Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners

Back In The Race: The Pure Solo Business Plan

How can you get by as a "pure solo" or "true solo," a solo practitioner without any associates or support staff?

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For the first few years of my solo practice, I was a pure solo (also known as a “true solo”). This means that I had no associates nor support staff. I had a small number of clients with relatively simple matters, so I had no need for such luxuries. But later, I got a part-time assistant who handled the mail, deposited checks, and called a client from time to time. She is still with me today helping me close up my existing cases.

Solo practitioners and small partnerships seeking a lucrative practice will eventually have to hire employees, or at the very least, part-time contract workers, in order to expand. At some point, the grunt work becomes too burdensome for the solo to handle alone. The legal assistant or paralegal will handle the usual office paperwork and logistical client calls while the associate is in charge of smaller cases.

Some pure solos want the lucrative practice without the hassle and potential liability of employees. Today, I want to share some of the true solo business plans being thrown around — and why it’s hard to make them work….

The Part-Time Practice. Some pure solos are not interested in practicing law full-time. They might be enjoying a side job. Or the spouse is the main breadwinner of the family and the children or elder family members have to be tended to. Since they are working part-time, they will have few clients and will not need employees.

If you are happy working part-time, then by all means, go for it. But I don’t know if having a part-time practice is worth it financially unless you have a few clients who are paying you handsomely. Because your income will be a lot lower than a full-time solo, you probably cannot afford to pay for business development expenses and a legal research subscription. So it may be better to work part-time for an attorney instead.

The 10/$1,000 plan. One pure solo wanted to limit her practice to serving only ten clients who pay her $1,000 per month. Once she gets her 10 clients, she gets $10,000 per month. In exchange, these ten lucky souls would have unfettered access to her for legal work. Sounds simple enough, although this sounds similar to a pre-paid legal services plan. Since she has so few clients, she can probably work from home and visit the clients instead. And ten clients should be easy enough to handle without employees, shouldn’t it?

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A few issues though. First, even in a good economy, it will be very hard to find individuals and small businesses willing to pay (and able to consistently pay) $1,000 per month for legal services. The potential clients who might be able to pay this are midsize businesses and wealthy individuals with complex legal problems. Second, assuming she is able to find such clients, they won’t be clients for very long, as most litigation and transactional work lasts between a few months to a few years. Third, even if you find your 10 magic clients, you will still have to troll for business to replace the ones who will eventually fire you. Finally, if you are going charge $1,000 per month (or $12,000 per year), expect them to send you voluminous work regularly. If it gets to be too much for you, you may need to hire staff to help you.

The 20/$500 plan. In case the 10/$1,000 plan does not seem feasible, a more realistic goal would be to find 20 clients who can pay $500 per month. Such clients should be easier to find.

Having 20 or more clients can get complicated. I know that everyone’s situation is different. But once you have 20 clients, you may need to consider getting a separate office. Assuming you have to meet with each client once per month, it will probably be inefficient to drive to their home or place of business. Managing 20 clients could be done without help so long as an efficient client management system is set up. But preparing and sending billing statements for 20 people is a huge time suck, especially if you don’t update your billing until the last minute.

I will conclude by saying that it is possible to make decent money as a true solo but unlikely. The point is that while being a true solo will avoid employee headaches, it also comes with a cost. Since you are doing everything yourself, you will have no time for business development or improving your skill set because you will be spending that time doing work that an associate or assistant should be doing. Perhaps the “future of law” will find a way to automate the grunt work and business development, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime.

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Shannon Achimalbe was a former solo practitioner for five years before deciding to sell out and get back on the corporate ladder. Shannon can be reached at sachimalbe@excite.com.

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