private practice Archives

7 10, 2014

Who Will Pinch-Hit for an Injured Solo?

2019-03-20T21:31:45+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Who Will Pinch-Hit for an Injured Solo?

A lawyer client recently posed a question to me about obtaining professional liability insurance. She practiced in a larger firm, and now she wants to start her own solo practice. Solos face some unique issues in obtaining insurance and making disaster contingency plans. Some legal malpractice carriers require a solo to designate a back-up attorney who will step in for her if she is incapacitated due to illness, injury, or even death. How does a solo find a lawyer willing to do that? Here are some of my suggestions:

Perhaps you have a colleague with a similar practice in a solo or small firm. They need lawyers available to cover for them, too. By making a reciprocal arrangement, you may be able to persuade a lawyer to take on that daunting responsibility.

If you don’t know someone who would be a good fit, however, it’s time to develop some additional relationships. How could you go about that? […]

5 08, 2014

“Circle of 8”

2019-02-21T23:25:19+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on “Circle of 8”

Mastermind groups are a small group of colleagues who meet regularly and can provide support, accountability, solution brainstorming and a sense of community in your law practice. Mastermind partners usually share experience and resources. They can also offer crucial reality checks that keep you from launching bad ideas.

You can create your own support and referral group that can be particularly helpful for your law business. It is called the “Circle of 8,” so named because it shouldn’t have more than eight members. It is a hybrid of a mastermind group and a business networking group. It consists of a limited number of select entrepreneurs in related, but non-competitive businesses. Besides the masterminding aspect, the Circle of 8 differs from traditional networking or leads generation groups because (i) the number is limited, (ii) all the participants serve a similar target audience, and (iii) the members are handpicked.

Circle of 8 Benefits

A Circle of 8 delivers value in many ways. As a result of the shared target audience, the members jointly have a 360 degree view of their market, with which they can educate and support each other. Your circle members may come into contact with someone needing your services before you do, so they can be good referral sources. You’ll be able to provide better service to your clients by confidently introducing them to reliable resources for their non-legal needs. Circle members may hear opinions expressed by your potential clients about what they really appreciate in legal services, or dislike about other lawyers, giving you an edge on your competition. They may be able to give you valuable feedback about your own services that your clients don’t tell you. Participants may collaborate to put on seminars or other marketing […]

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. […]

7 01, 2014

Avoiding the Commoditization of Your Law Practice

2019-02-21T23:25:24+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Avoiding the Commoditization of Your Law Practice

My article in 2007 about some of the potential ramifications of law firms going public generated quite a number of reader responses. One email asked a question that intrigued me. The reader asked how he could keep his law practice from becoming commoditized. Both small and large law firms should be asking themselves that, because the tide has already turned toward the commoditization of many legal services.

What are commodity legal services? Generally, legal services that involve routine and predictable legal issues that can be systematized into forms and processes. […]

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. […]

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. […]

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