When did you decide you wanted to open your own law practice?

I am asking this question for a couple of reasons but mostly because I am curious of the thought process that current or soon-to-be solo attorneys went through before committing to the solo journey.  There are more than a few ways of arriving at proverbial fork in the road and the road signs say different things for all of us.  Some attorneys are practicing at large law firms, have years of experience, and an established client base when the thought of going solo enters their mind.  Others are soaking up torts or contracts in law school and are starting to think about paying back student loans when they see the light.  And the rest of us fall somewhere in the middle.  Whatever the case may be we all entertained the idea no matter how loud the voice of practicality and security grew.

The point of this post is to gather some feedback from all of you regarding your decision to open your own law practice.  It does not have to be limited to solo practitioners.  If you opened a law practice with one or more partners I am also interested in your story.   Please leave a comment to share your thoughts on this topic.  Maybe someone on the fence will identify with your reasoning and decide to follow their solo dreams as well.
 

Comments

[Carolyn Elefant]

During law school, I'd always thought that I might start a firm at some point, but it was a complete fantasy. I worked at a large law firm after my second year of law school, I worked for the federal government after I graduated (I'd gotten an offer from the firm but declined to return) and after two years at government moved to a private firm with a national energy practice. After two years, I was told that I wasn't on the partnership track, though the decision coincided with the firm's economic decline, as well as a recission and a tight job market. Since I'd always thought about starting a firm, that time seemed to be as good as any. To be honest, I never thought that I'd solo for long, just a year or two until I had kids and left the law or the job market straightened out and I found another job. But working for myself "fit" in a way that no other position had and opened up so many opportunities that fourteen years later, I'm still doing it.
Of course, that's the honest story. As my website says, "I started my own firm because other law firms weren't big enough, not big enough for my dreams or even for two little words - my name - on the door. And that reason is also true.

[St. Louis Solo]

It hit me the second year in law school. Unlike Ms. Elefant, I never even considered opening my own place until I attended a seminar on starting one's own law firm. To my memory, there weren’t many people there but it was enough to plant the spark inside of me. As the school year wore on, I looked up Foonberg’s book on opening one’s own firm and for the first time realized that opening my own firm, even immediately upon passing the bar exam, was something that was definitely achievable.

For various reasons, however, I ended up taking a job before I graduated law school. I was grateful for the opportunity and thought I would forget about opening my own place. Needless to say, that didn't happen. Now, almost two years out of law school, I am in the serious planning stages for my own firm and I cannot wait to turn the key in the lock.

[Susan Cartier Liebel]

When I went to law school I never expected to practice law. I just saw it as an important education to have to navigate through life. It was while I was in law school I realized the ultimate success would be self-employment because my legal education and license would enable me to brave this new frontier. And I did it right out of law school with two others. It was looked down upon as a choice of lessers, not the ultimate lofty achievement it actually is. I was told I was crazy, yet others secretly said, 'it takes alot of hutzpah.' And the money came. It always does. But the freedoms were the driving force. It still upsets me when students say, "I would love to go solo but I know I have to work somewhere first." They have been so brainwashed into doubting themselves it breaks my heart sometimes. One has to remember, for every single law firm 2 employees to 1000 someone said, "I want to start my own law firm." This needs to be remembered...and respected...by law schools and the profession as a whole.

[Solo Now 2008]

The thought of going solo first crossed my mind one evening in my fourth year of practice. I was working long hours in a mid-size firm and I wasn't going to see my 2 year old for the 3rd day in a row that week. The project was for a partner that had procrastinated (or purposefully hogged it) for 4 months and had not assigned it to any of the associates until the client was screaming for the results. That evening, I was the only one left in the office and the project fell on me. That was the last straw to know that working in such a setting was not for me, in addition to what I had disliked of the law firms I knew (e.g. the system that discourages collegiality and true team work). That night was in July 2007 and I thought it would take me at least 2-3 more years of law firm life to set my family financially to take the plunge and to prepare my self to do well. However, things at that law firm took a turn for the worse and I am now seriously looking to start my solo practice, hoping to set it up and have it running within the next three months.