Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
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The Ernst & Young tax guide. Tiger Tables. Both are examples of companies and lawyers turning existing information and services into revenue streams. The tax guide looks at new laws, and incorporates research Ernst & Young has already done into a digestible book that makes best seller lists in the tax category. Tiger Tables, from St. Louis attorney Larry Katzenstein, is software that calculates a wide variety of actuarial factors for certain gifts under gift tax laws. Even the IRS uses it. He licenses it and collects a fee.
Both are examples turning existing knowledge and skills into an additional revenue stream.
In this episode of the Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss how lawyers might do something similar, offer some ideas about how to create successful products, and discuss the legal and ethical implications of providing this information. Most often, the lawyer or firm has already done the research required, and simply needs to create a means for selling it. Kennedy recommends several ways lawyers should get started:
- Analyze what other lawyers are doing successfully.
- Look closely at the strengths within your firm.
- Learn by trying certain products even though they might fail.
Mighell points out that the concept of creating products out of your firm is not a simple process, rather it requires a lot of thought and should not be gone into as a whim.
Also check Kennedy’s article, “The Productization of Legal Services,” for a nine-step process on creating other revenue streams for your law firm.