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.
An in-house lawyer (let’s call her Sara) contacted me about helping her design a business plan for starting up her own law firm. I commended Sara’s wisdom in creating a business plan before leaving her corporate job. Surprisingly few lawyers actually do that. She explained that she needed the business plan in order to get a bank to lend her operating capital. While I silently questioned how realistic her expectations were, I asked how much she intended to borrow. She said, “I only need enough to cover my living expenses for a couple of months. Just until the money starts coming in.” 
