In our continuing focus on career planning, we will now evaluate whether Solo Practice is a viable consideration. Previously we discussed the evaluation of your career goals, overview of career planning considerations, choosing the proper setting, and finding your area of practice preference.
STARTING YOUR OWN LAW FIRM
You might be in law school, recently laid off from a position in a law firm, still there but dissatisfied and unhappy or unfulfilled in a position outside the legal profession. You may have looked at job notices in hard copy and on line and seen little. You may have tried to contact headhunters but have had no response. You may have a strong interest in being your own boss or do not think you have any other options if you are to stay in the law.
You might want to consider becoming a sole practitioner, following a very traditional path for lawyers in this country. Recall that half of all the lawyers in private practice in this country are solos. None of them found their positions through a want ad. None of them did a mass mailing of their resume. They created their own.
If you are concerned about a potential market for your services, keep in mind that there are an estimated 240,000,000 members of the public unserved or underserved by the legal profession. Why not create a law firm which serves their legal needs?
Law students are rarely encouraged to start a new firm or found an institution. Of the more than 2,500 able creative students who graduated from Harvard law School during the years 1984-1989 while I was on staff there, I counted only FOUR graduates who left to start out on their own - two started City Year and two others started a legal services program in the southwest. It was discouraging that such a small fraction had the self-confidence and the sense that they had been sufficiently prepared to venture out on their own.
You, with others, may have started an organization in high school, college or law school and know the rewards of finding a need and filling it.
The reality, however, is that setting up a solo practice is not an easy task. Fortunately, there are many resources available to help the aspiring entrepreneur. Carolyn Elefant has written Solo by Choice and compiles resources on My Shingle.com Susan Cartier Liebel has started an online school for lawyers, Solo Practice University. The ABA has created solosez - a discussion list where solos and small firm practitioners can discuss issues of concern
Again keep in mind that because you are a solo, that does not mean that you have to be alone. You may want to have an office in your house. That is your option. But, like so many others, you can share space with others with the advantages of community that entails.
Even if you do not want to go solo, you should consider starting out as an independent contractor, working on an hourly basis for lawyers in your chosen field. Many have resorted to this option but do not think of themselves as solos. They take any hourly work for any lawyers, all the while waiting for a full-time position offer.
What is preferable is to approach the situation similarly to those seeking employment; i.e., narrow your interests and choose the field of your dreams. Then, as you will read in subsequent articles, you reach out and promote yourself to those who practice in the field, not asking for a position but for them to be your eyes and ears for work. You might even take an additional step and consider space sharing, bartering a percentage of your compensation for an office and other support. The result may be contracts with three or more lawyers leading to solo practice, an association or a position as an associate or as a partner
CONCLUSION
In law school, the common wisdom is that you can't afford so go into small firms serving individuals. Since many believe this, few explore this option and, even fewer do it, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Few of the dissatisfied lawyers who come to me looking for advice on how to make a transition to serving the legal needs of the public spend much time talking about financial constraints. Income is no longer the prime consideration.
Never accept advice from anyone that begins by suggesting that you trade all your goals and compromise your fundamental values for a high salary. Some may even advise you to take a job with a large law firm for a few years to pay off the loans ''and then you can find work consistent with your values and beliefs." Taking such unprofessional advice may lead you on a path to personal disillusionment and unhappiness.
W. Chesterfield Smith believed that the goal of legal practice is not the accumulation of wealth but the obligation to see that all persons have a lawyer at a reasonable price. Remember the fundamental value that you should select a position that is consistent with your professional goals and your personal values.
The task needed in every profession, and indeed by every citizen today, is to return wisdom to our work. We do this by returning to the essential meaning of our profession - a meaning that originally had to do with serving others......Is it controversial to suggest that our professions have in great part lost their enchantment? How happy are people at their work? ... Is the real reason that we do not need more lawyers? Might it be instead that we do not need more of the kind of lawyers practicing the kind of law that we are accustomed to? We do need laws to defend the environment, to defend our children, to defend the poor instead of lobbying for the powerful. Perhaps the crisis lies in the kind of work our society is offering its workers. Matthew Fox (no relation) The Reinvention of Work, p.137
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Ronald W. Fox is the principal of Career Planning for Lawyers. Since 1990, he has: provided individual guidance to law students and lawyers in transition helping them search for and locate positions consistent with their personal values and their professional goals.