The 5 'Nice To Haves' For A Small-Firm Practice
For small-firm lawyers, you have to figure out what you need, what’s nice to have, and what you can safely do without.
Gary J. Ross
Last week I discussed what I consider the necessities for a SmallLaw practice. As I write this, they’re on full display: I’m sipping a cup of hot joe, marking up a document with one of my last remaining blue pens, while a client sits in our comfortable client chair and gazes out the window wondering why her attorney seems to writing a blog post instead of working on her matter. With the necessities out of the way, today I’ll discuss the “nice to haves.”
One thing to keep in mind is that there are many ways to run a SmallLaw practice, and there are many different types of practices one can have. Some attorneys want to run their own firm but they want that firm to be as large as possible. (Example: fellow Above the Law columnist Bruce Stachenfeld, whose “small law firm” currently totals some 75-odd attorneys.) Other attorneys have no desire for their firm to be any larger than just them. I know people who left their mid-size law firm 20 years ago and managed to take every single client with them, and for the last 20 years they’ve been working for those same clients. Doesn’t sound like too bad of a life. They probably get way more sleep than I do.
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1. Website. If an attorney doesn’t have a “consumer” practice such as bankruptcy, family law, or immigration, having a website falls under “nice to have.” When a celebrity is in the news for a legal problem, sometimes I’ll run a Google search for the person’s attorney. At least half the time the attorney won’t have any website at all, and their web footprint will consist only of a bunch of “No comments” at the bottom of various news articles. I’ll wonder, where are these people finding these attorneys? The answer is if you’re good at what you do, people will find you, website or no.
Also, think about all those financial advisors who spend their day soliciting business by indiscriminately calling Biglaw associates. Do they make you happy your contact information is public? A lot of the calls we get off the website are about as welcome as those calls.
2. Office. I’ve already described my thrilling journey to the office decision. Though now I can’t imagine not having one, back in the days of yesteryear (meaning literally, last year) I managed to survive without one. Some attorneys want to practice from home for various family or canine reasons, or they just hate commuting—completely understandable—but for most of us having an office boosts productivity enough to pay for itself. Plus if you have any personality at all, it’s likely at least a couple of your neighbors will turn into clients. Case in point: with hardly any effort on my part, the business association a couple of doors down from my office turned into a major client, funneling enough business my way I had to hire someone specifically to handle that work flow. On the other hand, now when we’re running late on something for them, I have to peek out the door before venturing out to use the bathroom.
3. Speakerphone. So everyone in the office can hear when your plumber calls to tell you he doesn’t think he’s going to be able to fix your commode.
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4. Cloud-based document management software. So you don’t have to keep emailing documents to yourself when you want to finish up something from home. There are “upscale” solutions like iManage or NetDocuments, and then freebies like Dropbox or OneDrive. Ideally you want something that easily versions up, and also makes it easy to see the latest version of a document. (For more about these systems, see the columns of Jeff Bennion and Sean Doherty, who write extensively about technology products used by lawyers.)
5. Spouse with stable income. About half the SmallLaw attorneys I met just prior and just after launching my practice said they couldn’t have made it those first few months without their spouse’s income. Which is of course the real reason I have a website with my contact information. Soliciting sugar mommas!
Next week: the stuff you absolutely don’t need for a SmallLaw practice.
Gary J. Ross opened his own practice, Jackson Ross PLLC, in 2013 after several years in Biglaw and the federal government. Gary handles corporate and compliance matters for investment funds, small businesses, and non-profits, occasionally dabbling in litigation. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.
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