Starting a law firm is one of the most exciting things you can do.
To get started you will need to select your law practice niche; launch a website or law blog; get some malpractice insurance; stock your office with the necessary technology and software, including a ScanSnap s1500 scanner for your paperless law office; put together a marketing plan, a social media plan, and a networking plan; decide on your billing structure; and decide if you need an office or if you will be a virtual law office.
Need more ideas? Join other innovative lawyers in the Lawyerist LAB.
Last week I dispelled some prevalent myths about solo attorneys.
Here’s another myth worth examining: young lawyers should take every piece of advice and immediately act on it.
Seeking input from other attorneys is a good idea. But blindly following external advice is a terrible idea.
Sometimes the best advice is to ignore everyone else and do what you think needs to be done.
You need to make yourself indispensable at your job.
In case you hadn’t heard, the legal job market’s still hurting. Barely half of all 2012 grads have long-term, full-time legal jobs. Yikes. You mean you didn’t go to law school so you could ask someone if they wanted whipped cream on that Frappuccino?
But no matter the cause to the glut of legal grads these days (which has been the subject of many other articles), if you’re already out there with a JD Sheepskin and one of the coveted law jobs, you’re probably past the point of caring why it’s happening. Instead, you’re probably wanting to make sure you keep that job — or if you’re a solo make sure you keep the lights on.
In order to keep your job, you need to make sure your firm has clients. Take an active role and start building your own book of business. I want to share some things that have worked for my neighborhood practice.
And I promise at the end, I’ll tell you what the picture at the top of this post is about. Keep Reading ⇒
In law school, the best and the brightest get jobs at Big Law, P.A., or get a clerkship with the Supreme Court and then move onto a glorious job at Big Law, P.A.
Usually the only talk of solo attorneys is “well, you can always go solo if you can’t find anything else.”
The truth is, some attorneys actually want to go solo and start their own firm.
And surprise, surprise, we work pretty hard—but we actually can make a comfortable living.
Young attorneys are frequently crippled by a lack of morale and inability to trust their gut to make decisions.
For me, the most frustrating aspect was bouncing an idea of another attorney, only to be told: “no, you have to do it this way.”
Wrong. There is more than one way to achieve your client’s goals, and your way is just as likely to lead to success.
Starting a solo practice is a difficult and rewarding experience.
Keeping your lights on for a year is a monumental achievement. The only thing harder is duplicating and expanding on your success in year two.
Here are five ways to keep your solo practice running strong.
I’m currently revisiting The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to do About It.
Whether you’re thinking about starting your own law firm or you already have your own law firm, it’s a book I recommend (here are some others).
Sam reviewed it here. If you don’t bother with his full review, read this:
What he means is this: build your business as if you were building the prototype for a franchise, a packaged business model you could sell repeatedly, whether or not you actually intend to do so.
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But will it work for a law firm? In particular, will it work for a solo practitioner or small law firm?
Yes, if your goal is to grow into a small (or large) firm. No if you want to stay solo. Gerber points out that a sole proprietorship is a recipe for exhaustion and burnout. And I think he is probably right when it comes to “regular” businesses. Professional businesses are a bit different, and I think we can “stay small” without going insane. If you do want to grow, however, there is a lot to learn from the franchise model. Even if you do not want to grow, there is a lot you can learn from this book.
But this post isn’t completely about the book. It’s about understanding one important point from the book: The difference between working in a business and working on a business.
New solo attorneys consistently have problems with two aspects of running a business: finances and marketing.
Finances are just numbers and can always be outsourced to an accountant.
Face to face meetings with other attorneys is the best way to build your professional network.
If you follow these four rules, you can do a dang good job.
When opening a solo practice, attorneys usually make two big mistakes.
One, because they are new to running a business, they minimize expenses without considering the upside of certain “unnecessary” expenses.
Two, they are so desperate for clients that they take any client and any case that walks in the door.
But the hidden costs of problem client can easily negate their fee. The sooner you understand that concept, the better.
One of the best things about working for yourself is being able to take days off as necessary. Of course you can’t go overboard with these, because then you won’t make any money. But if I want to get a lot done on a Wednesday and leave early on Friday, there isn’t anything stopping me. Or if I want to stay late on a Tuesday and not get to the office until ten on Wednesday, that’s fine.
But what about unplanned absences? When solo or small firm lawyers get sick, there isn’t an entire department to help with coverage.
A: Part-time law practice comes with its own set of challenges, but you can absolutely make it work — and it is a heckuva lot smarter than trying to have a law practice in your spare time. In fact, if you can balance the competing demands of a law practice and whatever you need to do with the rest of your time, a part-time law practice can be pretty great.
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