I'm entering my final year of law school but am going part time since I work full time as a paralegal. I have been a paralegal for more 10+ years and I want to open my own firm after I pass the bar.

I've worked at a lot of different size firms including a startup with a few attorneys and I was able to help with a lot of the ground work with getting the practice management system in place and still do some of that now at my current firm. Has anyone done this right out of law school? Any advice?

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I went solo as a transactional IP and small business attorney as soon as I got licensed. If you have a tech-inclined business and accounting background, it’s extremely easy to set up a lean framework for a practice (my total overhead is barely $4-5K/Yr); however, have a way to get clients.

I am known among friends for my niche and quality experience, but that hasn’t given me a leg up on finding paying clients. Even with lean overhead, I struggle to find paying clients especially due to COVID. I have myself set up for contract attorney gigs on places like Lawclerk, Posselist and what have you, but those are highly competitive due to the sheer volume of responses on jobs. Word of mouth direct referrals still stand strongest.

If you can manage that, you can make it. Let me know if you need any resources or guidance on setup, I am happy to share from experience.

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Thank you for the insight. I know my biggest struggle will be finding and building a client base. I have been working in my practice areas for over 5 years now (doing basically everything aside from attending hearings) and I know there are only a handful of attorneys in my area that handle those types of matters, but they are also pretty established in the community. I do believe I have a few contacts that will refer clients to me but I know that won't be a constant.

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Hi, I took the same path, having worked as a paralegal for 15 years before attending law school. After passing the bar, I worked briefly for a small firm (6 mos) did not learn much, and decided to go out on my own. I have a background in real estate so it was not difficult to get work. Did contact work for other firms during the first year to supplement. Best decision i ever made.

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I went to law school to start my own solo practice. I passed the bar last summer, sworn in in September, and immediately started my own practice. Get mentors and ask lots of questions about how to practice law.

As for clients, use social media and create pages for your business. It's free. Write blog posts on your business Facebook page and boost it for cheap. Talk to judges about any kind of court appointments they can help you with to start generating revenue (misdemeanors, felonies, GAL, juvenile cases...) you won't bs married to it but it'll get you some money that you can reinvest in advertising and getting set up for what you really want to do.

Also, read Starting & Growing a Law Practice Without Breaking the Bank by Emmanuel Olawale. Very short and tons easy tools for starting a solo practice. Good luck

helpfulfunny

I have never been in your position. I have practice law now for over 50 years. The one thing you have going for you is the experience you have as a paralegal. You know more about the practice than most lawyers out of law school. You might try to practice as a contract lawyer part time to have a income. On the side, try to get clients that are willing to pay you for small legal matters. Go to the firms in which you had friends and see if they refer clients to you on smaller matters to help you start your practice. Good luck to you. You are better to start a practice because of your pass work experience .

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Don’t start a practice right away. Even in today’s high tech-low cost world you are better off becoming a successful piece of an up-and-running business. Find your way, build a reputation and then consider going at it alone. Find a smaller firm, one where you can ask the main guy to involve you in the business-end a little so you can get some exposure to that. Learn what goes into the bookkeeping, dealing with vendors, risk management (everyone with a successful biz gets sued from time to time), etc...

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