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‘Low-hanging fruit’ beneficial for boutique firm owners
Here, an award-winning firm owner shared how focusing on “low-hanging fruit” has significantly transformed her business approach and set her on the path to success, urging other boutique firm owners to adopt the same strategy.
Grace Robbie
Speaking on a recent episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, Claire Styles, the principal of C Legal & Co and a former winner of the Sole Practitioner of the Year at the Australian Law Awards, discussed how identifying and capitalising on a firm’s “low-hanging fruit” can serve as a pivotal strategy for boutique law firms seeking to enhance operational efficiency, strengthen client relationships, and drive profitability.
For Styles, the concept of “long-hanging fruit” was introduced early in her journey as a boutique law firm owner at a time when she was refining her business strategy.
“When that term first came to me, it was very early days. I hadn’t launched the firm yet. I was doing all of the pre-work, [including] the marketing and the branding.
“I was working with Mike from Beyond Billables … and he said to me, ‘Oh, it’s really important to know what your low-hanging fruit is.’ This was the first time I’d even heard of it,” she said.
Styles shared that she initially envisioned establishing a generalist practice that would function as a one-stop shop for all legal services, catering to a wide range of client needs.
“At that period, I had the idea of running quite a generalist law firm where it was for business owners and high-net-worth individuals, and I could cater for all their needs. When I thought about it and when I had the first one to two years of the practice, it actually covered a lot of areas of law,” she said.
However, Styles noted that while a generalist approach may prove effective for some firms, boutique law firm owners must take the time to reflect and critically assess whether this broad strategy is genuinely benefiting their business.
“While that can work quite effectively in some firms, I think as a boutique law firm owner, it’s a really great opportunity to say to yourself and to reflect and to look at your books to say, is this kind of generalist approach working for me?” she said.
Recognising that many boutique law firm owners spend most of their time practising law rather than focusing on the business side, Styles emphasised the importance of identifying and capitalising on “low-hanging fruit” to build and maintain a successful law firm.
“Majority of the time, what you will find is, in that situation, business owners will be working a lot more in the firm, doing the lawyering than actually working on the firm and doing the business side of the firm. So, I think the low-hanging fruit conversation is so important to run a successful lifestyle law firm,” she said.
“Low-hanging fruit is [a] really easy concept to think of if you’re thinking about niching because they go hand in hand. It’s a matter of looking at those easy-to-reach opportunities [and] focus[ing] on the most attainable goals, the quickest results.”
Styles explained that to achieve this low-hanging fruit approach, she organises her firm around what she describes as the “four pillars”, with each pillar intended to help the firm thrive.
“I think of it as four pillars in how we look at this. It’s your problem solving, it’s your marketing, it’s your sales, it’s your growth. So, all of those kind of are the building blocks to build a successful firm,” she said.
As the owner of a boutique law firm, Styles shared that identifying her “low-hanging fruit” and choosing a specific area of law to provide specialised services has allowed her to pinpoint three key aspects.
The first aspect is knowing the areas she “loves working in”, the second is the “ability to leverage that work”, and the third is understanding that “she can network and bring in more of that work”.
Styles mentioned that it took her considerable time to understand the concept of pursuing her low-hanging fruit. She attributed this challenge to her “ego” and her awareness of her ability to offer a diverse range of services to her clients.
“It took me a little longer because, for me, it was a bit of ego. I don’t want to be niching; I don’t want to be only doing one or two areas of law. I’m an amazing lawyer, and I can offer all of these services.
“I can service my clients in all these areas, and that’s going to make me a better lawyer and a better business owner, and that’s going to equal the success of the firm and in actual fact, that did not equal the success of the firm,” she said.
