More on Going Solo After Law School
David Swanner, a South Carolina solo weighs in with some good advice about starting a practice out of law school over here at his web log, South Carolina Trial Law. David knows about going solo after law school first hand - because he's done it successfully.
Going solo is really hard - whether out of law school or not. I fell into the latter category in the article (too stupid to know how hard it would be), but things have been falling into place recently. My practice is business law. The bottom line for marketing is pounding the pavement. Get out of the office as often as possible. Having a support network and savings (or a working spouse to rely on) is crucial.
I really think that law schools should teach some practical courses - like how to deal with clients. This is really hard and no one teaches you how to do this. In fact, I know many "experienced" attorneys that do not do this well.
From the Chicago SunTimes article, it looks like customers are spending $250 each, and each office is on average grossing $250,000. That's not a lot considering you have to pay royalties and an initial $90,000 franchise fee, hire at least one helper since it is a high volume business with lots of face and telephone time, and probably spend at least a few thousand per month in advertising.
sorry, my previous comments was meant for a different article.