When I was a kid I dated a girl during high school who lived in South Miami.  I, of course, lived in North Miami and that aggravated the crap out of my dad who got really tired of me borrowing his car to drive 65 miles, round trip, to go visit this girl.

Basically my dad was of the opinion that I should be able to find a girl a lot closer to our home. Dad kept telling me there were plenty of girls on our side of town. “There are plenty of fish in the sea” he would say.

Picking a geographic area for your practice is a lot like picking the location of the person you’re going to date.

Usually you can find plenty of clients in close proximity to your office. Of course, it’s going to be difficult to find many clients if you practice in a very narrow specialty (men only, collaborative only, etc.).  But if you have a general family law practice you should be able to find plenty of clients relatively close to your office.

Proximity to your clients becomes important when you’re visiting the homes and workplaces of client’s and witnesses preparing for trial. It matters when you’re driving back and forth to the courthouse to which their case is assigned. It matters when you’re driving to opposing counsel’s office for depositions and settlement conferences. And it matters when prospective clients are considering whether to call you or a competitor with an office closer to their home or office.

In an ideal world you’ll find all your fish in the pond closest to your home. That’s what you should be striving toward – limiting the geographic range of your practice.

Of course, you might start out with a large geographic area and be willing to take a case from just about anyone that calls – no matter where they live. But, over time, you should work to narrow that area. You want to find nearby clients that meet your criteria. Only go as far as required to stay fully booked with your ideal client. As soon as you reach capacity, start cutting back on the geographic area. Keep repeating the cycle, over and over, as you refine your clientele.

If you keep narrowing the geographic area, and staying fully booked with the ideal client, you’ll increase your profit margin over time. You’ll make more money and spend less time doing it. That works for you, doesn’t it?

If business slows down, widen the range a bit, but, close it back down as soon as the business picks up again.

It’s just like dating, right? My dad was happy when, eventually, I found a girlfriend who lived closer and the driving stopped.

Now it’s my turn. “Payback is a bitch” they say. Now, I’ve got a sixteen year old, borrowing my car and dating a girl way out on the other side of town.