Are You Neglecting Outbound Referral Income for your Law Practice?

Alert & Prepared Lawyers Earn Six and Seven Figure Side Incomes from Referrals.

ELM managing agents help you see past the daily law firm grind and identify referral opportunities where you help people or companies needing expert counsel, locate and qualify that expert lawyer and law firm, make the connection, and make sure that relationship gets started and proceeds on the right track.

We aren’t speaking here about sending a divorce case to a consumer divorce lawyer where you add no value and receive a few hundred or thousand dollars for the referral. That’s not worth the effort, is a bit professionally unseemly, and in some states will irk the state bar regulators.

Rather, some types of referrals generate big fees and are both a logical fit and also very low hanging fruit for certain lawyers and law practices to monetize. We identify these opportunity-types and work with you to monetize them.

Elite’s Managing Agents Identify & Capture Referral Income You’re Missing

Whether you’re one of the lawyers we serve who make 6 and 7 figures per year focusing heavily on outbound referrals or just  want to learn (and teach your staff) to be cognizant of opportunities that fall in your lap; you can add a substantial income stream to your law practice revenues without only nominal associated overhead or expenses.

Outbound referral opportunities typically fall into three categories and can best be illustrated by example:

Logical Law Practice Specialty Extensions

Whatever your law practice focus, there are legal specialties that are just outside of the client and case types you handle. For instance, an employment lawyer might regularly handle retaliatory firings but have no interest or expertise in doing a False Claims Act or other whistleblower case – it’s just not your specialty.

However, if someone was fired for reporting fraud, there may well be a whistleblower case, in addition to the retaliatory firing claim, based on the fraud the client was fired for reporting.

Spotting this opportunity and referring the non-employment law portion of the case to a qualified whistleblower law firm can turn into a seven figure referral fee for you – we have had this exact circumstance happen multiple times among our clients resulting in million dollar referral fees.

Not all are this substantial of course, but if you’re a personal injury lawyer you see a lot of medical malpractice, products liability, toxic torts…all great and logical referral opportunities that you and your staff may have been missing.

We help you see referrals you’re missing, what to look for, and how to educate your staff. You can then build your own relationships with law firms to receive your referrals or use our network for the larger opportunities as we represent some of America’s most powerful law practices in a variety of specialties; attorneys so powerful that cases are worth some multiple because of their brand association.

Legal Brand & Attorney Reputation Attraction

High visibility lawyers with great reputations constantly hear from people by phone or email with legal issues. Many aren’t appropriate for an outbound referral but a certain number of inquiries have high value cases needing exceptional counsel in an area of law or geography that neither the big brand lawyer nor her law firm serves.

As long as your reputation is drawing inquiries from people who are asking for your advice, either legal help or for an introduction to another lawyer you believe qualified, you can help them greatly with a well-considered referral to another firm. These people don’t know you personally but trust your professional brand and helping them when possible is the right and valuable thing to do, and coincidentally in some cases it can be profitable.

You’re in a better position than the client to hunt down an optimal counsel for their sort of case. Most people have no clue, they don’t deal with lawyers. They’ll end up with the lawyer with the best SEO (Search Engine Optimization) skills rather than someone who specializes and has a strong track record.

An example: a Texas criminal lawyer with civil rights experience might hear from the grief-stricken family of a Colorado prisoner killed in custody under highly suspicious circumstances. Subject to compliance with bar rules in Texas and Colorado, this can be a $3 million case (as it was for one Elite Lawyer Management client), $1 million to the Colorado lawyer (33%) and $200,000 of that (20% of fee) to the Texas criminal lawyer.

Your Circle of Influence a/k/a Extended Friend Group

Every lawyer with 10 years’ experience has become acquainted with an astounding number of people through school, family, social, and professional connections; more than they can remember. This same lawyer gets the occasional call from a barely-remembered acquaintance; does this sound familiar:

Hi Sally, I’m sure you don’t remember me but we met a few years ago in Florida when our kids were in the Disney Ice skating competition and I kept your card. I know you have a general practice in New Jersey but I thought you might know someone who can help us.

My nephew drowned in a neighbor’s pool here in Tampa. The safety cover didn’t work or something and local lawyers are torturing my sister trying to get the case. Do you know someone down here or could you help us find someone competent?

You’ve got two choices here. The typical answer is that you’re not in that field and you’re a New Jersey lawyer so you suggest she check out AVVO or worse, call the bar association and inquire for specialists. Or, you can say that while you don’t know anyone you can certainly find a Tampa, Florida area personal injury and wrongful death lawyer with a great reputation and track record.

An hour of calls looking for a Tampa area lawyer with defective products and wrongful death experience, perhaps one certified as a specialist by the Florida bar, and you have a great alternative.

You’re a lawyer and you know how to spot the best. You’ve done a great service to the client, a million dollar case becomes a four million dollar case in the hands of the right lawyer, and you likely earned a 20% referral from a great lawyer. A couple of hundred thousand dollars to your firm created because you (and your staff) were alert to referral opportunities.

Outbound Referrals are the #1 Most Neglected Income Source for Lawyers

The Elite Lawyer Management team will help you in four areas:

• Identify the most likely and professionally suitable outbound referral types for your law practice;
• Summarize local bar rules  on maximum legal referral fees and appropriate circumstances;
• Raise awareness and knowledge within your law firm of the opportunity;
• Connect you, if you wish, with extraordinary attorneys on our client roster – always among the most experienced and accomplished experts in their focus areas nationwide. If they’re not right to receive your referral, they will know who is and they’re always happy to help.

Think back. You know you have missed a few massive outbound referral opportunities and your staff has likely sent away many more with an unthinking, “We only practice in Dallas, Texas. Sorry we can’t help in Florida.”

Monetizing these calls is all a part of what Elite Lawyer Management does for extraordinary lawyers and law firms. If you are an accomplished lawyer or are a member of a specialty group wanting to enhance their visibility, credibility, and income – connect with one of our agents to learn what is possible.   888.787.2246 or [hidden email]