Litigation Firm Gives Up Office Lease And Doesn’t Look Back

Welcome to the second profile in our series of success stories from law firms that have chosen Amata Law Office Suites to house their practice’s operations. Covering only eight of the more than 800 law firms that have leveraged our services in Chicago, Illinois, each month we’ll feature the successes of a few firms and how they’ve used Amata to their advantage.

Can office solutions save lives? Maybe not. But at Amata, we’ve certainly seen ours make others’ easier. Case in point this story about a Chicago-area litigation firm that started with us in 2021. Their journey from suppressed potential to unbound growth is just one example of the real-life impact that the right office space provider can have.

Starting With the Basics

Founded in 1997, this practice was a revered name in Chicago’s insurance, real estate and commercial litigation scene long before it started working with Amata. It had grown steadily over the years, finding success through several high-profile cases while expanding its operations not only throughout Illinois, but also Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. The HQ team back in Chicago worked out of the same office space for 13 years before their lease went into limbo in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During this time, the firm – like everyone else – had been forced to take an unconventional approach to business as usual. The three principal partners, six lawyers and additional staff members on the team rarely visited the office space they had and were instead handling most matters remotely.

Taking a New Approach to Work

Of course prior to the pandemic, there wouldn’t have been a question about whether this type of “old school”, self-managed arrangement was the smartest move to make. For many, it was the only way. Business owners had come to accept the sky-high costs of maintaining exclusive office space and assumed it was unavoidable. But remote work changed things overnight to quickly reveal just how much more can be done with less.

In the latter half of 2021, Amata’s team received a call from one of the firm’s partners with questions about how managed virtual offices work. They were particularly interested in phone services, call forwarding and automated receptionist features. These options had the potential to provide all of the advantages of a brick-and-mortar office – reliable customer service and confidential lines for client calls – without actually having an in-house physical presence.

While devastating in other respects, the pandemic presented this firm the opportunity to try out a new approach, and in doing so, reduce its fixed expenses, risk, and partner liability on a short-term basis.

Reaping the Benefits of a Smarter Approach

Within days of signing onto an agreement with Amata, this once-taxed litigation firm was able to drop its monthly expenses of over $21,000/month (including a full-time receptionist) to about $550/month. For context, that’s less than a third of the average rent price for an apartment in Chicago. But they were getting so much more value – not only professionally maintained and managed office space, but also receptionist services and freedom from constraining lease arrangements.

While Amata’s services had initially been sought out in response to the pandemic, the litigation firm moved to transform its partnership into a long-term endeavor. Decision makers found that staff were just as productive in their new flex arrangement and that the cost-savings of adopting it permanently could only pay dividends. This proved true later on in 2022, when the practice added two more associates to its team. They took two additional offices with Amata so that these new partners could work with existing associates in person two to four days each week. Beyond that, no other physical space has been needed to maintain the firm’s productivity and broader operations. Flexible solutions from Amata allow them to drastically increase their monthly cost-savings for reinvestment in company growth.

How Amata’s Solutions Tailor to the Needs of Individual Law Firms

The law firm we’re discussing today is no different from others in Chicago in the sense that it had a problem with operational inefficiency that needed to be tackled. But at the same time, none in the city are identical. Each and every practice has its own story and areas of expertise. Factors like team size, client base, and funding all play into how any given law firm operates. Enhancing efficiency requires case-specific support, and that’s exactly what Amata provides.

Amata gives law firms everything they need – and nothing they don’t. We want to equip your practice to succeed in today’s changing yet competitive landscape. Our innovative services are specifically designed for budding ventures that need a cost-effective way of delivering value to their clients.

We provide a range of solutions, from phone answering and virtual office management to document filing and legal research. As-needed office space is also available so that you can scale up or down as needed. Amata frees up your time, resources, and staff so they can focus on doing what they do best – winning cases. Inquire today!

From Small Business Incubator To Thriving Law Practice

Starting a business of any kind can be hard. Recent law graduates face an even bigger challenge in getting new ventures off the ground due to the highly competitive nature of their field. It takes a lot of upfront capital to start something, and even more hard work and commitment to see it though to success. At Amata Law Office Suites, we understand that not every aspiring lawyer begins their career with such a level of support. That’s why our company is proudly partnered with the Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Solo and Small Practice Incubator program. Providing participants office space free of charge, as well as discounted support services, this initiative is intended to spur graduates’ prospects as they leave law school and pursue the creation of their very own practice.

Today, we’re going to tell you the story of just one of our many successes.

A participant in the Solo and Small Practice Incubator program, this civil rights law firm has worked with Amata since 2017. Limited resources and small staff hindered their ability to make a big impact, but with help from Amata they were able to find just the right arrangement to thrive. The firm was immediately able to expand its services upon moving into their new space – leveraging our amenities to engage with more clients and serve the Chicago community to the scale at which they do today.

Read below to learn more about this specific law practice and what Amata did to help it succeed.

Growing Through Strategic Resource Allocation and Staffing

Any new business, whether it’s in the legal industry or not, will face high start-up costs in the beginning. It’s an inevitable part of the process that, although difficult, can be minimized through careful resource allocation. This firm, like so many others before them, faced this challenge and would have found it difficult to overcome without guidance.

The Solo and Small Practice Incubator provided the platform for our team to connect the firm with resources, including staffing options. Our flexible support services provided cost-effective assistance in the areas of call handling, message taking, and appointment scheduling when the founders needed it most. At an on-demand cost, they were able to drastically cut the amount of money they’d need to otherwise spend on full-time in-house employees. This strategic use of limited resources would prove beneficial as the venture scaled over time and sought to enhance the quality and breadth of its offerings in Chicago.

Simplified Client Intake

The great thing about working with Amata is that there’s no end to the volume or nature of support you can receive. This particular civil rights practice continues to leverage our services in a number of ways, most recently to simplify client intake.

It’s no secret that the onboarding process can be long, arduous, and even counterproductive when done the traditional way. In the past, the firm would solely rely on hand-written notes made by receptionists as leads came in over the phone. That had the potential to create several problems, with miscommunication, lost information, and an inability to accurately track month-to-month numbers being among the most damaging to operational efficiency.

Amata was able to address these issues with a streamlined approach. Now, when potential new clients call in, a receptionist takes down the caller’s name, contact information, and a brief description of their situation. This information is shared with attorneys via email. When the attorney wishes to pursue the matter, Amata’s staff calls the potential new client and, using a 25-question in-take form, qualifies their case for legal services. Once complete, the Amata team member schedules an appointment for the attorney to meet with the potential client either in-person or by video call. This hands-free assistance – as well as Spanish translation support – has enabled the firm to take on a more diverse breadth of clients in less time.

Putting Profitability First With the Power of Flexibility

If you were to ask the firm’s owners, they would surely tell you that rectifying injustices through the practice of civil rights law is why they do what they do every day. But no matter how passionate someone may be, there’s no overcoming the fact that every business needs capital and profit to grow. Amata helped in this domain by providing uniquely scalable solutions.

With our help, the firm is able to scale expenses up and down with workloads, maximizing profitability while keeping costs affordable for clients. In one instance when the firm had two cases going to trial at the same time, Amata’s team was engaged for 12 hours of work. The client was billed $1,020 for this work and invoiced their client $2,040.

Amata Support Services Can Help Your Business Grow

The Chicago-area law firm we’ve discussed here is nowhere near alone in the wealth of budding practices that Amata has had the pleasure of supporting over the years. Our attorney support services are designed to provide just as much value to the small and new as they are the old and well-established.

Inquire today to learn more about how we can help take your operations to the next level.

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