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How to Run a Thriving Small Firm

via Coursera

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Details

Go to class

Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Effort

4 weeks, 2 hours a week
Sessions

Self-Paced
Level

Beginner
Subtitles

English

Found in

Overview

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Welcome to How to Run a Thriving Small Firm . This course covers 4 modules: Setting Up Your Small Firm Practice; Planning for Profit in a Service Firm; Tech Hygiene & Operational Quick Wins; and Building & Leading Your Firm. Each module includes video lessons, key-takeaway readings, a practice quiz, and a hands-on activity. By the end, you'll be able to establish the foundational structure of a thriving small firm — office decisions, staff economics, billing rate strategy, and the discipline of being a small firm business owner who serves clients ethically while operating profitably. You'll also apply Josh Andrews' service-firm profit framework — understanding revenue cycles, key performance indicators, billable rate construction, fixed-cost discipline, conservative planning, and cash flow control through regular billing. Key milestones: Module practice quizzes (formative) · Module activities (AI-graded) · Coach Dialogue (final module) · Peer Review assignment · Final assessment (15 qu...

Syllabus

Setting Up Your Small Firm Practice
- This module of How to Run a Thriving Small Firm — Setting Up Your Small Firm Practice — covers 2 lessons: Setting Up Your Small Firm Practice and Operating Your Practice Day-to-Day.By the end of this module, you'll be able to apply Danny Howell's small-firm setup framework — office decisions (when to skip the conference room), staff salary as a fixed cost, and billing-rate strategy that lets a small firm out-earn larger competitors without raising rates. You'll also build day-to-day operating discipline — short billing cycles (avoid the three-month client-memory gap), detailed time descriptions as both billing tool and client-communication tool, and the relationship advantage small firms have over larger competitors.How to engage: Start with the first lesson and proceed in order. Read the per-lesson takeaways after each video. Take the practice quiz at the end of the module to check your understanding before moving on.
Planning for Profit in a Service Firm
- This module of How to Run a Thriving Small Firm — Planning for Profit in a Service Firm — covers 2 lessons: Planning for Profit in a Service Firm and Fees, Billing, Staffing & Status Reports.By the end of this module, you'll be able to apply Josh Andrews' service-firm profit framework — revenue cycles, key performance indicators tailored to your firm, billable-rate construction, fixed-cost mapping, and the conservative-planning rule (guess high on expenses, low on income). You'll also apply Danny Howell's fees, billing, and collections playbook — flexible staffing options including hiring outside your practice area, leveraging contract attorneys, and using high-quality status reports as both client-retention and billing-justification tools.How to engage: Start with the first lesson and proceed in order. Read the per-lesson takeaways after each video. Take the practice quiz at the end of the module to check your understanding before moving on.
Tech Hygiene & Operational Quick Wins
- This module of How to Run a Thriving Small Firm — Tech Hygiene & Operational Quick Wins — covers 2 lessons: Tech Hygiene & Operational Quick Wins and Networking, Branding & Social Media for Lawyers.By the end of this module, you'll be able to implement Jason Hines' tech hygiene and follow-up discipline — out-of-office settings, follow-up reminders in Outlook/Gmail, scheduling tools like Calendly, task/calendar entries for follow-ups, and documented processes the firm can scale. You'll also build Mary Anne McPhail's networking-first marketing engine — referral relationships with attorneys in adjacent practice areas, branded social-media presence, content creation discipline, and platform choice driven by where your clients actually are.How to engage: Start with the first lesson and proceed in order. Read the per-lesson takeaways after each video. Take the practice quiz at the end of the module to check your understanding before moving on.
Building & Leading Your Firm
- This module of How to Run a Thriving Small Firm — Building & Leading Your Firm — covers 2 lessons: Building & Leading Your Firm and Client Intake & Engagement-Letter Discipline.By the end of this module, you'll be able to apply Bob Cuschetta's firm-building foundations — focus on doing your best every day rather than chasing recognition; the leverage problem (limited billable hours means growth must come from staff leverage); and intake-team training on the 'how did you hear of us' question for marketing-channel attribution. You'll also apply Bob Cuschetta's client intake and engagement-letter discipline — avoid commenting on the merits during intake, screen for fit and ethics, and treat the engagement letter as the foundation of the attorney-client relationship rather than a formality.How to engage: Start with the first lesson and proceed in order. Read the per-lesson takeaways after each video. Take the practice quiz at the end of the module to check your understanding before moving on.