The extreme cold and snow kept people indoors much of the time, resulting in fewer potential clients braving the elements to hire lawyers. While certainly the lousy weather didn’t impact the bottom lines of all lawyers across the country, it definitely made a noticeable dent for some attorneys.

Both for better and for some, for the worse. Such was the case for one domestic relations attorney in Columbus, Ohio, where record snowfalls and freezing temperatures were the norm during the winter of 2013. According to the lawyer, who wished to remain anonymous, this past winter was by far her slowest.

“People just didn’t seem to want to leave home, or were just unable to because their car wouldn’t start, or there was too much snow,” she says. In addition to enduring a smaller caseload, she says fewer potential clients were contacting her office to make appointments.

She estimated that at least half of the people who scheduled initial consultations in December, January and February simply did not even call to cancel or reschedule. “They just didn’t show up,” she says.

Things got so slow, in fact, that the lawyer moved to a smaller office nearby. That change netted her a savings of at least $400 a month, since her monthly rent and utilities decreased.

Fortunately, the arrival of spring has also translated into a busier calendar. “Although I’m happy when couples reconcile because I am a strong advocate for marriage and families, I also have expenses and responsibilities to my own family and staff," she says . "If people aren’t hiring me and paying their fees, then I have to scramble to figure out how to run my practice.”

Weather also has a huge impact on the law practice of the 2013 president of the National Trial Lawyers for the past few years. First, the law office of Joplin, Missouri personal injury attorney Ed Hershewe lost power and water, internet and cell service after a devastating tornado struck the area May 22, 2011 tornado.

In addition, two members of the firm’s staff lost their homes entirely. Despite all of that, the members of the firm consider themselves fortunate, because while their practice lost utilities for a while, “other attorneys in town lost all their files and their entire offices,” says Katrina Richards, an attorney with the Hershewe firm.

According to Richards, the firm also received several client calls after the tornado from people whose insurance was not paying, people whose houses had been vandalized and burglarized, and people whose houses had been demolished by accident.

In addition, several workers’ compensation cases also came out of the tornado. The havoc wreaked by the situation, combined with the firm’s history of trucking accident litigation and premises liability cases, propelled it to become the regional expert on weather-related injury and wrongful death cases, Richards says.

But weather’s impact on Hershewe’s firm didn’t stop with that tornado. “Heavy snow shut down our law office more than once this past winter, which slows down productivity. Weather can have an impact on our bottom line by contributing to an injury “event” and it can also affect the bottom line by closing the doors,” Richards says.

While Wendy Witt’s Pittsburgh law practice wasn’t impacted by the polar vortex, she says “many of my colleagues, particularly in the south, did have to close their offices when the snow hit.” Adjustments, such as working from home, were made, she said, but some work was definitely lost because potential clients took their cases elsewhere.

Cold and snow doesn’t impact Witt’s law practice, she says, but the potential havoc bad weather can cause a law firm is a big reason she is a huge proponent of virtual law firms. For her part, Witt is willing to meet clients wherever they’re comfortable.

For example, she will meet them in their homes, a financial advisor’s office or even a coffee shop. She realizes that “sometimes, it’s scary for people to walk into a lawyer’s office and if you’re concerned about driving in bad weather as well, the stress is compounded exponentially.”

New York City bankruptcy attorney Neil Ackerman, who has been practicing 33 years, says what while he didn’t notice a difference in his caseload due to the polar vortex, many clients cancelled appointments during the worst of the winter weather. However, there were several instances when opposing counsel in historically snowy cities like Cleveland and Chicago told him severe weather prevented them from making it to their offices.

There were times, he says, when some lawyers told him it was simply “too cold to go outside.” On the flip side, the incredibly hot and humid summers in Texas tend to impact the caseload of at least one criminal defense attorney in Sugar Land, Texas who asked to remain anonymous.

“Our winters are pretty mild but when it gets very hot and humid here, from April through October, people tend to commit more crimes. Or, at least, be charged with committing them,” he says. And that, he adds, “is good for business.”

Tami Kamin Meyer is an Ohio attorney and writer.