NOW IS THE TIME
Now is a great time to launch your firm!
Starting a solo law firm is not necessarily easy. But new technologies make it cheaper and simpler than ever. In fact, launching and running a law firm is probably far easier than you think. The key is using technology to establish systems. In a way, our firms run themselves. For us, finding the courage to leap was the hardest part.
If you are like us, you never intended to go solo. 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 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 practice. Before launching Jeremy’s firm, we spent hundreds of hours considering law practice issues. 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! We can speak for 30 minutes or 30 hours. It’s your call. 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
- 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
- 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
- Keeping clients happy and getting new ones
- 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
- 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!
You are Luke Skywalker, we are Yoda.
You are Harry Potter, we are Dumbledore.
You get it…
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.
