So you’ve decided to trade in security and stability in exchange for freedom and the potential to control your own financial destiny by starting your own law firm? Taking the plunge into the unknown, where you’re the sole master of your fate, sink or swim? Hats off to you, because you have sided with the pioneers and left the ranks of the “play-it-safers”! In this article, I will outline some practical tips to reduce the stress from navigating the treacherous waters of starting your own law firm.
Experience
One important resource you might be short on when you start your own law firm is experience. Of course, that’s certainly not the case for every single person, but I certainly lacked meaningful experience in a lot of areas: I had never started and run a business before, nor had I ever represented any client on my own.
I found that surrounding yourself with a network of (generally) older, wiser and infinitely more experienced attorneys was a huge key to success. Older and more experienced attorneys, who’ve been around the block much more than you, are a great source of advice, guidance, as well as referrals! The benefits from consulting with and learning from these lawyers are many, but one in particular is that these guys can save you a lot of time. I remember once I had gotten myself involved in one case that I should never have touched with a ten-foot pole. Removing myself from the case was messy and complicated, since my client did not speak English, I spoke no Spanish, and he refused to consent to releasing me as his attorney.
Because my client refused to sign a consent, I had to go through an alternative process to seek the presiding court’s grant of my motion to withdraw as my client’s counsel. To complete the motion to withdraw, I remember submitting and filing six or seven pieces of paperwork to the court. None of the steps in this process were written down anywhere, to the best of my knowledge. Instead, I relied completely on the expertise of Jim O’Connell, an older attorney who worked in my building and had taken a liking to me. Without him, I think I would have been stuck representing the client.
Another friend, David Soloway, turned me on to a forum for trial lawyers, where attorneys would go to swap stories, encourage and support each other, and provide free advice and referrals. After joining the board, I ran into yet another older attorney, Ron Kaplan, who gave me another lead – the Atlanta Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral program – which became a great source of revenue to my fledgling firm.
In the initial phase of my firm’s start-up, I cannot overstate how important these attorneys’ advice and recommendations were to the survival and success of my firm. Finding older attorneys to mentor and guide your efforts should be top priority when you embark on starting your own firm.
Location
You may be biased towards locating in the county of your residence, and tempted to get some office space near the county seat. Great–if you live in a smaller community. However, I lived in the metro Atlanta area, a significantly-sized piece of real estate that covers multiple counties. If this is the same for you, consider getting office space in a centrally-located area. Don’t make the mistake that I made, which was to choose office space near my home in Dekalb County. My office location was great – right across the parking lot from Dekalb County Courthouse. One problem though: As a young attorney with an equally-young firm, I had to pretty much take cases wherever I could get them, and most of those were in every other county (it seemed) in the metro Atlanta area! I had this great office that overlooked a courthouse that I was almost never in. Take my advice, if you’re just starting out: get a central location. You never know which county you’re going to have to be in.
Of course, you’re going to hear it from people who swear that locating near a courthouse promotes “walk-in” traffic and opportunities to engage such clients, but I think that these potential benefits are outweighed by the time savings you’ll reap by locating centrally in your metropolitan area. In addition, through your network of contacts, referrals and your own outreach efforts, you should be bringing in many more clients than you would through walk-ins.
Selling
More than likely, you can’t “sell” your services as an attorney, since most states’ ethical rules prohibit sales activities for the legal profession. However, if you’re going to survive, you will be playing right up to the edge of this rule. Any way to put your name out there, that’s what you’re going to do. I have to credit Jay Foonberg (author of “How to Start and Build Your Own Law Practice” http://foonberglaw.com/) with broadening my horizons on how to aggressively sell my practice without overtly “selling.” Volunteering to write letters on behalf of your kid’s school, on your own law firm’s stationary for instance, is a great way to put your law firm’s name out there without explicitly coming out and selling the firm. You’ve got to be careful not to run afoul of your state’s ethical rules, but that vigilance must be matched in zeal by the desire to educate and inform others that your law firm exists, and is ready and willing to do business.
Conclusion
So there you have it, my best and most practical tips for cutting down the heartache and the stress associated with starting your own law practice. The most important tip, though, is to have the courage to actually go out there and do it! That “can-do” attitude will certainly go a long way to overcoming almost any of the challenges that you will face on your road to success. Happy hunting and good luck! Congratulations on your new firm.
