How to Make It “Rain” – It Is Not How You Market, but What You Do When the Phone Rings

The first rule of success as a lawyer is to have clients that you can represent. It sounds simple, but clients will not just come to you, except if you work for a law firm and you just work on cases that you are assigned. Even so, however, someone convinced that client to retain the firm.

That someone made it rain, in colloquial language.

If you are the one that must make the rain, either because you are a solo practitioner or because you own a larger firm, you are familiar with the current methods of advertising. Marketing is a painful undertaking – painful at the emotional level, yet the most pain is felt in your pocket. As to the first, it is abundantly clear from what I have observed that even though lawyers do care and want to help people, marketing is not their strong suit. As to the second, marketing is a bottomless bucket in which you pour your hard-earned money, earned through sleepless nights, constant worries about your client or what the opposing counsel may do, scarce family life, and the constant deadlines and billable hours to earn a living.

There are different ways to make it rain. Traditionally, you belong to certain organizations related to your own practice areas. For example, if you practice business law, you would become a member of the local chamber of commerce and other business organizations, sometimes categorized by the industry in which they are operating; or, you join various networking groups where you can “sell” your skills. None of these marketing avenues are naturally attractive to lawyers. We don’t like to have to prove to strangers how good we are, and certainly we don’t like to sound like a second-hand car salesman – although there is absolutely nothing wrong with anyone working as a second-hand car salesman, with the clarification that someone who chooses that occupation is who they say they are, and we, lawyers, are not so.

Going out there to market your firm starts to feel very personal as you are marketing your own individuality. Clients will certainly consider your services based on you as an individual, your empathy, knowledge of the law, and how they feel that you can help them. A lawyer should indeed very much appreciate and respect the fact that they are in a thorough interview each time they speak with a new potential client.

However, marketing yourself has a more depressing effect, affecting a lawyer’s self-esteem as you work on introducing yourself and repeat the same words over and over again:

“Hi, how are you? I am John Wilson.”

“What do you do?”

“I am an attorney.”

Prepare yourself for the inevitable reaction:

“Oh!”

Pause in the air, and then:

“What area of law do you practice?”

“I practice business law and help people draft their corporate documentation and ….”

And you keep going until either the person you are talking with is asking a follow-up question or politely and almost imperceptibly exchanges you with another guest.

You don’t like the first part of the conversation, and you don’t like the way it ends, and most of all, you don’t like that you now need to start the conversation all over again with another person. This is marketing, and many people do enjoy the social aspect of it and are quite happy in this endeavor. Lawyers are not these kinds of people, in general.

After a day full of back-to-back meetings, quarrels with opposing counsel, sometimes with a client as well, a judge’s decision that makes no sense to you, and an overall awareness that you are keeping the world of each of your clients on your shoulders – as you actually are, at least as it relates to the matter that you are representing your client on – you are exhausted and want to hurry home, at whatever time of the night that is, to catch a little glimpse of your family life and maybe have some late dinner.

The least desirable thought on your mind, whether at the beginning of the day or at the end of it, is to go out there and sell yourself. It is painful indeed, but as the proverb says, “He who wants the rose must respect the thorn,” and that indeed is how marketing is viewed by most lawyers – thorny and painful.

Well, if you don’t want to pay the emotional toll and weight, there are other alternatives, but the pain will now feel quite stingy in your pocket. The most popular form of marketing that allows lawyers to stay comfortably behind their desks, or at least not venture themselves out into unknown circles, is paid advertising. This could include advertising in the form of “pay-per-click,” where you actually pay for each click that you receive because of someone, robots included, clicking on your ad. The price is quite high, going up to over $1,000 per click – please see below highlights of what it takes to advertise in some areas of law.

Although the absurdity of the high marketing costs that lawyers are forced to pay is the subject of another article I intend to write, I would like to clarify that “a click” is not the equivalent of “a lead” and “a lead” is not the equivalent of “a client.” The conversion rates from clicks to leads are usually around 10–15%, so you will need to spend quite a bit to receive a lot of clicks to get leads and, ultimately, to have a client retain you.

Further, please know, if you don’t already, that many of the clicks that you are paying good value for are not even real but are coming from accidental mobile taps, automated bots, and non-client-related sources. Google itself recognizes that invalid clicks can include accidental clicks, duplicate clicks, and clicks generated by automated tools or bots. [1]

Average Attorney PPC Costs*

• Personal Injury / Car Accidents: $150–$500 per click
• Workers’ Comp: $100–$200 per click
• Criminal Defense / DUI: $80–$160 per click
• Houston Maritime Attorney: $1,090 per click

There are some other ways, of course, for a client to find you, such as word of mouth and friends and family referrals. Although important, as they validate your talent as a lawyer based on their willingness to refer new clients to you, this type of client acquisition is more like a trickle than rain.

So, let’s assume that you are doing what you need to do to retain a client. “You’ve got mail,” and your phone rings. This does not mean that it rains. Although you started a sprinkle, in most cases, it will stop at “hello.”

All these efforts in convincing the world that you are the best lawyer to be retained will be sabotaged by no one else but yourself.

Why?

Well, will the client retain you just because you have made the sacrifice to show up at that evening networking event or paid your marketing manager an unreasonable amount of money to bring clients to your doorstep?

No.

The client does not care about any of this. They care about who is going to be their lawyer as the person that they trust entirely, the person that they believe is going to save them from the chaos they are in and bring them onto the other side.

In summary, to decide as to whether to retain your firm, the client cares about two things: your empathy and your authenticity.

The client can perceive the above qualities regardless of whether the meeting is in person, by phone, or by video, and that is simply because what he or she is looking for is the real and true human of you. He is primarily looking for his “hero” that will bring light into his world.

He is not looking for a law firm. He does not want a law firm. He wants that person that calls himself a lawyer and knows how to solve his problem, but first he must be satisfied with “the person.”

Therefore, the foremost action that you can take to bring your marketing efforts to fruition by way of the client retaining your firm is to choose carefully who says “hello” to your potential client; who is the person that will be listening to your potential client, the person through whom the potential client will screen your firm through the lenses of his envisioned hero’s talents and authenticity.

That certainly should not be your paralegal, as no matter how impressive or extraordinary your paralegal may be, it is not the person that your client will retain for representation.

Once the receptionist does a quick client intake, if possible, the calls should be transferred NOT to a paralegal but to a lawyer that you believe embodies the personality traits outlined above.

Some questions arise: How do I select that lawyer from others?

The test is simple: the lawyer that is most personable with the cleaning lady or the doorman is the lawyer you want to answer your calls, calls for which you paid such a high emotional and financial toll to receive.

The clients are looking first and foremost for empathy and honesty; they also want to hear the truth about the weaknesses and strengths of their matter, delivered with optimism.

This emphasis on communication is not merely a matter of good customer service. The American Bar Association’s discussion of Model Rule 1.4 emphasizes the importance of keeping clients reasonably informed and communicating in a way that allows them to participate intelligently in their representation. [2]

Some others will ask: “I cannot appoint anyone as it is just me in my solo practice.”

Then you are “it” in every way, the talented lawyer that knows how to assist a client and the authentic lawyer that knows how to listen and “communicate” with the client.

Another question could be: “How do I know if I meet these criteria to convince the clients to retain me?”

If you feel queasy when speaking with a potential client, then you are not ready. You must work more on acquiring the ability to “communicate” with the client authentically and empathetically.

Queasiness or pre-assumed judgments will act as a barrier through which open honesty will be blocked from piercing it, your potential client will be blocked from experiencing it, and your firm will be blocked from the addition of a new client to its portfolio.

Focus on who answers the call more than on making the phone ring.

For more discussions about lawyers, clients, legal practice, and the realities of the legal profession, visit Ask Simina.

Cheers,

AskSimina

*Consultwebs. July 2026.

External links to add to the article

[1] Google Ads – Invalid Clicks: Google explains that invalid clicks can include accidental clicks, duplicate clicks, automated clicking tools, robots, and other deceptive software. Google Ads: Invalid clicks

[2] American Bar Association – Rule 1.4, Communication: Regarding the importance of communicating with potential and existing clients and allowing clients to understand and participate in their representation, please see ABA Model Rule 1.4: Communication

[3] American Bar Association – Effective Client Communication: Regarding empathy, listening, understanding the client, and building trust through communication, please see ABA: Dialing In Effective Client Communication

[4] American Bar Association – Attorney Advertising and Ethics: Regarding networking, digital advertising, lead generation, and the ethical considerations surrounding lawyer marketing, please see ABA: Attorney Advertising and Ethics Rules in the Digital Age

The content above is simply an opinion that could be faulty and not thoroughly researched and should not be taken as an evidentiary fact, advice, or rule to follow. This is not legal advice. Please consult an attorney for your legal question or matter.