For True Solos, Is It Really Necessary To Hire Staff For Your Growing Practice?

Many people are opting for the true solo option, but what happens when there's just too much work to handle?

Since I started my solo practice, I have been a true solo. This means no partners, no associates, and no staff. It was just me, my laptop, and my car.

In the beginning, I thought this would be temporary until I developed a “real” practice (as they say). But I have become used to working alone. While I had to do everything myself, I didn’t have to worry about making payroll, paying payroll taxes, and paying for a bigger office to accommodate employees. This also meant not having to deal with disgruntled employees and workers compensation.

Over the years, I never gave much thought to expanding my practice to include staff. When there was overflow of work, I always found a way to make the time to do everything myself. Usually, I just I rescheduled meetings or canceled personal events.

But lately, I have been extremely busy. While my client base has increased, my time base did not keep up. But as a true solo, I am being more than just the lawyer. I am also the salesman, the bill collector, the accountant, the janitor, the IT maintenance person, the speaker, and in some cases, the therapist.

It has gotten to the point where I am starting to neglect things. I have been slower to return calls and faster to ask for deadline extensions. I am spending a lot more time at work which has taken a toll on my personal life. I am also sleeping less, which can be dangerous for my health in the short and long term.

Recalling all of the discipline cases I read in ethics class, this is where trouble usually starts. So something has to give.

As my story shows, true solos only have so much time for work. So they have two main options. They can either turn down work in order maintain a true solo lifestyle. Or they can hire someone to take on the additional work and officially become a job creator.

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Turning down work might seem crazy because you’re throwing money away. But you turn down work all the time. You turn down work that is incompatible with your practice. You turn down potential clients who you think are not a good fit for whatever reason.

But the problem is where you must turn away a client you can service. In addition to losing money, the client may be a future referral source if you are successful.

If you are in a position to be more selective, then you may want to retain clients who are going to be a good fit: cooperative, pays on time, and likely to be a good referral source. You can refer out a potential client who is not a good fit to a colleague. You can also ask for a referral fee in exchange, if you are comfortable with that and your state allows it.

Many people are opting for the true solo option. These people only want to earn a certain amount of money, and want more of a lifestyle practice. With the right type of steady clients, it is possible to make a good living as a true solo without hiring employees.

The second option is to hire someone and lose your true solo status. This is where things get tricky. The right staff can be a great boon for your practice. But I’m sure you have heard many horror stories about the employee from hell. If not, go to your local attorneys group and ask about their worst hires.

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Also, assuming you are able to find someone, the next question is where do you put them? If your “true solo” office only has one desk and a few chairs for clients, it will be hard to provide adequate working space for your employee. You may choose to let them work from home and you can transfer files to each other through a cloud-based program. Or if your practice is home-based, you can allow them to come into your home. But are you willing to provide this level of trust with someone you just hired?

Finally, is the hire going to be cost effective? While this topic can be addressed in more detail in a future post, let’s just say that if you are spending $3,000 per month for an employee to service clients who are only paying $1,000 per month, then you are doing it wrong. But even if you are breaking even, it might not make sense to take the client or hire the employee because you are not making enough money to justify the hire.

There is also a third option — hiring temp or contract workers. Generally, temp/contract workers are not subject to employment taxes and they can be more flexible when it comes to time. And some work with no expectation of full-time employment. They are good for hiring when there is temporary overflow. However, these people generally tend to be more expensive. It may be a better idea to hire them on a per-case basis and pay them a portion of the fee.

For some people, a true solo practice is a first step before expansion. For others, it’s a lifestyle that doesn’t require dependence on others. For those on the fence, check to see if you have the time and infrastructure to handle cases on your own. Otherwise, make sure you have the money to pay your staff and adequate space for them to work.


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 by email at sachimalbe@excite.com and via Twitter: @ShanonAchimalbe.