Firing bottom 10% of clients

Raise The Bar

30 Jan 2025 • 6 min read

How often do you fire your clients? One lawyer suggests an annual culling in order to keep the majority of your best clients happy. Which can be particularly powerful if you've carved out a niche for yourself. What else is on today's docket? We’ll cover some of the highlights below, including:

Why lawyers should be wary of DeepSeek
The CTA is off again… for now
How to identify problematic witnesses
$28.5 billion alternative legal service provider paychecks

And be sure to check out our new Q&A section where we get some practice tips from Raise the Bar readers and thought leaders.

Want to thrive? Fire the bottom 10% of clientele

Lawyers are often told to find their niche, and the rest will follow. Attorney Bonnie Treichel has done just that by tackling the tricky subject of retirement plan compliance. As the founder of both Endeavor Law and a consulting group called Endeavor Retirement, she focuses on helping financial advisors and employer-sponsored retirement plans ensure they are in compliance with the myriad rules governing this topic. Treichel sat down with Raise the Bar to talk about what she has learned by laser-focusing on one area of law. - Emily Kelchen

You have developed an interesting way to ensure you are always focused on serving your ideal client. Can you share that with us?

First, you have to recognize that you can’t be all things to all people. Second, you should periodically fire the bottom 10% of your clients. That sounds harsh but these two pieces of advice go together. When I started my firm, I would take every client that walked in the door and I essentially let them set the price and boundaries of the relationship because I needed revenue. Now, I recognize that doing business that way is a disservice to my other clients. I know my niche and refer business to other attorneys and consultants where I am not the best fit. It’s essential to know your ideal client and where you can provide the most value and over time, weed out those clients that don’t fit your model so that you can ensure they are with an attorney or consultant that can provide the best value to them.

How has focusing on retirement planning shaped how you practice law?

There is often a perception that financial advisors are “bad,” in a similar way that attorneys get a bad reputation. But both are focused on doing good work for their clients, and that is what you have to keep in mind.

Running two different businesses must keep you busy! How do you stay grounded?

Giving back in whatever capacity I can. It can be with time, money or marketing—whatever your bandwidth allows. There will be times in life when we have more margin to be able to do so versus other instances where we don’t. However, when we have that space to do so, it is always helpful to find ways personally and professionally to give back to our communities. Right now, I am focused on Make a Wish and FinServ Foundation.

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Alternative legal service providers cash in

We all knew the market for legal services that are not performed by traditional law firms was growing. But a new report found that alternative legal services providers (ALSPs) now generate an eye-popping $28.5 billion a year. The study tied this growth to the willingness of attorneys to contract with ALSPs for lower cost, high-volume work, specialized expertise in areas such as technology and project management and “access to temporary lawyers and paralegals, and other consulting and software services.” (Reuters)

Caution issued for Chinese AI platform

Most lawyers are already aware of the dangers of relying too heavily on AI tools, but the advent of DeepSeek just gave us something new to worry about. Tech experts are warning that using the new Chinese-based platform—which was significantly cheaper to develop and uses less energy than its American counterparts—could expose you to additional risk. Ross Burley, of the nonprofit Centre for Information Resilience, warned that all user data is processed and stored in China, which may use it for “behavior change campaigns, disinformation campaigns, [or] really targeted messaging.” He went on to note that it is already apparent that certain results are being censored. (CBS News)

Identifying problematic witnesses

Prepping your witnesses is part of preparing for trial, and being able to identify how a particular person may act under oath is key. In this podcast, Bill Kanasky Jr., Ph.D. and Steve Wood, Ph.D. identify five types of problematic witnesses and break down the physiological reasons they may go into fight, flight, or freeze mode when they are in the hot seat. Skip the first 6 minutes if you are in a rush. (The Litigation Psychology Podcast)

Corporate Transparency Act on hold, again

If you thought the uncertainty surrounding TikTok was bad, wait until you hear the latest news about the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). It’s again on hold despite SCOTUS giving it the green light just last week. The United States Chamber of Commerce is urging business owners to reach out to an attorney if the Act goes into effect. So attorneys might want to check out the Chamber’s website dedicated to tracking the latest CTA news. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)

Thank you for reading Raise The Bar.

Hello readers! Thanks for spending a few minutes with today's edition. I'm Bianca Prieto and I am the new editor at the helm of Raise the Bar. I look forward to producing a valuable, fact-filled, 5-minute read for you each week. The best part of this newsletter is our audience, those of you who read weekly, share our content and participate in the conversation.

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Til next week,

Bianca

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