Step 1: Dream Up Your Law Firm

This first step is an obvious one, but I still felt it deserved a post because making sure you really flesh out your thinking here will be a foundation for many other steps to come. I suggest grabbing a journal, going outside or to a coffee shop, and consider the following questions:

How do I want people to feel when they interact with me as an attorney, and with the firm as a whole?

While considering this, it’s important to consider your natural strengths as a person. For example, there’s a stereotype of attorneys that are tough, aggressive, and will get the job done! While we all have a little bit of this within us, for many, this might not be a major personality trait. What is it about you that your friends value? Is it that you are down to earth and relatable? That you are well-spoken or have a positive disposition?

Personally, I’ve been told that I come off calm, gentle, and that I have a warm personality. While these may not be characteristics that one thinks of when they think “attorney,” they still have value in many aspects of representing clients. It’s important to play to your natural strengths, rather than push against them and try to fit an image that’s not you.

Keeping this in mind, and knowing that my clients may be coming to me in one of the most stressful times of their lives, I wanted interactions with myself and my firm to bring a sense of peace for clients, knowing that there is an advocate on their side helping them through their immigration journey.

What’s one way to provide this feeling? Compassionate Listening- if someone is sharing a story of being persecuted in their home country, in order for them to feel a little more at peace, reassured, and to build trust with me, it’s important that they feel cared for and listened to. From this thought process, I decided that one my law firm’s values will be compassionate listening.

How will your personal strengths play a role in your representation of clients? Can you form one of your firms values from this?

What do you want the client experience (and your experience) to feel like?

Do you want your clients to come into an office and talk with you in person? Do you want to run a completely virtual firm?

Clients often want their case to process as fast as possible (at least when it comes to the attorney’s work..somehow when it comes to sending in their documents, it’s often a different story 🤪) Keeping this in mind, and knowing that I wanted to run a virtual firm so that I could work from anywhere, using technology to make sure everything runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible seemed crucial. From this, I came up with another value for my firm: Use of Innovative Technology

As you continue thinking through these questions, you will begin to come up with some core values that are unique to your firm and your natural strengths as an attorney. You will also begin to map out how you want your practice to run.

Do you have a mission?

Another questions to consider- why are you doing this? Aside from the “I want to be my own boss” or “I lost my job and need to start my own gig” reasons….why do you want to specifically help your clients? Of all the vocations you could have, and of all the practice areas, why this?

People often have their mission statement public and listed on their website- but you don’t have to! Either way, having a clear “why” to come back to and ground you as you build out your firm will help you make decisions that align with your goals and purpose.

What areas of law do you want to practice?

Of course an important aspect to consider is what area of law you want to practice. Do you want to stick to one area of law, or be a general practitioner?

Generally, I’ve heard that general practitioners do well in small towns, while having a more niche practice better suits firms in cities. If this is something you are having a hard time deciding on, spend some time researching and thinking through the pros and cons. You can always start with one practice area, and add another as time goes on.

The answer to this question may also depend on if you have a partner you are starting the firm with. You may each want to head a different practice area depending on each person’s interests, skills, and connections.

If you are starting your own firm as a solo, I suggest sticking to one or two practice areas to begin with. This will make some of the next steps a bit easier and probably your overall experience less overwhelming.

Try to keep this phase of starting a law firm fun and inspiring! While developing your firm’s values, mission, and practice area is important, you can always change your mind, so don’t get too caught up in indecisiveness!

I hope these are some helpful aspects to think through!

Until next time,

Sarah