Thinking About Going Solo? What to Know Before Starting Your Own Law Firm
There's a particular daydream a lot of lawyers have. No more billable hour pressure from above. No more answering to partners. No more working on someone else's clients and someone else's terms. Just you, your clients, and a practice built the way you want it.
That daydream is real and achievable — plenty of lawyers build thriving solo and small firm practices. But the version of it that succeeds looks different from the daydream. Going solo means becoming a business owner, and the lawyering is only part of the job. Here's an honest look at what it takes.
Understand what you're actually signing up for. When you go solo, you're no longer just a lawyer. You're also the marketing department, the billing department, the IT department, the receptionist, the bookkeeper, and the CEO. The legal work — the part you went to school for and are good at — becomes maybe half of your job, sometimes less in the early days. People who thrive in solo practice tend to be the ones who accept and even enjoy the business-building side. People who just want to practice law sometimes find the entrepreneurial demands draining.
Get your finances in order first. The single biggest cause of failed solo launches is running out of money before the practice becomes self-sustaining. New practices take time to generate consistent revenue — often six months to a year or more before income stabilizes. Before you leap, you want:
A financial cushion to cover both personal living expenses and business expenses during the ramp-up
A clear understanding of your startup costs (covered below)
A realistic budget and a sense of your break-even point
Ideally, some clients or referral sources lined up before you open
Going solo with no runway and no pipeline is the highest-risk version of this move. Going solo with savings, a plan, and some initial work in hand is far safer.
Know your startup and ongoing costs. Starting a law firm is less capital-intensive than many businesses, but it's not free. Budget for:
Malpractice insurance (essential — don't practice without it)
Bar dues and any registration fees
Business formation (LLC, PLLC, or whatever structure fits your state and situation)
Practice management software and other tech
A business bank account and a separate trust (IOLTA) account
Website and basic marketing
Office space (or a home office / virtual office setup)
Professional services (accountant, possibly a consultant to set up systems)
Many of these can be kept lean, especially with a virtual or home-based setup, but they're real and need planning.
Set up your trust account correctly from day one. This deserves its own mention because it trips up so many new solos. You need a properly established IOLTA trust account, and you need to understand trust accounting before you take your first retainer. Trust accounting mistakes are a leading cause of bar discipline, and "I was new and didn't know" is not a defense. Get this right before you open. (See our trust account guide for the common pitfalls.)
Choose your practice areas deliberately. You can't be everything to everyone, and trying to be a generalist solo is hard. Think about what you're genuinely good at, what you enjoy, what has demand in your market, and what generates sustainable revenue. A focused practice is easier to market, easier to get known for, and often more profitable than a scattered one. You can always expand later.
Plan your marketing before you need clients. The work of building a client pipeline starts before you open, not after the bills start coming. Think about where your clients will come from: referral relationships, a professional network, online presence, community involvement, your existing reputation. (See our referral network guide for building this deliberately.) The solos who struggle most are usually the ones who assumed clients would just appear.
Don't underprice yourself out of fear. New solo practitioners often set their rates too low out of insecurity — "who am I to charge what the big firm charged?" But you're providing real value, you have real overhead, and underpricing makes the practice harder to sustain and signals lower quality to clients. Price based on the value you provide and what the market supports, not on your nervousness. (See our pricing models guide.)
Build systems early. The habits and systems you establish in the first months will shape your practice for years. Set up your intake process, your engagement letters, your billing rhythm, your file organization, and your trust accounting procedures from the start. It's much easier to build good systems when you have five clients than to retrofit them when you have fifty. (See our intake and engagement letter guides.)
Find your people. Solo practice can be isolating. The lawyers who thrive usually build a network of other solos and small firm attorneys — for referrals, for advice, for covering each other's hearings, and frankly for the camaraderie. Local and state bar associations, solo/small firm sections, and online communities of practitioners are valuable. You don't have to figure everything out alone, and the people who've done it are usually generous with advice.
Be honest about the transition risk. If you're leaving a stable salaried position, going solo means trading security for autonomy and upside. That's a real tradeoff with real downside. Some people are well-positioned for it — they have savings, a network, a clear plan, and the temperament for entrepreneurship. Others would be better served waiting until they're more established, or joining a small firm as a stepping stone rather than going fully solo immediately. There's no shame in either path. Be honest about where you actually are.
The payoff is real. For all the challenges, lawyers who successfully go solo often describe it as the best professional decision they ever made. Control over your work, your clients, your schedule, and your income. The ability to build something that's genuinely yours. Practice on your own terms. It's not easy, and it's not for everyone — but for the right person, well-prepared, it can be tremendously rewarding.
The difference between the solos who thrive and the ones who struggle usually isn't legal talent. It's preparation, business sense, and a realistic plan. Build those, and you give yourself a real shot.
Moore Consulting Services helps new and growing solo and small firms nationwide set up the operational foundations — intake, systems, workflows, and processes — that make a practice sustainable. If you're thinking about going solo, let's talk about setting it up right.