Law Practice Today

Having closed my solo practice after approximately twenty-five years, it occurred to me that a “retrospective” piece might be of use to someone considering entering the “solo-highway-of-life.” If I knew then what I know today, here are the questions I would have asked.

Question 1: Should I Be a Solo?

Being a sole practitioner requires a high energy level, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a risk-taking disposition:

• High Energy Level: A solo is responsible for all aspects of the practice ¾site selection, client development and maintenance, equipment acquisition, personnel, and finances. You must be excellent at juggling, prioritizing, and delegating. Doing all these tasks competently, especially while having an outside life, requires a high energy level.
• Entrepreneurial Spirit: A solo must be a person who (1) craves creating a new structure that reflects the solo’s unique persona, rather than working within a preexisting “corporate” structure, (2) has a vision and wants to see that vision become a reality, and (3) is willing to put enormous personal resources into converting the vision into reality.
• Risk‑Taking Disposition: In a solo practice, there are no third‑party safety nets. As a solo, you must have the personal constitution to be able, metaphorically at least, to fly all alone, while surrounded by constant risks (personnel, technological, client, and financial) as well as the potential for tremendous rewards.

Question 2: What Is a “Practice Blueprint”?

Before embarking upon the “details” of a practice (such as location, equipment, personnel, and finances), you need a “practice blueprint,” which must be committed to paper. This blueprint ¾or road map ¾should specify where you want your practice to be in five years and should include the following: start-up budget, substantive area(s) of law to be undertaken, size of practice, annual income, and quality of life. The resolution of these issues creates the framework for dealing with the specifics involved in establishing and operating your solo practice.

Significantly, it will be essential to revisit your “practice blueprint” as you continue your trip on the solo highway. You will change and your practice context will change over time. You will not want to get stuck operating with an outdated blueprint or road map.

Question 3: Where Should I Locate My Office?

The first issue is whether you will have an “at-home” office or an “outside‑of‑home” office. On that afternoon, decades ago, when I pulled the telephone and file into the bathroom and closed the door on my then‑two-year-old child so I could speak with an inheritance tax referee, and my daughter wailed and pounded on the door, I realized that type of at‑home “office” was not for me.

It always amazes me how little attention many practitioners give to the issue of site selection. Obviously, you should not just fling yourself into the first space that comes to your attention. Your office must be affordable, make you feel comfortable, and be accessible to and comfortable for your clients. The space you select must fit your blueprint. Write it out: “I am selecting this space because . . . .” Your “because” phrase should refer to your budget, substantive practice area, size of practice, annual income, and quality of life.

For example, I selected my office site based upon the fact that I was going to have an estate planning practice comprising high-wealth clients, and upon the fact that I had two very young children. Although I live in Los Angeles where driving/commuting is a way of life, I did not want to be a commuter. I ended up in an office building three blocks from my house, in a “full office suite” complex of marble and fresh flowers ¾perfect. But if I had been going into a personal injury, an immigration, or a workers’ compensation practice, I would have looked for space with an entirely different ambiance.

Question 4: What/Where/How of Equipment/Supplies/Furnishings?

In my experience, the best gauge of what you will need in the way of equipment and supplies is other practitioners in your geographic area who have practices similar to yours. Fellow women practitioners who had recently begun to practice were enormously helpful to me in creating a complete rundown of necessities and sources for equipment and supplies. Furnishings, on the other hand, were a great collection from individual firm liquidations and “tony” office-furnishing stores. Through bar activities, you will meet practitioners who can be helpful to you in your efforts to establish the parameters of your needs and the sources to fulfill those needs.

Question 5: How Do I Deal with the Issue of Personnel?

There are five major components to the personnel issue: number and salary of staff, resources for staff acquisition, hiring procedures, training, and retaining.

In my experience, the issue of personnel was the most difficult issue I faced as a sole practitioner. Not having that highly competent person working for (with) you in the first place is just as disastrous as losing that person once he or she has become an integral part of your office.

I began with a part-time secretary ¾a teacher at a secretarial school who had been a legal secretary in Minnesota, and who is now the administrator of a major law firm. Ultimately, I had five people on staff, plus the “full-suite” receptionist. The key is to find alternative sources for staff (such as college campuses), rather than competing with the large firms. You need to have a clear checklist of required skills and personal characteristics established before the first interview. You need to anticipate putting an enormous amount of time into training, and you should create a procedure manual as you go so the next new staff member can use it. And constantly remember how expensive and disruptive it is to replace staff. In addition to hiring and training well, you should—through benefits on every level—make sure your staff feels that their lives at your office are irreplaceable.

Question 6: How Should I “Market” My Practice?

Marketing is really very simple. There are only two rules: First, remember that everything you do is “marketing”—whether you are engaging in “personal” activities (such as picking up the dry cleaning or standing in the grocery checkout line) or “business/practice” activities (such as hiring a caring, polite receptionist, standing to greet your clients, or sending a clearly stated bill), it all has to do with projecting your image as a competent, caring lawyer. Second, in your nonpractice time, do what you enjoy, and the clients will follow. I thoroughly enjoyed lecturing, writing, speaking, being active politically, and serving on bar committees and boards. Having an excellent meal with a prospective client or client source was never a chore, nor was sharing with enthusiasm the nature of my practice with those who inquired. On the other hand, if someone told me to play soccer as a marketing tool or to join a mountaineering club as a marketing tool, it would be a disaster. As William Shakespeare said, “To thine own self be true, and it shall follow, as night the day, that to no man can thou be false.”

Now, if you do everything poorly other than practicing in your substantive field, and/or there is nothing you enjoy doing other than practicing in your substantive field, join a firm and leave the major marketing to someone else.

Question 7: What Are the Principal Financial Issues?

It would be inappropriate not to mention finances. It is essential to establish an adequate level of funding of your practice and to accept only those cases that you can afford to handle. To ignore finances is a disaster. Yet, many practitioners follow the “till” method ¾that is, if there is enough in the bank account to pay the bills, then the financial aspect of the practice has been addressed. Wrong! The solo must be aware of and conform to the state bar rules relating to finances (such as rules on unconscionable billing, trust accounts, commingling personal and client assets, and wrongful retention of client funds). Adequate insurance must be kept in effect. Proper books and records must be maintained. Taxes must be paid in a timely fashion. The solo ignores finances at the solo’s own peril.

Question 8: How Do I Maintain My Professional Competence?

You must create provisions for continued professional competence by doing the following:

• Attending and/or teaching continuing education programs on a regular basis
• Subscribing to and reading journals in your field of practice
• Belonging to and being active in bar organizations, and participating on bar committees relating to your practice field
• Making arrangements to have necessary research materials available to you
• Creating work-product systems and models
• Belonging to appropriate study groups
• Establishing relations with other lawyers whom you can call upon for assistance with practice problems

Question 9: Where Can I Obtain Additional Information?

Assuming you still feel there is no practice environment for you other than in the solo arena, I recommend two great sources. First, the ABA Law Practice Management Section has incredibly useful materials for the sole practitioner, including many full-length texts, as well as articles in the Section’s Law Practice Management magazine. Find, buy, and study these materials, and life in the solo lane will be much, much better for you. Second, colleagues, be active in your bar associations, meet fellow lawyers, and learn from them.

And so—that ends my look through the rearview mirror. It is time for you to decide whether to hop on the solo highway. If you make the leap, I hope you enjoy traveling the solo highway as much as I did!

If you want to read more, you can order the book at http://tinyurl.com/yqa3bk or purchased selected chapters at http://tinyurl.com/6f5b7n. If you have questions, drop me an e-mail: mark@robertsonwilliams.com