Comments on: Evolutions of a Solo Practice – Part 3

By: Susan Cartier Liebel

Susan Cartier Liebel — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 23:30:03 +0000

Chris, there are many environments that provide conference rooms for little to no cost.. It’s not necessarily a permanent solution. I tend to see it more as providing a way to get started with little to no financial committment. Often, new solos seem to think they need a permanent location and fixed overhead before they can get started. This is a reasonable way to help you bootstrap without draining finite resources. It also provides the greatest flexibility as you figure out the best path for your fledgling practice. For instance, you may start out renting a conference room as needed, meet fellow attorneys who may have other opportunities for you to meet clients. The only downside is if you have to pay for the conference room and the (potential) client never even shows up. Others have shared this experience. But better to pay an hourly fee and be stood up than be committed to an annual rental and clients who don’t show up!

By: Chris Thompson

Chris Thompson — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 04:13:13 +0000

Thank You Susan and Barry. I know a lot has changed with technology allowing for smaller start up costs. My local bar association allows members to reserve conference rooms for little or no cost. This would seem to be very valuable and allow for startup without the worry of much overhead until I could build a client base. Have you heard of any solos doing this and if it was successful. Thank you for your time.

By: Barry Seidel

Barry Seidel — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:44:08 +0000

I like all three of those books. I would also recommend locating and following bloggers on the topic. No single book or blog ever has it all, and none can ever apply completely to a person’s exact situation. But anything that stimulates and focuses a person to take energized action is worthwhile in the context of the solo (ad)venture.

By: Susan Cartier Liebel

Susan Cartier Liebel — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 02:38:39 +0000

Chris, there are many books out there but the top ones are Jay Foonberg’s How to Start & Build A Law Practice, Carolyn Elefant’s
Solo By Choice, Renee Caggiaino Berman’s The Ultimate Guide to Solo and Small Firm Success. There are more that hit on various areas with different perspectives, some in more depth, others inless. However, these three are popular and fairly complete. I hope this helps!

By: Chris Thompson

Chris Thompson — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 04:17:05 +0000

If you could recommend a recent book on going solo what would it be?