In this blog, we discuss how to know whether you have a False Start or a Stalled firm, featuring insights from bestselling author, Reza Torkzadeh, founder and CEO of TorkLaw.

For contingency fee law firm owners, being the ‘industry leader’ is the name of the game. Scaling your law firm’s growth and cementing your standing as the market share leader is a badge of honor that reflects your hard work, dedication, and business prowess. However, the day-to-day drudgery of running a law firm can make scaling seem like an impossible task. If this is the case, your law practice is most likely one of two main types of struggling businesses: a False Start or a Stalled firm.

The characteristics of a False Start firm include:

• Usually operated by a single lawyer, or a couple partners.
• At most, any additional staff includes one or two administrative assistants.
• There’s a trickle of clients, but no increases beyond a trickle for years.

A Stalled firm is characterized by:

• Usually has some purchase in the market, but not enough to be considered an outright success.
• The firm has enough incoming clients to afford a lawyer or two in addition to the founder along with a small staff to accommodate its operations.
• Once these firms reach a certain size or growth plateaus, they are unable to scale further.

After years running one of these two types of struggling law firms, law firm owners may erroneously conclude that their firm will never be able to mount the kind of challenge that would make a megafirm take notice. A common problem of these firms is that the law firm owner lacks the vision and strategies implemented by successful CEOs and business moguls. This lack has nothing to do with legal experience, as most lawyers would assume, but poor business organization and development which is not typically taught in law school.

Law firms usually find themselves in the False Start or Stalled paradigm due to a failure to prioritize the firm’s business needs: customer service, technology, company culture, and modern marketing techniques for case acquisition.

Watch the video above featuring Reza Torkzadeh, founder and CEO or TorkLaw, as he explains more about how to know if you have a False Start or Stalled law firm.