Starting a Law Firm | Expenses

Okay, okay, I get it. You want to see what it costs to open and run a law firm. At least that is what a lot of the search engine traffic is telling me. And I'm okay with that. One of the scariest things about starting a law firm is the unknown of how you are going to pay the bills every month (particularly the first year).

So, today I'm going to let you into what I pay (approximately) a month for my law firm expenses. These numbers will not include some things you need to think about, like CLEs, bar dues, business license fees, etc., which probably add up to another $1000 to $1500 over the course of the year. Ready? Here we go.

1. $200 - advertising on local TV station website. I honestly did this for the backlinks. I signed a 6 month contract that is up soon. I'll be opting out at that time. Make sure you know where your business is coming from so you know if you are getting your moneys worth.

2. $67 - Unique Article Wizard. This is a search engine optimization tool I use. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

3. $33 - the Keyword Academy. Again, an SEO subscription. If you are interested in this stuff you're going to have to check out my SEO blog - www.lawfirmwebsiteseo.blogspot.com.

4. $97 - backlink solutions. Again, more SEO stuff. I'll be canceling this at the end of the month though. I have more effective things going on.

5. $90 - lawfirms.com subscription. These guys give you a profile, let you post articles, and all of the links are good links. I'm paying for this for the SEO, not for the leads (if any) that it generates.

6. $1,000 - yodle.com Google adwords advertising. These guys put ads for my stuff up on Google that appear in the top bars and sidebars of Google search results. I've written about this before, and the response is mediocre at best. We are tweaking some stuff, though, so hopefully this will pick up. I don't spend this every month, either. This is my budget and I fill up to it every month (usually 5-6 hundred).

7. $8.00 - JIS. Court system tool that let's me see up to the minute court information.

8. $216 - parking. Price of doing business in the big city.

9. $763 - rent. Price of having an office. Though this does include use of conference room, break room, internet, phone, and the office is furnished.

10. $65 - practice insurance. Price of doing business.

11. $137 - Lexis subscription. Don't use it enough to probably justify the cost, but when I need it it's nice to know it's there (free is just to slow and not comprehensive enough for my tastes).

12. $35 - Dell payment for office equipment. Should be paid off in about a year.

13. $500 - business credit card. At this rate the card will be paid off in about 3 months. I was just putting a lot of the above expenses on it to build up a little quick credit history for the business.

14. $95 - cell phone. Iphone with data plan. Maybe I'll talk about my Iphone experience next time (it's been a good one).

15. $100 - debt payment. This is for a startup loan given to me by a family member ($5000 was the loan amount). I plan on increasing payments as business increases. Would like to have it paid off by the end of 2010.

And that's about it. So there isn't too much to it. Adding all of that up get's you monthly law firm expenses of $3,456 and some change. So, this is what I need to make each month before I can even think about taking any money home. This month I made that much by January 12. Some months I make it faster than others.

Have any other specific questions about how to start a law firm? Don't make me guess, let me know. Reply in the comments and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

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