It’s the fourth week of our Practus anniversary series where we’re highlighting 5 key components that make our virtual law firm what it is today. This week’s blog shines the spotlight on collaboration, the fourth ingredient in the Practus Recipe for Success. Collaboration lies at the heart of our firm’s ethos, fostering innovation, teamwork, and an unwavering commitment to delivering legal services our clients deserve.
The concept of collaboration can mean something unique to each person, so we’ll specifically be diving deeper into how collaboration makes Practus different and why it’s critical for the long-term success of a law firm.
A built-in referral network
Our goal is to create a better workplace for attorneys where they have independence and love what they do… but the reality is the finances need to make sense for this model to work effectively. That’s where the strategic side of collaboration comes in with cross-selling opportunities and referrals.
From day one at the firm, new partners meet other attorneys with client matters that are likely to overlap with their own. This helps set all partners at Practus up for success by introducing them to the people they’re most likely to collaborate with at the beginning. It serves the double benefit of providing clients with full service legal counsel while potentially growing each other’s books of business.
One of the other benefits of collaborating with attorneys is each partner’s compensation package includes financial benefits for referring clients to other attorneys at Practus. These intra-firm referrals help ensure clients receive top-tier legal services with fee arrangements that work well for them, and partners take home more of what they originate at the firm. By incentivizing referrals, we strengthen our collaborative network and deepen relationships, creating a win-win situation for all involved.
Breadth and depth of practice areas
Fostering a collaborative environment means our attorneys leverage the collective experience and knowledge base across various practice areas and industries, resulting in innovative and comprehensive legal solutions for our clients. The breadth and depth of practice areas isn’t by chance – we implement a strategic plan for growth so that attorneys join with complementary skills and experiences to provide a full-service experience for our clients.
Many virtual law firms operate in a model where attorneys work in silos; partners join the firm primarily based on the fact they can work remotely instead of joining to further develop their legal practice with a holistic approach. To us, this is not sustainable, and those working in silos will eventually burn out, with limited resources to grow with their client’s needs.
At Practus, our goal is to help attorneys provide clients with legal services that match the needs of today’s digital, quickly-evolving climate. Most clients have (or will have) legal needs that expand beyond a single practice area. The 20+ practice areas we have at Practus give clients the peace of mind that their legal representation can grow and adapt as their needs change over time.
Joint engagements for bigger clients
A depth of practice areas and referrals within the firm are immediate benefits of our collaboration culture, but the longer-term benefits become apparent with larger clients that have more complex legal issues. When a potential client needs more counsel than one attorney alone can provide, Practus partners know they have an entire team behind them for joint engagements.
These larger engagements are where the culture of collaboration really shines. They usually result after creating connections with other attorneys through referrals and firm-wide events. After working with other partners, it becomes easier to determine which attorneys you’d work well with and which ones would best serve the client’s needs.
Practus was built with collaboration in mind because we understand how important it is for both clients and attorneys. Everything from our integrated technology systems to the autonomy we offer attorneys is designed to help make lawyers’ communication and workflows more seamless. We remove the barriers that traditional office spaces and clunky systems create so that attorneys can work together as easily as possible.
When a client contacts someone asking about a complex legal issue that would require multiple attorneys (which happens quite frequently), our attorneys are prepared with additional Practus colleagues in mind ready to take on a joint engagement.
Collaboration is just one ingredient in our Practus Recipe for Success, but it’s one that cannot be substituted for anything else. A culture of collaboration ties together the firm and sets each individual attorney up to succeed within their legal practice. It fosters creative thinking and holistic approaches while providing clients with legal services they need. Without collaboration, Practus would not have the success it does after just 5 years.
To learn more about what makes Practus different and the virtual law firm model, head to our website here.
Continue reading part 5 of our anniversary series about Balance here.
