All lawyers are trained to practice their activity as a freelancer. Whether independent or in association, opening your practice is, however, a demanding choice. Moreover, a large number of graduates work as collaborators, by choice or preference.
Setting up your own business remains a decisive step in a lawyer's career, but its difficulty is underestimated. After having spoken with hundreds of firms, of all sizes, all practices and all regions, we can tell you that it is important to put yourself in the right frame of mind. In a few words : Think like an entrepreneur! This is the condition shared by all successful firms. For example, reread this enlightening testimony published in the Village de la Justice.
Here we offer you a breakdown of the 6 steps to successfully opening your law firm.
His motivations: why open his office?
Everyone has their reasons for becoming self-employed. For some, necessity rules ! An unsatisfactory collaboration, a lack of prospects pushes you to start your own business.
For others, it is by concern for independence. The desire to organize your work as you wish, to choose your clients, to choose your partners takes precedence over the rest.
Finally, and it is in reality always a present motivation, opening your practice is motivated by the desire to offer a different service offering. Whether it is the way of working, the culture and values of the firm, the services we offer, these are decisive reasons for creating your firm
Its added value: how do I differentiate myself?
You are not the first to create your practice! You need to think strategically before you get started. What practices have I mastered? Who are the customers I am targeting? What value offer do I want to offer to my customers? How do I bill them?
Opening your practice is a strategic positioning. If you don't differentiate yourself, competition will be tough and will prevent you from growing.
Schematically, either you respond to a need expertise and you must prove that you are one of the greatest experts in the field. Your strategy will then be to participate in all events and conferences of specialists in your subject, to be recognized as an expert and to ensure that your network thinks of you when they have a legal problem in your field.
Either you position yourself as a Unique contact for a customer segment, for example startups, or food artisans, or families, or communities. This may involve partnering with a colleague with complementary skills in order to offer a one-stop shop. Or to work in a network and as a project manager.
other value propositions are possible. Each of them involves an organization, a discourse, a way of invoicing which must be linked to your added value.
This step is one of the most important to your long-term success. Don't underestimate her!
Financing: how can I make a living from my activity?
You must make a business plan. Despite the simplicity of the term, its construction and mastery are more complex exercises. It is not enough to write your business plan at the beginning, you must constantly refer to it, update it and enrich it as the months go by. So you can adapt your strategy and measure your risks.
To build this plan, you must first list your expenses and spread them over the first 24 months. Rent, overheads, taxes, salaries, social charges, marketing costs, etc. must be taken into account pessimistically. THE spending marketing in particular tend to be underestimated or even unanticipated even though they are essential to your business development!
These are then your receipts which must be estimated. When will you invoice your first customer? When will you get paid? How quickly will you develop your customer network? You must build on hypotheses that are linked to your sales and marketing strategy (see below). One thing is certain: if your positioning is poor, or if your marketing and sales resources are too weak, you will not be able to develop as quickly as hoped!
Customers: what commercial strategy?
Opening your practice involves developing your clientele yourself. Few lawyers learned to do this during their studies or their first collaborations. However, it is the clients who finance your practice!
The first step, once you have defined your positioning and established your business plan, is to rely on your network. Your personal and professional relationships are your first supports and know many potential prospects. Help them, inform them, explain to them what you offer. They will be able to recommend you. The communications tools (see below) are great help.
You must also turn to your colleagues. Your skills and your positioning may interest them for current clients, but also for future clients. The relationship ofIntermediary business is very widespread and relevant in many cases: everyone maintains their independence and offers their clients the benefit of the depth of their network. On the other hand, the consequences of this “indirect” approach must be taken into account: transparency on hours and prices, organizing in project mode, collaborative work, etc. Not all lawyers are willing to operate in this way.
Finally, you need to create a long-term relationship with your customers. It is not a posture but rather a loyalty and recommendation strategy that you must deploy. For this, modern communication tools are very effective: newsletters, organizing “legal” events for clients, providing regular and free updates in order to detect possible risks to cover or projects to work on, etc. Then your customer network will grow quickly, based on your first customers and first relationships.
Get organized: which management software?
Carrying out all these reflections and steps simultaneously is only possible with a well-established organization. You must rely on management software that allows you to stay focused on your current missions while finding your information and files easily.
It is therefore first of all time saver in the management of administrative tasks that you can extract to animate your network and develop your customer network. This means intuitive, ergonomic software, adapted to working in project mode, facilitating collaborative work. Time entry, invoicing, file management, customer portal are some of the basic functionalities that you need to find in your software to fulfill your various management and customer relations missions.
Then, the mobility is a dimension that will make the difference. Being a lawyer-entrepreneur means increasing travel and missions. It is important to work everywhere (court, police station, client meetings, at home, on the train, etc.) in good conditions. Make sure you can find your files, your times, your customer interactions both on your smartphone and on your computers. A private cloud solution with local replication and ideal for being autonomous, mobile, perfectly secure and not dependent on the Internet.
Finally, opening your office poses financial matters. Privilege software solutions not requiring additional investments (avoid client/server solutions, mandatory training, etc.). A monthly subscription to your management software guarantees maximum availability, avoids blocking your cash flow, and allows you to upgrade your subscription.
Communication: what tools make me visible?
Historically, a plaque affixed to a prestigious address, and its network of colleagues was enough to develop its clientele. This approach remains relevant but no longer allows you to make a living from your activity. Rental costs, fierce competition and customer demands now require more sophisticated communication strategies.
The first rule is to mix real communication and virtual communication. Your website IS your practice. The two places must share the same atmosphere and the same objectives: inspire confidence, promote lawyers and their collaborators, highlight the quality of work processes. It is therefore essential to have a modern, well-designed website, well referenced on Google, and with a blog/network space.
Then, animate your network. Publish, speak at conferences, be cited, organize small thematic events (breakfasts). All these actions show your network (colleagues, clients, relationships) that you are active and expert. This approach is that of content marketing : offer quality content and you will interest an audience who, if you position yourself on promising themes, will contact you for legal needs.
Social networks (LinkedIn and Twitter in particular) are a transmission belt between you and your prospects and customers. It is through them that you can highlight your work, your events, your interventions, your publications, your news. Social networks, like SEO on Google, will attract many people interested in your work to your site, including a large number of prospects. However, this implies that you devote time to writing and illustrating, taking photos and videos, and livening up your weeks with content of interest to your network.
Opening your practice is a process that has nothing to envy of creating a startup ! The adventure is arduous, complex, difficult. There motivation is therefore logically the first element that must be verified. Define sound positioning strategic is the key element of success of the firm. The questions financial must be well anticipated and formalized. The establishment of a customer strategy clear and means of communication modern is essential. Finally, the good management software will allow you to carry out all these projects at the same time!
