it

Lawyers can greatly benefit from coaching to achieve their goals and implement their strategies consistently with someone who can hold them accountable.

With professional development coaches, lawyers are able to focus on their tasks, improve productivity, and maintain their motivation throughout their legal career.

In this article, we discuss the advantages of hiring a coach to improve your performance as an attorney and provide the best legal services to your clients.

Is Lawyer Coaching For You?

Whether you’re straight out of law school or a seasoned lawyer, there are some aspects of running a law firm that you can always need coaching for. These are:

Professional Skills – Whether it’s public speaking, critical-thinking, negotiation, or communication skills, a lawyer can benefit from a coach that helps them hone these skills to better serve their clients.

Business Development Skills – In addition to improving a lawyer’s professional skills, a coach can also help lawyers with the business side of managing a law firm. From rainmaking to navigating the politics of their industry, coaches can help lawyers succeed as business owners.

If you feel like you’re not getting enough clients or winning more cases, then lawyer coaching is likely for you.

Why Do Lawyers Need Coaching: 7 Ways it Helps

Here are the many ways that lawyers can benefit from coaching sessions:

1. Professional Growth

Because of lawyer coaching, a lawyer has the ability to win more cases, negotiate successfully, and become a leader in his industry.

2. Honest Feedback

A lawyer coach will not try to protect a lawyer’s feelings. Instead, a coach will be honest because it is to the benefit of the lawyer. Coaches generally practice honesty because it helps the lawyer take the first step to recognize his weaknesses and start the process of change.

3. Improves Leadership Skills

Coaches teach lawyers to be better leaders, from working with others, managing stress, keeping motivated, decision-making skills, and communicating effectively. When these skills are improved, then a lawyer’s leadership also improves.

4. Helps Client Communication

When coaches are able to improve the way a lawyer communicates, it benefits the client. Lawyers are only successful because their clients are happy with their service. Having happy clients starts with being an open and honest communicator.

5. Facilitates Work-life Balance

Coaches are invaluable for teaching lawyers about work-life balance. Most lawyers are so dedicated to their work that they neglect their personal lives, without even realizing it. This is why coaching for attorneys is important so they can step back and recognize that there are other aspects of their lives that need their attention.

6. Smoothens Running Your Legal Business

Coaching can mean that a lawyer becomes more focused on his goals and is able to easily accomplish everyday tasks without getting stressed or burned out. On the business side, a lawyer that went through coaching might now be more skilled in getting new clients, adding billable hours, and growing the firm’s revenue.

7. Lowers Stress

Coaches can help lawyers identify stressors, create coping mechanisms, set boundaries, and acquire time management strategies to counter chronic stress and burnout.

How To Choose The Right Coach

Taking your legal skills to the next level will require the right coach. Here’s how to choose the coach or coaching firm that offers the services and approach that fits your needs.

Do Your Research

There’s not a “one-size-fits-all” legal coach, so you need to identify what kind of coach you need. Some coaching specialize in different practice areas, while others work on a specific skill like communication or negotiation. Know what kind of coaching you want and narrow down your search accordingly.

Have a Clear Goal

Ask yourself what you want to accomplish from undergoing coaching. Do you want to be less stressed? Do you hope that you can win more cases by the end of the coaching? Are you looking for leadership development to advance yourself in your firm?

Having a specific goal in mind will help you choose the perfect coach for you.

Set Up Initial Meetings

Most coaching services offer free consultation or initial meetings. Take advantage of this offer and learn as much as you can about the coach’s teaching style, specialization, and his past experience with people in the legal profession.

Ask For Recommendations

Personal recommendations are always welcome especially when it comes to attorney coaching services. Ask fellow lawyers in your firm or within your practice area for a coach they recommend and why they liked the service.

Read Online Reviews

The next best thing to personal referrals is online reviews. When you find a coaching service, don’t forget to read online reviews on platforms like Google and Facebook.

10 Best Lawyer Coaching Services

Whether you’re a solo lawyer or own a mid-size firm, here are a diverse list of 10 best lawyer coaching services according to our research:

1. The Lawyer’s Edge

Best for: Business Development

The Lawyer’s Edge offers business development skills to solo lawyers, small, mid-sized, and large law firms. They have individual coaching services as well as coaching for entire law firms. Their focus is mostly on teaching lawyers and law firms how to attract clients.

2. Lawyerist

Best for: Comprehensive Coaching for Small Law Firms

The Lawyerist helps small law firms navigate the many challenges of running a firm, from strategy, team, clients, systems, finances, balance, and community. Unlike other coaching firms that focus on teaching law firms how to get more clients, The Lawyerist aims to help lawyers and law firms improve their legal management skills so they become better business owners.

3. David Freeman Consulting

Best for: Customized Workshops

For firms looking to tailor their coaching needs specifically to their practice, David Freeman Consulting is one of the best in this approach. In addition to client acquisition, the firm offers strengthening a lawyer’s personal brand, and using speaking and writing to build new relationships.

4. Spark Plug Labs

Best for: Client management and engagement

Spark Plug Labs offers a range of coaching programs to teach lawyers and law firms how to get clients, nurture client relationships, and grow their firm with excellent client acquisition skills. They also offer group coaching sessions and one-on-one sessions depending on a law firm’s needs.

5. JD Nation

Best for: New or Transitioning Lawyers

JD Nation was created by Annie Little, a lawyer with 10 years of experience and an ICF (International Coach Federation) certified coach. Little offers career coaching for lawyers who are just starting out or considering a career shift in their legal practice.

6. The Lawyer’s Coach

Best for: Seasoned Lawyers and Large Law Firms

Phyllis Sisenwine, also known as The Lawyer’s Coach, has 25 years of experience in successfully coaching lawyers. She mainly teaches business development, business management, legal marketing skills, and work-life balance.

7. Bryce Legal

Best for: Career Coaching and Career Development

Bryce Legal offers immediate help for certain career changes that a lawyer faces in his profession. Whether it’s switching to another practice area or moving to a new city, Bryce Legal can help lawyers make sound decisions and create a career path that will benefit them in the future.

8. Loeb Leadership

Best for: Mid-Size and Large Law Firms

Loeb does not only offer coaching for attorneys, but for legal administrative staff and associates. They offer a wide range of leadership training plans for each employee in a large law firm, with a focus on business development, executive coaching, communication skills, and leadership best practices.

9. The Lawyer Coach

Best for: Focused Coaching for All Lawyers and Law Firms

The Lawyer Coach offers a good selection of focus areas that include leadership coaching, career coaching, conflict management, business development, solo and small firm coaching, and succession planning. They also provide coaching for paralegals in addition to lawyers of all tenure.

10. The American Bar Association

If you prefer online courses, the American Bar Association offers several on-demand CLEs (Continuing Legal Education) for lawyers who want to improve their professional and business management skills.

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