The demand for the services of a law firm has been on the rise in recent times. Many of such firms are in existence today compare to what obtained in the early 90s. The truth is that, people are getting more conscious of their human rights, and as the crime wave increases, law suits too are abounding.

If you are thinking of setting up your own law firm, then this article is for you, as it gives you a vivid checklist and thus sets the pace for you. However, this basic, simple checklist will actually vary depending on your individual needs, the type of law you will practice, staffing needs, and various other factors.

1. Name Your Law Firm

The way to begin is to make the most important decision of giving your firm a suitable name. There is no doubt that this is one of the most vital decisions to be made as your firm will be identified and remembered with the name you select.

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Usually, the names of the attorneys involved in starting the firm is a reliable way to go. However, some may feel that this naming convention will not successfully distinguish their firm and make it appealing to potential clients, and instead go with a name relating to their practice area.

So, first things first, get a suitable and appealing name for your firm.

2. Choose A Strategic Location

Generally, business men are pre-occupied with getting strategic and comfortable locations. Though to some degree, the importance of location for a small business is arguably decreased in the law firm context, it is still a key consideration.

Some lawyers, especially when they are starting out, may decide to work from home due to financing considerations. On the other hand, meeting with clients and running a practice at home is usually not a viable long-term option. So, selecting an office location from the start may be worthwhile. Also, sharing space in an office may decrease the financial impact on the lawyer or firm just starting out.

It is therefore important to get a strategic and comfortable location for your firm.

3. Obtain Permits, Licenses And Identification Numbers

It is greatly absurd and ironical to have an unregistered or unauthorized law firm. The way to fail in setting up a successful law firm is to move on to set up one without obtaining government authorization. The truth is that your practice will almost surely need a national Employer Identification Number (EIN), and there may be additional state or local licensing requirements which of course vary from one country to the other and even from one locality to the other within a country.

To set things straight, get an authorization number for your firm.

4. Procure Your Office Equipment

Putting in place the necessary equipment for your law firm is the next thing to do. The basic furniture you need to procure include; desks, chairs, cabinets, book shelves, trash cans and recycling baskets. The second set of things you need to put in place are electronics which mainly include telephone system and requisite service, computers, software, printers, scanner photocopy machine, fax machine and calculator.

Make sure you procure the basic furniture and electronics you need for the start.

5. Acquire Needed Supplies

After you have acquired your office equipment, it is time to get the needed supplies. I work in an office, and it is time wasting to always buy an envelope for instance, each time you have need of it. A law office typically requires all the usual office equipment including paper, envelopes, a vast supply of sticky notes, pens, pencils, staplers, 2 and 3 hole punches, a date stamp, file folders, rubber bands, tape, binders, staple remover, paper clips, colored sticky tabs, and more. It might be best to visit the nearest office supply store and just get all you need at a go.

Put in place all the needed supplies for daily use and save time.

6. Employ Additional Staff

At this stage, you have to start thinking about getting staff work with. It is likely that if you are a real hands-on type of lawyer you could handle the every-day tasks involved in running the firm by yourself and really cut costs. Meantime, it is really not going to sound like a good use of your time to spend half your day filing, paying bills, and answering the phones. Once you have got your firm up and running, those kinds of administrative and office tasks will become very time-consuming and you will likely want help to deal with them.

Therefore, you need qualified staff to handle some administrative or clerical duties.

7. Put In Place An Up-To-Date Library

A library to law firms in some developing countries may appear to be a luxury. But truth be told, a lawyer needs a decent library to function properly. Remember, a decent library is not only expensive, but is a continually ongoing expense due to the evolving nature of the law. Most practice guides, and of course, all case law are continually being updated and it is an expensive proposition to have an up-to-date library. However, selecting a location near an accessible law library can eliminate this expense, and availing one’s self of online resources can also be considered too.

So, put in place a decent and up-to-date library while making use of online resources.

8. Accounts/Budgets/Insurance

Open necessary accounts for your office such as trust account; prepare a budget for the firm and above all, obtain necessary insurance. Putting all of these in place gives you a competitive advantage over other law firms. It will not suffice to have no bank account, budget and insurance. The absence of these only weakens your financial strength thereby leaving your firm at the mercy of your competitors.

Therefore, make sure you go the extra mile so as to have an edge over other firms.

9. Determine How To Market The Firm

As a law firm is a business in every sense of the word, marketing and advertising should be important considerations. In today’s business world, there are many forms of offline and online marketing strategies. Yellow pages, online advertising, newsletters, brochures, signage, and business cards are various options to consider. See my post, “How To Promote Your Small Business” for more practical ways of promoting your law firm.

So, look for appropriate ways to market of advertise your services.

10. Design And Set Up Any Necessary Office Systems

Firms carry out their day-to-day operations differently from each other. The day-to-day operation of a firm requires establishing various methodologies. The following are some of the key systems:

Docketing and calendaring systems – A firm absolutely must have a system, electronic or otherwise, for case docketing and calendaring. A lawyer should know off-the-bat that he or she will not be able to rely at all on memory for anything relating to their work.

Accounting – There are numerous software options available for accounting purposes and of course, hiring an accountant or making friends with one is always a good idea.

Time tracking and billing – Keeping clients happy and making money go hand-in-hand via the establishment of a good time tracking and billing system. If clients are billed regularly and in a timely manner for work as it is done, one of lawyers’ common headaches- the angry client calling about billing can be more often avoided.

Filing – Accessing files easily and finding documents on short notice is important to a lawyer and establishing a reliable filing system is crucial. Although the methods out there are countless, picking one and consistently using it is of the utmost importance to the organized lawyer.

Conflict – Establishing a system for running conflict checks should be a consideration for the lawyer. For one just out of law school, this is usually less of a problem, but it is good to establish the system early.

Hope you found this to be helpful. If so, please leave a comment below.