Grant has invited me to be a guest author and I am honored to make this contribution about the pros and cons of functioning as a Home Office Lawyer.
The decision to have a home office is clearly dependent upon your personality, the circumstances in your life, your client base and the environment you require in order to produce the quality work your client’s are entitled to.
For me, once I got married and decided to have a child (who just turned three), it was simply the best option. It also was the best option when I first started out for similar reasons.
When I meet clients it is either in their office or home, courthouse conference room,
restaurant, law library or a colleague’s conference room. The key is presenting it as a "convenience" for the client. The truth is most clients don’t really want to go to your office. Law offices can be intimidating. There is a certain amount of comfort for a client to be on neutral territory or their own turf.
Then ask yourself. Once the client has been to your office once, how often do they really come back and is it worth the expense to you to maintain that office for what is, in essence, initial consultations and some follow-up. (Depositions can be done in a myriad of places including opposing counsel’s office…let them have the overhead!)
On the otherhand, if you need to get up each morning, get dressed, get in the car and go to your office because it feels right to you, separates you from distractions, feels more professional to you when talking with clients, then you will weigh the dollars and cents for the maintenance of that office. And that decision, if your personality requires it, makes perfect sense.
I happen to be an insane multi-tasker, which according to new studies will land me in a dementia ward sometime before I’m 70, but that being said, I enjoy the privileges of working out of my
home. Just now,finished dancing to the theme song of "Monster Trucks" with my son, helped him to earn "Sheriff" from "Cars" as he learns to use the "potty", then told him "Mommy has to go to work now on the computer," finished typing this blog post, and off to a new consult in the next hour meeting them at their office. It works for me.
Susan Cartier Liebel
Build A Solo Practice, LLC www.susancartierliebel.typepad.com
Home Office Lawyer Extraordinaire – Grant Griffiths
I recently had the honor of being a guest blogger on the very popular blog Home Office Lawyer by Grant Griffiths. He is a zealot when it comes to the benefits of being a Home Office Lawyer and marketing your
Susan is an inspiration and a charm.
I wish I could second Susan's comments, but in truth I find that, inexplicable as it is, most client DO want to come in to meet in person, at MY office (even if it isn't necessary, they have to sit in traffic or take time out of their day to get there, and may increase their overall legal fees by consuming more of my time). In small measure, this may because some of these clients are working from THEIR homes – and thus relying on me to have an office at which to meet. But for the most part, it seems to just be a client expectation that an attorney has an office that you can drop by any time to drop things off at, and at which to meet when desired.
Attempts to meet at their place are often turned down, sometimes with responses as stark as, 'Don't you have an office?' Clients also expect you to be able to schedule a meeting on the spot, which is difficult when it depends on you making arrangements of space availability elsewhere, a multi-step process.
Opposing counsel is as bad or worse – if they find out you have a home office, they are astonished or assume they are up against a light-weight. I've even had an opposing party comment negatively because my phone was not answered by a live receptionist during all business hours.
In law, I think the home office revolution is a long way off…
- Anon Solo