Analyzing Potential Legal Practice Areas

Let's follow an attorney through an analysis of information about potential practice areas and the results of the analysis on the attorney's current practice.

June had conducted an internal practice area analysis but wanted more information before deciding on which areas to focus. She was more concerned with personal satisfaction than with financial gain, although she did not think she needed to choose one over the other. She wanted to gain a better understanding of trends while at the same time considering her personal interests.


Her first stop was the local municipal library. Since her home and practice were in a large metropolitan area, the library resources available were quite substantial. June compiled a list of her own top five practice areas from the past five years, based on the internal analysis of client revenue and frequency of work. She consulted a periodicals index to look for stories about the Indus tries those practice areas touched. She started with the annual business periodicals index dated ten years and tallied the articles regarding the industry and practice area issues. She continued the process through each annual index up through the current year and made monthly totals for that. Using her periodicals tally she narrowed her list to the top five practice areas showing the most growth potential. She kept the other five areas on a separate sheet, not completely rejecting them without further study.

Next she talked with clients, professional colleagues, and trusted friends to ask their opinions regarding the potential for future work. She informally noted and tallied their responses. Later, she conducted further comprehensive statistical research. She also consulted business and law trend analysis articles and books. Finally, she contacted her undergraduate university career placement center, asking for their information on areas of career placement growth. Her conclusions led her to retain the top three related practice areas she had initially selected after consulting the library periodicals index. She staked her current practice on her decision by referring existing clients who were not in those areas to other attorneys and focusing her attention on clients who were. Her focus became more client centered than practice centered.

At first, her practice revenue declined because of her reduced client work load.

But over time, her increasingly substantial reputation for expertise in her chosen niche led to more client referrals, and eventually she regained and even surpassed her former client work load and income.

GOING AFTER TRENDS

How can attorneys determine, with some degree of assurance, what hot new areas or trends are worth pursuing as practice niches? One method is content analysis, which is watching, reading, and analyzing the news and business media for frequency of issues. A watered-down although less time-consuming variation on this method is counting articles on a target subject. Three issues that must be identified with regard to each potential trend are
 

• What peripheral issues will this trend introduce?
• Who will the key players be?
• What will their objectives be?

Answers to these questions provide more definitive parameters for the trend and demonstrate more clearly the trend's potential for continued importance and recognition. Politics also plays a significant role in this process. By following local, state, regional, and national legislation and litigation through news journals and even bar journals, an attorney can develop a keener sense of political trends. Whatever the emphasis, be it an issue, an industry, or a political position, it is important to be objective in conducting content analysis. Specifically, the attorney should rely on a number of seemingly objective sources of information to avoid prejudice.

DEVELOPING PERSONAL INTEREST AREAS

Just because a practice area shows potential for being a hot new trend does not necessarily mean it will work for a particular attorney. The practice area should also coalesce with the attorney's personal interests. For example, one attorney had an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering. Further, she had worked for a petrochemical firm before attending law school. Her decision to serve that clientele was natural. She understood and could speak their language. Additionally, she was particularly well suited to become involved in many environmental issues dealing with wastes and chemical accidents. Her practice area development decision, however, was a direct result of studying media coverage. She knew her skills alone would not provide success. She had to establish that her market needs would provide work and income.

Another example is an attorney who was introduced to literature and theater as an undergraduate liberal arts major. His interest grew into an important avocation as he continued to serve on boards and became involved in theater production. His practice area emphasis came to serve professionals in contract negotiation, tax, and general commercial work. These lawyers are finding satisfaction personally and professionally.

The chemical engineer/attorney developed her practice by combining her legal training with a studied interest and by assessing her practice potential through trend analysis. The theater enthusiast/attorney found satisfaction by combining his legal training with an outside interest.

Luck has been a significant contributor in the selection of more than one practice niche. For example, a retired law school professor has told of three cases where freshly minted attorneys were barely on the job with a law firm when they were given files to study and pursue. In all three cases the new attorney recognized that the matters represented great opportunities because they were areas of law which had no extant expertise. By becoming the experts they developed highly successful practice niches based on luck. Luck in what their employer asked them to do! Perhaps as Shakespeare would have said it,

"Greatness was thrust upon them."

External practice area analysis can increase the odds for success in developing a practice niche.