What's With All of the Legal Consultants?

Last week, Jonathan Stein of The Practice posted about legal consultants. He asks why there seem to be more and more consultants every day, and he questions whether lawyers that don't have natural business sense would be savvy enough to hire a consultant to help them with the business side of their practice. He expresses general skepticism about consulting for the legal community, while still acknowledging that there are consultants who have been helpful to his practice.

It’s only natural that more and more consultants would be cropping up as more and more people graduate from law school and competition gets stiffer and stiffer. Perhaps years ago you could just hang out a shingle and as long as you knew what you were doing in the legal arena, you’d get business. With less lawyers to compete against, it was easier for the community to find the lawyers, and more people knew who was who. That just isn’t the case now.

Law is a business, and there are plently of lawyers who need help with running a business, managing people, managing time, managing cases, bringing in business, and keeping clients happy. Clients are getting more demanding, and lawyers need to start focusing more on what the clients want and less on the lawyer’s skills.

Consulting is a relationship-based business, and not every consultant will be right for every law firm. But hiring a consultant can be a smart investment in your practice. Some lawyers know they need help with administrative, management and marketing issues in their firm, but they just don't know where to start. They're savvy enough to realize that they don't know what they don't know. Or they have lots of ideas but never seem to implement any of them - time, life, business, and other distractions get in the way. That's where a good consultant can step in and help lawyers reach their business goals.

Some lawyers don't necessarily need 'help,' but want to do everything they can to maximize their effectiveness. There are some things that are just more difficult to see from the 'inside,' and the outside perspective brought by a consultant is often the most valuable aspect of the relationship. Sometimes just having someone to provide some accountability, to create external deadlines and to remind you of your goals and why they're important makes all the difference.

Certainly, all consultants don't have the same background, personality, or skill set. And although I'm a lawyer, I don't think all consultants that work with lawyers have to be lawyers themselves. Knowledge of the legal world and its quirks can certainly be helpful when dealing with lawyers and law firms, but depending upon the results the firm would like to achieve, there are other factors that come into play as well. Perhaps the law firm prefers a consultant with knowledge of the industry the law firm serves, or a consultant with a particular approach, personality, or system.

Not everyone needs, wants, or is ready to hire a consultant for their practice. But the more consultants there are, the more lawyers have to choose from - and that's not necessarily a bad thing.