20 Practice Tips to Wow Your SmallBiz Clients

Small businesses comprise 99% of America’s workforce - many of whom will struggle or fail within the first 5 years. Not all of these challenges can be solved by legal counsel, but attorneys with a demonstrated and comprehensive understanding of small business issues can help shepherd start-ups to success. For this reason, successful solo and small firm attorneys are uniquely positioned to counsel these clients, as the attorneys can relate firsthand to the issues posed by entity selection, marketing, service delivery models, the staffing structures, accounting matters, and other operational issues.

In addition to business ownership principles, great attorneys should understand the client’s business’ subject matter, and to truly wow clients, define their niche. For example  - do you enjoy researching and synthesizing administrative rules and regulations? Does offering legal services to creatives provide you with a rewarding practice? Does keeping abreast of cannabis laws excite you? Whatever niche you choose, you have the opportunity to continually impress your clients if you can offer both legal advice on the fundamentals of business ownership and subject matter knowledge from a legal perspective.

This program, taught by Max Elliott, the principal and founder of a Chicago-based firm, and the General Counsel for the Bernie Mac Foundation, Inc. will help attorneys counsel their small business clients in a “wow” way.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify your niche (small business clients who will likely use your services) while staying compliant with the Rules of Professional Conduct
2. Determine which legal entities, including newer entities such as Series LLCs and L3Cs, will best support your client’s short- and long-term business goals
3. Gain familiarity with primary laws, rules, and regulations governing critical components of business operations, such as business income tax laws, Intellectual Property, and wage rules
4. Review broad rules and regulations that apply in the uncertain environment of cybersecurity and how they may affect your clients
5. Review new frameworks, such as Opportunity Zones, which may assist your clients in furthering their business success