Starting a Solo Practice in New York 2021 Part 1

Are you considering opening your own firm? Are you a recent law school graduate just starting out? Are you considering leaving your place of employment and starting your own practice? Starting up a solo or small firm has its own unique financial, technical and practical concerns, but beginning a practice also has its own set of rewards, fulfillment, and accomplishments. To maximize your chances of success, you must have a plan. 

Part one of this two part series is an overview of business, marketing, personal and ethical considerations when starting your solo practice, including: 

Creating Your “Launch Plan” 

• Your Business Plan (Yes, You Need One) 

• What Type of Law Will You Practice?

• Home Office or Rented Space?

• Should You Form a Professional Corporation or LLC?

• What Equipment and Technology Do You Need?

• What are the Five Things Every Solo Law Practice Must Have to Be Successful?

Ethical Client Generation: The Do’s and (Especially) Don’ts of  Marketing Your Solo Practice

• The five pillars of a solo practice marketing plan

• Identifying the “right” clients for your practice

• Your firm name, business cards and marketing materials

• Networking, (virtual) public speaking and social media (esp. YouTube®)

• Participating in online legal referral networks

Maintaining Your Professional Image When Working from a Home Office

• Can you really work in your bathrobe?

• What kind of networking works best for a home lawyer?

• Should you say you work from home on your social media profiles?

• Should you use Facetime or one of the other face-to-face apps for client

 or prospect meetings?

• Your “duty of competence” when working from home

• Maintaining your clients’ privacy

• Keeping your clients’ information confidential

Ethical Challenges of Solo Practice Business Models 

• Generating new clients – key ethics considerations for advertising and referrals 

• Get the help you need – Review key ethics rules when outsourcing and building a “virtual” law firm

• Smart strategies to grow and scale your firm 

• Modern law firm business models that make sense as well as cents

• Stay compliant with duty of technology competence via top tech tools for solos

Time Management for the Solo Lawyer Who Has No Time to Manage His/Her Time

• How to prioritize your daily workload

• How to separate the “urgent” from the “important”

• How to manage client expectations without losing business

• How to tame your e-mail Inbox and cellphone

• How to develop and use “interruption protocols”

• How most common “time vampires,” and how to deal with them

Speakers

Clifford R. Ennico, Esq., Law Office of Clifford R. Ennico

Frances Bigley, Plat4orm

Christopher Anderson, Esq., Profits First for Lawyers

Greg Garman, Esq., Lawclerk.Legal

Carol Schiro Greenwald, Ph.D., MarketingPartners