How to Start a Law Firm | Find Attorneys Who Went Out on Their Own

If you are even a semi-regular follower of this blog, you will see that I haven't posted here in a few days. There are a couple of reasons for that. First, I played in a golf tournament on Thursday afternoon about an hour and a half away from Seattle (don't ask how I played - it wasn't pretty). Second, on Friday I kind of slacked off a little, only doing a couple of blog posts and working a little bit on getting my blogs indexed for the keywords I need (although not as bad as these Wellington lawyers). And third, I knew I was having lunch today with a fellow solo practitioner, and I figured I'd wait so I could tell you what I learned from him today.

Reach Out to Other Attorneys to Learn How to Start a Law Firm

One of the best things I've done so far is find an attorney who seems to have a good head on his shoulders and who seems to be doing fairly well for just starting his own law firm, and building a relationship with him where I can ask him all the questions that are too dumb to ask others or are too complicated to try to waste time sorting out on the internet, and where he can tell me things he learned along the way so I can avoid making the same mistake when starting my law firm.

Today I had lunch with this other attorney, who is a Kent bankruptcy lawyer and a Kent criminal defense attorney (one of the few things I can offer him is some link juice from my site) who went out on his own in September of 2008 after clerking for a judge (even a scarier proposition to me, since I have a fairly extensive practice background already). He was extremely candid in answering all of my questions, as well as giving some other advice he'd learned along the way. To maybe help you a little, here is a bit of a recap of my questions and some of the information he provided.

1. How do you market your law firm?

Much of his law firm marketing comes solely from the internet, both through blogs and building up his site and using adwords sparingly (it can get very expensive if you are not careful).

He has also had great success getting referrals from other attorneys (this is why it is important to speak with as many people as you can - you will be surprised how many are willing to lend a helping hand, and how many people have to turn down business that they would be more than happy to send your way).

2. What was your cash flow timetable? Are you meeting projections?

I won't give you specifics here, but just say that he pointed out what in retrospect seems to be fairly obvious. In the first month, it was extremely slow, but since then he's made at least some money every month (with pretty extreme differences in the amount). I'd say that you shouldn't expect to make a lot of money in the first year.

UPDATE - 10/7/09: This was true of me as well. The phone didn't really ring at all the first month but has steadily picked up ever since. I've been cash flow positive since that first month (though the money is not rolling in). Bottom line - it can be done!)

3. Did you have any start-up cash? What do you think is the minimum?

I won't tell you what he started with, but it is probably a lot lower than you might expect. The key is to plan extremely well with your law firm business plan, keep expenses as low as possible, and try not to upgrade until you have the cash for it. One of the overriding principles you will see with successful business of all walks of life is they are constantly pouring money back into the business. It is an exponential build that must continue to be added to.

UPDATE - 10/07/09: For me, I started with about $5,000 in the bank. I borrowed some, my wife let me take some out of an investment account she had, and I saved up for the rest. So far, I've never come close to running out of money.

4. Do you have an accountant? Should I get one?

The Kent bankruptcy attorney told me that yes, I should shell out the money to hire an accountant, particularly for the quarterly taxes and yearly taxes that will come due. He made an excellent point here too that everyone should consider when thinking about doing something yourself. If you have to pay someone even $50/hour to do something for you and that means that you can bill $150/hour, it makes sense to pay the money, do the work that you can do, and make sure it gets done right. So, hire an accountant to help manage your law firm.

5. Any other recommendations?

He did have a few recommendations. First, he thought Tabs practice management software was pretty useful, and recommended it to me. Second, he told me he uses Mozy as a file backup service for off site backup (a must for your practice). And finally, he just made me feel generally like it can be done. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of follow through, but it is possible to open your own law firm and make it successful.

UPDATE - 10/07/09: I don't use any of that practice management software and I'm doing just fine. I used CLIO for a bit but found I didn't need it. The type of practice you have is going to dictate the kind of software you need. For me, I just use microsoft office, my law firm email (google applications), and that's it.

Law Firm Website | Law Firm Marketing Blog

I was going to try to discuss all of the things I was doing on this blog, my other blogs, and eventually my law firm website to get it ranked number one in google for particular search term, but decided it would make these posts ridiculously long (as if they aren't already). I'd discussed it previously on here, including how to create a law blog (and part II), using keyword rich law blog posts, and how to get good law firm backlinks.

But combining the two would just be too cumbersome. So, instead, I just made another blog where I will discuss what I'm doing to rank high in the search engines for specific terms I think clients will search for, and let you know how that success works out (it has to be working out pretty good - most of you got here originally by searching google for things like law firm business plan, law firm budget, law firm marketing, how to start a law firm, or starting a law firm).

The name of the blog is Law Firm Marketing | Law Firm Website SEO, and I thought I'd let everyone know about it in case they wanted to check it out and get started building their online law firm presence. I've already got a post up, and I'll be updating it fairly frequently as well. Please go and check it out and let me know what you think.

UPDATE: 10/07/09: I haven't been updating that site at all but plan to soon. It is part of my effort to really bring my internet marketing efforts up to the next level.

Okay, this is probably enough for tonight. I've got more to talk about, including a great book I read yesterday that really gave me a lot of motivation to get this thing off the ground (and a quick one page business plan idea that will really help you focus and get started) and some great opening a DUI law firm resources I got for free from the Washington State Bar Association (although I think you have to be a member or soon to be member to get the materials for free). I can talk about that tomorrow, though.

Oh, and one last thing. I can see that there are at least a few people reading this from time to time, and I want to encourage you to leave comments or questions you might have concerning everything. And further, if someone leaves a comment and you have a suggestion or response, please respond to them. I know in the past I've been pretty bad about posting and responding to comments in a timely manner, but I promise I'll do better this time. :)

Good luck to starting your law firm - and keep up the hard work!