Jack Duffley

Law firm owner #notlegaladvice

Chicago ➡️ Houston

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

Well, we did it. We cracked $90k in revenue in April.

So, with a little extrapolation, we're officially a $1 million firm!

Now for the next problem: we only made $1,800 in profit on that $90k or so (which included $800 in credit card cash back 😅).

Profit is profit, but that's not a lot of room to work with!

Before we can enter the next growth phase, we need to do some cleanup.

We seem to have a lot of leakage on the intake side, and we do not have a good grasp on our metrics.

First step is getting total visibility on metrics. Every day.

Then we'll make [major] adjustments based on those metrics.

Meanwhile, we'll look to create some more standard procedures on the attorney side (i.e. checklists, forms, etc.). Efficiency is increasingly important as our pipeline has grown a lot.

Of course, there will be lots more to do during our cleanup time.

Then we'll be back on the road... this time to $10 million?!

Looking forward to learning a ton more this year and beyond.

P.S. I plan to post a full year review from my first year as a law firm owner soon. Stay tuned for that if you're at all interested in this journey. Thank you all for your support!

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

I'm aiming to build a $1 million law firm within the next year.

That's $83,333.33 in revenue per month.

Here are the steps that I'm planning to take. Granted, everything is always subject to change.

Last month, I had about $10k in fees billed. And that was a part-time effort with zero employees.

I've already run into my first major bottleneck: client intake.

Step 1: hiring an intake assistant.

This step is underway. I’ve interviewed candidates for this role and expect to have someone soon. He or she will likely be an overseas hire.

That person will man the phone during business hours.

The intake assistant will be the initial filter for calls coming in and will handle follow-up with potential clients.

For after hours, I’ll probably still do that myself unless and until I hire someone to work nights and weekends.

I’m already spending multiple hours per day on intake much of the time, and that’s with a fairly low marketing budget.

Getting a couple hours per day back that could instead be billed for hundreds of dollars an hour is well worth it.

And it will up the practice's intake capacity big time.

Step 2: hiring an associate.

This step is also underway as I’m starting to interview attorneys to join the team.

Once the intake bottleneck is solved, the next bottleneck will almost certainly be capacity for client work.

If I can hire an associate and pay them, say, $100k in salary for, say, $350k in annual billables (or more!), that would put the firm in a great position to continue bringing on more clients profitably.

[for reference, big law typically hires new associates for around $200k in salary for somewhere around $1 million in annual billables].

A solid associate hire will also allow me to work more on the areas I’m most competent in while still giving potential clients the help they need in other areas.

Step 3: upgrading marketing.

With capacity increased, it’ll be time to turn up the marketing dial.

Right now, I’m looking at a 4x to 6x return on marketing spend (just within the first month of client billings).

And that’s on less than $100 per day in pay-per-click ads with no retargeting set up.

I have a whole suite of video ads to film and a number of other keywords to shoot for.

And, so far, I’ve only been advertising in Texas. I’m licensed in Illinois, too, so that’s a practically untapped market for me.

With a little help on the intake and legal work sides, I’ll have more time to focus on getting my marketing foundation in a much better place.

Step 4: hiring support staff.

It will make sense to bring on either a secretary or paralegal (or both!) in the near future.

For more routine tasks, like document formatting, filings, forms, opening matters, and invoicing, it will make sense to pass those on to a secretary.

Not only will that allow attorneys to focus on their real role (i.e. giving advice to clients), it should help us to control cost overruns on larger matters.

Not to mention, an effective secretary or paralegal will allow things to operate more quickly and smoothly for the whole team.

Step 5: repeat.

As client demands grow, and as capacity grows, it will be a game of expanding supply proportionally with demand.

Once intake becomes a bottleneck again, it might be time to hire another assistant.

Once client demands become too much to bear, it would be time to bring on another attorney or paralegal.

Once time opens up again, it would be time to ramp up the marketing.

And so on.

Reaching a $1 million annual top line would imply needing at least 2 to 3 full-time attorneys on staff. That’s very achievable within the next year.

I’m excited for what’s next and will be sure to share my progress along the way.

Onwards!

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

@eddienasser Some reasons, in no particular order:

1. Local SEO loves a physical location
2. We do estate planning and we often need to meet clients in person for signings (clients often expect us to have an office as well)
3. Accountability & culture
4. Team skills growth

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

The build out is almost complete!

We made our first hire not even 2 years ago, and now we have a team of 15+. And we're finally getting a permanent office space.

Excited for what the future holds!

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

@titlelawyerjoe @TAMULawSchool It's these kinds of conversations (with folks actually in the field) that were the most helpful to me when I was in law school. Thanks for organizing!

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

Over the last 1.5 years, I've completed something like 2000+ consultations (which effectively is law firm speak for "sales calls") with potential clients.

I've closed around $1.5 million in new client retainers during that same time for our law firm, with most of that coming in the last 12 months.

It's been a grind, for sure, but also extremely valuable education.

During that time, I've learned how to better phrase things, identify red flags, dial in our marketing, and lock in on the problems we can confidently solve, all while our firm has focused on fewer practice areas.

That focus makes it much easier to develop a repeatable system for others to try and close new clients.

One of the firm's top priorities this year is to bring on a consultations team that isn't just me.

We have a wonderful front line intake team who filter out the people we likely can't help well, but we need people who can close those filtered leads on the back end.

Before we do that, we're trying to build up educational guides, scripting, and internal resources so that anyone joining the team can quickly get up to speed on accurately identifying problems and when to offer different solutions.

It's hard to do when so much of my day is already devoted to consultations, but it needs to be done if I ever have a chance of not being our sales bottleneck as we approach the $2 million+ revenue range.

I've become a decent salesman, but the new challenge is trying to become a decent sales manager.

And there's still everything else to do that comes with trying to grow a law firm, of course.

Always something new to work on!

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

Google reviews have been a huge catalyst for our firm.

Since we're only a year old, we don't have a long-standing reputation in the area (yet!) so reviews are vital for building quick trust with folks who have never heard of us before.

Most of our leads come from paid advertisements, so they often have not interacted with our firm much at all prior to an initial call or consultation.

A solid reviews profile immediately builds trust and gives those colder leads much more confidence in giving us a shot.

Not to mention, the reviews are a great vote of confidence.

Looking forward to getting to 100 reviews soon!

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

@rohde88 Have you considered leveraging to the hilt and throwing it all on crypto?

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

Running a law firm means balancing a mountain of client work, sales, and the day-to-day demands that never seem to slow down.

But each week, I try to carve out a little time for working on systems.

Those small steps—improving templates, streamlining workflows, or fine-tuning processes—are investments in the firm’s future.

This time may seem minor amidst the chaos, but it’s what will drive long-term growth and help clear bottlenecks.

It’s not always easy to squeeze it in, but it’s absolutely worth it.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

When I was solo, I started running ads to bring in new clients and immediately hit a bottleneck: the calls came in faster than I could handle while juggling ongoing cases.

That’s why my very first hire was for intake & sales, and 3 of my first 4 hires were dedicated to it.

Intake sets the tone for the entire client experience.

And missed or unaddressed calls are very expensive.

Without a dedicated team, intake quickly becomes a bottleneck, especially when you’re growing.

For us, working to build a strong intake team and process early on has been crucial as we've scaled. It will undoubtedly be critical for our next phase of growth, too.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

@eddienasser We generally have too much work to go around, so the person will have something to do right away. I'm basically alternating each week between selling a bunch and then trying to get the work done before getting back to selling. It would be more efficient to just sell...!

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

💼 We’re making our most pivotal hire yet—a managing attorney.

Right now, I’m juggling three [full time] roles: sales, case management, and overall firm management.

Simply put, I'm a major bottleneck for our law firm. I can't handle more cases, and time spent towards sales and firm management takes away from the cases that need attention.

With the right person in place, I’ll be able to shift my focus away from case management and double down on sales and marketing.

But it’s not just about freeing up my time—this hire will be central to our quality of work, team morale, and ability to deliver the best for our clients.

Bringing on a managing attorney will be a major turning point for our firm, for better or for worse. Though I'm optimistic it will be for the much, much better!

The onboarding process will be critical. I want to make sure we set up the person for success from the get go.

It’s a big investment in our future, and if done right, it’ll make our whole firm that much stronger.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

I recently launched a private networking group for law firm owners looking to grow.

In addition to an online forum and messaging platform, there are weekly video calls so members have the opportunity to connect face to face. We'll do in person events as well.

It’s all about building better firms together.

And I'm offering a 7-day free trial if you'd like to check it out. I'd love to get your input if you give it a try!

Here's the link: https://t.co/QawuN7OH2O

See you there!

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

Finding the right niche has been one of the biggest growth moves for our firm. Being a jack-of-all-trades is certainly doable, but is far from optimal.

For us, focusing on estate planning and probate allows us to deliver stronger results and create a more streamlined experience for our clients. We can more easily offer flat fees as well, which are well-received by our clients.

Even then, we can still niche down much further.

In short, it's a big net positive.

But with so many niches, which one should someone pick?!

Some key lessons for picking a niche:

✅ Don’t chase shiny objects. It’s tempting to say “yes” to every opportunity, but doing so can spread your resources thin and actually slow growth.

✅ Market matters. Niching down is generally useful. But try to make sure there's a market for that niche, especially if scaling is the goal. That said, even a small but steady demand beats a high-demand area that doesn’t match your strengths.

✅ Scalability wins. In a niche that allows for consistency and scalability, you can build processes more easily. For us, estate planning and probate have plenty of room to scale and provide a higher volume of matters, which gives us lots of chances to to optimize our processes.

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Choose a niche that fits both what you’re great at and what your clients need. It’s not just about picking a profitable area—it’s about building a sustainable practice that aligns with your strengths and keeps your team and clients happy.

The focus pays off.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

@TaylerWTibbitts We currently have 3 practicing attorneys (including myself) and 2 paralegals. We had 4 attorneys at one point. We have a managing attorney coming on board in a couple of weeks.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

I scaled my law firm from $0 to $100k per month in less than 1 year. Here are some of the top growing pains:

1. Hiring & Training

We added over 10 people in less than 12 months. Scaling at that speed meant hiring fast, and getting the right fit for each role is not easy.

A single mismatched hire can slow down the whole team. I've gotten better at identifying folks who will drive the team forward, and I've built up the "no" muscle when it comes to hiring people who might seem good, but I notice some sort of red flag.

It's rarely worth taking that risk if you know that red flag is there.

Even if it's just a funny feeling, I'd rather listen to it and wait for another candidate than bring on someone who isn't ideal.

Now, I have greater confidence when hiring. Like any skill, it takes time to get better at it.

2. Maintaining Quality Control

Quality control is typically the first thing to degrade with scale.

Legal services demand precision, and scaling meant we needed tight processes to ensure consistent work.

We're focusing on improving our systems and software to make work faster AND more accurate at the same time.

We're planning to build out far more training content for our team as well.

But protecting standards is a never ending battle and it requires consistent and constant investment.

3. Keeping Fulfillment Efficient

On a similar note, delivering legal services efficiently at scale means improving our processes constantly.

Building a structured workflow for intake, follow-ups, and case management has helped us stay on track.

Of course, there's enormous room for improvement still. And the team is especially excited to make progress there.

Focusing on narrower niches has helped toward alleviating that issue.

---

At times, it feels like a hamster wheel, but it’s been an incredible educational experience to scale as quickly as we have.

Rapid growth may be tough, but the lessons learned will prove increasingly valuable as we move forward.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

@eCourtReporter 2024 was the "figure out what we're doing" year. 2025 is going to be a year of optimizing. We're implementing a number of new software tools right now to help automate large sections of our process. Estate planning and probate especially have great opportunities for automation.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

@bryanhenry @investing_law

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

Niching down has been a major unlock for our law firm.

When I started the practice, we covered everything from business law to real estate, and soon added on estate planning and probate—each area bringing its own set of demands.

But the breadth was holding us back. Marketing, consultations, and client onboarding felt scattered, and each new case often required a fresh deep dive.

Even if we did a great job on everything, the lack of focus made everything slower.

So we made a shift. Now we're concentrating on estate planning and probate.

We're saying "no" to more things and are referring out work to other firms more regularly.

Focusing allows us to streamline operations, messaging, and fulfillment.

After all, each niche has so many sub-niches to cover. I'd have to believe we'll continue to niche down in the future.

As of now, efficiency is up. Our team is more engaged and is excited to see the improvements. Clients feel the difference.

Sometimes, less really is more.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

@investing_law I wrote this post on the plane on Thursday - and you have access to my niching down content in our networking group. I will be sending my cease and desist momentarily.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

In short, it'd be a place to share ideas, tips, and struggles with folks going through similar challenges in running a firm.

That could include a lot of things: regular in person and virtual meeting opportunities, online forum / chat room, educational resources, and more.

[Jack Duffley @JackDuffley]

LAW FIRM OWNERS:

I'm looking to launch a community / networking group / mastermind for law firm owners.

I'm collecting feedback now to figure out what to include (or not include) in the community. DM me if you're interested and I'll send over quick survey!