Write Your Way to Clients
“Ahh you've gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody's ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you're gonna have to get used to it”
Bob Dylan might as well have been referring to an attorney when he wrote “Like a Rolling Stone” in 1965. Life in the law, especially as a solo criminal defense attorney, is often going from place to place and case to case, scrounging for your next fee. You might be selling alibis, representing clients who would take everything they could steal and trying to get them deals. The finest law schools don’t teach you how to hustle for clients and make a living. You have to just figure it out on your own.
Most private criminal defense is done by small firms and, very often, solo attorneys. They—we—are not the type who will recruit summer associates to fill a hiring class and then guide them along until they are trying big time cases. Public defenders’ offices, depending on the state and region, might hire out of clinic and internship programs and have a structured approach. That’s certainly a great way to practice criminal law. However, if you’re reading this newsletter for career guidance or practice pointers, you’re probably not a public defender. You might be just starting practice or looking to change your practice, whether joining a firm, leaving a firm or starting your own. You’re who I’m writing for.
What can you do when you’re on your own, with no direction and a complete unknown? Write your own path. One of the first things I did when setting up my solo practice, now close to eleven years ago, was building a website. I registered a URL, bought a hosting plan, installed Wordpress and wrote the pages myself. My website, with my own content, was the single most-effective way I generated new clients without referrals. I didn’t do any SEO, Adwords or really pay for any kind of web boosting, yet the message got out.
Since you’re on your own, you set your own direction. What kind of work do you want to do? What cases interest you? Write about those. Write about why you like them and how you handle them. A prospective client is going to be more inclined to call the lawyer who has a genuine understanding of his situation and also a real interest in it. That is what will separate you from the AI-written sites and generic content mills.
I can’t tell you how Google or any other search engine will match your page with a prospective client’s query. I can say, from experience, that if you put enough out there, people will find it, even without the boosting and other enhancements. You will become known—at least to them—and have direction. For instance, I wrote considerably about minor in possession (underage drinking) tickets and drivers’ license suspensions. I wound up handling dozens of them over the years. As a joke, I wrote a blog post about “Malicious Erections,” which includes spite fences. I received a few calls from people with bad neighbors. I wrote one blog post and had a few lines in the Car Accident section of my old website about “Diminished Value” claims and received numerous calls. That’s on top of all of the criminal law content.
So start writing your ticket. Once you have a website, show it off and spread the word. How and where? Stay tuned.