Solo Practice

When I say benefits I am not talking about health insurance, paid time off, or the less than family rated version found in the adage "friends with benefits."  Instead I am taking about the benefits that I have received from being my own boss and from building relationships with other solo and small firm attorneys, even those practicing in the same or similar practice area.  There are many things that I have come to discover in the nearly 8 months since I started my own law firm, but one of the most meaningful discoveries was that a good group of fellow attorneys who are willing and able to serve as sounding boards / mentors can provide an invaluable benefit to a solo attorney.  While it is true that these fellow attorneys and I are technically competitors in the marketplace, I can honestly say that this fact hasn't been a barrier or a hindrance up to this point.  I have been contacted on a number of occasions by other estate planning attorneys to problem-solve or brainstorm and I have contacted other attorneys a couple of times to do the same.  This is an important element of any solo practice since, as the name indicates, you are the only attorney in a solo practice and while it would be nice to know the answer every time we all know that this isn't always the cause.  So instead of walking down the hall to a partner or fellow associate we fire off an email or a telephone call to someone in our network of trusted colleagues. 

I don't think that I can stress the importance of building a competent and trustworthy group of attorneys enough for solo or small firm practitioners.  Not only will it provide a forum for the problem-solving and brainstorming that I mentioned above, but it will create a relationship that could produce referrals in situations where the other attorney has a conflict or simply has a need to get another attorney involved such as is the case from time to time in probate, trust administration or guardianship type work. 

I would say though that the best benefit of being a solo attorney is that you have an ownership interest in your time and in your future.  As attorneys we can say that we work for ourselves, but the truth is we work for a number of bosses, they just happen to be called clients.  I understand that this is not the same thing as having to report to the senior partners, but I will assume you get where I am going with that.  As a solo you have the power to concentrate in the areas of law that interest you and you can take on the kinds of matters that you want.  To be quite honest, some of my greatest satisfaction has come from the small and seemingly insignificant parts of running a law firm.  Things like filing methods, document presentation choices, billing approaches, letterhead and business card design, etc.  I guess when you are forced to lock up your creative juices while employed, it is no surprise that it feels so good to let them out when the word associate disappears from the beginning of your job title.  I still cannot wait to have my personalized T-shirts printed bearing the Dosch Law Firm, LLC name and logo.  I may very well wear one every single day.  I'll post a picture when I finally get that project taken off.