Catherine Hodder - Law Office on a Laptop: How to Set Up Your Own Successful Mobile Law Practice

LAW OFFICE ON A LAPTOP

HOW TO SET UP YOUR OWN SUCCESSFUL MOBILE LAW PRACTICE

By: Catherine Hodder, Esq. & Kelly C. Sturmthal, Esq.

www.gosoloforsuccess.com

Copyright Catherine Hodder, Esq. and Kelly C. Sturmthal, Esq. 2015. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the authors except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

This book is not intended to provide personalized legal, tax, business, or financial advice. The authors specifically disclaim any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise, that is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

Energy and persistence conquer all things

Benjamin Franklin

Do you remember the day you passed the bar exam? It was a lot of work to get there and the feeling of accomplishment after that test was HUGE. The next big hurdle was to find an ideal job, but for many of us, we had to pursue the area of law where we could get a job. Was that the right fit for you?

Are you where you want to be in your career? Are you tired of working for a large firm with no control over your hours? Did you take a break from law? Did you postpone your legal career in order to start a family or take care of a loved one? Did you just graduate and realize that law school did not teach you about how to start or manage a law practice? Regardless of your path, you chose this book in order to take the next step. So, here we go

We created this book from a desire to use our own experiences of starting our own Mobile Law Office to educate others who wish to have more control over their careers. Although we have tailored this for those in the legal profession, others could use this book such as consultants and other entrepreneurs who are interested in the Mobile Office concept.

What is a Mobile Law Office? Essentially, it is a law practice designed to be available when your clients need you and you can satisfy those needs without having to travel to a brick and mortar practice. Because of technology, many professionals are able to run their businesses from their laptops, notebooks, i-pads and smartphones. We set out to figure out if we, as lawyers, could also create a practice that was completely mobile. We wanted to control our time, control our overhead, and control our office systems. So after some good planning and lots of decisions, we did it! Sharing the blueprint was part of our plan. We knew there are many talented lawyers that can make this structure work for their lives and their family. Structuring your practice as a Mobile Law Office allows you the flexibility to go to your clients, to work from your home office or to move to different offices. When you structure your Law Office on a Laptop, you have control over your hours, your overhead, and your life.

GOALS + OPPORTUNITIES = SUCCESS

Throughout this book, we will provide a practical checklist of GOALS for you to accomplish and OPPORTUNITIES to pursue, so that by the end, you will have a concrete plan of action to start your own business. Most of this is common sense, but we have successfully tried each of these items on the checklists and proven that a mobile law office is a viable option. Of course, we have found a few nuggets of wisdom along the way and we will be sharing those as well. At the end of each chapter, look for the goals for you to achieve and the opportunities to go after to be successful. It will keep you on track and efficiently and effectively provide you with the blueprint to start your own law firm.

SAMPLE FORMS & LINKS

This book is intended to be helpful, interactive, and, most importantly, to save you time! We have provided sample forms, direct links, and website addresses to state bar associations, businesses, and vendors that may give you more information or help your practice succeed. While some may be affiliates of our Go Solo For Success Blog, we do not promote any businesses that we do not feel could be valuable for your venture.

In tandem with this book, we encourage you to sign up for our Blog by clicking http://www.GoSoloForSuccess.com today for encouragement and up to date practical wisdom as you take this journey of starting your own Mobile Law Office.

How We Got Started:

Kelly and I met through our local MOMs club and we found common ground because we were both attorneys and took time off from our careers when our kids were young. At the time, Kelly was working part time for a law firm and I was considering going back into the workplace. I asked her how she did it? Balancing a legal career and family life? And she honestly said that she didnt! The sad reality is that working part time at a law firm is really full time in any other profession. Like me, she was looking for an alternative to be able to practice law but still have control over the amount of time she could put in at the office and be available for her children.

We also had common life experiences. My father had a 10-year battle with Alzheimers disease and Kellys father died from an aggressive cancer. From personal experience we understood how important estate planning could be to help families. We knew first-hand how having the right documents in place: a Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Surrogate, Living Will, Last Will and Testament and Trust made a huge difference in how our fathers affairs could be handled. We also knew how most people dont understand this. In law school, we were taught academically about these issues but it is different to experience it personally. We wanted to educate others from our experiences and help them navigate through difficult life events like disability and death.

Also, generally we found that Estate Planning law firms were focusing their practice on high net worth clients. It was not profitable for them, based on their overhead, to make basic estate planning affordable for families starting out. We thought it was important to base our practice on reaching the underserved or overlooked clients such as families with young children who really are most concerned with guardianship of their children rather than saving on estate taxes.

Since we would focus on serving the needs of young families, we instantly recognized that we would have to be flexible. Our clients would have to hire a babysitter or take off work to meet with an attorney. With busy work and school schedules, even having a husband and wife agree on a meeting time was a challenge. We created our business model on adapting to their schedule. We began to meet clients at their home or office thus eliminating the need for a babysitter or a client having to leave work.

We also worked with small businesses and entrepreneurs. We found that they are extremely busy as well and appreciated us meeting them at their place of business. They also generally preferred communicating through email, fax and phone so with technology, we did not have to be tied down to an office.

In designing our practice to meet the needs of our clients, we created and adapted to the Mobile Law Office concept. As with any business endeavor, we had to look at the benefits and challenges of this business model. We determined that the benefits were: (1) Control of our hours; (2) Control over the clients we wanted; and (3) Control over our overhead to make the money we wanted. The challenges we perceived were (1) The additional work of running a business; and (2) Maintaining our professionalism in a Mobile Law Practice meaning Would we be taken seriously? We discovered that we could embrace the latest technology and computer programs to help manage our law practice. We also were pleasantly surprised of how many clients appreciated our business model. We found that clients did not necessarily care to meet in an oak paneled boardroom with imposing law tomes that no one reads. We found out that clients soon realized that the fancier office, the higher fees they might have to pay.