Building your practice & getting more work

One of the most frequently asked questions of Barristers clerks in chambers is “how do I get more work?”. I always answer with the same information and every new member is given the same information when they apply to join us. Having been a clerk and responsible for marketing and business development for 35 years now, I have the following view.

How do I get more work?

What is work? Paid work includes:

• Advocacy
• Advice & Drafting
• Mediation
• Public Access instructions for all of the above
• Sitting or judicial activity
• Writing and publishing
• Lecturing & seminars

Getting more work in is really simple, you just need to focus on what you are trying to achieve and make it known as widely as you can that you are accepting instructions, giving talks, seminars or writing articles on the subject you wish to promote. Make yourself the go-to person for that area or areas of law and then keep promoting yourself to everyone who can help you achieve the aim. That includes:

·      Your staff & clerks

·      Your solicitor clients

·      Your friends & family

·      Your social media contacts via Facebook, LinkedIn or any other network

·      Meetings and networking events

What marketing materials or platforms do you have available to you to promote yourself or through chambers?

·      Your business card

·      Your personal website

·      Your page on the chambers website

·      Your LinkedIn or Facebook profile

·      Your page in the chambers brochure

·      Chambers monthly newsletter

·      Articles or editorial content sent to Legal publications.

·      Post or comment on LinkedIn, Law Society articles & posts. Be seen in the subject areas you choose.

·      The clerks' LinkedIn pages via sharing. (Stephen Ward has over 23,000 LinkedIn connections and happy to share any members posts, articles or publications)

Your profile & Photograph

Your personal profile is, without doubt, the single most important tool for marketing yourself and your practice. Please spend as much time as you can to ensure you get it right and always, review it on a regular basis. Is it clear? Does it say what you want it to say? Does it enforce your key messages? 

• Review and update your profile on chambers website as regularly as you can.
• Review and update your LinkedIn profile as often as you can. 
• Ensure your photograph is high quality, the background is right for your website and LinkedIn. Ask friends and family if they understand it and now know what you do. They will go and tell people.... it's all marketing.

Tip: Remember "A picture is worth a thousand words"

Where does work come from?

There are only two types of work, it really is that simple. They are:

(1)  Work where you have been requested as it is repeat business or as a result of you impressing someone from your marketing efforts. If someone contacts you or chambers asking for you, it will almost certainly be better work and more highly paid as someone has recognised you as an expert for a specific area of law, liked your previous service or impressed when they have seen you in court or been on the other side and want you. This is, without doubt, the best work you will be offered and will be the highest-paid and easiest to please your client. A “warm” contact getting in touch. Look after them and make sure you tell them how much you appreciate them. Repeat.

(2)  Work that comes into chambers where no Barrister is allocated is what we call general work. It is very unlikely that a solicitor will call chambers and ask the clerks to recommend someone for a high profile, highly complicated, highly paid case. (Public Access is quite different, see below) Work that comes into chambers unallocated, is placed on our wallboard and the clerks will match the work by looking at the area of law, the level of call required, the level of complexity and skills needed, the fee, the geographical location and then the diary. In most cases, the search for the right Barrister results in there being limited options so the allocation of the work is quite straight forward. Where there are multiple options available to the clerks, geography is then a major factor but not the only reason. The clerks will consider the fair allocation of work and consider how much work each member has had, has coming up and so on. The fair allocation of work policy is always under review and will be developed further as we have greater control over our data and ability to analyse in the future. Criteria is being discussed, will be agreed, published in the manual and reporting available to all members via the members' dashboard. We currently look after and allocate in the region of 1300-1500 hearings a month.

The diary clerks allocate all hearings. They are:

·      Greg Speller – Senior Clerk

·      Abi Cox – Deputy Senior Clerk

·      Will Jemmison – Diary Clerk

·      Nastassi Jennings – Junior Diary Clerk

·      We are looking to recruit a 5th member of the diary team shortly

Tip: Get to know your clerks, make sure they know your key aims.

Paperwork allocation

We are working on a new system and wallboard for available paperwork & drafting to also be added to the Chambers365 dashboard. Paperwork is allocated in the same way as hearings with the additional factor of making sure the Barrister can do the paperwork in line with our normal turnaround timescales or any timescale requested by the solicitor-client. All paperwork is allocated by the administration team. We currently look after in the region of 500 requests for advice and drafting pleadings each month. They are:

·      Kylie Parkman – Administration Manager

·      Hayley Johnson – Assistant Administrator

Mediation Work

Mediation work comes in the same as hearings, in 2 ways. We currently manage the administration of between 20-30 mediations each month.

(1)  A request to provide administration for a specific mediator. About 80% of our work is to provide administration to the parties who have agreed the name of a mediator and wish us to make all the arrangements.

(2)  Requests for mediators to be proposed are looked at, matched to our mediator profiles, availability checked, fee range checked and 3 mediators are offered to all parties who then agree on the mediator or ask for more profiles. Please do bear in mind the mediator market is flooded by mediators who have trained and want to get started but there is limited work to go around so it is a real problem to manage expectations. Like normal Barrister work for hearings, it’s always better to do the marketing yourself and get parties to ask for you by name rather than rely on picking up the chance to get into the list of three mediators on the 20% of enquiries where we can put names forward. Mediation fees start at ￡500 + VAT per day and rise to ￡2,500-￡3,000 roughly when a specific mediator is asked for, on a ￡100,000+ dispute as a rule. Mediator fees are quoted on an ad hoc basis for larger mediations only.

Our mediation clerks are:

·      Lisa Rodger – Mediation Manager

·      Felicity Hamilton – Mediation Clerk

·      Holly Graham – Mediation Clerk

Public Access Work

Marketing to the general public has always been a real problem for chambers. In 2015 we decided to establish a dedicated marketing company to focus on marketing directly to the public. Clerksroom Direct was designed and built around the BSB public access rules and exists to generate public access enquiries. Clerksroom Direct is a separate Ltd company from chambers as it has its own staff, budget, and insurance. Clerksroom Direct currently (2020) spends ￡300,000 a year on marketing via a range of channels including Google PPC, direct marketing, networking and a wide network of partners who help market public access to the Bar of England & Wales. Clerksroom Direct is extremely successful and now generates in the region of 300-400 new enquiries a month with a conversion rate of 60%. Conversion simply means that the enquiry has been accepted and a credit card payment has been made. Clerksoom Direct is now the largest provider of work to chambers and has paid our members ￡6m by way of pre-paid fees. Public access enquiries cover a huge variety of areas of law and all sizes of claims from small claims to multi-million-pound disputes. We provide work for all levels of members from new juniors accredited for public access work to queens counsel. Public access is, without a doubt, the greatest opportunity the bar currently has available to it. Clerksroom Direct is available for any member of the bar to join from any chambers as it is a marketing company for Barristers. See join us at Clerksroomdirect.com

The public access clerks are:

·      Sam Morgan – Senior Public Access Clerk

·      Rory Nunn – Public Access Clerk

·      Jake Ward – Public Access Clerk and Public Access Finance Manager

Practice Development Training - Junior Entrepreneur & The Business of Barristering

We work with Heidi Smith at Jurilogical. Heidi runs 2 courses for junior Barristers and more experienced Barristers. See:

·      Designed for the more experienced Barristers - The Business of Barristering programme provides a structured approach to building a thriving practice in the digital age.

• Learn how to use technology to position your practice with clients who need your expertise.
• Create more time for high-value fee-earning work by eliminating administrative tasks.
• Work with co-operative clients who bring you a steady stream of premium instructions.

·     Designed for pupils, new tenants, and junior barristers - Junior Entrepreneur is a supported online program that guides you step-by-step to create your practice at the Junior Bar.

• Step-by-step instructions on how to build a successful practice in the Digital Age. 
• Videos, resources and templates you can use again and again as your practice evolves.
• Access to expert support so you can be confident that your actions will build you a successful practice.

Marketing & design assistance

The best way to think about your chambers is that it is a huge toolbox with many tools available to you. The tools include:

·      Your team of clerks can help you with individual marketing ideas, introductions, market knowledge, setting up meetings or general discussions about your ideas.

·      LinkedIn Training via Rachel Tombs, Links2Leads.

·      Profile writing via Rachel Tombs, Links2Leads.

·      Articles and content writing via Emma Waddingham, Emma Waddingham Consulting and editor of Modern Law.

·      Graphic Design, brochure or PDF production via Wes Dowell, Coastline Creative.

·      Monthly Newsletter to promote yourself, write an article, make an announcement. The newsletter goes out on the 15th of each month depending on the volume of content. You can send direct to Emma Waddingham or via Stephen Ward. The monthly eNewsletter has 21,000 solicitor subscribers.

Read and Write

How to Become an Influencer on Social Media

1. Find your niche.
2. Use the First Principles Thinking approach.
3. Choose your social media channel.
4. Develop your content strategy.
5. Distribute your content.
6. Post tutorials on Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook.
7. Or, write LinkedIn or Medium thought leadership.
8. Grow your network.
9. Engage with your followers.
10. Evaluate your progress.
11. Stay updated.
12. Be consistent.

(Link to Hubspot above but search the internet and find more)

Read as many marketing, business and self-help books as you can. My coach says every professional person should read one book a week.

Cheat Tip: Download the books and listen to them when driving to or from court or meetings.

Write as much as you can.

Write articles for magazines, LinkedIn, your social media accounts, legal publications (The Barrister, Modern Law, Counsel and many others, they love content)

• Publish Articles specific to your areas of law
• Speak at conferences, be seen as the leader in your area of law
• Write a book! Anyone can write a book (I have, so that is proof that anyone can. Tales from the Temple by Stephen Ward, available on Amazon and from all discount bookshops soon (Due Feb 2020)

Useful Links:

·      MyClerksroom Intranet

·      Chambers Website

·      Chambers Brochure

·      Clerksroom Direct

·      How does Clerksroom Direct Work & Who pays what?

·      Emma Waddingham Consulting

·      Links2Leads

·      Coastline Creative

·      Jurilogical

Do you have something to add to this article or a great marketing idea we can work together on? Are you a solicitor who wants to work with us? get in touch.

Speak to your clerks in chambers or get in touch with me directly.