Does it work to start your own law practice while working for another employer? A couple months ago a young attorney asked that question. Here, Amanda Porter shares her story.
I started my own practice in late 2012 after clerking in Hennepin County Family Court for several years. I hadn’t initially intended to start my own practice after clerking, but after several months of doing document review, I was ready for a change. So I took a leap of faith and hung out my shingle.
For the first few months, I worked my practice part-time and also continued to do document review to help pay the bills, but I could tell that wasn’t going to continue to work. I was fortunate enough to be permitted to take time off as needed (e.g. if I was meeting a client or had a court hearing) but even that amount of flexibility wasn’t sufficient. I didn’t feel I could justify taking time off to do things that didn’t pay immediately (or in the very near future), but would hopefully lead to income down the road, such as networking. I was concerned about my ability to grow my practice if I continued to do it part-time and was afraid I would end up back where I started – working full-time doing document review. Working set hours for an employer during normal business hours does not, in my opinion, mesh well with starting your own practice.
I quit doing document review and I started working on my practice full-time, and it was scary. It can take a while to build a practice and the corresponding income. I started to focus on networking as much as possible (and I had a lot of free time those first few months especially) and also joined a few bar association attorney referral programs. I would strong recommend doing the modest means panels if possible – they don’t pay a lot, but when you’re starting out a small hourly payment is a lot better than nothing at all! They can also lead to more referrals down the road.
I also had a decent amount in savings that helped pay my expenses. Despite this, in the early years, I did have to rely on credit cards to help meet my expenses. I had a not insignificant amount of credit card debt by the time I started to make a reasonable salary from my practice. I don’t regret doing that, but do wish that I had looked for flexible ways to supplement my income sooner.
In early 2015, I started to supplement my income with some more flexible options. I teach prep courses for various standardized tests (ACT, LSAT) which is a great fit for me. I can pick and choose my hours and 95% of the hours that are offered are in the evening or on weekends. I’m single and don’t have anyone else’s income to rely on, so the multiple streams of income (especially income that I don’t have to chase down) model is ideal for me.
I love what I do and am happy (most of the time!) that I struck out on my own. If I could go back in time I would do things a little differently, but things have worked out for the best and I am very satisfied with where I am now.