start your own law practice ebook (abal)

5/24/2018 Start Your Own Law Practice eBook (ABAL)

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Start Your Own Law Practice:

How to Make a Six-Figure Salary as a Solo Practitioner

by Sameer Kumar, J.D.

Copyright 2009 by Sameer Kumar

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any mannerwhatsoever without the written permission of the author andpublisher.


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IMPORANT INFORMATION

I would love to hear your questions, comments and any input youhave about anything and everything else you would like to learnabout starting and growing your law practice. The best way toreach me is by email. All contact information is listed below.

We also hold seminars & Business Boot Camps geared solelytowards professionals such as you. You can always go towww.AmazingBusinessAmazingLife.comto find the latest eventsthat we are holding.

If you are a business-development superstar who wants todramatically reduce your learning curve I am available for one-on-one mentorship as well.

2009-2010 Rates for One-To-One Mentoring

$2000 per hour or $10,000 for a full 8-hour day

(all mentoring sessions are held in New Jersey)

Please email for details.

You can reach me directly [email protected]

To reach us by phone call (888) 744-2732.

IMPORTANT: I keep this book as updated as possible but

honestly, its near impossible. The amount of new and cutting-edge information that I obtain & implement can only be shared in atimely manner through our video blog and through our seminars. Iencourage you to check out both. Our blog can be found atwww.ABALblog.com. This will be your best resource.


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Contents

MY BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .12

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

CHAPTER ONE: BEFORE YOU START

Decide to Succeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..19

Plan on Building a (Practically) Virtual Practice . . . . . . . .19

Should I Work For A Firm First? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

What Should I Name My Practice? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

To Specialize or Not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Bank Some Cash Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Learning Your Practice Area(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25Malpractice Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..27

Quit Your Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

CHAPTER TWO: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Should I Practice From Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Where Should I Open My Office? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Office Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Office Sharing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

CHAPTER THREE: THE PEOPLE YOU NEEDYour Receptionist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Some Good Paralegals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Get an Accountant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Forget the Bank - Get a Banker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

A Web Designer Techie.42


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CHAPTER FOUR: THINGS YOU NEED

A Phone Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

E-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..45

Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47

Copying Machine & High-Speed Scanner . . . . . . . . . . . ..48

Fax Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..49

Business Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..49

Postage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..50Internet Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..51

Data Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..51

CHAPTER FIVE: MONEY MATTERS

Setting Your Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...55

Negotiating Your Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..56

Get Paid Up Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 57

Invoicing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 59

Trust Accounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .60

Overhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 61Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Put a Value on Your Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Partnerships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

CHAPTER SIX: CLIENTS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO

KNOW

A Day in the Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Working with Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Rejecting & Firing Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Dont Be Too Smart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Return Calls in a Timely Manner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

How Do You Get Clients and More Clients? . . . . . . . . . .74

Never Consult for Free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Clients Work with You Because They Like You . . . . . . .78

Where to Get Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 79


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CHAPTER SEVEN: THE HUMAN SIDE OF BUSINESS"

Some Personal Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Maintain Your Integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Take the Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Dont Burn Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

Be Ethical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Youre Still a Salesperson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Make Bold Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Care About Your Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Ask For Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Dont Lie to Your Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Dont Let Anyone Discourage You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Get Rid of Your Ego (Its Bad for Business) . . . . . . . . . .91

Treat Your Staff Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Follow-up..92

Give Something Back93

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

SET UP A FREE CONSULTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95


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My BackgroundYoure probably asking yourself Who is this guy and what doeshe know about running a successful law practice? so, to be fair, Ifigured Id get right to point. Im a 34-year-old (as of 2008)immigration attorney and have built my law practice in such a waythat I only need to put in between 2 to 3 hours a week running thebusiness and I am able to bring home a significant six-figuresalary. Thats where I am today. Heres where I was and how Igot to where I am.

The initial years following law school were really tough. Igraduated with mediocre grades and proceeded to fail the bar examin two states. After finally passing the NJ bar I started a soloimmigration practice on September 5, 2001, less than a weekbefore the events of 9/11, which as you know changed immigrationlaw forever. In my first year on my own, I made less than

$40,000.00 and had about $37,000 in expenses. I barely brokeeven.

Needless to say, that stint in my career wasnt pretty. Thingsslowly changed but didnt necessarily get any better. Two yearslater, I moved into a new office and partnered up with a friendfrom law school. There were 2 of us with 3 employees. Andalthough we were friends, we failed to establish the fact that wewere in a partnership rather than a friendship. Our revenue wasbeing split equally but there was a huge disparity between therevenues my partner and I were bringing in. That wasnt working

for me and in less than 2 years we decided to dissolve thepartnership.

There I was---stuck with a solo practice in a HUGE office (withrent to match) covering payroll for 2-3 employees as well as aridiculous amount of overhead (close to $10,000.00 per month).


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This was definitely what I had anticipated when I decided to startmy own practice.

To make matters worse, I found out that my secretary had beenstealing from me. So, she was gone. Since my intern was, well,just an intern, I had no one to take care of all of the day-to-daytasks. Two weeks later, my paralegal (and right-hand woman)requested a 50% raise. She had gotten a better offer and only if I

matched it was she was willing to stay. That month and the monthbefore just happened to be two of the slowest Id had had in abouta year.

Overwhelmed, I went to my office and sat there, head in my hands,wondering how I was going to meet expenses for the month andkeep the practice above water. Without a real game-plan, Iterminated my paralegal, called the landlord, dropped down to onephone line, sold all of the office furniture and got out of that office.All of the events that led up to this point in my life were blessingsin disguise.

Now that it was just me and me alone, I needed to find a way NOTto do the grunt work. I wanted the freedom to do what I do best:run a law firm as a businessman, not run a business as a lawyer.Im a people person, not a paper pusher and I knew my strengthwas in managing people and generating more clients. Spendinghours upon hours of each day immersed in paperwork was far froman efficient use of my time.

I also wondered if I could escape my clients constant need to have

access to me every waking (and sometimes sleeping) hour of theday. I wanted to find a way to run my practice while I was out oftown, having a great time with family or visiting with friends. Isucceeded at both. The unbelievable part is that my clients arehappier than theyve ever been, Im making more money than Iveever made and I literally work less than 10 hours each weekpracticing law that includes the time I spend e-mailing and


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calling my clients. Now to be completely honest I spend a lot oftime working I love running a business, marketing anddeveloping new services and products for my other job as abusiness and marketing advisor. But for actual legal work Imdefinitely under 10 hours per week.

This book will teach you what Ive learned from my mistakes andwhat methods I implemented to create a lucrative law practice; onethat requires less than 10 hours of my time per week, pays a 6-

figure salary and runs on minimal overhead. Besides that, mypractice can be run from practically anywhere in the world as longas I have a phone and an internet connection. I understand that thismay not be possible for every attorney but if you choose an area oflaw that allows this flexibility Ill show you how I did it.

If you run a practice that requires you to be in court or engaged inother in-person commitments, you may have to make yourselfmore available than I do but, even then, the methods in this bookwill help you minimize your working hours and keep your officerunning like a well-oiled machine: a really well oiled machine.

If any of you are wondering how long this all took Ill estimate thatit took me about 1-2 years of implementation to get my practicerunning this way. But keep in mind that practically every day Imadding, removing or tweaking something to make the practice evenmore lucrative and efficient. So you must be willing to constantlylearn and improve!

Now please do not be deluded into thinking that Im going to giveyou a magic pill that does everything for you so you can sit back

and watch your business miraculously grow. You need to lay thefoundation that will transform your practice into a highly efficient,extremely profitable law firm with minimal overhead that providesyou with a great income while freeing up a tremendous amount oftime for the things you really love. The good news is that thisbook will teach you how to lay that foundation in less than 12-18


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