October at a glance
This month in one paragraph
A good month that got better in the second half. 61 people enquired, 38 sat a consultation and 19 retained the firm, three more than September. The citizenship explainer video is the reason: immigration enquiries rose 41% after it went out, and Google's Local Services Ads kept bringing immigration leads at about $103 each. Fees billed came to $272,000 and $255,000 was collected, so you covered the month's overhead on October 20. Two things need your attention: Monday consultations are being missed more than any other day, and $31,400 of receivables is now more than 60 days old.
What we are doing next
- 1Put the estate-planning landing page live once you approve it, then point the estate-planning search ads at it instead of the home page.
- 2Film the second explainer video (green cards through marriage); the first one produced more enquiries than any ad.
- 3Send the November newsletter to past clients on Nov 12 and ask the 19 clients whose matters closed in October for a review.
Enquiries by week
What this means
Each point is a week of new enquiries; the last point is Oct 29–31, so it is short on purpose. The blue line climbed from the second week, when the citizenship video went out. The red line is steady, which is what we expect: closings and wills come from referrals and search, not from a video. Hover over any point for the exact count.
Where retained clients came from
- Google Local Services Ads6
- Referrals from past clients4
- Google Ads3
- Referrals from other firms3
- Explainer video2
- Avvo and Justia1
What this means
"First contact" is how each new client found the firm, taken from Clio Grow's source field and CallRail's call tracking. Seven of the 19 came through referrals, which cost nothing; nine came through Google, which cost money. The centre number does not change when you switch ranges; the slices and the counts beside them do.
Connected sources
Why this is here
Every number on this page comes from one of these. Nothing is typed in by hand, so if a source disconnects you will see "Needs attention" here before any figure goes stale. Each connection is read-only; we cannot change anything in Clio, LawPay or QuickBooks.
When enquiries arrive
Why this is here
Monday morning is when a third of the week's enquiries arrive: people spend the weekend deciding and call first thing. That is the window to keep the phones fully staffed and the reason we schedule the Local Services Ads budget to be heaviest Monday to Wednesday. The 5–8 pm row is after hours; those calls go to voicemail or the answering service, and CallRail tells us 46 of October's 214 calls arrived then.
Matters opened by practice area
What this means
A matter is a file opened in Clio. 24 were opened in October: the 19 new clients plus five existing clients who came back with new work (a second closing, a will after a green card). Closings are the most frequent matter but not the most valuable; see the fees list below. We only see the practice area and the date, never who the client is.
Fees by practice area
- 1Green cards$71,200
- 2Naturalisation$58,400
- 3Closings$54,600
- 4Wills and trusts$38,900
- 5Business visas$29,300
- 6Probate$19,600
What this means
This is October's billing from Clio Manage, split by the practice area on each matter. Immigration work (the three blue bars) is 58% of what the firm billed, which is why the marketing money leans that way. Probate is the smallest line but the steadiest: it arrives through referrals from the estate-planning clients you already have.
Intake funnel
What this means
Each bar is a step on the way to a client, as a share of everyone who enquired. The biggest drop is between enquiry and a booked consultation: 17 of the 61 never booked, mostly because their matter was outside your practice areas or outside New York. The next biggest is the six no-shows, which is the Monday problem on the Overview tab. Fix the no-shows and you would have had roughly three more clients this month without spending another dollar.
| Consulted but did not retain | People |
|---|---|
| Chose another firm | 6 |
| Fee was higher than they expected | 5 |
| Decided not to proceed for now | 4 |
| Stopped replying | 3 |
| Still deciding | 1 |
From enquiry to signed engagement letter
What this means
Nine days is the average gap between someone's first call and their signed engagement letter. It was 11 in September. Two things shortened it: the consultation is now booked on the first call rather than by email afterwards, and the engagement letter goes out through DocuSign within an hour of the consultation instead of the next day. The longest case this month took 21 days; that person was waiting on a document from abroad.
Unsigned engagement letters
Why this is here
Every engagement letter DocuSign has sent but not received back is money the firm has agreed but not secured. In October, 43% of the people who got a follow-up call from a paralegal signed within a week; the rest were left to decide on their own and most did not. Drag the slider to see what a few calls are worth. We never see who the letters are for; DocuSign tells us only the count, the dates and the fee field.
Campaigns
| Campaign | Spend | Result | Retained | Per retained case | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Immigration lawyer" · Google Local Services Ads | $3,180 | 31 leads · $103 each | 6 | $530 | Running |
| "Estate planning" · Google Ads search | $2,220 | 14 enquiries · 7 consultations | 3 | $740 | Running |
| Citizenship explainer video · Business Profile, LinkedIn, website | $1,850 | 6,300 views · immigration enquiries +41% | 2 | $925 | Published Oct 7 |
| Referral series · LinkedIn, 9 posts | $0 | 640 profile visits · 6 enquiries from other firms | 3 | $0 | Running |
| Review drive · email after a matter closes | $0 | 32 asked · 11 Google reviews · 3 Avvo | — | $0 | Running |
| "Closing attorney" · Google Ads search | $540 | 5 enquiries · 0 consultations | 0 | — | Paused Oct 18 |
What this means
"Per retained case" is the spend on that campaign divided by the new clients it produced; the referrals from past clients and from Avvo are not in this table because they cost nothing to run. The video looks expensive per client at $925, but it was a one-time production cost and it keeps working: it is still the most-watched thing on the Business Profile and will be counted against November's clients too. Local Services Ads remain the best paid source: Google only charges for a genuine lead, and we disputed four poor ones in October and got three credited.
Calls by week
What this means
214 calls came in; 183 were answered by a person and 31 went to voicemail. Of the 31 missed, 22 came after 5 pm or on a weekend, and 19 of those were called back the next morning. The nine missed during office hours are the ones that cost you: almost all were on Monday mornings, when two lines were busy at once. Every call is recorded by CallRail for 30 days so a missed one can be returned with context.
How the pipeline is running
What this means
Google ranks Local Services Ads partly on how fast the firm answers, so the 15-minute figure decides how many leads you are shown for. 88% is good; the misses are the Monday morning rush. The show rate is the share of booked consultations that took place. The review figure is the share of closed-matter clients we asked who then left a review; one in three is high for a law firm, because people are asked by the attorney, not by a form.
Paused, so nothing is wasted
Why this is here
We review every paid campaign on the 1st and the 15th. If it has not produced a consultation in four weeks it is paused and the money moved, and you see it here. Closings will keep coming from referrals and the Business Profile, where they cost nothing; we would rather earn those than buy them.
Best LinkedIn post
| Post | Views | Enquiries |
|---|---|---|
| Co-op vs condo: five documents | 4,120 | 3 |
| What changed in naturalisation interviews this year | 2,860 | 2 |
| A will is not an estate plan | 1,940 | 1 |
What this means
LinkedIn is not where clients find you; it is where other attorneys do. The referral series is written for lawyers at firms that do not practise immigration or real estate, so that when their client asks, they send them to you. Three of October's 19 new clients came that way, at no cost. We draft every post; you approve it before it goes out.
Collections by week
What this means
Collections are 12% ahead of last October. The firm collects more each week through the month because flat-fee immigration matters are paid at signing and hourly real-estate and estate work is invoiced at month end. The 7-day view shows weekdays only; LawPay settles at night and nothing lands on weekends.
Revenue by practice area
- Immigration$158,900
- Estate planning$58,500
- Real estate$54,600
What this means
Immigration is 58% of billing, real estate 20%, estate planning 22%. That mix is a risk as well as a strength: a change in federal processing can slow a majority of the firm's income at once. That is the business reason behind the estate-planning landing page and ads, which are the two steps on the To do tab; they grow the part of the firm that does not depend on Washington.
Break-even day
What this means
Overhead is everything the firm pays whether or not it has clients: salaries, the lease, insurance, software, the answering service. On October 20 the month's collections passed that figure, and everything after it was profit before partner draws. Last month that happened on the 21st. The earlier in the month this lands, the more room you have.
Costs that moved
- 1Contract paralegal, immigration filings+$3,600
- 2Malpractice insurance renewal+$2,400
- 3USCIS filing fees passed through+$1,900
- 4Court and recording fees−$620
- 5Marketing+$350
What this means
Only lines that changed by more than $300 are shown. The paralegal cost is the one to watch: it tracks immigration volume, so it is a good cost, but if it stays above $3,000 a month for a quarter it is cheaper to hire. The filing fees are passed through to clients and come back as receivables; they are not really a cost, which is why the bar is yellow. The insurance renewal is annual and will not repeat until next October.
From your bookkeeper
October closed cleanly. The operating account reconciles to QuickBooks, the IOLA trust account reconciles to LawPay and Clio to the dollar, and the three-way reconciliation is filed. Receivables are $98,200 in total, down from $109,000; the $31,400 that is over 60 days is spread across nine invoices and two of those, together $8,900, are past 90 days and both relate to closings that were adjourned. I would send those two a statement this week rather than wait for the adjourned dates. Payroll, rent and the insurance renewal are paid; nothing is outstanding to a vendor beyond 30 days. On the current run rate the firm finishes the year at about $3.1 million in fees billed, with a margin near 34%.
Why this is here
The dashboard is built from the systems; this paragraph is a person who looked at the books. If the two ever disagree, the bookkeeper is right and we fix the dashboard.
Google rating
- 5 stars9
- 4 stars2
- 3 stars or below0
What this means
People searching "immigration lawyer near me" see the rating and the count before they see your name. 4.8 with 187 reviews puts the firm first among the twelve immigration firms Google shows for Midtown. The one three-star review in the last 90 days was about parking; we answered it, and it has not been repeated. Reviews come from the request that goes out when a matter closes; we never ask during a matter.
What people said
Why this is here
These are the words that convince the next client. We quote only the public review, with initials, and we leave out anything that would say what the matter was or when it concluded. The themes repeat across all 187: responsiveness, patience and a fee that matched the quote. Those three things are what the firm's advertising should say, so that is what it says.
Words people use
What this means
We count the phrases that appear in reviews, not the stars. "Responsive" and "explained everything" lead by a distance, and "spoke our language" refers to the Spanish and Urdu consultations. The two mentions of parking are the only recurring complaint. These phrases are reused, word for word, in the ads and the landing page, because they are what clients already believe about the firm.
How we reply
- We never confirm that the reviewer is or was a client, even when they say so themselves.
- We never discuss a matter, a result, a date or a fee, and we never correct a factual detail in public.
- Every reply is drafted by us and approved by an attorney before it is posted.
- A negative review gets a reply within 24 hours that offers a direct phone number for the managing partner and nothing else.
- No reply ever includes a promise about an outcome.
Why this is here
A reply that confirms someone is a client can breach confidentiality under Rule 1.6, and a reply that argues a bad review makes the firm look worse to the next reader. Replying at all matters: Google shows that the firm answers, and people trust an answered one-star review more than an ignored one.
Waiting for your approval
- Estate-planning landing page (copy, fee ranges, required advertising label)
- November newsletter to past clients: "What changes for your estate plan when you buy a home"
- Next week's explainer video script: green cards through marriage, 4 minutes
Why this is here
Attorney advertising in New York has to be reviewed and retained by the firm, so nothing we write is published until an attorney approves it here. Approving marks it done for us; the full draft is in the email we sent you with the same title. Decline by replying to that email with what to change.
Questions for you
- 1Monday consultations miss at 18%. May we move Monday slots to a 20-minute phone call and keep in-person consultations for Tuesday to Thursday?
- 2May we ask the 19 clients whose matters closed in October for a review? The request mentions the firm, never the matter.
- 3The "closing attorney" ads are paused. Do we try a small Brooklyn and Queens co-op buyers campaign in January, or leave closings to referrals?
- 4The estate-planning page quotes a fee range for a simple will and a revocable trust. Keep the range, or say "from" with the lower figure only?
Why this is here
These are the things we cannot decide for you: how the firm meets clients, what it asks of them and what it says about its fees. Answer in the Friday call or by email. Anything left unanswered stays here next month.
The next four weeks
| Week of | What happens | Needs from you |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2 | Estate-planning landing page goes live · "Estate planning" search ads pointed at it · bookkeeper's statements to the two 90-day invoices · Monday no-show check after two weeks of reminder texts | Approve the page |
| Nov 9 | Film the green-card explainer video (Tuesday, 90 minutes at the office) · November newsletter sent Nov 12 at 10 a.m. · review requests to October's closed matters | Approve the script and newsletter · an attorney on camera |
| Nov 16 | Video edited and published on the Business Profile, LinkedIn and the website · mid-month campaign review · LSA budget raised to $4,000 if the response time is above 90% | Nothing |
| Nov 23 | Thanksgiving week: ads reduced Wed–Fri, answering service on holiday hours · November close prepared · December plan and the January real-estate question answered in the Friday call | Answer questions 1–4 |
Why this is here
So you always know what we are doing with the firm's name before we do it. Dates move if an approval is late; nothing is published early.