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By Jared Correia, Red Cave Consulting It’s 2024, which is hard to believe. But time marches on, as it always does. One thing that is the same for 2024 as each prior New Year is everybody will be looking to set new goals to improve their lives and work. Yes, it’s New Year’s resolution season! That means heading out to the gym and working out vigorously for at least a week. Of course it’s better when those resolutions stick and become habits. It’s the same in a business context: As the new year begins, you will want to establish new processes for your law firm that actually work and become an ingrained part of your business. If you are looking for some law firm-based resolutions you could apply, and that may even stick, I have a few suggestions for you: 1 Trim the fat: Eliminate unnecessary subscriptions: Everybody said streaming was better than cable and it would be cheaper. We now have five to 10 streaming subscriptions costing more than cable ever did. It’s a similar thing with subscription-based cloud software in law firms. They are cheap in a vacuum, but when you stack them up, all of a sudden you are paying a ton of money in the aggregate. And, in many cases, you are not even using any of those subscriptions. So, as the new year begins, it’s a great time to review your subscriptions and eliminate those you might not need — there might be more money to be saved than you think. 2 Cut rate: Eliminate discounts: Lots of law firms end up running “low bono” practices, which are just a shade above pro bono — because they are discounting their services steeply through discounts — meaning their effective rate is much lower than they think. It’s easy to discount if you do not stick to a rate sheet — so create a pricing sheet, and stick to it! If you offer discounts, make those part of the rate sheet so you avoid discounting too sharply. Or, you know — do not discount at all and value your work appropriately. 3 New market: do something uncomfortable: Most lawyers do the same things marketing their practices year after year. This new year, try something different, beyond the in-person referral networking law firms rely on so heavily. Maybe you do something drastic and start a podcast. Maybe it’s time for a video series you could also use as part of your client journey. Or perhaps you will design and implement a content calendar. Most law firms have a lot more that they could do in terms of marketing the practice — so, you have several options here. 4 Chain of custody: Build a workflow: Many law firm owners are seeking processes to make them (and their staff) more efficient. That’s a good thing, because it’s also a great way to reduce errors and malpractice claims. However, lots of lawyers have never built a workflow before. Enter AI: Try a tool like, Taskade, which will allow you to build workflows with the help of AI-aided suggestions. It’s easy to use and offers a great starting point for effective process management. 5 Flow state: Install a KPI: KPIs are simply single numbers; statistics saying something about the effectiveness of your law firm’s processes, i.e., utilization rate or collection rate, net promoter score or closing rate. These statistics can help you improve your practice’s performance or simply generate more revenue. If you have never launched a KPI in your law firm, make this the year you try — you can actually measure your business performance in an effective and identifiable way.• Jared D. Correia, esq., is the founder and CEO of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting. He is a regular presenter at local, regional and national events.
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