We recently connected with Summer Young and have shared our conversation below.

Summer, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I think running a small law firm provides us with the opportunity to truly cater to our clients. My personal caseload never goes above 35 clients at one time, and that’s done intentionally. I want my clients to feel like they can email and call me, with the security knowing that I will get back to them as soon as I can (at the latest the next day). I have worked with opposing counsel from large law firms and trying to get in touch with them, at times, seems impossible. I’m talking 3-5 emails with questions and no responses for weeks. I can’t imagine that they are responding to their clients faster and that scares me. The amount of attention that my clients receive and the ability to fit them in for phone calls and Zoom calls when they have questions is what sets our law firm apart. I like to classify our law firm to a boutique personal service company, where the client’s satisfaction always comes first. There are plenty of law firms out there for a client to choose from. Lots of firms know how to process a divorce or help initiate or defend a civil litigation matter. But to truly be a great firm, there has to be undivided attention and focus done on behalf of the client, and that is something that my office does very well. We pride ourselves on providing excellent customer service. In our Wrapping Up email that our client receives at the end of their matter, we ask them if there is any constructive criticism they can provide so that we can be better for our future clients. I wish this was industry standard and more law firms did this, because we would all benefit.

Summer, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Summer Young and I am an attorney and a small business owner of The Law Office of Summer J. Young PLLC. I thought law school was tough, until I learned everything that was necessary to open up a business (and STAY open haha). My law firm is located in Lindstrom, Minnesota, “America’s Little Sweden”. I wanted to practice law to help people navigate difficult situations, and that is exactly what I do every day. I mainly deal with divorces, but I also work on Personal Injury matters, Business Law consulting and also Civil Litigation. I like to keep my day to day work exciting and have found that just working in one area can become a little stagnant, so I casted a wide net and learned about numerous areas of law to practice in. I am most proud of the team that I am forming and how fast they catch on to what I’m training them. Our growth this past year has been exponential and I’m very excited to see what the next 2-3 years brings us!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I love this question! With any business, word of mouth referrals from former clients or guests is everything. No one knows how you work better than a former client. At my Law Firm, every client is dealt with like there are 50 potential clients coming from them. Everyone is treated with the utmost respect, attention to detail, and responsiveness. I can say that most of my referrals now come from the first 50 clients I had during our first year of operation. Also KINDNESS! It may seem like common sense, but I’ve heard horror stories from clients who have met with other attorneys who were rude, standoffish, short, not giving them the time of day, etc. When we sit down with our clients, they have our undivided attention and no one else does. I like to think that my clients view me as a friend at the end of their legal matter.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When it comes to funding a business, as we all know, preparation is key. I planned and saved up for over a year and a half before opening my doors. During that time I had my website finalized, my logo created, marketing materials completed, office space painted, built out and ready for move-in, the list goes on. For a solid year and half I was working on my law firm before my law firm was making any income for me. In retrospect, I am extremely grateful to my former self for putting in all the long hours because if those things weren’t completed before I launched, it would have been impossible for me to maintain the level of balance that I did my first year in operation. My goal was to save 30% of each of my paycheck while I was in preparation mode, to cover mostly all of my expenses during my first year. Thankfully with an also dedicated partner, we achieved that goal to make starting the firm a reality. It has easily been the best decision of my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.summeryounglaw.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawofficeofsummeryoung/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/LawOfficeofSummerYoung/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/youngsummer/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-law-office-of-summer-j-young-lindstrom