How to Start a Solo Law Practice

This is a very practical, hands on read. While the IT stuff becomes dated rather quickly, his cost containment and profitability suggestions are right on.

I went to law school knowing I wanted to solo. That was five years ago. Two months ago I decided to take the plunge, and so far this has been the most accessible information I have come across yet. The book is a quick read and contains a lot of advice that is not intuitive. The way lawyers make money is by being hired by clients (duh). The question is, especially for newer lawyers, how does one find clients? Most law schools don't teach that. I found the advice on picking an office to be particularly useful. Again, not always intuitive. And if you've never owned your own business, you don't necessarily know where to begin. There seems to be advice for both new and experienced lawyers. Just because you've worked at a firm for five years doesn't mean you know anything about actually running one. While there was advice that was not helpful, those were instances where I simply already had experience with those topics. I think a book of advice would be incomplete if it assumed the audience already knew information that some may take for granted. I worked with a lawyer who barely knows how to use MS Word, much less how to defrag a computer. All in all, excellent.

A pleasant conversation with a colleague who has made the leap into solo practice. His lists of start-up items and price estimates were helpful, as a loosening up exercise- "OK, I would need one of those, and I didn't think of it, " or "Not something I need at this point". That was a good way for me to begin a realistic assessment of what it would take to go out on my own. I own Foonberg's "How to Start and Build a Law Practice", too. I found that book more helpful once I had already started my practice. For me, Foonberg was too detailed for the stage of thinking about starting. His nuts and bolts were more helpful once I had specific, existing problems to use them on. The anthology, "Flying Solo" from the ABA is also a winner.

This book serves as an excellent guide for the new lawyer who is contemplating starting his or her own law firm. The book is not a feel-good book that in a Bush-like manner glazes over or ignores the negatives of running your own firm and hammers only on the positives. Rather, the book offers an unbiased analysis on all aspects of running a law practice on your own, or running a practice with a single employee, such as a paralegal or secretary. For example, Hal Davis correctly points out that a new lawyer should not immediately hire a secretary, because a lawyer cannot supervise a secretary if the lawyer has no idea what the secretary is supposed to do. Davis also encourages the proper use of technology, correctly pointing out that it's more important to use the 'best' technology for your firm, rather than the 'latest' technology available on the market. Davis emphasizes the importance of efficiency, professionalism, and work ethic, as I believe that a lawyer who lacks any of the three is not much of a lawyer. In addition to giving me new ideas, such as using more than one business card if I practice areas of law that are quite different from each other, this booked helped me organize my thoughts in planning my solo practice. Finally, Hal Davis practices what he preaches - he is a courteous individual who takes the time to offer advice to a new lawyer who has questions regarding his or her practice or potential future practice (I know this first-hand). This is a must-read for any new lawyer, and despite being full of critical information, it's an easy read - I read it from front-to-back in one day.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about starting up their own law practice. First, reading the book gave me confidence to make the plunge by answering a lot of questions about what to expect in private practice. Second, the book gives great advice on what you should consider when selecting your area(s) of practice, and ways to develop those areas to be successful. Finally, there are a lot of nuts and bolts of setting up the practice, and establishing office procedures, that a new practitioner may not think about. You will pay for the book just by avoiding costly mistakes you may otherwise make.