Last Wednesday night, I had the pleasure of attending the second of four sessions in Rachel Rodgers' class, 21st Century Lawyer: Lifestyle Design with a Virtual Law Office. If the first session was a little too touchy-feely for my tastes, this session made up for it with the sheer volume of information on the class handout. Class 2 was titled: Get Your Finances in Line with Your Dream; you can guess what our focus was. Rachel broke the class up into three sections: Startup Costs, Surviving the Startup Phase, and Managing Education Debt. Read on after the jump for some specifics and my reaction.
In the first segment, Rachel discussed three categories of purchases for a VLO: necessities, extras, and wastes of money. As you might expect, the practice of law through a VLO requires very few things that the practice of law through a brick-and-mortar location does not require. The usual suspects include a computer with internet connection, a current law license, professional liability insurance, a phone number, and an e-mail address. The one "need" that differentiated a VLO from a physical location was a client portal of some kind. This makes sense in the context of this blog. As you know, I would argue that what makes a virtual law office "virtual" is the use of a client portal to facilitate the provision of legal services. So, take a law office, add a client portal, and what do you get? That wasn't a rhetorical question.
Rachel lists a website as a need for a VLO. This makes some sense, as clents need to find you online somehow. I would suggest that other options might exist for creating an online brand. It may be possible to create a substantial web presence, at least initially, through the use of various social media platforms. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, and countless others could be used to make yourself known without ever actually purchasing a domain name. Another free web service that is useful is blog hosting through a site like Blogger (where mine are) or Wordpress. These sites both offer the ability to transition your blog to a custom domain at no extra cost. That makes them a good place to start because you can easily move the web address in the event you purchase a domain name. Your client portal could be hosted by the software company you choose - as is the case with ClioConnect - eliminating the need for your own personal domain. A strong social media presence is important for any lawyer trying to attract clients online, so many of these services are likely tools that you would use regardless. However, it could be possible to create a VLO without ever purchasing a domain name.
Rachel also discussed a good deal of extras that people often purchase when starting out. Some of these are extras for all types of law offices. Others are fairly important for physical locations but not for a virtual law office. The big one I suggest working into your budget is education, especially if you're a new lawyer. Conferences, classes, and seminars are invaluable, not just for learning your field, but also for networking with other attorneys. The other 'extra' I suggest you look into for your VLO is a scanner. Whether that's built into your printer or a separate, desktop unit, a scanner can be invaluable for keeping your office paperless.
Rachel's list of common money-sucks had three items in it, and I agree with her list, to the extent that those items cost money. When you're starting out, you probably want to avoid spending money on things like research services (i.e. Lexis or Westlaw), lawyer directories, and traditional advertising. Why should you avoid these things? Because the return on the money you invest is so minimal. Put another way, there are oodles of free options out there that give you most of the same content. These items aren't bad or evil, they just cost more than a fledgling law firm should probably pony up.
Rachel's advice for surviving the start-up phase of your practice is simple, practical, and largely common sense. Since you can't control your income, try to control your costs. Now, you may have other sources of income outside your practice. If so, you're a lucky son of a gun. That takes some of the pressure off the performane of your law practice. Many people may not, though. The best thing to do is spend as little as possible, both professionally and personally. Don't pay for that Westlaw subscription. Stay home from that movie or concert. Cancel your premium cable.
I'm not going to get into the managing student debt section of the class. I thought that portion was fairly uninformative (which was likely because wewere already 10 minutes over the time allotted for the session).
I really enjoyed Rachel's second session. She had some helpful advice for people starting out, whether as new lawyers or as new solos. The homework - which is due tomorrow! - was to create a financial plan for the VLO and brainstorm ways to cut costs. I'm going to go do that, so I can use it in a future blog.
In the first segment, Rachel discussed three categories of purchases for a VLO: necessities, extras, and wastes of money. As you might expect, the practice of law through a VLO requires very few things that the practice of law through a brick-and-mortar location does not require. The usual suspects include a computer with internet connection, a current law license, professional liability insurance, a phone number, and an e-mail address. The one "need" that differentiated a VLO from a physical location was a client portal of some kind. This makes sense in the context of this blog. As you know, I would argue that what makes a virtual law office "virtual" is the use of a client portal to facilitate the provision of legal services. So, take a law office, add a client portal, and what do you get? That wasn't a rhetorical question.
Rachel lists a website as a need for a VLO. This makes some sense, as clents need to find you online somehow. I would suggest that other options might exist for creating an online brand. It may be possible to create a substantial web presence, at least initially, through the use of various social media platforms. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, and countless others could be used to make yourself known without ever actually purchasing a domain name. Another free web service that is useful is blog hosting through a site like Blogger (where mine are) or Wordpress. These sites both offer the ability to transition your blog to a custom domain at no extra cost. That makes them a good place to start because you can easily move the web address in the event you purchase a domain name. Your client portal could be hosted by the software company you choose - as is the case with ClioConnect - eliminating the need for your own personal domain. A strong social media presence is important for any lawyer trying to attract clients online, so many of these services are likely tools that you would use regardless. However, it could be possible to create a VLO without ever purchasing a domain name.
Rachel also discussed a good deal of extras that people often purchase when starting out. Some of these are extras for all types of law offices. Others are fairly important for physical locations but not for a virtual law office. The big one I suggest working into your budget is education, especially if you're a new lawyer. Conferences, classes, and seminars are invaluable, not just for learning your field, but also for networking with other attorneys. The other 'extra' I suggest you look into for your VLO is a scanner. Whether that's built into your printer or a separate, desktop unit, a scanner can be invaluable for keeping your office paperless.
Rachel's list of common money-sucks had three items in it, and I agree with her list, to the extent that those items cost money. When you're starting out, you probably want to avoid spending money on things like research services (i.e. Lexis or Westlaw), lawyer directories, and traditional advertising. Why should you avoid these things? Because the return on the money you invest is so minimal. Put another way, there are oodles of free options out there that give you most of the same content. These items aren't bad or evil, they just cost more than a fledgling law firm should probably pony up.
Rachel's advice for surviving the start-up phase of your practice is simple, practical, and largely common sense. Since you can't control your income, try to control your costs. Now, you may have other sources of income outside your practice. If so, you're a lucky son of a gun. That takes some of the pressure off the performane of your law practice. Many people may not, though. The best thing to do is spend as little as possible, both professionally and personally. Don't pay for that Westlaw subscription. Stay home from that movie or concert. Cancel your premium cable.
I'm not going to get into the managing student debt section of the class. I thought that portion was fairly uninformative (which was likely because wewere already 10 minutes over the time allotted for the session).
I really enjoyed Rachel's second session. She had some helpful advice for people starting out, whether as new lawyers or as new solos. The homework - which is due tomorrow! - was to create a financial plan for the VLO and brainstorm ways to cut costs. I'm going to go do that, so I can use it in a future blog.
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