The Applied Statistics Laboratory has years of experience surveying lawyers and has previously completed surveys for the state bars of Kansas, Ohio, New York, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Maine. All responses to the questionnaire will remain anonymous. Colorado Bar Association officers and staff will not have access to the returned questionnaires, and the actual questionnaires will be destroyed after the results have been tabulated. It is difficult to manage a practice, pay your expenses, and end the year with a profit if you have no idea how to price your services. Lawyers want to make sure that they are charging enough to cover their overhead, but not so much that they have priced themselves out of the market.
Clients are more sophisticated today.
They want competent legal representation at a fair price, which leads to comparison shopping. You cannot be competitive if you do not understand the market. The economics of practicing law is one of the hottest topics among lawyers. The CBA 2000 Economic Survey questions specifically address this issue. In addition to questions about geographic area, age, gender, and number of years in practice, the survey covers specifics such as law firm overhead expenses and staffing ratios.