What really makes a lawyer unique?

Besides the recent spike in social media posts and google searches about “Damn Daniel” which has been a boon for lawyers uniquely named Daniel.

At our BNI meeting this morning the food for our thought as small business owners is what sets us apart from the competition. Whether we are a plumber, dentist, lawyer, life insurance salesperson, or realtor when we advertise ourselves on pitches that address base competence - every other person we are competing against for business is likely saying similar or the same thing. It doesn’t distinguish us to be “people persons” or to have a good phone voice or not use emojis in professional e-mails. Nobody says “I am barely competent, hire me maybe?” They all say we are competent, we are good, we help you, we make your life easier, we solve your problems, a small investment in us today solves all of your problems in the future, etc. These are boring. These are not memorable. They are not remembered, much less forgotten. Insofar as the legal profession goes, what is a good way to see yourself as unique? What can you say that makes you memorable in a good way?

• “I’ll return your calls promptly!” Well I hope so, otherwise it’s risking a grievance and discipline since that violates the Texas rules. This is base level competence stuff to keep the client reasonably informed about their matter. There is no trophy for returning a call within 5 minutes versus 15 minutes. This is not a proper way to distinguish ourselves.
• “We are a full service law firm!” Well one - that’s probably factually bullshit for any firm that claims it - and two, it really doesn’t matter for someone that has a need for one specific type of narrow representation. A person that needs a Simple Will, no tax planning, and the basic ancillary estate planning documents probably could not care less that my firm has capabilities in employment discrimination. In fact, if they are comfortable with their family finances and they own a small business that might even scare them off that they are mixing with the /potential/ enemy. If you hire a guy to do a job (the Will) you want that guy doing the lawyer stuff to do it right. It is not the case that the majority of clients will come in and need services in ALL (or even more than one) of our distinct practice areas. This is not a proper way to distinguish ourselves, because we don’t handle immigration, bankruptcy, personal injury, IP, and a lot of other practice areas - we are not full service and we would lose “the game” by trying to compete on that locus.
• “We listen to you and provide feedback based on what you say!” I think this one is getting at least a little warmer than the first two, but it’s still not out of the pool of base competence level stuff. If someone is telling you about their life story, it’s relevant for what we do in our family practice (divorce, estate planning, QDRO, etc.) so it’s important to listen and provide feedback based on what is said. This is not inventing the wheel, it is basic stuff. There shouldn’t be a trophy involved for listening so we can issue spot.
• “We treat you like family!” I am guilty of saying this one nearly every week at BNI. It certainly doesn’t make us unique that we approach a client as a valuable relationship with the person and their family, with our lawyers and our families. There is no real way to quantify how much we treat a client like part of our family if they come here for estate planning, but go down the block to another firm for their IP or commercial litigation needs and they also get treated a bit like a family member at that firm. The reason why I will at least include “we treat you like family” as part of my canned 30 second speeches is that I have worked at so many prior firms that see people as dollar signs, not people. That is one of many reasons why I did not stay long there; yet I am a partner here at my firm since we are different. So we are winning the battle against some firms that aren’t even trying to compete; but it’s such an unquantifiable touchy-feely situation that we technically don’t lose to any other firm. But even though we don’t lose to any other firm, we still don’t get a trophy for treating clients politely and sending them winter holiday cards, etc. This isn’t where we ultimately want to hang our hat on, though I will still keep including it in my canned 30 second speeches.
• “We help sophisticated businesses solve their legal problems!” Well goddamn son, that was the most offensive elevator speech I heard one time from a lawyer who was otherwise a relatively decent person and probably competent in other areas of his life as well. “Sophisticated” is not the right kind of word to drop in a crowd of business owners because they have the same reaction I do. I don’t show up to work with a test tube in my hand. I don’t make iPhones in my office. I can program computers in ten languages (thanks Computer Science coursework!) so I am not a caveman, but I also don’t make my living in the tech world doing technical things. I know what “sophisticated” means in what he was trying to say, but he was telling the entire room that he is not interested in working with life insurance, dentists, tradesmen, carpenters, plumbers, locksmiths, lawyers, and others. Why would I refer any business to a guy who not only put his foot in his mouth, but swallowed it? If you only want to represent Apple or Samsung sure, tell everyone and their mother you want sophisticated business clients. Otherwise you risk pissing someone off. This is not a proper way to distinguish yourself from the crowd.
• “I have a Master of Laws in Taxation, which means that I liked law school so much I stayed in an extra year after I earned the J.D. to take additional coursework in the tax laws!” My weaksauce attempt at folksy and whimsy to older businessmen. My last ditch attempt to gain credibility in a hostile crowd. When I have to strategically fall back to this credential it means I have run out of other things to say and I am losing (or lost) the deal. The crowd and/or potential client have already signaled by their body language or their words that we are not a traditional tax firm so what the heck do we know about anything; or they think I look too young to have any experience, notwithstanding that I am a partner. This is a strategic retreat to a demonstrative credential; one that actually is not super impressive, but one that a lot of lawyers do not have. We regroup on zero that I have always had an academic interest in the tax laws. That’s where we can start rebuilding a foundation, but it’s the risky gambit that at my age (I am in my 30s) I retreat back to a degree I earned in my mid 20s. It’s a retreat rather than barreling on ahead, oblivious of the waning interest in the words coming out of my mouth, where I would talk about good results I have personally obtained over the years for clients - but then we get into the situation where I need to disclaim everything about past results do not guarantee future outcomes. I also think explaining technical wins to potential clients gets too technical to non-tax people, and if they happen to not be lay-people then it contributes to brain rape where I just gave away something for free to someone who might use it themselves. I try not to economically disadvantage myself too much, so I avoid technical talk as much as possible since it is not interesting and not memorable, unless someone is trying to “DIY” and cut me out of the equation.
• “I provide creative solutions to difficult problems!” Sorry, this sounds scummy like a Better Call Saul type of promotion as it rolls off of the tongue. There’s not anything inherently unethical expressly stated or implied; but it still feels grimy, like you would hear this out of a guy that offices at the mall like Lionel Hutz, rather than a guy you would trust with your money. Tax (and business and family issues) require an ability to think creatively sometimes when there are grey areas, or deals that need to be worked out at least not completely-unfavorable to the bad parent or the taxpayer that took some liberties with their returns. I could provide demonstrative cases where I applied creative solutions to difficult problems with decent (or better) result but just like the entry above it neuters the point of the story with all of the disclaimers that past results do not guarantee future outcomes - or in an even worse case scenario, it leads to brain rape where I just freely gave away information to someone who is not going to pay me anything for my knowledge and experience.

Overall, where does this really leave us? I don’t know what makes a lawyer unique in a good way.

• Past results are nice to talk about when they are properly followed up with the pile of disclaimers about how past results do not guarantee future outcomes. You gain an inch, but you give a mile having to tell everyone that you are not guaranteeing anything at all in the next case.
• In a small firm, the “we treat you right” sort of thing is really important and does lead to a lot of repeat business from clients who appreciate that they are part of the family, rather than a dollar sign. But that’s not a way to advertise anything. It’s just your behavior when you do get them signed - which really reflects on how you were raised, how you are raising your kids, and how you see yourself as /part/ of the community or just someone looking at the dollars and cents at the end of the month.
• We can talk about my additional credentials and federal bar admissions, but it’s a retreat to base competence or a base level of experience. It doesn’t gain anything besides giving the opportunity to “rebuild the foundation” and then build more on top of that given the opportunity. At the point you are retreating it’s a risky gambit because that could be the close of the conversation or consult.

As a lawyer I don’t think we need to rely on gimmicks like a fun nickname plastered on late night tv ads or billboards on the highway about being a hammer sort of tool. I don’t see that buying credibility at all - it just helps with visibility. And credibility is more important than visibility when you need a guy to do his lawyer stuff and help you out with a legal problem.

I’m not exactly humble, but I don’t see the point in bragging about things that would not impress me. Houston is the land of the “thirty-thousand-dollar millionaires” where material means everything on your instagram, facebook, and snapchats. Expensive shoes don’t impress me. Paying $500 for a bottle of average vodka at “da club” doesn’t impress me at all. A $60 steak every night at dinner seems wasteful of resources, but I am slightly more impressed by that than by shoes which touch the ground. In the legal profession too when I see the ads other people out or the way they talk about themselves and their firm at “networking events” I often have the same visceral reaction as I do to the material issues on social media.

The few lawyers I most respect are the ones that “brag” on their pro bono work - cases they lose time and money on, but ended up helping the needy in one way or another. But even with that, I know it makes me unique to be inspired by lawyers actually doing stuff to help people, especially the needy. The vast majority of our paying clients probably don’t know my firm is an “equal access to justice champion” firm (with that trophy sitting in our front lobby) and we/I take a lot of pro bono cases - so they didn’t hire us because we do pro bono. I don’t think many paying clients hire firms based on their pro bono records. I think it is absolutely essential, important, and vital to our community and as part of our profession to do that - but advertising that way, is not effective advertising because it is only going to impress me, and I already impress myself.

I am not sure ultimately where to hang my hat. We started working with a business coach once a month so that is something for us to figure out individually and as a firm over the coming months. What makes us unique as a law firm? What makes me unique as a lawyer? And how do we tell people all of this good news about our firm and myself? Check back over time as we start trying to figure this out - because there don’t appear to be any easy answers.