Focusing on an Industry Group to Develop a Legal Practice Niche

Several members of Carl's family worked in various parts of the heavy construction business. As a result of his familiarity, it was a logical choice for him, as an attorney, to focus on the legal needs of that industry.

For years, he had heard some of their unusual problems discussed at family gatherings. One thing Carl had noticed even before he selected a practice area was that his family commented on the lack of lawyers in their area who were even vaguely familiar with the day-to-day workings of construction. Since Carl had worked every summer and most vacations since high school for the family, he felt he had a fairly keen sense of the industry problems even if he did not know much about construction law yet.

Carl set his practice objective to serve the smaller home builder segment of the industry. His rationale was that he did not as yet feel comfortable with the more sophisticated labor law requirements of large-scale general contractors. Also, the larger projects often involved environmental liability issues as well as multiparty financing which usually required additional expertise.

Having set his practice objective, Carl began the process of assessing the environment in which he would be working. He paid a visit to his local chamber of commerce and to the local branch of the Home Builders Association. He checked the organizations' information on local growth trends in the home construction industry over the last three years. Those figures were confirmed by the county building department.

All indicators pointed to solid growth for at least ten years. Surveys published in the general business press, government reports, and Home Builders Association reports projected substantial construction to keep pace with local economic growth as a result of more young families needing homes and population influx. This growth was underwritten by long-term world events which benefited the basic industries in the area. The projections seemed fairly safe and conservative.

Carl's competition appeared to be two or three larger law firms in the area and sole practitioners who spent most of their time primarily on land use tax and environmental issues. His industry sources told him that one of the larger firms put out a "canned" newsletter, but nobody really seemed to address the local home-building market.

The state bar's Construction Law Section chairperson told Carl that most of their activities were oriented toward heavy construction and commercial building contractors. Carl enrolled in that section anyway and the Business Law Section. He joined and began attending Home Builders Association meetings. Through his regular attendance, he began to learn the principal problems facing the industry. He also began regularly reading three of the national trade journals and subscribed to and read the local Construction News.

By becoming familiar with supplier/builder/purchaser conflicts and the relations with subcontractors and labor (mostly non-union), Carl learned that like most closely held businesses, frequent topics of conversation were succession, sales planning, and difficulties with local regulatory agencies.

Finally, Carl set some very specific billing goals to be attained from the builders within a certain time frame. He felt that if he could not meet those goals on schedule, he would seriously consider some other market segment on which to focus his energy and resources.

He met his goals easily because he was genuinely concerned about the needs and challenges of his industry. Construction business owners came to know Carl personally through his association memberships. His determined presence within the industry secured his success.

TARGETING AND WINNING OVER A SEGMENT

Attorneys can identify potential industry markets using the same techniques required for internal and external practice analysis. Assessment of potential, revenues, existing activities, trends, and personal interest and luck often point to a general area and sometimes even to a distinct segment.

But it is not enough just to target a market. The attorney must embrace the issues which face that segment and become personally involved. An example of the importance of this personal involvement is an attorney who was not as qualified or experienced as several others in town to serve a particular industry segment. For advice and counsel, this attorney relied on an older, more experienced colleague from a larger firm which chose not to have a stake in the industry. As a sole practitioner, this attorney had the time to spend with the targeted client group. The attorney addressed their association meetings, wrote for their monthly bulletin, and worked on their association constitution and bylaws.

Ironically, two other attorneys, both more experienced and qualified in the practice area, were also active and visible at trade association meetings. However, they spent most of their time at these meetings talking with each other. They also wore suits and white shirts, even though their potential clients were much more casually dressed.

Needless to say the younger, less experienced attorney wore the same style clothes and avoided "legalese," opting instead for industry jargon. The perception of the target audience was that the younger attorney was the only attorney who really cared! It should be no surprise that she captured virtually all the client work, which was substantial.