Starting a Law Firm | Office Space - What I Do

One of the first things you will need to do when planning for starting a law firm will be to select what you want to do for office space. In this installment of how to start a law firm, I'm going to tell you what I do. This may not work for everyone, but I'll let you know my thought process as well.

As far as I'm concerned, there are four types of office space. Traditional office space is when you go out and find some space by yourself, lease it, and that's that. Traditional office space is too expensive for me, and I never even considered it because I didn't have any clients (and therefore no income) when I started a law firm.

Shared office space is when you get a group of people together and share the costs associated with renting space. While this is slightly more palatble financially for me, I ultimately concluded that I still couldn't afford shared office space when starting out. Also, while I looked into this option, I found that most of the space available was being subleased by some other tenant, or leased by the owner, and they seriously overpriced the space for how much I thought it was worth. Shared office space would work though if it led to referrals.

I thought about the home office. But, due to my practice areas (i.e. family law, criminal defense, DUI defense, etc.), I didn't want my clients coming to my home.

Lastly, there is virtual office space. With virtual office space, you get a dedicated and professional address, answering service, and mailbox. You can also rent out office space by the hour, if needed to meet with clients. Finally, the cost is very cheap, which is music to a new firm owner's ears.

I use the virtual office space option. For me, it works. I do most of my work out of my house, then meet with clients and receive my mail at the virtual office. The building and office is very nice, and the receptionists are great. They are eager to help me. It does get a little annoying having to go there to check for my mail, but for a small fee I could have it forwarded to my home office. So far, it hasn't hurt business either.

If you are searching for advice on how to start a small law firm, I highly recommend looking into the virtual office option for office space.