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Solo Solicitor AMA


Mountebank

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27 minutes ago, Mountebank said:

I've tried both and vastly prefer Cosmolex (I made the switch from Clio about 7 or 8 months into sole practice). The problem with Clio is that it doesn't help you at all on the accounting side, whereas Cosmolex does both business and LSO-compliant trust accounting (with a bank feed, etc.). They're both cloud-based. Clio's UI is a bit more modern, but the program has limited functionality for the price. Get Cosmolex

How was the process of switching over? Did you migrate your files from Clio?

I'm thinking of switching, because of Clio's lack of accounting, but I'm not sure what it's involved in getting my existing files into the new system. 

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Mountebank
  • Lawyer
1 hour ago, realpseudonym said:

How was the process of switching over? Did you migrate your files from Clio?

I'm thinking of switching, because of Clio's lack of accounting, but I'm not sure what it's involved in getting my existing files into the new system. 

Yes I migrated them. It's not difficult but it's tedious work. I'd probably just hire someone to do it for me if I had to do it again. Cosmolex can hook you up with someone to migrate your data for you.

I strongly recommend making the switch.

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Hitman9172
  • Lawyer

Thanks @Mountebank. That's all super helpful. A few more questions with respect to your responses above. Feel free to DM if you'd rather discuss this in private.

1. How many staff do you have, and have you had them from the very beginning, or did you start fully solo?

2. In terms of using an outside conveyancer, is this just essentially a legal assistant working as an independent contractor? I haven't really seen this service, having practiced at a large firm.

3. In terms of billing out your assistants/clerks, how do you do this? (e.g., charge for their time, bill a fixed fee per file, etc.)

4. Do you mind giving a rough breakdown of your overhead costs? I spoke to another sole practitioner recently and their overhead is about $50k/year, but they're fully solo with no staff.

5. What's your billable rate (only if you're comfortable sharing)?

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Mountebank
  • Lawyer
49 minutes ago, Hitman9172 said:

Thanks @Mountebank. That's all super helpful. A few more questions with respect to your responses above. Feel free to DM if you'd rather discuss this in private.

1. How many staff do you have, and have you had them from the very beginning, or did you start fully solo?

2. In terms of using an outside conveyancer, is this just essentially a legal assistant working as an independent contractor? I haven't really seen this service, having practiced at a large firm.

3. In terms of billing out your assistants/clerks, how do you do this? (e.g., charge for their time, bill a fixed fee per file, etc.)

4. Do you mind giving a rough breakdown of your overhead costs? I spoke to another sole practitioner recently and their overhead is about $50k/year, but they're fully solo with no staff.

5. What's your billable rate (only if you're comfortable sharing)?

1. One full-time, since near the beginning. Opinions differ greatly on this, but for me I think it's worth hiring someone early on if you can afford it (especially for a solicitor practice). There are a lot of soles that don't, though. I find it's very difficult to have decent billings without at least some administrative help.

2. Yes, although in my case I use a conveyancing company with multiple clerks (so to avoid a serious disruption if my clerk jumps ship and I'm left high and dry). I also wasn't familiar with this kind of arrangement when I was working at a firm, but I've since learned that this is actually quite common (and, anecdotally, I think becoming increasingly so as firms get leaner and clerks are able to work remotely more easily).

3. Straight time. I never bill a fixed fee for my assistant, and don't see how that could be justified. Because my assistant does a lot of administrative work, this of course means that her billings don't cover her salary, but as an assistant her primary role is to support my activities and not to act as a revenue generator (in other words, whatever time of hers I can bill out is just gravy). This may be different for you - as a corporate lawyer you may decide it makes sense to keep a clerk as a profit centre (updating minute books, annual filings, searches, etc.).

4. The largest is payroll, followed by rent. Together, those two represent about two-thirds of my overhead (so you can see why some soles try not to have an office or staff). My overhead is north of $100k. If I had another staff member, then at that point payroll alone would constitute the majority of my overhead.

5. I'll DM you.

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Vadoet
  • Law Student

Hi Mountebank, a solo practice sounds like something I'd eventually like to do, but a bit terrifying. Here are a few questions for you:

1. What made you choose a solo practice over opening a practice with a couple other lawyers?

2. Do you feel that weekends and evenings with your family is enough time with your family? Do you wish you had more?

3. You mention taking a vacation is difficult. Do you foresee being able to take a vacation in the near future?

4. When do you think your practice will become self-sustaining?

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Mountebank
  • Lawyer
10 hours ago, Vadoet said:

Hi Mountebank, a solo practice sounds like something I'd eventually like to do, but a bit terrifying. Here are a few questions for you:

1. What made you choose a solo practice over opening a practice with a couple other lawyers?

I would've preferred to have a partner, if there were anyone suitable. But, there aren't a lot of younger lawyers in my area and, to the extent that there are, they already have positions and/or we wouldn't have complementary practices. I can probably count on both hands the number of lawyers in private practice under 40 where I live.

I've had talks with a couple lawyers since I opened up shop, but we never got to any serious stage. I would basically need a grinder in a complementary practice area who's basically tired of paying a third of their billings to the partnership, since my intention would be not to cede any of the management.

2. Do you feel that weekends and evenings with your family is enough time with your family? Do you wish you had more?

There aren't a lot of jobs that would allow me to have weekends, evenings, and days with my family so I haven't put much thought into it.

3. You mention taking a vacation is difficult. Do you foresee being able to take a vacation in the near future?

Haha. 

Ahahahaa.

BAAAAHAHAHAHAAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA.

But, no. I plan on taking what amounts to a third of August next year, but split into two separate holidays. I won't be taking more than a week in a row off in the near future.

4. When do you think your practice will become self-sustaining?

Well, it's a profitable practice certainly. But I still rely on external referrals for most of my new work. It will be many years before my existing client base is adequate to supply me with all my work. That being said, the referrals (and some cold calls) are coming in quite regularly at the moment, so at this point the self-sustainability of the practice is not top of mind.

 

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Hitman9172
  • Lawyer

@Mountebank I'm still considering going out on my own, but not being able to go on vacation and "unplug" (to the extent a lawyer can do that) is a big mental hurdle for me. Have you thought about partnering up with someone or hiring an associate to help make going on vacations easier, or does it not make sense from a financial perspective at the moment? Does your practice lend itself to being able to work remotely so that you can go on vacation and just take your laptop with you, or do you physically need to be in your office?

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Mountebank
  • Lawyer
23 minutes ago, Hitman9172 said:

@Mountebank I'm still considering going out on my own, but not being able to go on vacation and "unplug" (to the extent a lawyer can do that) is a big mental hurdle for me. Have you thought about partnering up with someone or hiring an associate to help make going on vacations easier, or does it not make sense from a financial perspective at the moment? Does your practice lend itself to being able to work remotely so that you can go on vacation and just take your laptop with you, or do you physically need to be in your office?

The main issue for me is really the real estate. But for that, it would be a lot easier for me to get away for periods of time. I've tested with WFH arrangements and found I can run most files remotely except real estate. That said, I think part of this is that, because real estate is a smaller area for me, I haven't invested the time or money necessary to establish effective remote work procedures. For instance, if I had a good and dedicated in-house real estate clerk, then I could probably do it. But because it's not my bread and butter (and I don't want it to be), it doesn't make sense to make that investment. But for real estate, my practicing remotely is pretty seamless for me (and, lately, I've been doing this more just to enjoy the wood fire at home on these bluster November days).

I know that there definitely are real estate lawyers who work remotely. But they have an infrastructure in place to support it that I don't quite have and it all comes down to volume. This is just one of those compromises I've made.

But yes, I've certainly thought, and explored, getting another lawyer in (either for partnership or as an associate). The difficult part is finding people. I've had talks with a few lawyers that never really went anywhere. If I had a real estate lawyer in, it would almost definitely be a partner who was fully trained and generating work. If I had a litigation lawyer in, then I already have the work and could pass it off.

I think down the road that taking holiday will become easier as the business continues to grow and I'm able to attract/invest in another lawyer or experienced clerk to run files in my absence.

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Hitman9172
  • Lawyer
3 hours ago, Mountebank said:

The main issue for me is really the real estate. But for that, it would be a lot easier for me to get away for periods of time. I've tested with WFH arrangements and found I can run most files remotely except real estate. That said, I think part of this is that, because real estate is a smaller area for me, I haven't invested the time or money necessary to establish effective remote work procedures. For instance, if I had a good and dedicated in-house real estate clerk, then I could probably do it. But because it's not my bread and butter (and I don't want it to be), it doesn't make sense to make that investment. But for real estate, my practicing remotely is pretty seamless for me (and, lately, I've been doing this more just to enjoy the wood fire at home on these bluster November days).

I know that there definitely are real estate lawyers who work remotely. But they have an infrastructure in place to support it that I don't quite have and it all comes down to volume. This is just one of those compromises I've made.

But yes, I've certainly thought, and explored, getting another lawyer in (either for partnership or as an associate). The difficult part is finding people. I've had talks with a few lawyers that never really went anywhere. If I had a real estate lawyer in, it would almost definitely be a partner who was fully trained and generating work. If I had a litigation lawyer in, then I already have the work and could pass it off.

I think down the road that taking holiday will become easier as the business continues to grow and I'm able to attract/invest in another lawyer or experienced clerk to run files in my absence.

Thanks Mountebank. I'm a real estate lawyer that works remotely quite a bit, but as you mentioned, my current firm has the systems in place to have everybody in the office just part-time to keep things running. If I do try running my own shop, but I'll be getting some physical office space for sure just to handle all the paper that moves around and to meet with clients to sign documents, but I'd like to have the flexibility to WFH as much as possible, so putting in a good system will definitely be key.

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Vadoet
  • Law Student

Thanks for answering my questions, @Mountebank. It's good to hear about the holiday situation from a solo practitioner.

Tongue in cheek, but I have to ask, are there any lawyer jobs that allow you to have evenings, weekends, and days with your family? The only way I can think of to do this is to build up enough of a nest egg from your practice, retire early, and live off your dividends/capital gains.

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easttowest
  • Lawyer
6 hours ago, Vadoet said:

Thanks for answering my questions, @Mountebank. It's good to hear about the holiday situation from a solo practitioner.

Tongue in cheek, but I have to ask, are there any lawyer jobs that allow you to have evenings, weekends, and days with your family? The only way I can think of to do this is to build up enough of a nest egg from your practice, retire early, and live off your dividends/capital gains.

When do you work in this scenario?

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Mountebank
  • Lawyer
6 hours ago, Vadoet said:

Thanks for answering my questions, @Mountebank. It's good to hear about the holiday situation from a solo practitioner.

Tongue in cheek, but I have to ask, are there any lawyer jobs that allow you to have evenings, weekends, and days with your family? The only way I can think of to do this is to build up enough of a nest egg from your practice, retire early, and live off your dividends/capital gains.

If you can make enough to retire off your investments, then yes. But that'd be true of any high-paying job.

My goal is to build a large enough practice that I can sustain a couple associates to do most the work. In this scenario, I'd work half days. I'm some time away from that.

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Vadoet
  • Law Student
On 11/26/2021 at 4:44 AM, Mountebank said:

If you can make enough to retire off your investments, then yes. But that'd be true of any high-paying job.

My goal is to build a large enough practice that I can sustain a couple associates to do most the work. In this scenario, I'd work half days. I'm some time away from that.

I was thinking about this. It sounds reasonable. You provide the infrastructure and support for your associates, and they provide some of their earnings to you.

 

On 11/26/2021 at 4:18 AM, easttowest said:

When do you work in this scenario?

Never! Seriously though, I don't think there are any jobs/careers that allow you to have all the time with your family.

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Hitman9172
  • Lawyer
On 11/27/2021 at 9:13 PM, Vadoet said:

Never! Seriously though, I don't think there are any jobs/careers that allow you to have all the time with your family.

Yup, the goal is to make enough off passive income to control your time. A friend of mine owns a small business and his most important measuring stick for success is the ability to hang out with his family or go to the gym whenever he pleases.

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  • 5 months later...
LyingCat
  • Lawyer

I'm a relatively junior lawyer (3 years) who made the decision to go solo early on, mostly so I could pick my clients, use a more accessible price structure, and set my own hours so I could be with my family more. Business is great, and most of my clients are really appreciative. But I am struggling so much with insecurity and my mental health. I find a lot of opposing counsel take on the conflict of the family files, and can be personally insulting, or stop replying altogether to reasonable requests. Clients tell me that I am their only hope, even when there isn't much I can do to help them. How do you deal with the feeling that you aren't helping? Or you aren't a good lawyer? Does it go away? How do you know that you are doing what you need to be doing?

 

Perhaps this is a useless question -- I just know that I'm really struggling.

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Mountebank
  • Lawyer
48 minutes ago, LyingCat said:

I'm a relatively junior lawyer (3 years) who made the decision to go solo early on, mostly so I could pick my clients, use a more accessible price structure, and set my own hours so I could be with my family more. Business is great, and most of my clients are really appreciative. But I am struggling so much with insecurity and my mental health. I find a lot of opposing counsel take on the conflict of the family files, and can be personally insulting, or stop replying altogether to reasonable requests. Clients tell me that I am their only hope, even when there isn't much I can do to help them. How do you deal with the feeling that you aren't helping? Or you aren't a good lawyer? Does it go away? How do you know that you are doing what you need to be doing?

 

Perhaps this is a useless question -- I just know that I'm really struggling.

I sympathize. But all I can say is always remember (i.e. remind yourself frequently) that your clients' problems aren't your own. You aren't their therapist. You don't even work for them. You are in business for yourself and you and the client are engaged in commerce. The contractual relationship is the only one between you and you owe the client those duties that our profession obligates us to owe our clients, none of which include caring (in the sense of being emotionally invested) about what happens to those who engage us.

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Shoober
  • Articling Student

Can any sole practitioners shed light on how realistic it would be to go solo right after being called to the bar? Or rather, what is the most ideal time in one's career? And also ... how long after going solo were you making as much $ as you did or would working for a firm (boutique, let's say).

If it matters, practice areas would be family/real estate in the greater Toronto area. 

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artsydork
  • Lawyer
20 minutes ago, Shoober said:

Can any sole practitioners shed light on how realistic it would be to go solo right after being called to the bar? Or rather, what is the most ideal time in one's career? And also ... how long after going solo were you making as much $ as you did or would working for a firm (boutique, let's say).

If it matters, practice areas would be family/real estate in the greater Toronto area. 

How would you practice real estate as a solo fresh from articles? Real estate requires a designated clerk and they tend to want to get paid. So cash flow is going to be an issue, especially as you build your practice.  For family law, how familiar are you with all the pleadings? Client management? Who is going to do the handholding while you are drafting or in court?

Can you find an older sole practitioner lawyer that you can work with until you can get their practice?

 

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Shoober
  • Articling Student

@artsydorkThese are things I have been taking into consideration, but I reckon that one will never feel fully "ready" so... would something like a few years post-call be more realistic?

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Hitman9172
  • Lawyer

Coincidentally, I had a business client actually tell me today to raise some of my prices: "All else equal, it's usually better to earn the same amount of dollars doing work for less people."

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CleanHands
  • Lawyer
4 minutes ago, Hitman9172 said:

Coincidentally, I had a business client actually tell me today to raise some of my prices: "All else equal, it's usually better to earn the same amount of dollars doing work for less people."

sub-buzz-4517-1502120286-1.png

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  • 5 weeks later...
Patient0L
  • Law Student
On 5/9/2022 at 2:27 PM, CleanHands said:

sub-buzz-4517-1502120286-1.png

This might be the only time I ever agree with you.

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  • 8 months later...
ltmaverick25
  • Law Student
On 7/12/2021 at 5:10 PM, Mountebank said:

Lawyers generally bank with the Big 5. I've thought about the credit union thing, but ultimately I don't think they're set up for business banking, especially with trust accounts, in the same way that the big banks are.

I bank with TD for my general and trust accounts. Your experience with each bank will depend heavily on the local branches, so I can't really recommend any to look at or avoid. Where I am, it seems like TD and BMO are the best for lawyers and RBC has a reputation for being the worst, but I've heard differing accounts from lawyers elsewhere in the province.

All the Big 5 are pretty well lockstep in terms of fees and plans, so it really just comes down to convenience and service. Personally, I prefer TD because it has the best hours of any of the banks (as in, it's actually open 9am-5pm or later every day. Some banks, like Scotia, close at 4pm or 4:30pm on some days during the workweek, which makes no sense to me).

I've had a good experience with TD overall, except that it's clearly the worst bank for wire transfers as they're subject to delay more than any other bank. On sale files, you have to really keep on top of those and I always advise purchasers' solicitors to deliver the balance due on closing by direct deposit unless they can wire in the morning to ensure receipt in time for closing.

I realize I'm coming into this a little bit late but I was curious if you could elaborate on why RBC has the worst reputation for lawyers, and why BMO / TD have better ones. I have no skin in the game yet, but I am strongly considering opening up my own practice when done law school, so every bit of insight helps.

Thanks

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