Optimizing Your Profile

Some (optional) tips and tricks for building and optimizing your Priori Profile.

As you build your profile and establish your presence within the Priori Marketplace network, the following video and high-level advice may be a helpful guide for making the most out of your experience.

Video. Improving Your Priori Profile

1. Make Sure You're "Visible"

Our matching engine draws upon the structured and unstructured data included in your Priori Profile, Matching Information, as well as your Malpractice Insurance information, to connect you with potential client opportunities.

If you only provide incomplete or partial data, you may miss out on relevant opportunities simply because you've not thoroughly identified your skills and experiences. In other words, you want to make sure that your profile is "visible" to our matching engine.

Don't worry; your online profile is not publicly visible or publicly accessible from outside of the Priori platform.

The best way to enrich your profile's data is to thoroughly identify your practice areas and proficiencies. These two complementary data structures give both broad and granular details about the overall nature of your practice and skills, and are often the most salient details that clients consider when evaluating counsel.

On the initial application, you have the chance to select three primary practice areas, but once you've built your basic profile and registered your account you can add as many practice areas and proficiencies as you'd like on your matching information page to accurately reflect the scope of your practice.

While you can list anything as a practice area on your profile, the most commonly asked-for practice areas are those provided in the default list in the application. Consequently, selecting from these broad practice areas and detailing specific skills as proficiencies may make your profile more 'visible' than selecting only very specific practice areas.

As an example, few clients look for attorneys with the "Contract Drafting" and "Contract Negotiation" practice areas, but many clients look for attorneys with the "Commercial Contracts" practice area and corresponding proficiencies.

2. Don't Bury the Lede - Write a Strong Profile Bio

While clients come to Priori Marketplace for data-driven matching, Clients frequently look to the profile bio - a short 'snapshot' of an attorney's experiences - to assess whether a particular provider actually has what they need before they dig deeper into the provider's profile data or CV.

While you are free to fashion your profile bio as you see fit, we find that the most successful profile bios share similar characteristics:

In addition, many successful profiles follow similar structures: they begin with high-level practice information and background details, before providing a progressively narrower description.

The following are sample profile bios that you can copy and adapt for your Priori Profile. These are suggestions only — please feel free to write your own or adapt the samples to suit your practice:

Sample Profile Bio 1 (Commercial)

I am a former BigLaw attorney ([Firm Name]) with in-house experience at a venture-backed technology company ([Company Name]).

In my current practice I represent technology companies and enterprise clients in commercial and technology contracts (including SaaS agreements, sales agreements, vendor contracts and NDAs), data privacy (including GDPR, CCPA and HIPAA) and transactional work (including mergers, acquisitions, strategic partnerships and financings / fundraisings). I also have experience with intellectual property licensing and corporate governance.

Representative clients include [Company] ([Industry]), [Company] ([Industry]), [Company] and [Company] ([Industry]). Alum of [Law School].

Sample Profile Bio 2 (Litigation)

I am a New York-based attorney and founder of a boutique litigation firm focused on commercial and securities litigation and dispute resolution.

Before starting my own firm I spent 10 years in the securities litigation practice group of [Law Firm] in New York, first as an Associate and then as Partner. I have extensive experience handling complex litigation in federal and state courts across the U.S. and in New York. Key areas of focus include business disputes, securities litigation, internal investigations and government investigations and enforcement actions (including SEC actions). I also have significant experience in arbitration and mediation.

Representative clients include public and private companies, directors and officers, private equity and asset management firms, as well as banks and other financial institutions.

Sample Profile Bio 3 (Employment)

I am a highly experienced employment lawyer. I advise companies on employment agreements, independent contractor agreements, separation agreements and related documentation; employee handbooks and other company policies; discrimination and harassment; performance management and leaves of absence; as well as compliance and workplace investigations.

My clients range from Fortune 500 companies to venture-backed startups operating in a variety of industries, including technology, media, financial services, manufacturing and hospitality. Representative clients include [Company] ([Industry]), [Company] ([Industry]), [Company] and [Company] ([Industry]).

Before joining my current firm I was a [Position] in the Employment Law Practice Group at [Law Firm] and a [Position] at [Law Firm]. Alum of [Law School].

Sample Profile Bio 4 (Legal Operations)

[My Firm Name] is a consultancy focused on providing corporate legal operations teams with cutting edge insights and dedicated support concerning process improvement and technology implementation. I draw upon my experiences working in legal operations at companies including [Company 1] and [Company 2] to provide clients with tried and true approaches for aligning legal operations with business reality. I am particularly passionate about supporting clients in the [Industry] sector.

Before founding [Firm Name], I most recently served as [Position] with [Company 3], where I was responsible for [three key projects / workstreams].

Some U.S. states prohibit attorneys from describing themselves as 'experts' or 'specialists' in particular areas of law, or otherwise restrict the use of similar labels. You are responsible for complying with your state's regulations.

3. Keep Clear & Current, From Your CV to Your Availability

As more and more attorneys explore remote and flexible work, and the line between in-house and outside counsel continues to blur, it's more important than ever to make sure your profile is clear, accurate, and reflects your current capacity to take on new work.

Why does this matter?

Opportunities and client decisions on the Marketplace move quickly. Many opportunities are filled within one business day - what's there one day is quite possibly gone the next.
Our goal is always to send you the right opportunities at the right time. We don't want to bombard your inbox with high-volume client requests if your current bandwidth doesn't allow for it.
Clients won't always read between the lines on your CV. There's nothing worse than being the perfect fit for an opportunity, but accidentally sending the wrong signal to a client at the moment of first impression.

Thankfully, there are a number of ways you can keep your information up-to-date and avoid client confusion.

First, you can update your profile availability at any time. This will help prevent you from receiving unnecessary system notifications, and prevent your profile from being presented to clients when you are not actively taking on work. You can adjust your availability from the profile dashboard, in the top right corner.

Second, you should consider some of the common ways in which your profile or CV data could be misinterpreted by a client, and how to counteract those misconceptions. Here are a few that we've seen in the past:

$Infographic, titled 'Clarifying Your Profile - Common Client Questions.' Questions and answers are presented as white text on a wavy purple background, with the following text: "Is this lawyer actually available for XX hours per week? Their profile says they're employed full-time at..." Make sure "fractional" or "outside" GC positions are clearly labeled on your CV. If you maintain a side-practice in addition to a full-time role, list that practice as your current employer on your profile. Give additional context for your situation to the Attorney Network team on your onboarding call. "Where does this lawyer work from? Their profile lists one city, but LinkedIn says somewhere else." If you split your time between multiple locations, say so! Most clients only ask to confirm which timezone their attorney is in. Keep a clean "digital footprint" - don't give anyone a reason to be confused. "This lawyer is too much of a specialist for my request. I wanted a contracts lawyer, but this lawyer's bio says 'I'm an IP and patents attorney...'.'" If you have a wide range of experiences, you can submit more than one profile bio; only request-appropriate bios will be displayed to clients. Cater to your strengths, and don't over-reach when describing your practice.$

4. Show Off With Profile Reviews

In addition to your Matching Information and Profile, we allow approved providers to get the ball rolling on the reviews portion of their profiles by adding up to two reviews from non-Priori clients. This has proven to be an effective way to attract clients.

To add reviews to your profile, please go to your account settings and invite up to two clients you’d like to ask to submit a review.

The profile review process is separate from the reference check that occurs during onboarding. You can invite reviews from any clients, including the client who serves as your professional reference.

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Last updated 1 year ago

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