An Unconventional Framework To Starting A Legal Practice
Traditional startup advice builds miserable practices. Here's the wellness-first approach that creates sustainable success.
As I’ve written here, law school convinced me that meaningful sacrifice was the price of success.
A panic attack taught me the real price was my health, relationships, and sanity.
With that lesson in mind, here's my hot take on starting a law practice:
Following all the "right" advice can still lead you to the wrong place.
If you are looking to start a law firm, here’s why I suggest you ditch the conventional checklist in favour of building a practice you want to work in.
What Everyone Gets It Wrong
Most conventional "start a law firm" checklist looks logical on paper:
Create a business plan with financial projections
Set up banking and trust accounts
Choose practice management software
Develop a marketing plan
Build a budget for expenses
The problem with this approach is its valuing of business metrics over your actual life over your personal wellbeing from day one.
Use this approach and you risk building a practice that succeeds on paper but fails at supporting the life you want.
Build A Wellness Aligned Practice From Day One
In my experience, success in business starts with knowing
why you are in business and
what that business is supporting.
Put simply, your practice should be a reflection of who you are and your priorities.
A lawyer with young children will naturally want more work-life balance. Conversely, a lawyer without children might be willing to work late and sacrifice personal time for work responsibilities.
A lawyer who is an introvert will need to have different strategies to build a book of business than a lawyer who is an extrovert.
When you don't build around what's important to you, you run the very real risk of creating a practice around things that aren't important to you - and becoming deeply unhappy three to five years down the road.
If your practice is truly a reflection of you, then its simply nonsensical to not build the business around your priorities from day one.
The Thriving Solo Lawyer Model
So if your looking to start a practice, consider starting with our Thriving Solo Lawyer Model - a three-circle framework that puts their your wellbeing at the center of every business decision.
Circle 1: Your Practice Blueprint. Don't start with a business plan but by identifying what's truly non-negotiable in your life:
Your wellness requirements (mental health, physical energy, stress levels)
Family commitments you refuse to compromise
Financial needs for your actual lifestyle (not maximum profit)
Circle 2: Happy Client Experience Choose clients who align with your values, not just your bank account:
Who do you genuinely enjoy helping?
What "red flag" clients will you avoid?
How will you deliver value while protecting your boundaries?
Circle 3: Legal Process Playbook Technology and workflows that serve you, not the other way around:
Design processes around your priorities first
Then find tools that fit those processes
Build support systems that enhance your wellbeing
This approach might seem slower than conventional startup advice.
However with this integrated approach, you'll realize the benefits vital to a sustainable legal practice.
Its the reason why I'm able to buck traditional advice in favour of forging my own path - especially in the age of AI. Check out this video where I show step by step how I use to AI to review a 200 page transcript in less than 15 minutes.
Next Steps
If you want to put this plan into action, here's your quick guide:
Define your wellness non-negotiables and true financial needs
Identify ideal clients and design your value proposition
Document workflows and choose supporting technology
Build your business decisions around your responses.
What Will You Choose?
Your practice should be a reflection of who you are, not a copy of what everyone else is doing.
When you start with your values instead of industry conventions, you create something uniquely yours - and infinitely more sustainable.