As a law firm owner, there’s a lot more to know about business strategy than you’re taught in law school. If you don’t have the extra time in your schedule to get a law firm MBA, you’ll have to take matters into your own hands.
Our team works with the most ambitious law firm owners across the country, so we’ve learned a thing or two along the way. We’ve gathered insight from our clients and other market leaders to compile a list of the best business books for law firm owners.
Check out the page-turners that landed our list of top 10 business books every law firm owner needs to read.
- The Secrets to Marketing and Automating Your Law Practice
- Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook
- The Client Centered Law Firm
- The Miracle Morning
- You Can’t Teach Hungry
- Never Split the Difference
- Radical Candor
- The Lawyer As CEO
- Never Lose a Customer Again
- The Game Changing Attorney
10. The Secrets to Marketing and Automating Your Law Practice: A Lawyer’s Guide to Creating Systems, Getting Clients, and Becoming a Legal Rainmaker
by David Bitton
As an all-encompassing guide made specifically for the legal industry, this is a great business book for law firm owners to start with. Dive in to discover a step-by-step system for launching, automating, and growing your firm, based on insights from leading experts in the legal industry today.
If you’re interested in getting the details on website leads, online ads, social media mastery, and overall business development for law firms, The Secrets to Marketing and Automating Your Law Practice is the book for you.
9. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World
by Gary Vaynerchuk
New York Times best-selling author and social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk is someone we know, like, and trust around here. In fact, you’ll be seeing him at the Game Changers Summit 3.
In his third bestseller, Gary breaks down the formula for using social media to produce a profit, connecting with customers to beat the competition, and developing high-quality content that is tailored to specific social media platforms and mobile devices.
This one is a reliable business book for law firm owners, so crack it open for the blueprint to social media marketing strategies that will work for your clients and your firm.
8. The Client Centered Law Firm: How to Succeed in an Experience-Driven World
by Jack Newton
The world we live in is driven by experience. When clients hire your firm, that’s exactly what they expect — an experience catered to their needs.
In another legal-specific business book, tech expert Jack Newton dives into the idea that your firm can and should be focused on the client in order to drive efficiency and profitability. Check out this book for proven strategies to improve internal processes and positively impact your bottom line.
7. The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)
by Hal Elrod
Ok, you caught us — this one is more for your personal benefit. But ultimately, when you are able to improve your energy, motivation, and focus, it will directly impact the success of your firm. That’s what makes this a great business book for law firm owners.
Hal Elrod guides you through a journey to transform your life with a surprisingly simple system to take each day to the next level. Buy this book to wake up to your full potential.
6. You Can’t Teach Hungry: Creating the Multimillion Dollar Law Firm
by John Morgan
This would not be a complete top 10 list of business books for law firm owners without the biggest name in the legal industry. John Morgan needs no introduction — and his book contains the answers to all the questions you’d want to ask him.
This one is a must-read for the legal legend’s road map to building an enduring and sustainable practice, including lessons from his early life all the way through his career. There’s no denying the impact of strategies, advertising plans, and tools to evaluate your firm and your staff from the one who built it from the ground up.
5. Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
by Chris Voss
What does a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI have to offer for a law firm owner? Try high-stakes negotiations tactics that you can’t learn anywhere else.
Chris Voss brings his experience from negotiating with bank robbers and terrorists and turns it into a practical guide packed with nine effective principles to help you become a master of persuasion. This book gives you the competitive advantage you need in any discussion.
4. Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
by Kim Scott
As a law firm owner, your biggest job is managing the entire team. This means that you’re obligated to have tough conversations. Best-selling author and experienced executive Kim Scott lays out her vital new approach to effective management, Radical Candor.
Her book is designed to help you implement a simple framework to build better relationships at work and fulfill your three key responsibilities as a leader: create a culture of feedback, build a cohesive team, and achieve results you’re all proud of.
If you’re ready to commit to improving your management skills, this is one business book for law firm owners that you don’t want to miss.
3. The Lawyer As CEO: Stay Competitive, Attract Better Talent, and Get Your Clients Results (While Building the Law Firm of the Future)
by Reza Torkzadeh
You may be an expert in legal research, trial strategy, and debate — but when it comes to running your law firm as the business it is, your education and experience often fall short.
In The Lawyer As CEO, Reza Torkzadeh explores these changes and shows how to transform your mindset, develop your team members, and create a client-centric business. Within these pages, Reza shares how his firm became a market leader by positioning client as consumer, firm as Fortune 500 company, and lawyer as CEO. This is the playbook you need to compete in today’s rapidly-changing legal landscape.
2. Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days
by Joey Coleman
Your clients are not immune from experiencing buyers remorse when they hire your firm. An investment in a lawyer is sizable, and usually concerns a problem that overwhelms your client. Keep the fear, doubt, and uncertainty your clients may feel at bay with the system laid out in Never Lose a Customer Again.
Award-winning speaker and business consultant Joey Coleman teaches audiences and companies all over the world how to turn a one-time purchaser into a lifelong customer. His proven methods help you improve interactions in the early stages of client onboarding to dramatically increase your retention.
Drawing on nearly two decades of consulting and keynoting, Coleman provides strategies and systems to increase customer loyalty. After all, every firm can greatly benefit from long and valuable client relationships.
1. The Game Changing Attorney: How to Land the Best Cases, Stand Out from Your Competition, and Become the Obvious Choice in Your Market
by Michael Mogill
At the top of our list of business books for law firm owners sits the end-all-be-all for legal business reads: The Game Changing Attorney.
In this book, Founder and CEO of Crisp Video Michael Mogill guides you through the number one lesson he’s learned from his extensive experience in the legal marketing field — standing out from the pack to reach a vast online audience searching for your services.
America’s legal landscape is saturated with more than 1.3 million attorneys, and they’re all competing fiercely to attract the same discerning clients and high-value cases you are. The Game Changing Attorney will help you unlock the keys to creating powerful visual content that connects emotionally with potential clients and lands you the best cases.
Maybe we’re a little biased — but the reviews speak for themselves. With The Game Changing Attorney, you’ll not only become a better marketer, but you’ll also learn actionable strategies to help you break through the noise, gain your ideal client’s attention, and dominate the competition.
Final Thoughts
Conducting business research is vital to the success of your firm. There are a myriad of business books available, but ultimately, this top 10 list of the best business books for law firm owners consists of the ones that have proven most effective for the law firm owners we work with.
The topics that are most important for you and your firm will vary. Whether you’re looking for business and marketing strategy, client retention tips, profitability maximization, management skills, or creating a unique value proposition — you can find it here.
