I have heard people make all kinds of negative comments about lawyers. I have even heard, “Why would you want to take a lawyer on a canoe trip on purpose?” The insinuation is the lawyer is not good for anything valuable, but what people are missing is the lawyer will probably be the most fun person on the canoe trip. Lawyers by and large are incredibly giving people and have a large capacity for doing good for their community, their profession and for other lawyers.

As I have said previously, if you have to eat lunch every day anyway, why not do it with fascinating people? Who better to have lunch with than a person in your own profession who is willing to share not only their perspectives on the law practice in general, but on their own practice in particular, and who at the same time might become a source for legal business for you to handle?

Let’s expand this topic a little to drive home this idea of having lunch with other lawyers to get legal business. Over the years the law practice seems to continue to evolve to the point where now more than 50 percent of all lawyers are in law firms of 10 people or less across the United States. The large firms get larger, the small firms become even more niche-oriented and the middle continues to disappear. Big firms have conflicts and need competent lawyers to be able to refer business to. Small firms get business that is not in their niche and they need to find lawyers to handle their client’s legal problem that will do a great job handling the legal business and be sure the client is returned to the niche law firm. Letting people know you are available for legal business they may not be able to handle is a very good way to get clients.

My own firm is an example of a firm that has somewhat of a niche practice in that we are a litigation-oriented firm. We are constantly getting legal business that might be litigation related, but needs other expertise besides what we are able to bring to the matter. About five years ago the concept of setting up an entity called “the Virtual Law Firm,” came to me. I realized there was a tremendous amount of business I was getting that I had previously simply forwarded on to other lawyers to handle the matters, but never received referral business back, nor received any fee from the legal business that was referred. I began to think about alternatives to having lawyers in every area of practice on my payroll and in particular, on my overhead. It became clear that I needed to find some way of continuing to serve clients whose legal needs were outside my individual ability and experience, but were in need of my overall ability to look at the business practical and creative aspects of their matter. The question was how to add capability without adding payroll and overhead. In looking through the rules of governing the practice of law in my state, it became clear that if the client consented in writing to lawyers from different firms cooperating together and sharing fees for handling the legal work, that being able to utilize multiple law firms to handle one client’s legal need would be a very viable option to trying to grow a law firm and get stuck with a lot of payroll and overhead. I promptly drafted an engagement letter for clients that stated in it that we have the right to cooperate with other lawyers and share fees with those lawyers and have the client sign such letters in every matter I was undertaking. I then went about soliciting lawyers who had expertise in other areas to become part of my Virtual Law Firm. Yes, when two lawyers are signed up with the same client, both of their malpractice policies are on the line. You obviously do not want to become involved in a “Virtual Law Firm” with people who are not competent in their area of the law and who are going to create more problems for you than they are going to solve.

I now have an attorney or a firm in nearly every area of the law that I can cooperate with regarding and am able to supply legal services to nearly every client that comes my way regardless of what area of the law they may need help in. I have been able to set up a full service “Virtual Law Firm.” Of course, the “Virtual Law Firm” is in addition to all of the normal legal work I do for my clients on a day-to-day basis. I have been able to generate approximately $100,000 per year to the bottom line of my law firm without the investment of any additional payroll or overhead on a yearly basis.

As you can see, the concept of a “Virtual Law Firm” is taking the concept of one lunch a week with a lawyer who can refer you business to a totally different level, but the concept is still the same. One of the greatest sources of legal business I have been able to generate over the years has been from other attorneys. Making yourself visible, establishing areas where your experience is unique, taking care of other lawyers’ clients, and being sure the client goes back to those lawyers is an excellent way of continuing to keep the pipeline of referrals that come from other lawyers open and flowing.

You might be asking yourself how to get started with this concept of having lunch once a week with another lawyer, where to find these lawyers to go to lunch with, and how to go about making the approach to invite the attorney to lunch. The answers to all of those questions is as simple as the following:

1. Get started now;

2. Ask the next lawyer you deal with on a committee or who is on the same side as you are in a legal matter or whose office is next door or down the block; and

3. Call them up on the phone and ask them to join you for lunch.

Use this article if you want a reason why you are asking the lawyer to lunch, or simply explain to them you are trying to network and let people know you are available to handle certain kinds of legal work and would like to have their thoughts on the matter. You will be amazed how willing other lawyers are to talk with you about their thoughts on the legal profession and to keep you in mind if they are in need of someone to send a piece of legal business because they may not be able to handle it themselves.

We have been continuing to talk about business-getting tips and making yourself a rainmaker. Next week’s topic will start to delve into the area of how technology can help you get additional legal business. I am not a “techie” so I think you will find this information practical and “nuts and bolts” as opposed to being esoteric and technologically complicated. Next week’s specific topic is to participate in one Internet referral membership.

Talk with you next week!

Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.