How modern technology and the Web enhance a local law practice
by Glenn RittBruce Bierhans rushes into his Chatham office two minutes ahead of his appointment on a Monday afternoon. He is carrying only his BlackBerry. He beckons his guest into a conference room that is shared by several other attorneys in a condominium office that he partly owns.
He is wearing stylish jeans and an open-necked shirt. It’s his usual garb when he works at his Wellfleet office in his hometown. Usually, days at his Chatham and Stoughton offices necessitate the more traditional suit and tie, he explains.
As a business and personal injury litigator, Bierhans is constantly on the road – not only among his three Massachusetts offices, but also on planes traveling from coast to coast for depositions and trial work.
And what he can’t accomplish by car or plane, he does via the Internet. Bierhans jokes that his practice spans the four corners of the United States. In recent memory, depositions have taken him from Vancouver, B.C., to the Florida Keys, and from Southern California to Portland, Maine.
Bierhans even has an investment in a Web site, injuryboard.com, that connects colleagues around the country for lead generation and marketing. Within a day of becoming a member, he started receiving inquiries from potential clients.
He also publishes online blogs – one of the most effective and fastest-growing tools used by attorneys to grow nationwide connections.
Welcome to the changing face of law on Cape Cod.
Bierhans’ practice encompasses virtually every theme identified by Cape Business in its exploration of the legal profession’s evolution on the Cape – from his increasing reliance on technology to an eye toward business development.
Most significantly, he is among a growing cadre of younger attorneys giving up – or at least combining – Boston with life and work on Cape Cod.
“What it means,” said Bierhans, who has been in practice for 26 years, 15 of those as a partner in Boston firms, “is that we are bringing Boston quality to the Cape, at Cape rates. We are giving people here the opportunity to hire the best legal talent without having to go far from their homes or businesses.”
“So many of my Cape clients are thrilled they don’t have to drive or take the boat to Boston,” said Bierhans, who concentrates his practice from the Mid-Cape to Provincetown.
Like a good trial lawyer, he presses his point.
“I am in Boston three days a week. On the Cape, we have the same issues, the same problems, the same scandals – and sometimes, they are even more interesting,” he said, pointing to a recent wrongful death case when he represented the trash company that employed the convicted killer of Christa Worthington.
“That was a case that generated far more publicity than any case I was handling off-Cape,” said Bierhans.
How technology assures a hometown touch
The power of technology, said Bierhans, is that it lets him be a hometown lawyer, working and living his Cape Cod dream, a place he discovered two decades ago when he acted in summer theater – a pursuit he continues today with stints at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater and Payomet Performing Arts Center.
When at his two Cape offices, Bierhans is a solo practitioner. But he is supported from his office in Stoughton by two other attorneys, several law students and an administrator.
His phone system is set up so that anyone who calls his office in Chatham or Wellfleet will be greeted by Bierhans or a Stoughton colleague as though they were on the Cape. “A client will get me wherever I am. Essentially, I am available 24/7.”
At that, he affectionately points to his BlackBerry. “Is that a blessing or a curse? I consider it a blessing. I will have people call me in an emergency – a DUI or a child in an accident. You do need to be available to people all the time.”
“The key is to maintain accessibility with your clients,” he said. “They cannot feel that you are unavailable because you are not directly on the Cape. That’s why I will never go home for the day without getting back to anyone who has called or e-mailed.”
At the same time, having a broader – and more sophisticated – practice also works in his favor. Local clients may like having a local attorney, he emphasized, but they also like knowing they have a lawyer who can hold his own in Boston or anywhere else around the country.
“Clients don’t mind if you are off-Cape. They do mind if you don’t stay in constant touch. That is the single biggest complaint clients have with their lawyers.”
Bierhans’ national network has been significantly enhanced by his involvement with injuryboard.com, which complements previous relationships across the country. The site is supported by a carefully selected membership of legal professionals involving about 100 firms and 500 attorneys, each of whom receive referrals and benefit from content that attracts potential clients nationwide.
“I use the Internet not only to attract clients, but to discover and work with other legal experts who may have a greater degree of experience on some issues,” he explained. “For example, I had cases on the Cape involving clients who sustained serious corneal injuries due to a contact lens solution. Rather than handle it myself, I was able to co-counsel with a firm in Florida that is already litigating 20 of those cases.”
It works the other way, too. Bierhans attracts business from other attorneys seeking out his expertise.
“You must adopt a multifaceted approach today,” he explained. “It can’t be just local networking or print or the Web. It must be a combination of all to be successful. Clients come from different places.”
Published in Cape Business March/April 2008
Glenn Ritt Glenn Ritt is editor and co-publisher of Cape Business Publishing LLC. He is the former publisher of Cape Cod Community Newspapers and editor of The Bergen Record in New Jersey. 
Cape Business Newsletters
Keep up with the latest issues affecting your business and your life! To sign up for any of the Cape Business newsletters, click here.