Law Students and New Lawyers Archives

6 05, 2014

Six Essential Traits of the Successful Legal Entrepreneur

2019-02-21T23:25:21+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Six Essential Traits of the Successful Legal Entrepreneur

Sometimes lawyers get so focused on honing their legal skills that they don’t recognize themselves as entrepreneurs. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an entrepreneur as “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise.”

Very few law schools have classes that actually teach a lawyer how to run a law practice. How can you know whether you will be any good at it? What if you aren’t graduating in the top 10% of your class? Does that mean you have limited potential for successfully running your own law firm?

Inc. magazine online shared advice from Steve Blank about entrepreneurism in a commencement speech to engineering students. It’s good advice for lawyers, too. He said:

“[G]reat grades and successful entrepreneurs have at best a zero correlation….You don’t get grades for resiliency, curiosity, agility, resourcefulness, pattern recognition and tenacity. You just get successful.”

In this post, I want to talk about why those qualities are essential for a successful legal practice. […]

11 09, 2013

Finding Work: 8 Reasons for and 4 Warnings about using LinkedIn

2019-03-20T21:40:19+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Finding Work: 8 Reasons for and 4 Warnings about using LinkedIn

“Why would I want a LinkedIn profile? I keep up with my friends and connections on Facebook.” That’s what young lawyers looking for work often say when I ask them about networking and how they use LinkedIn. Older lawyers often view any kind of social media as a waste of time. Whether “looking for work” means job-hunting or client development, LinkedIn can be a useful tool. Here are 8 reasons why.

1. Professional Focus

LinkedIn focuses primarily on business connections by highlighting companies and their employees and former employees. Although LinkedIn has a collaborative culture like most other social media, it provides a forum to strut your stuff tastefully, because participants tacitly acknowledge its self-promotional and business networking purpose. Clients, recruiters, and employers come to LinkedIn looking for what you have to offer. Journalists also peruse LinkedIn for knowledgeable people to interview about newsworthy topics. […]

29 08, 2013

How Do I Decide Where to Locate My Law Office? Part 4

2019-03-20T21:43:51+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on How Do I Decide Where to Locate My Law Office? Part 4

The 4 part series, How Do I Decide where to Locate My Law Office, winds up today. We’ve pursued the different types of law office arrangements and have been looking at the relative geographics. I hope that these articles help move you forward in the decision process.

Small Town or Big City

With emerging technologies, lawyers do have a lot more flexibility in office placement. If you have a good internet connection and adequate broadband capacity, you might be able to practice almost as easily in the suburbs or in a small town as in a big city. Here are a few reasons you might choose to practice in a small town.

Usually the number of attorneys per capita will be significantly lower there, and the cost of living is lower, too. Lawyers I know in smaller towns describe a collegiality in the legal community that, sadly, seems to have largely vanished from the bigger cities. Many also report that experienced lawyers and judges took them under their wing to mentor them as they got started. With most law schools failing so miserably at actually teaching lawyers how to practice law, the opportunity to develop such relationships can be a significant benefit to someone setting up a practice straight out of school.

On the other hand, sometimes less populated communities can be rather closed to strangers. It may be important to have some family connections or a well-established sponsor there to open doors for you. […]

28 08, 2013

How Do I Decide Where to Locate My Law Office? Part 3

2019-03-20T21:45:11+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on How Do I Decide Where to Locate My Law Office? Part 3

Today’s post, Part 3 of Debra L. Bruce’s 4 Part series on deciding where to locate your law practice, takes a look at the demographics of your peers/competition.

Attorney Demographics

Give some thought to where your competition is located, too. The SBDC (Small Business Development Center) can usually tell you how many other lawyers are located within a certain range of your proposed office.Does your state bar association have demographic information about lawyers in your state? You can probably guess that you will find more lawyers near a law school or a seat of government, but what are the practice area distributions?

The State Bar of Texas, where I’m licensed, publishes reports on demographic and economic trends for attorneys in the state. You can see the number of attorneys per capita in various counties, the median income of attorneys in different practice areas and regions of the state, and the median hourly rates there. A lot of other information is available. When combined with census data and other information that you can obtain on the internet or from the SBDC, you may be able to identify a trending growth region in your state that has not yet been completely inundated by lawyers in your preferred practice concentration. That can give you a chance to grab a foothold in advance of the tide. […]

27 08, 2013

How Do I Decide Where to Locate My Law Office? Part 2

2019-03-20T21:46:45+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on How Do I Decide Where to Locate My Law Office? Part 2

This is Part 2 of a 4 part series, How Do I Decide Where to Locate My Law Office? We’ve looked at types of offices and practice areas in previous posts; now it’s time for you to do some detective work to determine where your potential clients are.

Client Demographic Data

Sometimes it isn’t obvious where to find your target clients. You can get some assistance from your government in locating them, however. Small Business Development Centers funded by your tax dollars provide free counseling to small businesses, including a law practice. The SBDC provides services relating to financial and business planning, marketing, and feasibility studies, among other matters. The SBDC will do marketing and demographic research for you based on the parameters you establish, for free. By way of example, the SBDC can help a wills, trusts and estates lawyer identify an office building close to the neighborhoods that have the highest number of married couples with small children and an annual family income in excess of $150,000. […]

26 08, 2013

How Do I Decide Where to Locate My Law Office? Part 1

2019-03-20T21:48:08+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on How Do I Decide Where to Locate My Law Office? Part 1

Debra L. Bruce’s previous 5 part series, What Kind of Law Office Space Should I Have?, addressed the different kinds of available law office arrangements you might pursue. Today Debra starts a new series that discusses how to determine the actual geographic location of your office. Of course, if you have decided on a home office, perhaps that settles the question. If you have the option of relocating your home base, or you won’t have a home office, here are some thoughts to factor into your location decision.

Practice Focus

Your primary practice area may significantly influence your choice of location. If you have a practice that requires you to appear in court several times a week, often on short notice, a location near the courthouse can save a lot of time.

If you have a business practice, think about where your clients congregate. Are certain industries zoned to the same part of town? Is there a high-tech or manufacturing corridor? Can you open your office in the same building as an important industry association or near a popular meeting venue for the industry? […]

23 08, 2013

What Kind of Law Office Space Should I Have? Pros and Cons – Part 5

2019-03-20T21:49:51+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on What Kind of Law Office Space Should I Have? Pros and Cons – Part 5

Today’s Post, the final part of Debra L. Bruce’s 5 part series on figuring out the best location for your law practice, focuses on the home office + Office Hoteling. Part 4 addressed the executive suite, part 3 subleased space, part 2 shared office space and part 1 the home office.

Home Office + Office Hoteling

Pros:

Office hoteling packages allow you to work from a remote location most of the time.
You are able to maintain a business mailing address, a building directory listing and a phone line with reception services.

[…]

22 08, 2013

What Kind of Law Office Space Should I Have? Pros and Cons – Part 4

2019-03-20T22:01:50+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on What Kind of Law Office Space Should I Have? Pros and Cons – Part 4

This post is part 4 of a 5 part series by Debra L. Bruce on factors to consider in determining what kind of law office arrangement to have for your law practice. Part 1 discussed the home office, Part 2 looked at shared office space and Part 3 considered subleased space. Today Debra addresses the executive suite.

Executive Suite

Pros:

1. You have cost efficiencies of shared space, and a full-time receptionist to answer the phone and greet clients.
2. Office furniture may be included.
3. The term of your lease is not dependent on the term of any other tenant’s lease.
4. Professional management deals with most of the equipment maintenance, staff performance issues and problems with other tenants.
5. You have your own direct telephone line, and the receptionist answers with the name of your firm. […]

21 08, 2013

What Kind of Law Office Space Should I Have? Pros and Cons – Part 3

2019-03-20T22:03:47+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on What Kind of Law Office Space Should I Have? Pros and Cons – Part 3

Today’s post is part 3 of a 5 part series by Debra L. Bruce on determining the best kind of office for your law practice. Parts 1 and 2 discussed the home office and shared office space. Today Debra addresses the issue of subleasing.

Subleased Space

This is another version of shared office space, only you don’t have a direct lease with the building owner. Your landlord is another law firm. In a slow economy many law firms may cut their employee count, but they can’t reduce their office space due to a long-term lease, so they sublease some of the offices.

Pros:

Sometimes a law firm will offer free or cheap space to new lawyers or laid-off lawyers to give them time to build up some clients.

[…]

20 08, 2013

What Kind of Law Office Space Should I Have? Pros and Cons – Part 2

2019-03-20T22:04:57+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|1 Comment

This is the 2nd post in a 5 part series of posts by Debra L. Bruce addressing the pros and cons to consider in deciding on a location for your law practice. Yesterday she discussed the home law office. In today’s post, she considers shared office space.

Shared Office Space

Pros:

Landlords usually charge a lower price per square foot for larger spaces. Therefore, you can achieve some economies of scale by sharing office space with other lawyers. […]

Make an Appointment

Setting goals for
your life and career?

Make an Appointment

Setting goals for your life and career?

Setting goals for
your life and career?