Solo Practice: Priceless
From Susan Cartier-Liebel's piece, For the Brave, There's Life Beyond Biglaw (law.com, August 10, 2006) comes this money quote:
If opening your own practice were portrayed as a MasterCard commercial, it would go something like this: Virtual Office: $150; Cell Phone: $49.99 a month; WiFi laptop: $799; taking your 5-year-old son to his first Mets opening day at Shea Stadium (without derailing the partnership track): Priceless.
What aspect of solo practice is priceless to you? Send me your comments below.
1. Being able to go to work at 11:00 AM in shorts and t-shirt.
2. Filing and serving papers myself, just because I feel like getting some exercise and saving a few dollars.
3. Being able to surf the internet and chat on the phone with friends for a few hours if I don't feel like working.
4. Turning down work that will require me to stay late in the office or where the client seems like a pain in the ***.
5. Taking a few unprofitable cases now and then simply to help decent people who are the victims of injustice.
Hear, hear, to the post above.
But also--I have an anxiety disorder. Some days are harder than others for me to interact with people. The solo life gives me a lot more flexibility, as opposed to being Associate #110101, to redo my schedule or focus my energies, whether it's a day I need to get out and see people or one I need to sit and do research.
--Being about to homeschool our two children.
--Working till 2am and sleeping late.
--Incorporating technology on a whim.
--Having no personnel issues except for the chronic procrastination of my husband/law partner ;-).
--no office politics
--no generic fox hunt scenes on the corridor walls.
--no minimum billables
As a "big firm" refugee I agree with everything else that is listed above.
In addition:
1. I have a special needs child; it is wonderful to see how she has improved since I have been able to organize my life around her needs instead of vice versa.
2. Solo practice satisfies the "control freak" in me; "I" get to decide what type of clients I want to represent, my legal fees, whether I want to expand my practice areas, etc.
3. I can smell the roses both literally, in my backyard, and figuratively by taking time to nuture relationships and my non-legal interests.
I would not give anything for the life I have right now. And that says a lot.
My daughter crawled yesterday for the first time, and I was there to see it.
When she went down for her nap (after all the crawling) I opened the window and watched the rain. When my wife got home, the sun came out so I went for a run on the soccer fields at the nearby university, then stopped off at the beach for an hour to cool down. And I even did 2 hours of billable work, which is all I need to do in a given day to be profitable. Later after dinner I sorted through stock photos to decorate my almost-launched website with, and perused articles to talk about when my blog launches.
Have to say, it was a really good day.
For me, it's the freedom to work when needed and not because "face time" is required. When I'm busy, I work long hours. When I'm not, I go play with my kids.