If you go to an establishment and look at the employees, it’s easy to see the ones that enjoy the job versus those who don’t. You can probably sense that you’d enjoy working somewhere or that you wouldn’t like it very much based on the happy smiles or the dour expressions. Law firms aren’t an exception to this rule.
As someone running a law office, you probably understand that creating a great law firm culture is crucial. That’s why you should do all you can to ensure employees genuinely want to work there.
We’ll talk about some reasons why you should go out of your way to create a happy law firm culture right now.
You Want to Encourage Employee Loyalty
You always want to encourage worker loyalty, regardless of what kind of business you’re running. That’s why you need to offer your workers perks if you’re running a law firm.
You might want to offer them a generous starting salary, regardless of their position within the company. You may offer them an excellent healthcare plan, a 401k, a gym membership, and even company cars for high-ranking positions.
If you do all of that, you make it more likely that workers will stick with you instead of going elsewhere. If you can accomplish that, you won’t have to hire new employees all the time.
You know that your workers have been with you for quite some time, and they agree with your vision for how you want to run the place. You also know that they understand how you want them to do things, so you don’t need to constantly pull them aside for pep talks about how you need them to conduct themselves. You’ll know you can trust them because they’re not new to the team.
You Want Your Clients to Sense the Trust
Whenever you take on new clients as a law firm, you want them to have a good experience with everyone they encounter at your offices. You might meet with them in person to talk about their case, but they might also get a cup of coffee from a clerk or encounter some other staff member.
You want them to see smiling faces everywhere and sense that the people here genuinely like working for you. That will make each new client feel that they’re in the right place and they have the correct firm to represent them.
If they look around and see a lot of glum faces, they might feel like they’re in the wrong place. They should sense the entire team genuinely wants them there, and they won’t think that if it’s clear they don’t want to be there themselves.
You Want Your Clients to Sense They’re Among Professionals
While you want each new client to have a pleasant experience when they come into your offices, you should also instill a culture that radiates professionalism. After all, your client needs someone professional to represent them, regardless of why they’re there. Maybe you’re about to represent them in a personal injury case, or you’re going to appear in court to try and keep them out of jail.
They should sense quiet confidence from your whole staff. Maybe they like their jobs, but they should also convey that they’re in place to help your client with whatever legal problem they’re having.
Every person on your team should demonstrate professionalism. If you have the proper framework at your office for that, each new client should sense it. They should realize that they’re in good hands and not worry so much about whatever ordeal they’re about to face.
You Want People to Compete to Work for You
You’re going to need to hire new employees sometimes. Even if you encourage brand loyalty, you’ll need to expand occasionally and add a new person or two to the team.
When the time comes, you want to have no issue finding new workers who can’t wait to get on board with you. You can do that if you have set up and cultivated the proper atmosphere.
Anyone working in the legal profession who hears anything about your law firm should realize that they’d be lucky to work for you. You want them to hear about your benefits packages. They should know that you’ll give them a fair shot at demonstrating their value to your organization.
They should hear that you’re tough but fair and that working for you is a privilege. They should know that if a spot ever opens up at your firm at any level, they’ll want to compete for it because they can advance their career if you pick them. You want the legal world to know that working for you can do a lot for them if they show they’re capable and talented.
You Want All the Accolades
You also want to create the proper working environment because you need to gobble up any available industry awards. You know that people will regard your law firm as more credible if you generate prestige, and legal organizations always laud you.
If you can get law publications to always mention your firm at the top of “best of” lists, you will attract attention for all of the right reasons. Anyone in the legal profession who wants to get ahead will want to work with you, and high-end clients who need legal help will contact you because they want you to represent them in tricky legal situations.
You can list all of your awards on your website. Whenever someone visits it and sees all the hardware you’ve collected, they’ll know they’re dealing with the best when someone mentions your name.
If you have a formidable industry reputation, you can use that to your advantage. The word of your talents alone might force someone to settle instead of pursuing a lawsuit against one of your clients. When you reach that notoriety level, you’ll truly know you’ve arrived in rarified air.
