Fixing The Legal Recruitment Problem For Law Firms

Solicitors are struggling with legal recruitment at the moment. So, how do you go about fixing the legal recruitment problem for law firms?

Fixing The Legal Recruitment ProblemI have been working with law firm owners since 2003 to help them grow their law firms.

I can honestly say that the legal recruitment problem has never been more of an issue than it is now.

The pandemic seems to haev changed how people would like to work, with some keener than ever to become legal consultants or freelance solicitors, with others happy to stay where they were but now work from home.

Consequently, there are fewer solicitors looking for jobs and more law firm owners looking to recruit them.

It has led to me spending quite a bit of time thinking about the challenge, as there is little point in getting a law firm owner a lot more clients if they have no one available to look after them.

At the same time, by looking at what I do all day, every day, and the topic of my book, The Law Firm Growth Formula, the answer to the legal recruitment problem may well be easier than it first appears.

It all starts with asking the following question:

“Are you spending as much time on recruitment as you are on winning new clients?”

When I ask this question, the answer from law firm owners is usually a resounding ‘no’.

How can anyone expect to be winning the legal recruitment challenge if they are not spending any time trying to do just that?

If you treat the legal recruitment problem in the same way that you would treat the challenge of growing your law firm, or managing the day to day running of your firm, maybe you will start to get better results.

By simply applying the principles I teach in The Law Firm Growth Formula, you could start to see results pretty quickly.

For example, the main four marketing arteries that I teach all law firms to use (because they are the most effective) are:

  1. Having a great, informative law firm website with lots of pages of high quality content which convinces Google that you are specialists so that it lists it in the search results, and then convinves those prospects finding it that you are the experts they are looking for to help them.
  2. Once you have this high quality, informative website, using Google Ads to drive more visitors to it who are searching for a solicitor who provides the services that your firm offers.
  3. Using referrals to grow your law firm, but ensuring that you track every referral in and out so that you can measure the results but also seek out more referral partners just like your best ones.
  4. Using email marketing to keep in touch with clients and prospects so that they never forget who you are and how you can help them.

If we take the same approach to fixing the legal recruitment problem, what might this look like?

Applying The Methods From The Law Firm Growth Formula To Legal Recruitment

  1. Instead of usually just the one ‘Careers’ page on your website, having 50 recruitment pages on your site, with at least one for every position that you MIGHT need to fill in the course of the next year or two (it takes time for them to get traction) along with pages about why your firm is good to work for and existing staff case studies extolling the virtues of working for you etc.
  2. On each of those website career pages, offering the opportunity for visitors (potential candidates) to download your careers brochure, allowing you to email them whenever you have a new vacancy to fill, handing you a ready made list of potential candidates with no agency fees involved each time.
  3. Using Google Ads to attract people to your website looking for Solicitor Jobs / Parelegal Jobs/ Professional Negligence Solicitor Jobs / Legal Secretary Jobs etc etc so that they can apply for any of your current vacancies or join your careers email list.
  4. Using LinkedIn to connect with people already employed elsewhere for jobs that you might need to recruit for in the future, then each time you add a new page to your careers section, or post a new job vacancy, sharing that with your ever expanding LinkedIn connection network to generate interest in each position.

Now, of course, this will take some time and some investment, but not as much as the amount you have to pay to legal recruitment companies,

If you recruit just one solicitor with a salary of £50,000 by following this plan, at a 25% recruitment fee, you would save £12,500.

That is a lot of money to spend on copywriters for the new careers section on your website, is it not?

And when you consider that once those pages are there, they remain there for good, it makes it a very shrewd investment, does it not?

Chris Carter

Nick has for a long time now been the go to Legal Marketing Expert offering game changing advice in a no-nonsense way.

As well as knowing what works, he will also make sure you don’t waste valuable time on initiatives that aren’t destined to chime.

Approachable, friendly and fun to deal with he will always make sure you are travelling in the right direction and on the road to success.

Can’t recommend enough!

Tim Bishop

As the owner of a small to medium-sized law firm, I have found that Samson Consulting’s Marketing4Solicitors monthly newsletter has proved absolutely invaluable throughout the last three years or so. Of all the marketing advice I’ve had over the years, this has proved by far the best value – bringing us tens of thousand of pounds of extra work every year.

One of the best tricks Nick Jervis [who owns Samson Consulting] uses, is not only to identify the kind of marketing actions a small or medium-sized business can take themselves, but he also explains why it works and most importantly then takes you through, step-by-step exactly what you need to do. As someone who is passionate about growing my business, I really look forward to receiving Nick’s excellent newsletter every month.

It’s worth pointing out that initially I was sceptical about his promises – so many marketing businesses promise the earth. But within a couple of months I was absolutely convinced he was right and I have been hooked ever since.

I recommend Nick Jervis and Samson Consulting without any hesitation whatsoever.

Tim Weir

Having implemented a raft of improvements to our website and marketing campaigns suggested in Nick’s excellent books, I decided to contact the man himself for a one-to-one discussion.

The thirty minutes spent with Nick on that video call provided me with more business improvement tools than I could’ve hoped for. Nick even took the time to give me some insights on client conversion particular to our area of practice.

Online reviews are often brimming with trite phrases and hyperbole, but I cannot find any other way of saying that my only regret is that I didn’t contact Samson Consulting sooner.

Michael Birch

Less than a year ago I asked Nick to help me grow our practice by making the telephone ring.

He’s certainly done that and much more.

The improvements are incredible and Nick has guided me through the many challenges of scaling up, not least the need for a client focused approach.

This has allowed me to start the next phase; organising the practice to ensure a better lifestyle balance for all of us, whilst we continue to grow.

Vinay Tanna

As a medium sized Law Firm we have been dealing with Nick for a good few years now – his assistance and support delivered in a friendly but professional way has been invaluable; added to this, coming from a legal background he has a firm understanding of what solicitors require.

At our initial meeting with Nick he advised on various marketing strategies including simple changes to our website that would enhance traffic to the site.

We are now working on a new marketing project and know, as always, we are in safe hands.