The business plan

So here is the basic outline of my solo law plan. The focus of the practice will be to act as a part time corporate council for venture backed start-ups that do not have an in-house legal department but need some day-to-day tactical legal help with strategic agreements, customer licenses, and general corporate maintenance type work. Typically these companies are anywhere from 10 people to 150 people. They can't justify a full time lawyer but could use someone for a few days a month. Ideally, 50 to 60% of the practice would be devoted to 4 or 5 companies that have committed to a few days a month and the remainder would be ad hoc one-off type projects. There are not many people doing this although I have found 4 or 5 in the area that I have talked with (more on that research later).

My understanding of the general billing rate is $175 to $200 an hour with some people charging more than $200. I plan on finding clients by working my various networks, former law school classmates (many of which are now partners or have in house positions), former colleagues (one of the benefits of working with two companies that went bust is that they are scattered at companies all over the place), and on and on, I find I can make a long list of people I can contact. Now whether those networks will yield a satisfying law practice is the great unanswered question.

Now that is Part 1 of the business plan, I also have a Ppart 2 which is to slowly build an estate planning and elder law practice (the "demographics are great" as a friend told me). Why this two part approach? Well I figure that it will be easier to start with what I know and then build out a practice (estate planning) which I think I will enjoy more over the long term but about which I have little experience. I could go on, but its late and I am tired so I'll leave it there.

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Who am I? Why am I here?

So here is my brief bio, more detail to be provided in later posts. I was born and raised on the east coast, I went to college at a Midwestern university and then returned home after college, graduating in the late 1980s. I spent the first 7 or 8 months after college trying to figure out what I wanted to do, interviewing for various business analysts type jobs, it was frustrating and my first introduction to resumes and "what are your strengths/weaknesses" types of questions.

I ended up working for a government funded research team for about four or five months and then landed a job doing economic analysis. I stayed there for about three years before going to law school full time. My first law school summer I worked at the public defender's office and my second summer I worked at a large firm and returned there full-time after graduation. I joined the corporate department at the firm (M&A, venture capital, bank financing type work) and stayed there for three years. I eventually decided that the business people at our corporate clients had the more interesting job and wanted to get out of law (now I think it was a case of the-grass-is-always-greener syndrome). I lefte the firm and have been on an extended tour of corporate America for the past several years (with a few periods of unemployment mixed in). I have worked for small, medium and, now, mega corporations primarily focusing on strategic partnerships and acquisitions. For the past year, I have been working for a Fortune 500 corporation but am actively making plans to return to the practice of law as a solo practitioner.

And of course, I can't forget the best part of my life, I married my college girlfriend and we have two wonderful children under the age of 6. Home life is great, its the professional life riddle I am still trying to solve at the threshold of age 40.

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Considering Solo

Hello and welcome to my blog, this is actually my second attempt to get this blog off the ground. I started with a post six month ago. I have now made commitment to spend at least ten minutes 5 times a week typing out my thoughts as I make the move to solo law (I have pretty much committed myself to make this move but I suppose until I actually do it there is always the possibility of backing out). I am a bundle of insecurities about this move but also very much excited about it.

Here is what I wrote (but never published back in June):

I am thinking about taking the plunge and going into business for myself as a solo lawyer. This is not something I plan on doing for a few months, perhaps not until the end of the year but I thought I would use this blog (assuming I can keep it up) as a sounding board, as a way to think out loud, keep me honest and explore my hopes, fears, expectations about pursuing this career path. In subsequent posts, I'll cover the what, why, when, how, of this thought process.

To any stray surfer who finds this corner of the web, please feel free to comment, critique or offer any insights you have on what I am thinking.

Its funny to read those words now, was I really thinking of doing this by year end 2005? Anyway, my plan now is to make the move March 1 More later (my 10 minutes is up!)

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