Expansion is good, but it hurts

So, my little start-up law firm is now three lawyers strong (myself and two associates), as well as various staff. We focus on family law, real estate, wills and estates, corporate law, but also on more esoteric areas such as aboriginal treaty rights, residential school stuff, and water law. It's been a lot of fun adding staff, desks, computers, etc. over the past few months. We're excited at the prospects, even with the current downturn in the economy. There is a lot of potential out there, but it will take some enginuity and diligence to have real staying power.

I have found that customer service is the absolute most important thing towards building a successful legal practice. No advertising, networking, google adwording, schmoozing, brown-nosing, volunteer service, or other thing compares to having a happy and satisfied customer who will come back to you later on, or better yet, will refer a friend to you. A very large part of my personal practice is based on this concept. It creates a very loyal client base, and makes it much easier to keep a steady work-flow, and to keep the stress down.