One secret of every highly successful attorney is that they make time to plan for the future of their law firm. Now is the perfect time to evaluate achievements, set new goals and work on the things you need to do to achieve your law firm goals for 2016 and beyond.

Here are some of the areas for you to focus on:

Financial Goals – Don’t just focus on the money; focus on how you will get there.  If your average client spends $5,000 with you, you will need 100 clients to make $500,000 this year. That works out to about 2 new clients per week.  Unless you want a high volume law practice, you will need to develop a way to up-sell new clients into higher-end services.

Practice Area Goals — How many new estate plans do you want to do in the next 90  days?  How many new trials are you willing to take on this year? How many divorces can you handle? If you practice in more than one area, you need to plot specific goals for each practice area.

Marketing Goals – All the top law firms recognize the importance of marketing and business development.  You need to set measurable marketing goals. “I will meet with 4 new referral sources every month.” How are you going to meet them?  Who is going to set those meetings up?  Who will do the follow up?

Strategic Business Goals— This is where you start to think big about your practice.  Challenge yourself: how can you come up with another $100,000 this year? How can you go from your current five or six referral sources to 20 or 30 in the next six months?

Personal Goals – Perhaps you need to schedule a vacation for yourself every quarter.  Maybe you have an idea for a new business venture.  What place does your family, friends or significant other hold in your life?