Starting a Law Firm | Your Stories

Here's another Friday edition of your stories of starting a law firm. I'll comment a bit at the end.

I graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2009. I had an excellent job lined up with the United States Army JAG Corp. I had a wonderful live-in boyfriend and President Barack Obama spoke at my graduation. Hope flourished and happiness abounded.

Then I found out that my student loan lender would not approve a bar study loan. Lender told me something about my debt being very high and not having enough credit to justify the extra $5,000 being tagged onto my educational investment of over $100k. I worked three jobs while studying for the Indiana bar to make ends meet. My failure at that exam came as no surprise in retrospect, but was absolute heartbreak in the moment. The Army let me keep my appointment, if I passed the February Bar.

I geared up to take the February Bar. My living expenses became easier to manage when my boyfriend took on all of the rent. I cut down to one job, then to none to have time to study. I worked hard, doing all of the prescribed BarBri lectures and exercises every day. Then one evening in January my mother called. My father was in the hospital. Yes, he was alive. No, there was no cure. He had about one year. Come home when you can. Daddy needs you now. I can’t take care of him alone.

I failed the exam again. My world ripped apart. No more Army job. No more dreams of paying back my debt and traveling the world. My boyfriend moved with me into a two room apartment over top of a Chinese restaurant near my childhood home in upstate New York. He complained I spent all my time with my parents and that he shouldn’t have to find a job to pay rent for that shitty apartment. After sleeping on my couch for a month, I threw him out. I begged for (and thankfully got) a flexible job as an administrative assistant, which brought in $10.40/hour, but allowed me to leave when my dad would have his spells.

It was the fall of 2010 by then, and I felt like a complete failure at life. I had a miserable family, enormous debt, a crappy job, and a broken heart. People either avoided me entirely or started every conversation with “I’m so sorry…”. The depression was very strong, and some days felt like an eternal hell. I slowly found my way out, by focusing on the small things I did have.

I have a wonderful dog. I have an awesome chicken soup recipe. I met a nice guy who kept asking me out to dinner, despite my melancholy aura and clearly-sad-but-trying-to-be-happy smiles. He asked me about the law and how I felt about the morality and ethics of current events, just to see me perk up enough to argue with him. I started to remember why I went to law school in the first place. I began to feel feisty again.
With A LOT of support and encouragement from him, my mother and my co-workers, I took the New York State Bar. I’ve never been more scared, as I truly believed my entire value as a person lay within that test result. I passed. I’ll be sworn in next month (July 2011). I still cry when I think about it.

I’m in the process of setting up my own practice. I’ve learned a lot about myself and life in the past years, and my priorities are certainly much different. I refuse to be beholden to a job and I will not slave away at law firm trying to earn my dues by reaching a prescribed set of billable hours. I have spent years feeling beaten down and unworthy of success, emotions I will not accept as excuses anymore. I am a professional. I can provide services to my community to help ease suffering and preserve dignity. I plan to focus my practice on family law, with some criminal misdemeanors – my passions since my law school days.

I have been conducting informational interviews with local counsel for several weeks. I’ve found that most lawyers in this rural area are hungry for work, but almost all of them refuse to go to Family Court - too much drama. A majority of the local attorneys don’t have websites. If they do, it isn’t functional or it’s just a one page ad to call them. Most refuse to bill flat fees.

*To note, I live in a very rural area in Upstate New York, where a lot of people don’t have access to the internet and still utilize the public library for computers. I don’t know how much business a website would pull in, but at least nobody else would be competing with me through that forum for clients (or so I hope).

I’m still in the planning phase, but I’m trying to make sure I check off at least one “to-do” every day to make sure I am working toward my goal of opening my doors by August 1. I’m slowly deciding on my practice model – flat fee billing is currently winning me over. I’m getting the word out to my professional contacts that I’ll be practicing family law and criminal misdemeanors. A few colleagues have already asked when I open my doors, and if I’ll handle their traffic ticket cases, so I’m hoping that’s a good sign.

I quit my admin assistant job, effective July 1. I bought domain names and am learning how to make a website that works and (hopefully) looks good. I found inexpensive but beautiful office space next to an attorney who is looking to retire and travel. My father left me his entire office (he was a city planner), which negates all of my initial office overhead expenses, like most furniture and office supplies. I bought a Lexis account. I bought a discounted iPhone ($50 for last year’s model sounded fine to me). I’m looking into malpractice and health insurance. I guess I need an e-Fax service? Then I can order business cards and letterhead.

I do have specific questions I need to find answers to, such as:

How do I develop intake sheets and a standard retainer?

If I bill flat fee do I still need a trust account for each client with traditional billing follow-up letters stating the amount removed for services rendered?

Should I bill hourly before making the leap to flat fee?

Should I accept credit cards?

Do I really need to invest in Quickbooks yet?

Do I make my practice a PLLC or should I stay un-incorporated for now?

How do I create a business plan for a solo firm?

Do I need a credit card?

Of course, most of these questions assume I’ll have clients, which seem like mythical creatures at the moment: Where do they come from and how do I find them?

I bought a number of books about starting a firm (Foonberg’s, Elefant’s and some others that looked reputable). I like Solo By Choice, but the others give very outdated technological advice and mandate things I don’t understand the purpose of, like “make sure a photograph of your family is on your desk.” (Um, so my client knows who to hold hostage if they’re unhappy with me? Or to remind me the people in the picture need to eat too, so I better find work?)

I am reading blogs for encouragement, advice and support. Yours has been an outstanding resource, and I love digging through your archives to read about your early days. Thank you for chronicling your journey. If you or any of your readers has advice about starting as a solo in a rural area, or marketing in a rural area, I’d appreciate the knowledge. Thank you for the opportunity to ask you my questions.

First of all, I just want to congratulate you for as far as you've come so far. You haven't been given any breaks in life, and it takes a lot to keep picking yourself up off the ground. I'm proud of you.

Now, on to the practical stuff. It sounds like you've been thinking about this for a while and have started doing some planning. That's great. You've got an idea of what you want to practice that's focused enough for your geographic area (doesn't sound like many people want to do family law) and you've already been getting out there and letting people know about it. Let's just get right into answering your questions.

1. How do I develop intake sheets and a standard retainer?

Get out there on the internet and make something up. What kind of information do you want to find out when a potential new client comes in? That's what you make your intake sheet ask. And there are tons of retainer agreements out there.

2. If I bill flat fee do I still need a trust account for each client with traditional billing follow-up letters stating the amount removed for services rendered?

Nope. I still have a trust account just in case I need it, but if your fee is earned upon receipt it's yours. Put it in your bank account. Check your local rules of professional conduct to find out exactly what that means (Washington State, for example, requires specific language in the fee agreement about when the client might be entitled to a refund - if I die or lose my license, for example).

3. Should I bill hourly before making the leap to flat fee?

It's your law firm, it's your choice. Weigh the pros and cons and make a choice. If it doesn't work, change it up a little bit.

4. Should I accept credit cards?

Yes.

5. Do I really need to invest in Quickbooks yet?

I say no, particularly if it's just you. Your finances will be prettyhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif easy to take care of - how much money is coming in, how much is going out? A spreadsheet will probably work at the beginning.

6. Do I make my practice a PLLC or should I stay un-incorporated for now?

I personally chose to create an entity at the beginning. I think it just makes everything cleaner later on. If it's just you it's a pass through anyway. It doesn't make things that much more complicated for running the business.

7. How do I create a business plan for a solo firm?

I've blogged about this before. Here is a post I found on starting a law firm business plan. I've got some other posts out there. There's a bunch of stuff out there on the internet. Remember, a law firm is no different than any other business. You need to know what kind of business you're going to run (area of practice), how you're going to run the business (processes), and how you're going to get clients (marketing).

8. Do I need a credit card?

I have no idea. Is it important to establish your credit as quickly as possible? Yes. I have a credit card I put monthly expenses on and pay off every month. Helps to build up some points for fun later and helps to establish good credit. At the end of the day it's up to you.

Hope these questions helped. And remember, you can read all the information and books that are out there but eventually you're going to just have to start trying stuff and see what works for you. Good luck!