NOW IS THE TIME
Now is a great time to launch your firm!
Starting a solo or small law firm is not necessarily easy. But the technology available to launch and run one has never been more powerful — and AI is changing that picture faster than most lawyers realize. The key is knowing which tools are worth your time and how to build systems that handle the operational and administrative burden for you — so you can spend most of your time on work that actually requires a lawyer. For us, finding the courage to leap was the hardest part. The technology was waiting on the other side.
If you are like us, you never intended to go solo or start a small firm. You are intimidated by the unknown. Law schools do not teach practical skills, like how to run a law firm – and you have no idea how to do so! Staring at a blank page can be scary. Lawyers hate unknown unknowns. Should I make the leap to solo or small firm practice? What if I fail? All this can lead to paralysis.
Here’s the truth most established law firms don’t want their associates to know: most lawyers routinely handle projects far more complex than launching a solo law firm. Launching is an exercise in project management. Like everything, the key is issue-spotting. Help from people who have walked down this path can be invaluable.
We are a resource for lawyers considering a jump to solo or small firm practice. Jeremy spent hundreds of hours studying law firm management before he ever made the leap — and has spent hundreds more since, most recently going deep on what AI now makes possible for firms like his. This is not theoretical. We can help you ask the right questions and find answers. Why venture into uncharted waters alone? We can point out the way. We can hand you a map.
How it Works
- We share our personal experiences about starting and running solo law firms with curious lawyers, usually by telephone, billing for our time.
- You set the agenda or we can. There is no commitment. No fees beyond our time.
While we don’t know everything, we know a little something about:
- Leaving your firm on good terms
- Document management when leaving your firm
- Making the go/no-go decision
- Your real take-home hourly rate
- Financial modeling before you make the leap
- Running to something, not from something
- Sequencing and prioritizing startup tasks
- Law practice management software
- Financial and cash-flow modeling
- Firm bank accounts and systems
- Law firm bookkeeping and accounting
- IOLTA accounts and retainer funds
- Billing and collection best practices
- Profit First and cash management
- 401k and employee benefits
- Establishing LLCs and similar companies
- Making required filings to comply with rules
- Ethical issues about law practice
- Professional liability and other insurance
- Hardware and software purchase decisions
- Password management and cybersecurity
- Standard operating procedures
- AI tools for legal research and documents
- Using AI to run a leaner firm
- Alternatives to Lexis and Westlaw
- Keeping clients happy and getting new ones
- Getting clients without a book of business
- Niching down and why you must
- Vertical vs. horizontal positioning
- Your network as your first client source
- Marketing at scale vs. in-person networking
- Email newsletters and drip marketing
- Video marketing for lawyers
- Building a website that performs
- Giving away free content to attract clients
- Big law marketing mistakes to avoid
- Staying ‘top-of-mind’ with social media
- Buying ads on LinkedIn and Facebook
- Video and other marketing options
- Implementing automation
- Technologies to streamline workflows
- Electronic calendaring options
- Contact relationship management (CRM)
- Addressing conflict-of-interest issues
- E-signatures for engagement letters
- Cloud computing and data storage
- Data breach prevention systems
- Issues around obtaining office space
- Phone call and voice message handling
- Outsourcing your phone answering
- Virtual assistants and overseas talent
- Hiring lawyers and staff
- Taking electronic and credit card payments
- Cheaply outsourcing tasks to vendors
- Buying domains and spinning up websites
- Quickly getting branded email accounts
- Hiring other consultants when needed
We are guides — but the adventure is yours.
Work With Us
Schedule as many – or as few – calls as you need!
What We Don’t Do
Operation PalmTree LLC is not a law firm. It provides no legal advice. Our customers have no attorney-client relationship with Operation PalmTree, or with Tara or Jeremy, or with their separate law firms. Our customers may – and likely will – need to hire other lawyers to advise them on myriad issues which might arise as they launch and run their firms.
Our customers will need to hire other professionals, like insurance brokers, bookkeepers, accountants, web developers, social media consultants, information technology (IT) consultants, and others, or launch and run their law firms. Operation PalmTree is not a substitute for their services. We won’t buy your insurance. We won’t do your taxes. We won’t build your website. We won’t run your social media. And we won’t sit on the telephone with your vendors when your technology and IT systems do not work.
However, we love to discuss how we overcame these kind of challenges in our own law firms, and to suggest how our customers might approach dealing with the problems they will likely face. We know what it feels like to “not know” – to “have no one” to ask. Could you go solo without our help? Sure! But perhaps we can make it a little easier.
