Starting a Law Firm - Where to Start?

So I’ve decided to start a law firm. Congratulations! Now what? That is where I was not too long ago. Actually, just after I decided to start a law firm, I ended up putting my plans on hold for about a month. But my desire to take control of my life outweighed any other motivators, and I got back on the wagon. Now I am a little over a month into starting a law firm, and I still feel like I have so much to do.

But where did I start? Honestly, the first thing I did was buy a new phone – an HTC Droid Incredible. I knew that if I made some investment, albeit a relatively small one after the rebates, there was no turning back. For the first time in a long time, I was excited about my work, even if it was false optimism.

So where should I have started? Right here. Well not right here, but definitely on the internet researching how to start a law firm. So that is what I did, immediately after making my first purchase. There is a lot of information out there for attorneys out there to find. I knew that starting a law firm was going to take a lot of planning. So I started with Foonberg’s How to Start & Build a Law Practice, continued researching online through the ABA and my local bar associations, read as many blogs as possible. All the while, I made a running to do list based on all the information I took in. Included on my to do list was creating a business plan and creating a marketing plan. Those two items, as well as my current to do list, are complete topics for future posts. For now, just know that the to do list is long, but starts with the idea and research.

What about my new phone? My thinking in purchasing probably the best phone in Verizon’s arsenal was that I wanted to project success from the outset. Well, it hasn’t even arrived yet. My understanding is that Verizon, through HTC, through Samsung, is having trouble keeping up with demand because the screen used on the Incredible is in short supply. I guess it serves me right for doing things backwards.