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Opening up a law firm has been the craziest thing I've ever done, and the most ballsy.
One day I had a job I was not happy in. It ended abruptly. I knew it would. I walked out of the office one afternoon. Did not come back. Had the business docs worked up for my firm the next day. No sole proprietorship, we went full incorporation. We needed that drive. Walked away from my old firm with a couple clients, which was agreed to, but left the majority there and did not touch them. I was a seven year attorney, still didn't know shit really.
The following day I picked up the phone. Made calls. Lots of calls. LOTS OF CALLS. Made a post on Facebook and IG to tell close family and friends. Called my parents out of state who told me I was crazy. "Why do you always do this? Why can't you just stay in one place?"
Started a new Twitter account, or rebranded, can't remember. Getting business wasn't my goal, I simply wanted to share, vent, whatever. I also enjoy meeting people online, always have.
Told everyone we would focus on estate planning but that we'd humor the right type of case too. Got the malpractice insurance so I didn't have to create a disclosure in the retainer, started generating documents in Google Docs, pieced together retainer agreements and Trust templates, and tried to figure out how people could pay me. Do you have Zelle? Oh ya, there's a $1,000.00 limit per day.
Initially it was just drafting simple revocable Trusts/estate plans. I wrote letters, did simple document reviews. Handled some landlord tenant stuff. Defended a worker's comp claim and saved a guy from BK. Drove everywhere. Saw clients in home. Ran documents all over town myself. Filed Deeds. Dropped off binders to people at their house in an old beat up 2004 Audi or my 2004 pickup truck. Didn't make a lot of money despite it all, but enough to pay the bills. Enough to survive. Enough to keep me in the game.
Felt baptized every time I got out of court. Did A LOT of work for free, but people paid me when they could, if they could. I didn't have an office, got up at 5 a.m. and plugged right in at my home desk. People asked where my office was, said I didn't have one, but that I was willing to go see you where ever you wanted me to go. I spent the time. I cared, still do.
I was making a few thousand dollars every couple weeks, maybe, with a family of four, five if you count a wiener dog. Not really saving anything, just paying my bills, but no real overhead either. Mostly just me and my laptop and my dog at home.
My wife was still working at the time I left my last job, so there was a little cushion, but I had maybe $5,000.00 in my checking account when I jumped into the deep end. It was truly sink or swim. I couldn't sleep at night. Constant fear, what if this doesn't work, what if I screw up and get sued, could this be the end? Will it all work out?
I still can't really explain those feelings, but I felt them while looking up at the ceiling every night, laying there in the dark and thinking about what would happen to my family and our home if it didn't work out for some reason. I guess we could always move back to PA.
Failure was not an option, but the truth was it very well could have happened. Hell, it still could happen, and I operate accordingly and have always been real with myself.
I started to get busier, I started to not be able to just sit on the phone all day trying to drum up business. I took some civil litigation cases. We then started to settle some cases. We got a very large elder abuse case.....then I got the call to share an office downtown. I wasn't going to do it because of the overhead, but I pulled the trigger. I needed a conference room for upcoming depositions. I was still scared shitless. Nightmares every night.
Within a year my wife was having a very hard time with work. She was miserable in a toxic corporate work culture. She felt trapped. One day I told her, just fucking quit. We will do this and I'll make it happen. It's going to be scary for awhile, but just let me do my thing. Trust me. I started to work a lot more. I started to take more risk on. Would the reward be worth it?
She did quit and then we were on one income in Socal. Thats when it got really interesting, but she was then able to be with the kids, pick them up from school, educate them, be with them. They finally started to know her, and they started to know me for who I was becoming. We saw the kids go leaps and bounds immediately. I brought them to the office when I could. We let them be kids and she was able to be with them more than ever. I was gone a lot, still am, but we are working on that.
She asked if she could work for me. I said No, there shouldn't be two of us doing this. I think that really hurt her feelings. I didn't want this job to consume us both. That was never my plan. I wanted something else for us, something better, and I wanted us to maintain our own individual identities, not be the husband and wife lawyer team. I'm not the easiest person to work with either, I know that, lol, unless you are a client of course.
I never formally marketed. I just kept talking to people, gave people the time, screened cases well, and was always up front with people. The calls kept coming, they never stopped. I answered my phone at all hours of the day and night. I texted, I emailed. I spent hours upon hours in consults. If I didn't know the answer, I found out at the Law Library. Even if not retained, people told other people to call me. "Call this guy, he'll handle it." They did.
I started off doing estates that were valued from $300k to $700k mostly. I had to wait until the end of the cases to get paid. Advances were made, had to wait long periods of time to get paid out with no certainly that it would happen. Paycheck to paycheck for a long time. Then a big one came. Then we started to win. The hard work started to pay off.
When I would make something or have extra, I'd invest it back in. First I got Westlaw Practical Law just for the templates and general research and practice guides. Then I got Lexis full. That was a game changer.....secondary sources, pleadings and motions. I'd figure it out.
Then I got a CRM and a bunch of other things that allowed me to be able to do anything that I needed to do, or at least look it up and figure it out, and account for it. Confidence. The imposter syndrome started to leave.
It took about two years to start seeing real results, but when they started to occur, it happened fast. A 250k pre file settlement, I'll never forget it...boots on the ground. Contingency agreements, we started to feel comfortable, the fear decreased.
After a couple of years, we were doing estates in the 7 to 12 million dollar range. Our biggest to date is a $20 million dollar estate. It took about two years to start seeing real results, but when they started to occur, it happened fast. We had a pipeline.
We defend, we sue, we talk to our clients like real people, we do the work, and we move cases. We are reasonable, but we do not back down when we know we can win. We always communicate with clients, we do not drum up imaginary bills, our hourly rates are fair, and we put the work in to create polished work products. There's a 97 % chance you have my cell phone. We are candid with the Court and opposing counsel. We treat everyone with respect, as long as respect is given. If not shown, you talk to a wall, and can answer to the filing instead while trial draws near. And no, we are not afraid to go to trial, we actually prefer it.
We are real with people. It's not easy, but we don't sacrifice our morals or dignity to go low when we could, and we stand up for what's right. We find the truth, even if at times we don't like it. I have fired many clients by now, but our book is mostly made up of great people, individuals who need help navigating this complex system. Can only come up with a couple grand but honestly need help? I'll do my best to get you there and at least put you in the game. Follow my advice and there's a really good chance I won't drop ya, ever. I've never sued a client and while I've credited bills for hardships, I've only really been stiffed on a bill twice.
We went from a true solo law firm with just me grinding away to two people late last Spring. Now we are up to four total and had our team meeting today. One person remote, two or three of us in office at a time. We have our CRM and books dialed in, we are using AI where warranted, and everyday it gets a little better, a little easier. We plan to hire more. 2026 has been off and running, by far the biggest year ever.
It's been three years now and while it's been a wild ride and anything can still happen, I believe that this is just the beginning. Today I was reminded of that during our team meeting......and what a team we've built.
Thank you all for following along in the meantime. Not sure I'd still be here if I wasn't able to share this little adventure online. It has allowed me to not feel so alone through it all, has made me account for myself, and has allowed me to work through things as needed. And I can't believe the wonderful people I've met on here, many who I call IRL friends and colleagues now.
Here's to the next level, I'm excited to see what the next landscape looks like.
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