Starting a remote-only solo firm Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hello - I would really like to hear from solo practitioners who are fully remote. What do you practice? How did you get started? How are you finding clients? How much is your overhead (assume quite low given no traditional office and also ability to live in LCOL markets). Any general tips/advice on what you wish you knew starting out? What are you doing for health care?

I am about 5 years out of law school. Did 2.5 years in biglaw (lev fin/banking) and 2.5 years in-house financial services. I separated from my job recently with enough financial cushion to coast for a while, but I would like to eventually find a flexible income generating endeavor. The most important thing for me is being remote (so I can continue to live a digital-nomad life traveling around) and not having a structured 9-5 job with an employer.

The problem is that I find my skills are not easily transferable to solo-practitioner life, so am trying to find a plan/resources on how I can develop a practice. I've browsed the websites of some people I know who do the above and who I have met on my travels, and it seems to be things like advising small business on M&A, master service agreements, vendor agreements, entity formation, etc., with some people doing more specialized work (i.e. trademarks). Not sure where to start.

[Anonymous User]

This is also what I want to do, I'm a niche transactional area that doesn't lend itself well to solo... Would love to hear ideas.

[Anonymous User]

If full remote, make sure you do not become a PR hypo on jurisdictional issues and the unauthorized practice of law lol.

[ninthcircuitattorney]

Have you considered taking federal court appointed criminal appeals? The pay isn't great ($155 per hour) and you usually get paid a year later. However, you can write appeals anywhere. (I've written appeals while in France and in Mexico.). And, at most, you would have to show up to one oral argument per appeal.
Also, a lot of of civil trial litigation is going almost fully remote. In federal civil litigation, you don't show up in person anymore until and unless the plaintiff gets passed summary judgment.

[Anonymous User]

Have you considered taking federal court appointed criminal appeals? The pay isn't great ($155 per hour) and you usually get paid a year later. However, you can write appeals anywhere. (I've written appeals while in France and in Mexico.). And, at most, you would have to show up to one oral argument per appeal.
Also, a lot of of civil trial litigation is going almost fully remote. In federal civil litigation, you don't show up in person anymore until and unless the plaintiff gets passed summary judgment.

I'm sure the OP is intelligent enough to learn, but nothing about their self-description suggests any experience with litigation at all, let alone criminal law.

[Anonymous User]

A finance deal lawyer doing a criminal appeal seems like a good way to give IAC and maybe even end up in bar trouble.

[Lacepiece23]

Another thread like this as of late. I'm over a year into my solo venture. I do employment litigation. I'm fully remote. I did biglaw for five years. AMA. Here's my website for reference: employment-labor-law.com

[Anonymous User]

Have you considered taking federal court appointed criminal appeals? The pay isn't great ($155 per hour) and you usually get paid a year later. However, you can write appeals anywhere. (I've written appeals while in France and in Mexico.). And, at most, you would have to show up to one oral argument per appeal.
Also, a lot of of civil trial litigation is going almost fully remote. In federal civil litigation, you don't show up in person anymore until and unless the plaintiff gets passed summary judgment.

$155 seems pretty good to me, actually. Is it that you don't get very many hours per week?

[ninthcircuitattorney]

You get 56 hours per appeal, no questions asked. Your first and second appeal will require double that, but by the third appeal, you should be able to get it done in about 56 hours, give or take. It's also damn near impossible to screw up a federal criminal appeal. At least in federal court, criminal defendants are afforded so much due process (rightfully so) that defense appellate attorneys usually function as just a 4th or 5th layer of due process. The real issue with appointed work is that you don't get paid until the case is over (usually about a year after you start) and you get absolutely no love from the courts, prosecutors, and definitely not from your clients or their families.

[nixy]

How often can you get an appeal? Like is it a steady stream?

[Prudent_Jurist]

You also get no love from the Senate Judiciary Committee…

[BrowsingTLS]

Another thread like this as of late. I'm over a year into my solo venture. I do employment litigation. I'm fully remote. I did biglaw for five years. AMA. Here's my website for reference: employment-labor-law.com

Can you talk about how you get clients as a solo? Whether or not your firm is profitable after only 1+ year, what ways are you generating revenue? Feel free to private message if you don't want to answer publicly. Getting clients and generating revenue to become/remain profitable/grow profit would be my biggest concerns as a solo.

[Anonymous User]

OP here - yes should have specified if it wasn't clear, interested in hearing about solo corporate/transactional practitioners. Found some other people yesterday who do some niche VC work. Lol if only I could go back 2 years and became a legal IG influencer like Erika Kullberg.

[sadman123]

You get 56 hours per appeal, no questions asked. Your first and second appeal will require double that, but by the third appeal, you should be able to get it done in about 56 hours, give or take. It's also damn near impossible to screw up a federal criminal appeal. At least in federal court, criminal defendants are afforded so much due process (rightfully so) that defense appellate attorneys usually function as just a 4th or 5th layer of due process. The real issue with appointed work is that you don't get paid until the case is over (usually about a year after you start) and you get absolutely no love from the courts, prosecutors, and definitely not from your clients or their families.

Besides the pay lag this sounds pretty ideal and would love to hear more. How hard is it to get accepted on the CJA panel for a Circuit court? Looks like it is to some extent selective -- Would coming from biglaw lit with no criminal experience be an obstacle? How long did getting accepted take? Once accepted do you get much say in how often you get assigned a case? Can you make a career of being a full-time CJA appellate attorney? What's the logistics of transitioning to this line of work?

[ninthcircuitattorney]

This was my experience:
While I was at the firm, my pro bono work was helping on a federal criminal appeal. I got fired / quit the firm (because I hated it), I approached the court of appeals, asked for an appointed case, and said that I had federal criminal appellate experience (which wasn't technically a lie). After I finished my first appeal I was asked to take another one.
Then I approached other courts of appeals and asked to be appointed. Some courts of appeals require that appointed counsel live within the circuit (which I think is unconstitutional, but somebody else's issue). Between a handful of courts of appeals, I would get about 8 to 10 appeals per year.

[Sackboy]

This was my experience:
While I was at the firm, my pro bono work was helping on a federal criminal appeal. I got fired / quit the firm (because I hated it), I approached the court of appeals, asked for an appointed case, and said that I had federal criminal appellate experience (which wasn't technically a lie). After I finished my first appeal I was asked to take another one.
Then I approached other courts of appeals and asked to be appointed. Some courts of appeals require that appointed counsel live within the circuit (which I think is unconstitutional, but somebody else's issue). Between a handful of courts of appeals, I would get about 8 to 10 appeals per year.

So, ~$70k for 8 appeals and $87.5k for 10 appeals if you billed $155/hr. for each of the 56 hours referenced in another post. Not too shabby.

[omar1]

This was my experience:
While I was at the firm, my pro bono work was helping on a federal criminal appeal. I got fired / quit the firm (because I hated it), I approached the court of appeals, asked for an appointed case, and said that I had federal criminal appellate experience (which wasn't technically a lie). After I finished my first appeal I was asked to take another one.
Then I approached other courts of appeals and asked to be appointed. Some courts of appeals require that appointed counsel live within the circuit (which I think is unconstitutional, but somebody else's issue). Between a handful of courts of appeals, I would get about 8 to 10 appeals per year.

So, ~$70k for 8 appeals and $87.5k for 10 appeals if you billed $155/hr. for each of the 56 hours referenced in another post. Not too shabby.

True, 70k or 87.5 does not look "too shabby" on it's own, but that's for 560 hours. If you work 40 hours a week, for 52 weeks, minus let's say four weeks of vaca and two weeks of holidays, there's about 1300 hours left in the year that you can do whatever work you're able to do, which will bring your salary up (somewhere around 280k/year).

Edit, misread your comment lol yep I agree, 70-90k just fro appeals sounds sweet.

[Lacepiece23]

Another thread like this as of late. I'm over a year into my solo venture. I do employment litigation. I'm fully remote. I did biglaw for five years. AMA. Here's my website for reference: employment-labor-law.com

Can you talk about how you get clients as a solo? Whether or not your firm is profitable after only 1+ year, what ways are you generating revenue? Feel free to private message if you don't want to answer publicly. Getting clients and generating revenue to become/remain profitable/grow profit would be my biggest concerns as a solo.

I generate like 90% of my business through SEO. My website is heavily optimized and if you take a little time to learn, you can still compete on the cheap in every legal niche except PI.

I get referrals as well, but those are not as much. My practice requires a heavy call volume so I end up rejecting like 95% of people who call and ask about a case.

I was profitable year 1, even operating on contingency. I did six figures in revenue on like 4 months of settling cases.

Some other data points, my buddy in trademarks is right on track to make his biglaw salary first year. My other buddy who does like a GC external role for companies is doing biglaw money after being out for two years.

And my other friends who left their V10 to start their own thing are pulling seven figures.

So, I actually have three friends of remote corporate folks all around the 5-7 year range who are killing it. I’m actually doing the worst out of all of them lol.

[Anonymous User]

Another thread like this as of late. I'm over a year into my solo venture. I do employment litigation. I'm fully remote. I did biglaw for five years. AMA. Here's my website for reference: employment-labor-law.com

Can you talk about how you get clients as a solo? Whether or not your firm is profitable after only 1+ year, what ways are you generating revenue? Feel free to private message if you don't want to answer publicly. Getting clients and generating revenue to become/remain profitable/grow profit would be my biggest concerns as a solo.

I generate like 90% of my business through SEO. My website is heavily optimized and if you take a little time to learn, you can still compete on the cheap in every legal niche except PI.

I get referrals as well, but those are not as much. My practice requires a heavy call volume so I end up rejecting like 95% of people who call and ask about a case.

I was profitable year 1, even operating on contingency. I did six figures in revenue on like 4 months of settling cases.

Some other data points, my buddy in trademarks is right on track to make his biglaw salary first year. My other buddy who does like a GC external role for companies is doing biglaw money after being out for two years.

And my other friends who left their V10 to start their own thing are pulling seven figures.

So, I actually have three friends of remote corporate folks all around the 5-7 year range who are killing it. I’m actually doing the worst out of all of them lol.

OP here. What kind of clients do you have (and your friend who is external GC)? What resources do you use to service your clients (i.e. research, legal education, forms, etc). My concern is that I do not feel experienced enough to service clients right now with my finance background.

[Lacepiece23]

Another thread like this as of late. I'm over a year into my solo venture. I do employment litigation. I'm fully remote. I did biglaw for five years. AMA. Here's my website for reference: employment-labor-law.com

Can you talk about how you get clients as a solo? Whether or not your firm is profitable after only 1+ year, what ways are you generating revenue? Feel free to private message if you don't want to answer publicly. Getting clients and generating revenue to become/remain profitable/grow profit would be my biggest concerns as a solo.

I generate like 90% of my business through SEO. My website is heavily optimized and if you take a little time to learn, you can still compete on the cheap in every legal niche except PI.

I get referrals as well, but those are not as much. My practice requires a heavy call volume so I end up rejecting like 95% of people who call and ask about a case.

I was profitable year 1, even operating on contingency. I did six figures in revenue on like 4 months of settling cases.

Some other data points, my buddy in trademarks is right on track to make his biglaw salary first year. My other buddy who does like a GC external role for companies is doing biglaw money after being out for two years.

And my other friends who left their V10 to start their own thing are pulling seven figures.

So, I actually have three friends of remote corporate folks all around the 5-7 year range who are killing it. I’m actually doing the worst out of all of them lol.

OP here. What kind of clients do you have (and your friend who is external GC)? What resources do you use to service your clients (i.e. research, legal education, forms, etc). My concern is that I do not feel experienced enough to service clients right now with my finance background.

I service almost exclusively individuals. My friends service almost exclusively companies who were former biglaw clients of their old firm mixed in with new business clients.

Regarding the other stuff, it’s not that big of a deal with Westlaw or the equivalent of Corp. (I have no idea what that would be). We find our way and we do it for cheaper.

Regarding experience, I went from not ever dealing with opposing counsel, to arguing everyday with biglaw partners. It was an adjustment. But it wasn’t hard.

Yup will do the same if you make partner at whatever biglaw shop you are at. And I’ve found that it shows that biglaw partners aren’t all that great because the actual lawyer training in biglaw sucks. If you’re average, you will do just fine.

You have to have confidence. You know more than you think. And you were smart enough to to make to where you did.

In the end, it’s a bet on yourself. If you don’t have confidence in yourself, don’t do it. You can get by in biglaw being mediocre and pushing paper. In my world, you fake it, then make it, and believe in yourself the entire way.

[Anonymous User]

Another thread like this as of late. I'm over a year into my solo venture. I do employment litigation. I'm fully remote. I did biglaw for five years. AMA. Here's my website for reference: employment-labor-law.com

Can you talk about how you get clients as a solo? Whether or not your firm is profitable after only 1+ year, what ways are you generating revenue? Feel free to private message if you don't want to answer publicly. Getting clients and generating revenue to become/remain profitable/grow profit would be my biggest concerns as a solo.

I generate like 90% of my business through SEO. My website is heavily optimized and if you take a little time to learn, you can still compete on the cheap in every legal niche except PI.

I get referrals as well, but those are not as much. My practice requires a heavy call volume so I end up rejecting like 95% of people who call and ask about a case.

I was profitable year 1, even operating on contingency. I did six figures in revenue on like 4 months of settling cases.

Some other data points, my buddy in trademarks is right on track to make his biglaw salary first year. My other buddy who does like a GC external role for companies is doing biglaw money after being out for two years.

And my other friends who left their V10 to start their own thing are pulling seven figures.

So, I actually have three friends of remote corporate folks all around the 5-7 year range who are killing it. I’m actually doing the worst out of all of them lol.

OP here. What kind of clients do you have (and your friend who is external GC)? What resources do you use to service your clients (i.e. research, legal education, forms, etc). My concern is that I do not feel experienced enough to service clients right now with my finance background.

I service almost exclusively individuals. My friends service almost exclusively companies who were former biglaw clients of their old firm mixed in with new business clients.

Regarding the other stuff, it’s not that big of a deal with Westlaw or the equivalent of Corp. (I have no idea what that would be). We find our way and we do it for cheaper.

Regarding experience, I went from not ever dealing with opposing counsel, to arguing everyday with biglaw partners. It was an adjustment. But it wasn’t hard.

Yup will do the same if you make partner at whatever biglaw shop you are at. And I’ve found that it shows that biglaw partners aren’t all that great because the actual lawyer training in biglaw sucks. If you’re average, you will do just fine.

You have to have confidence. You know more than you think. And you were smart enough to to make to where you did.

In the end, it’s a bet on yourself. If you don’t have confidence in yourself, don’t do it. You can get by in biglaw being mediocre and pushing paper. In my world, you fake it, then make it, and believe in yourself the entire way.

I like this.