What We Do At How To Manage A Small Law FirmBuilt For Owners

Law Firm Management Services: We Help You RunThe Business Of Your Law Firm.

GuidanceSystemsAccountability

The business side of your practice

You Already Know How To Be A Lawyer.

We help you manage, grow and build a more profitable law firm.

Start working on your business

Schedule Your Diagnostic Now

Management, Not Just Advice

Your Law Firm Needs More Than Advice. It Needs Management.

As your law firm grows, you cannot continue being the lawyer, CEO, COO, CFO, CMO and everything else your business needs.

That's why we don't just coach you from the sidelines.

We step into the business with you.

Depending on the size, stage and needs of your law firm, experienced CEOs, COOs, CFOs and CMOs from How To Manage A Small Law Firm can occupy real seats on your organizational chart and help you manage the business until it makes sense to bring those positions in-house.

Real Seats. Real Support.01

CEO

COO

CFO

CMO

Experienced leadership support for the roles that help a growing law firm make better decisions, build better systems, and create lasting capacity.

Because the goal isn't to make you dependent on us.

The goal is to help you build the management team your growing law firm needs.

Built In The Room

You Don't Have To Figure It Out Alone.

Learn alongside law firm owners who are building more intentional, profitable businesses.

HTM members learning, collaborating and presenting at a live event

Your Strategic Advantage

Think Of Us As Part OfYour Law Firm's Management Team.

Big law firms and successful businesses have experienced executives responsible for marketing, sales, operations, people, finances and growth.

The leadership gap01

Most small law firm owners have... themselves.

You're expected to be the lawyer, owner, CEO, manager, rainmaker, recruiter, problem-solver and financial decision-maker, often without ever being taught how to do most of those jobs.

That's where we come in.

We bring the business-management experience, structure, systems, tools, data and accountability to help you make better decisions and turn those decisions into action.

You remain the owner. You decide where you want your business to go. We help you figure out how to get it there.

Hear It From The People Doing It

Real Owners. Real Results.

Work That Happens In The Room.

Members working together around a tablet during an HTM workshop.

Law firm owners collaborating around a table during a working session.

A small group of law firm owners working through ideas around a table.

Members collaborating closely around a table during an HTM work session.

The membership will systematically build out and teach you the directions and the procedures and the policies that your firm needs to be able to show those team members how they can be efficient and effective in their role.

Corine Rogers Holy

Brotman Law, San Fransisco, CA

Executive Support

The Leadership Your Firm Needs To Grow.

CEOChief Executive Officer

Smiling HTM member seated at a How To Manage A Small Law Firm event

Real HTM Members

Happy clients. Stronger businesses.

CEO

Turn Your Goals Into A Business Plan

Your CEO helps keep the whole business pointed toward where you said you want to go.

Your goals are the GPS coordinates. Your CEO helps translate those financial, personal and professional goals into a business plan—and helps make sure Marketing, Sales, Production, People, Systems, and Money & Metrics are all moving in the same direction.

Your CEO helps you see the bigger picture, prioritize what matters now, make better management decisions and hold the business accountable to the plan.

Because growth isn't about doing more of everything.

It's about doing the right things, in the right order, for the stage your law firm is in.

The C-suite needs to know not only the owner's goals but why those goals matter, because those goals should become the destination against which strategy and day-to-day decisions are evaluated.

COOChief Operating Officer

Real HTM Members

Happy clients. Stronger businesses.

COO

Build A Business That Doesn’t Depend On You

Your COO turns the plan into operations.

People. Policies. Procedures. Accountability. Capacity. Workflow. Risk management. Execution.

Your COO helps make sure the right people are doing the right things, the systems actually work, policies and procedures are followed, problems become visible before they become emergencies, and the business operates according to the plan.

The goal isn't to give you a glorified office manager who waits for instructions.

The goal is to build an organization that can operate without everything having to go through you.

That's how growth starts buying the owner more freedom instead of more headaches.

CFOChief Financial Officer

Smiling HTM member waving at a How To Manage A Small Law Firm event

Real HTM Members

Happy clients. Stronger businesses.

CFO

Make The Numbers Help You Grow

Your CFO helps you use money as a tool for growth instead of simply keeping score of what already happened.

Should you hire? Can you afford to increase marketing? Where is cash going to be four, six or twelve weeks from now? Are your margins improving? Is your WIP turning into cash? Are you collecting what you're owed? Can the business afford the next investment required to grow?

Your CFO should understand your goals, work with your budget, analyze cash flow, AR, WIP and financial performance, and help you make decisions based on what the numbers are telling you.

A CFO isn't there to babysit the bookkeeper.

Your CFO is a strategic financial partner responsible for helping make sure the firm's plans for growth also make economic and financial sense.

CMOChief Marketing Officer

Real HTM Members

Happy clients. Stronger businesses.

CMO

Build A Predictable Path To The Right Clients

Your CMO helps turn growth goals into a marketing strategy that produces the prospective clients your business needs.

Not random marketing. Not another shiny tactic. And not spending money because somebody told you that every lawyer needs to be on TikTok.

Your CMO's job is to connect the firm's growth plan to the marketplace: who you want to serve, how many clients the business needs, where those prospective clients should come from, what you're willing to invest to acquire them, and how you'll know whether the marketing is actually working.

Marketing should serve the business plan—not become a collection of disconnected activities.

And just like your CEO, COO and CFO, your CMO should understand the owner's goals and why those goals matter so marketing strategy points toward the same destination as the rest of the C-suite.

C+BControllership + Bookkeeping

Smiling HTM member in a yellow shirt at a How To Manage A Small Law Firm event

Real HTM Members

Happy clients. Stronger businesses.

Controllership + Bookkeeping

That Doesn’t Suck™

Your CFO Can't Help You Navigate With Bad Numbers.

Before your CFO can help you decide where the business should go, somebody has to make sure they can see where the business actually is.

That's where Controllership + Bookkeeping That Doesn't Suck™ comes in.

And despite the name, what we're really providing is much closer to controllership than ordinary bookkeeping. The service was created because HTM couldn't effectively help manage firms without reliable financial visibility.

We're not interested in somebody simply entering transactions into software, reconciling accounts, generating a P&L and emailing you a PDF you don't understand.

Accurate books are the minimum.

You need timely, relevant financial reports that help you see what's actually happening inside your law firm.

And then somebody needs to walk you through those reports, identify trends and red flags, answer questions, and make sure you understand what the numbers are telling you.

Because financial reports aren't valuable because they exist. They're valuable when they help you make better, more confident and more profitable decisions.

That's what Bookkeeping That Doesn't Suck™ means:Clarity. Insight. Actionable Information.

We Help You Manage All 7 Main Parts Of Your Law Firm.

A law firm isn't just the legal work. There are 7 Main Parts of the business that have to work together.

Marketing

Get the right prospective clients to your door.

We help you think strategically about where your clients should come from, what you're spending to acquire them, what's working and what isn't. Because "we need more leads" isn't a marketing plan.

Turn the right prospects into the right clients.

Getting leads doesn't help much if they don't hire you. We help you improve intake, follow-up, consultation and sales systems so prospective clients can make intelligent, informed decisions about working with your firm.

Sales

Production

Deliver what you promised your clients.

Your factory is where the legal work gets done. We help you build a more predictable way to manage workflow, capacity, quality and client service so the business can deliver on the promises it makes.

Put the right people in the right jobs.

Eventually, you cannot grow by simply working more hours yourself. We help you plan for, hire, manage and develop the people your business needs so you're building a team, not just adding payroll.

People

Systems & Physical Plant

Give good people a good way to do their jobs.

Policies. Procedures. Checklists. Templates. Technology. Equipment. Workflows. Your people shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel every time something needs to get done. We help you build the infrastructure that makes the business easier to operate, manage and grow.

Know what the numbers are trying to tell you.

Revenue alone doesn't tell you whether you have a healthy law firm. We help you understand the numbers and metrics you need to make better business decisions, manage cash, measure performance and build a more profitable firm.

Money & Metrics

You

Build the business around the life you actually want.

This is the part too many law firm owners forget. The first six parts exist to support the seventh: You. Your financial goals. Your personal goals. Your professional goals. Because if the only way your law firm can succeed is for you to sacrifice everything else that's important to you, the business isn't working for you. You're working for it.

Law firm owners applauding together at a How To Manage A Small Law Firm event

Clarity Starts Here

You know something needs to change.

Let's identify what matters most and build the right plan for your firm.

Your Diagnostic gives you a focused look at what is holding the business back, where the biggest opportunities are, and what to do next.

Schedule My Diagnostic

The Execution Gap

We Don't Just Tell You What To Do.

Knowing what to do and actually getting it done are two very different things.

You've probably already read books. Listened to podcasts. Attended CLEs. Watched webinars. Joined groups. Hired vendors. And accumulated enough ideas to keep yourself busy for the next ten years.

You probably don't need more ideas.You need to know:

What should we do?

Why should we do it?

Who is going to do it?

When will it get done?

How will we know if it worked?

And then somebody needs to make sure the plan doesn't disappear the moment a client emergency lands on your desk.

That's management. And that's what we help you do.

HTM members and speakers collaborating at a live law firm management event

Different Stages Of Growth Require Different Kinds Of Help.

The problems that got you from zero to your first few hundred thousand dollars
aren't necessarily the problems standing between you and your next level.

As your law firm grows, the owner's job has to grow too.

01Create a law practice.

02Upgrade it into a law business.

03Break through the seven-figure barrier.

04Build a business capable of growing without simply demanding more and more from you.

The solution isn't doing everything.It's doing the right things for the stage your business is in now.

Curious which stage your law firm is in?
Explore The 7 Stages of Law Firm Growth.

Help Me Figure Out What My Firm Needs Next

So What Does Working With Us Actually Look Like?

First, We Diagnose.

We start by understanding your law firm. Not the law firm down the street. Not somebody else's million-dollar firm. Yours. Where are you now? Where do you want to go? What's working? What's not? Where are the numbers telling us something different from what you thought was happening? And which parts of the business deserve attention first? That's why your first step is The Diagnostic.

Then, We Build The Plan.

Once we understand the current situation and your desired outcome, we can identify the gaps between the two. Then we can prioritize. Because trying to fix seventeen things simultaneously is a great way to fix none of them. The goal is a practical plan for your law firm, not a generic list of best practices.

Then, We Help You Execute.

A beautiful business plan sitting in a drawer isn't worth much. Plans have to become actions. Actions have to produce measurable results. And results have to be reviewed so the plan can be improved. That's why our work includes the guidance, accountability, tools, systems, resources and management support necessary to help turn plans into progress.

The Outcome

What Are We Trying To Help You Build?

Not necessarily the biggest law firm.Your successful law firm.

A business that:

Serves clients well.

Honors its legal, financial and professional obligations.

Provides good people with meaningful work.

Generates healthy profits.

Does work you're proud of.

And gives you enough control over your money and your time to enjoy the fruits of what you've built.

Because owning a law firm should eventually give you more choices, not fewer.

Not Sure What Kind Of Help Your Law Firm Needs? Good. That's Why We Start With A Diagnostic.

You don't need to diagnose yourself before talking to us.

You don't need to know whether your biggest problem is marketing, sales, people, production, systems, finances, or you.

That's what The Diagnostic is for.

We'll look at where your law firm is today, where you want it to go and what's standing in the way. If we believe we can help, we'll explain what we recommend and why.

Stop Guessing. Find Out What Your Law Firm Really Needs.

Schedule My Diagnostic

One conversation to get clear about where you are, where you want to go, and what needs to happen next.

Member Momentum

Real People. Showing Up And Participating.

Law firm owners smiling and raising their hands during an energetic HTM member exercise.

Four law firm owners smiling together during an HTM event.

Now I have a fractional CEO looking at the business from the top, a CFO helping me look at my numbers, and a CMO helping with marketing. They work together, keep me focused on where I want to go, and hold me accountable.

Mary Gurganus

Divorce Lawyer, Raleigh, NC

Your Law Firm Should Work For You. Not The Other Way Around.

You built this business for a reason. Let's figure out what it needs to become the business you actually intended to own.

Schedule Your Diagnostic

Working On The Business

Building A Firm. That Works For The Owner.

Law firm owners working through planning materials during an HTM workshop.

Three law firm owners smiling while working together at an HTM workshop.

HTM wasn't an expense, it was an investment that paid for itself. The return came through better decisions, a stronger team, more revenue, and a business that finally started working for me instead of the other way around.

Elissa Henry

Homestead Estate Lawyers, Austin, TX