I recently came across a quote about my local bar association’s Lawyer Referral Service: “The Lawyer Referral Service has provided me with a steady flow of referrals since I joined in 1997. The Referral Service, as it currently operates, can be a valuable resource for new clients and high quality legal work.” Truer words were never spoken with regard to Lawyer Referral Services.

As I have stated in numerous tips in the last several articles, having a steady flow of clients who will pay a reasonable hourly rate for the legal work you perform is as close to law firm nirvana as a lawyer can get. Therefore, this week’s tip is to join at least one Lawyer Referral Service in your area.

Here are some fascinating tidbits about the local Lawyers Referral Service. Did you know that:

• The major local Lawyer Referral Service serves a six county area?

• The Six county area has 1,500,000 people residing in it?

• The Lawyer Referral Service receives 50 to 75 calls a day from individuals seeking a lawyer;

• Some of the larger categories where lawyers have signed up to receive referrals are in the area of personal injury and family law; and

• My local bar association that operates the Lawyer Referral Service has a membership of over 5,000 members; the local Lawyer Referral Service has only 200 people who have signed up to receive referrals.

These 200 lawyers, who have signed up for the Lawyer Referral Service, know something that apparently a lot of other lawyers don’t know: The Lawyer Referral Service is a continuous steady stream of good clients. The more narrow the area that you receive referrals in, the more frequent your name will come to the top of the list. Among the criteria for becoming a member of the Lawyer Referral Service — that you must pay a fee ($120 if you are a member of the association and $240 if you are a non-member), you must have liability insurance, and you must agree to send to the Lawyer Referral Service 10 percent of all fees you receive, no matter whether they are hourly or contingent, over $100. What a bargain!

If you go to the MSN search engine on the Internet, and access Kansas City Lawyer Referral, the local bar association’s Lawyer Referral Service is the very first listing. Out of 1.5 million people, how many people are using this search mechanism when they need a lawyer? Additionally, when you go to the Yellow Pages and you look up attorneys – referral and information service, you see that the local association has a half page ad and touts itself as the “oldest and most experienced” Lawyer Referral Service.

When individuals call the local Lawyer Referral Service, they are matched up with attorneys who practice in the area they are seeking consultation in as well as in a geographically convenient location. The people seeking to use the referral service pay a $25 fee for a one-hour conference with a lawyer who is “experienced in handling their type of legal action.” In addition, the Lawyer Referral Service has taped messages that are prepared by attorneys that allow prospective clients to learn a little bit about the area of law they are involved with prior to actually meeting with the attorney they have been matched up with. This program is called Tel-Law.

Based upon all of the above information, you do the math. Fifty to 75 calls a day, 200 days a year equals 10,000 to 15,000 calls a year. You spread this number of calls over 200 lawyers and that would amount to 75 calls per lawyer if all of the lawyers were spread out evenly and taking all of the calls. If you have an area of expertise that would limit the number of lawyers in your category, you arguably could receive even more phone calls, even though there would be fewer inquiries. These statistics tell you that you are going to be getting a minimum of three calls every two weeks.

There’s a phenomenon of the practice of law when lawyers seem to be getting new business in the door faster than they can close out the cases they have. Eventually, this becomes a problem of logistics in terms of handling the files and finding the time to do all of the work necessary for the various legal matters you have taken on. Obviously the logistics of this can be a problem, but as the old saying goes, “what a nice problem to have,”

I believe every lawyer feels in their heart of hearts that the ideal situation would be a set of circumstances where they could pick and choose the clients and the cases they really want to work on. This morning, I had another professional in a somewhat related business make the comment to me that if he won the lottery, the first thing he would do would be to send letters to 90 percent of his clients telling them he was no longer going to represent them. He indicated he loved what he does for his career, but if he had his choice he would be more selective about whom he provided services to and would dump the people who were jerks, hard to get along with, constantly complained, and didn’t pay their bills.

Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t put ourselves in the position of the “pinch of need,” and instead had the luxury of being able to pick and choose the clients and cases we work with? The only way to achieve the position of having the ability to pick and choose is to have so much business you will not starve by turning down cases that are otherwise able to generate a reasonable fee in a reasonable period of time for a reasonable amount of work.

Getting started with a Lawyer Referral Service will provide you with a steady source of cases that will continually build your practice. Then you will be better able to pick and choose your clients and your cases.

There are always underlying themes behind each of the tips that I’m trying to give regarding law office marketing, management and economics. One of the major underlying themes of becoming involved in a Lawyer Referral Service is a lawyer’s obligation to provide public service. The local bar association Lawyer Referral Service has been in existence for almost 40 years. Imagine the number of people who have received help through the Lawyer Referral Service and through the Tel-Law program. One of the constant complaints heard by people active in the delivery of the legal services area is the difficulty that people have finding a “good” lawyer. Lawyer Referral Services that have criteria with regard to membership and affiliated associations and that require malpractice insurance to be part of the Lawyer Referral Service, perform a very important service for the public. These services provide lawyers who hold themselves out as having experience in various areas and who have malpractice insurance to cover them and the client should there be an unfortunate occurrence amounting to attorney malpractice. Remember the comment about the legal profession being a “public profession.” What better way to serve the public and at the same time build your practice than to make yourself available to clients through a Lawyer Referral Service?

Sign up today! Build your practice one client and one matter at a time!

The last dozen articles have dealt with tips for getting legal business and making yourself a rainmaker. Recently we have turned to the area of how technology can help you build a practice. Next week we will talk about e-mail addresses and websites and how to keep up with technology. Next week’s “tip” is to get yourself at least one e-mail address and a website.

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.