Tips to make your legal marketplace profile engaging to clients and win business
For solo practitioners, members of boutique firms and even larger firms and alternative legal service providers (ALSPs), joining a legal marketplace like Priori Marketplace offers a fresh (and free) way to connect with high quality clients and do satisfying work. By combining attorney data with input from client requests, Priori’s data-driven matching engine helps talented attorneys get discovered by exciting clients from Fortune 500 companies to high-growth startups.
But even if you’re already sold on using a legal marketplace to build your practice, we know there’s a lot to consider when getting started. This post aims to break down the process of setting up your profile on Priori Marketplace, and give you some tips and tricks for how to succeed on our platform.
Why the Profile Matters
What’s the point of building a good Priori profile? There are two key reasons:
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Enriching Data – Our matching process is data-driven, which means that the information you provide through your profile, CV and matching preferences (amongst other things) directly impacts the kinds of client opportunities you’ll find through Priori Marketplace. Taking time to properly frame your experiences will help enrich the overall portrait of your practice data.
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Enriching Connections – We may have a data-driven platform, but when clients are reviewing profiles, it is still a very human process. Clients use Priori profiles to help understand who they might potentially hire—not just what they do.
Perfecting Your Profile
The first step to creating a successful legal marketplace profile is the most obvious: You have to sign up. On Priori Marketplace, this is as easy as visiting our website and clicking “Join Us,” which leads you to our free profile builder.
When you start working on your Priori Marketplace profile, you might notice it feels a little like you’re signing up for a social media platform or dating website. And, though your Priori profile is not accessible unless a client has a relevant request, those sites are useful analogues: as with other sites, the goal of your Priori profile is to provide a simple, attractive and coherent overview of your legal skills, work experiences and interests.
Our guided profile builder and application form will help you highlight your experience, calculate your general rate and drill down into much more specific data about your practice and expertise, such as employment history, practice areas, industries you’ve worked in and representative clients.
The more information you add, the better chance you have of connecting with the right client and convincing them it’s an engagement worth pursuing.
Here are some tips for making a strong profile:
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It’s OK to brag. Highlight your in-house experience or employment history at a BigLaw firm. A legal marketplace profile is a perfectly acceptable place to tout your accomplishments and it helps clients get a holistic view of your background.
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Find your core. Some lawyers with varied experience wonder, “I’ve done patents, employment law, litigation—how can I convince a client that I actually have all of these capabilities?” Sometimes the answer is it’s best not to. No one can do everything equally. Think about the core of your practice and pick a focus without pigeonholing yourself or your firm.
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Collaborate. On Priori Marketplace, you can invite other attorneys from your firm to the platform. As they build out their profiles, your data gets aggregated. If clients enjoyed working with someone at your firm but that person doesn’t have the right experience for a new project, they can find someone else at your firm who does.
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Be human. Most important of all is remembering that clients are hiring individuals, not a profile. Try to be conversational in your profile bio without being too informal. Your bio is a great place to start a conversation with a client, not a place to give a long-winded introduction like you’re about to receive an award.
Take the First Step
A legal marketplace can be an exciting and rewarding way for lawyers to work on engagements and discover insights that they may not otherwise have been able to find. You’ll find all kinds of projects on Priori Marketplace, from Fortune 50 product counsel secondments to high-value commercial litigation matters to drone delivery services contracts. (Yes, that’s a real request we’ve had.) And attorneys admitted to our network are given powerful tools to better understand the legal services market, including the ability to review dynamic pricing data across practice areas and project types. Priori Marketplace is used and trusted by companies of all sizes, it is completely free for lawyers and we keep your data private and discreet.
Get started on Priori Marketplace and create your profile today.
