Every year, the country graduates many experienced lawyers from the highest educational institutions. Despite the diploma received, great knowledge in the field legal services and despite the fact that the vacancy is still considered in demand, not everyone manages to find their workplace.
That's why from time to time young specialist I want to open my own law firm. This is due to many reasons, which are sometimes closely intertwined:
- Trying to squeeze into one workplace a large number of of people.
- Bad management at an existing job.
- Low salary. On average, the price range of a lawyer’s salary in Russia is up to 30,000 rubles.
- Work requires moving to another city. Based on this, other problems arise: finding an apartment, an unfamiliar area without friends and acquaintances, old parents in their hometown requiring care, etc.
- I just want to have my own business.
Opening personal business in the field of legal services, as in any other new business, has many positive and negative aspects. The advantages include the following:
- Owning a business means that the leader is none other than the entrepreneur himself.
- The amount of income will also depend not on the bosses, but on the entrepreneur himself. Depending on how things go, income may or may not be high.
- Freedom of action and flexible work schedule. By hiring additional employees, you can not work at all, but manage your own staff, which sometimes does not take too much time.
- Financial benefit. If the business is successful, then even despite the number of employees of the company, more money Only the creator of the case will receive.
- Owning your own business gives you more prestige. The more successful he is, the higher his reputation.
The main disadvantages of starting your own business are as follows:
- A sound business strategy is required. A lot will depend on choosing the right or wrong strategy. After all, if it is chosen incorrectly, the business may fail. In this case, all risks, both financial and moral, will fall on the shoulders of the creator.
- The initial stage of creation requires a lot of time, effort and money. Investments will need to be made in everything: construction or renovation of a building for a company, purchase of necessary furniture, advertising, etc.
- Based on the previous two points, a great responsibility falls on the shoulders of a businessman. You will have to adapt to any situation, including bad news. Many thoughts will appear about the success or failure of the business.
If bad thoughts, large financial costs and responsibility are not very scary, then starting your own business may be the right decision. And then you need to start the documentation stage.
Required documents and permits
To open your own law firm, it is not necessary to have the appropriate education, but it is important to obtain permission to open. Registration of a company is carried out in accordance with Federal Law of the Russian Federation No. 129-FZ in the relevant government bodies.
You can register a company for one individual without forming a legal entity or (limited liability company) for one or more individuals with division of shares and responsibilities among all participants.
In any of the two cases, the following documents will be required for registration:
- Passport and copies of passport.
- Application for registration as an LLC or individual entrepreneur.
- Mandatory confirmation of payment of state duty.
- Selecting the type of activity according to (all-Russian classifier economic types activities).
When all documents have been submitted to the appropriate government bodies and a registration certificate will be received, you can begin drawing up a business plan. In other words, you will need to decide on the range of services.
Range of services
It is very important for an entrepreneur who is just starting a new business to decide on the range of services that will be provided to the clients of the future company. Many people constantly make the same mistake, trying to grab onto everything at once. It is best to do the opposite if the company has a narrow profile. This way it will be possible to provide truly high-quality services to clients.
The range of services in the legal field includes:
- Registration.
- Liquidation.
- Re-registration of individual entrepreneurs.
All three of these areas are in good demand. In addition, they do not need to have any special skills. But, since the areas described above are very popular, there will also be a lot of competition.
For a new company, you can choose the following as your main activity:
- Drawing up documentation (contracts, regulations, etc.)
- Representation of interests in court.
- Property dispute.
Starting with such small legal processes, over time you can raise the bar and expand the range of services.
Simple legal advice is also considered a promising direction. Now this service is just developing, so there is not much competition, but there can be a lot of clients.
Consultation with lawyers is popular among small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, as well as among new big companies, which have already proven themselves in the market.
As can be seen from the above, a future company can be created in any direction. The range of services here is quite wide. But it is important to remember that you need to choose it wisely and preferably with an emphasis on one thing.
Selecting a location
The optimal choice of location for legal organization counts city center. Ideal option there will be a place where there are offices of other companies nearby. After all, it’s easier for the client to remember the location than some street with an elaborate name.
In addition, the city center has good infrastructure and many ways to get there. This is very convenient for the client when he can drive up to the company using different transport, and not wait for only one minibus that goes to that area.
If everything best places the center is busy, you will have to choose one of the large areas of the city, which will be remembered no worse.
The most important thing is that in the chosen area the company is in plain sight, that is, from the street. It often happens that some small companies are located somewhere in the courtyard, in basements. This kind of mistake should be avoided. It should take a client a few minutes to find a building, not several hours. Otherwise, his patience may run out and he will leave.
Necessary equipment
It’s best to arrange everything according to type office space. That is, you need to purchase a certain office furniture(tables, chairs, etc.) and computer equipment (computers, MFPs, etc.). It would be a good idea to buy office supplies (printing paper, pens, etc.).
Special companies that deal with this can help with the interior design of the room and the facade of the building itself. Many of these companies do turnkey repairs. In other words, everything - from project development to implementation - goes to specialists in their field. Ultimately, the entrepreneur will be given premises ready to receive his first clients.
Company personnel
Employees are the face of any company. The success of the business depends on them. It’s good if you can hire people you know into the company who studied with the entrepreneur at the university. But if a businessman has not studied law or does not have such acquaintances, searching for specialists can take a lot of time.
You will have to enlist the support of local labor exchanges, submit vacancies to newspapers or special websites on the Internet. Every day you will have to conduct interviews, during which you can listen to a large number of unemployed people in one day. You may even have to hire an experienced manager for this procedure, which will significantly affect cash costs.
To calculate salaries for future employees, you will need to find an accountant. He will also conduct the necessary reporting.
Also, in addition to manager, accountant and lawyers, it is necessary to hire additional personnel: cleaners, freelance programmers, electricians, PR managers. Additional staff are needed to support the work of essential workers.
Considering the large number necessary personnel, you can use one simple recommendation - hire only experienced employees. An experienced worker with a certain amount of experience will be able to replace several inexperienced students. As a result, the quality of work will be better, and you can pay less.
Advertising and customer search
Previously, when talking about the pros and cons of business, significant advertising costs were listed among the cons. Of course, after all, searching for clients on our own can be limited only to friends and acquaintances. Good promotion will increase the business's chances of success.
If we talk briefly about advertising, then it is better to serve it everywhere. But if the company’s services are of a narrow profile, then you need to provide it where the possible target audience is located. For example, if the main service is drawing up wills, then old people are unlikely to be found on the Internet; they read newspapers more.
For all this you can hire a PR manager. A qualified and experienced specialist will be able to attract new clients and maintain a favorable external environment for the company.
You can watch the following video to learn how to properly promote your legal services:
Business costs and estimated profitability
It is clear that the costs new business will be rather large, you need to take into account a lot of things on which money will be spent. In order not to get confused in all this, you can look at the approximate costs of creating a new law firm:
- Registration of an LLC will cost approximately 20 thousand rubles.
- Furniture and equipment - approximately 100 thousand rubles.
- Arrangement of the premises and its rent - from 100 to 130 thousand rubles.
- Communication and software costs – up to 50 thousand rubles.
- Office – 5 thousand rubles.
- Transportation costs (optional) – 10 thousand rubles.
The total is an approximate amount from 295 to 325 thousand rubles.
The profitability of a business in the legal field will depend on the choice of services. For example, if we take into account the previously selected range of services, we get:
- Legal consultation – 1500 rub.
- Drawing up legal documents – 3000 rubles.
- Representation of interests in court – 40 thousand rubles.
- Challenging property – approximately 40 thousand rubles.
Total - average cost all services 21,125 rubles.
For example, in a month 5 lawyers served 5 clients each, then the income will be:
- 5*5*21125 = RUB 528,125.
To calculate the net average profit for the first month, you need to subtract the costs of creating a company (from 295 to 325 thousand rubles) and all expenses that the company incurred during the month of activity (staff salaries, taxes, other payments and expenses).
Having carefully studied the question of how to open law firm, you will be able to avoid the mistakes of your predecessors and build profitable business.
Capital investments – from 500,000 rubles.
Payback – 1 year.
The legal profession has been considered one of the most profitable and promising for many years.
Thousands of applicants choose law as their main specialty, but not all of them find a job after graduation that suits them.
You can avoid the collapse of all hopes if you carefully study the issue, how to open a law firm.
There are plenty of private law firms in any city today, but not all of them provide high-quality services and can boast of having qualified specialists on their staff.
If you avoid the mistakes of your predecessors, you will be able to build a profitable business.
Who should start a legal business?
There are many types entrepreneurial activity that can be done without special education.
But come to legal business, without special education, is very brave, because you will in no way be able to control the work of your subordinates and risk one day losing your law office.
It is best to try to open a legal business to people with a legal education and work experience who are tired of working for someone else and dream of owning their own business.
If we take into account the number of law graduates that domestic universities produce annually, we see that there are enough such people.
If you have enough money for starting a business and you dream of owning your own law firm, then you can invest in it by using lawyers as employees.
Although this path is associated with certain difficulties.
For example, the inability to act as a lawyer in a criminal trial or difficulties in monitoring the quality of work of subordinates.
What types of activities should a law firm provide to become profitable?
Even before you engage in the registration procedure, decide what services your law office will provide.
To maximize profits and quickly form a client base, you should involve in your consultation lawyers who specialize in:
Legal disputes.
It often happens that the state interferes in the affairs of private entrepreneurs or another businessman, trying to snatch a tasty morsel, violates the rights of another entrepreneur.
Lawyers will be able to defend the rights of your clients in legal disputes.
Family litigation.
In the United States and Europe, lawyers specializing in family law rarely sit idle and make huge profits handling divorce, inheritance, or child custody cases.
We also have a wide field for the activities of family law specialists.
Registration procedure.
The legislation of Russia, Ukraine and other CIS countries is so imperfect, and bureaucracy and corruption flourishes so rampantly that aspiring entrepreneurs cannot do without legal assistance during, OOO or.
Criminal law.
People with money who are accused of a criminal offense prefer to pay for the services of a highly qualified private lawyer rather than settle for a public defender.
Notary services.
Registration and re-registration of property, confirmation of the accuracy of copies of documents and translations of documents from/to foreign language, issuance of certificates, etc.
Collections.
This does not mean that you will have to collect debts.
Your task is to explain to the debtor, instead of the borrower, what the consequences of non-payment of debts are in accordance with the laws of the country.
Legislation on intellectual property.
A relatively new, but very promising field for the activities of law firms.
Nuances of legal business
The first rule of business is to make money, no matter how other rules interfere with this.
Mikhail Mamchich
Figuring out how to open a law office is not that difficult, especially if you yourself are a lawyer and know this kitchen from the inside.
And yet, the legal business, like any other, has its own nuances that should be remembered:
- Competition in this sector is quite high, so you definitely need to take care of the competent formation of competitive advantages:
- payment for your services in installments;
- discounts for regular customers;
- convenient office location;
- a wide range of legal services you provide;
- acceptable price policy etc.
- You can open an office that provides some specialized services, for example, specializing in family law, or you can open a law firm that will help in any matter related to jurisprudence.
Experts advise choosing the second option, although opening such a business requires large investments.
- Any law firm needs a manager who will deal with administrative issues, advertise the business, look for new clients, etc.
He does not necessarily have to have a legal education, but he simply must be an excellent manager.
- When targeting a legal business, it is imperative to formulate a long-term strategy.
This is the only way to short terms recoup capital investments and occupy your niche in the market. - You should approach the law firm as carefully as possible, especially considering high level competition in the market.
You must not only calculate how much money you will need to open a business, focusing on prices in your city, but also conduct a preliminary market analysis: count the number of competitors, find out about the solvency of citizens, what legal services are lacking, etc.
How to find clients for your law firm?
The main difficulty faced by those who are thinking about how to open a law firm is the need to quickly form a client base in order to earn money.
Indeed, with such a high level of competition and a modest average level of well-being of citizens, it can be difficult to find a way to clients.
To achieve success, the management of a law firm must act in different directions:
- good advertising campaign.
You should:- attract the media;
- place advertisements on billboards, banners, and in public transport;
- leave your leaflets and brochures in banks, shopping centers, government agencies;
- use the Internet (contextual advertising on websites and social networks).
- Visiting potential clients with offers of your services.
These can be office centers, banking institutions, large shopping centers and much more. - Creating your own website with a list of services, prices, information about your lawyers.
The main thing is to order the creation of a website and writing texts from a good SEO specialist, because if your site remains “invisible” to search engines, then you will waste money on it. - Cooperation on a paid basis with those who can help you find potential clients: law enforcement officers, ship clerks, tax officials, bankers, etc.
- Word of mouth.
Your legal office should provide its services in such a way that all clients (both large and small) are satisfied.
This is the only way they will not only become your regular customers of your services, but will also recommend you to all their friends and acquaintances.
How to open a law firm: calendar plan
Opening a legal consultation office is not difficult if you yourself are a lawyer and have a sufficient amount of capital investment. In this case, it is quite possible to accept your first client within 3 months.
If you encounter certain difficulties (you don’t immediately find suitable premises, you will be forced to look for a partner who will share financial burdens with you, etc.), then starting a business may take more long term: six months or more.
The optimal period for opening a law firm is 5 months:
| Stage | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registration | |||||
| Renting premises and repairs | |||||
| Purchase of furniture and office equipment | |||||
| Recruitment | |||||
| Website creation | |||||
| Advertising | |||||
| Opening |
Registration of legal business
As we have already found out, any person can open a law firm, even without a legal education.
A legal business is not subject to licensing, but registration is.
First, you have to choose one of the forms (IP or LLC).
Experienced lawyers still advise opening a legal consultation office as an LLC, because this provides a wider field for activity.
In order to do so, you must have a legal address.
Be sure to choose the system by which you will pay taxes.
The best option for an LLC is the simplified tax system with one of the interest rates:
- 6% of income;
- 15% of income, the rate of which is reduced from expenses.
If you yourself are a lawyer, then there should be no problems with the registration procedure - you can easily collect the required package of documents, and also prepare the premises in which you are going to open a law firm for inspections by the SES and the Fire Service.
They must give their permission to operate the office.
Premises in which you can open a law firm
You need to look not only ideal room in order to open a law firm, but also to take care of the favorable location of your office.
You cannot organize your business somewhere on the outskirts; it is better to choose the central part of the city.
Also make sure that the entrance to your office is from the street - serious clients will not look for you for a long time in the courtyards.
The size of the office space directly depends on whether you want to open a large law firm and how many lawyers will work for you.
Let's say you intend to open an office with 2 lawyers, which means you will need premises with total area at least 70 square meters to equip 3 offices (for you and two lawyers), a hall with a secretary’s work place and a waiting area, a small kitchenette (to prepare tea and coffee for your clients) and a bathroom.
Each lawyer should have his own separate office (you, as a manager, naturally, too), because attorney-client privilege must be preserved.
Even if you are renting and not purchasing a premises, be sure to make it good repair to impress serious clients.
Keep it concise business style: contrast of light and dark shades, absence of flashy colors, natural materials etc.
If you're on a budget, hire an interior designer to add some style to your office.
Equipment without which you cannot open a law firm
The list of equipment for a law firm will not be much different from any office space.
You will need work tables with chairs, filing cabinets, office equipment, etc.
You also need to equip the hall with furniture (preferably sofas) where clients will wait for an audience.
You should not buy the cheapest or second-hand furniture - this may alienate financial clients.
About 300,000 rubles need to be allocated for furnishing an office in which 2 lawyers + a secretary + a manager will work, and for the purchase of equipment:
| Expense item | Qty | Cost (in rub.) | Amount (in rub.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total: | 280,000 rub. | ||
Computers or laptops  | 4 | 20 000 | 80 000 |
Printer (3 in 1)  | 2 | 10 000 | 20 000 |
| Air conditioner | 4 | 15 000 | 60 000 |
| Tables | 4 | 3 000 | 12 000 |
| Chairs and work chairs | 8 | 2 000 | 16 000 |
| Sofa in the reception area | 1 | 20 000 | 20 000 |
| Cabinets and shelving | 8 | 3 000 | 24 000 |
Plumbing for the bathroom  | 15 000 | 15 000 | |
| Kitchenette equipment | 20 000 | 20 000 | |
| Other | 13 000 | 13 000 |
How to open a law firm: personnel
Even if you have a legal education and are going to work in your profession, thinking about how to open a law office without involving other specialists is not very smart.
It is better for you to take on administrative and advertising functions, focusing on a PR campaign for your company and finding clients.
It is better to transfer accounting functions to an outsourcing company, whose services will cost you about 5,000 rubles per month.
For the normal functioning of a law company, you need to hire at least two lawyers, a secretary, a system administrator and a cleaner.
Paying for staff services in a small city will cost you about 100,000 rubles per month:
| Qty | Salary (in rub.) | Total (in rub.) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 110,000 rub. | |||
| Lawyers | 2 | 30 000 | 60 000 |
| System Administrator | 1 | 20 000 | 20 000 |
| Secretary | 1 | 15 000 | 15 000 |
| Cleaning woman | 1 | 10 000 | 10 000 |
| Accounting outsourcing | 5 000 | 5 000 |
How much does it cost to open a law firm?
Getting into the legal business is not cheap.
To do this, you need to have a decent amount of capital investment, and the larger the city in which you are going to work, and the larger the office you want to organize, the higher the costs await you.
For example, to open a law firm in an office with a total area of 70 square meters, with two lawyers and a secretary in a small city (population 200-300 thousand people), you need to have at least 500,000 rubles.
To feel safe on initial stage starting a business should be included in start-up capital the amount necessary to pay staff salaries, office rent, advertising, etc.
Starting a legal business from scratch is not easy; it will take about six months to build up a client base.
About the features of running a legal business
also described in the video:
Is it profitable to try to open a legal business?
The legal business can be both profitable and ruin its owner. Everything depends only on you and on your ability to form a client base.
Actually, jurisprudence is enough profitable occupation, if you look at the approximate cost of office services in small cities:
But prices for corporate clients are much higher than for individuals.
What can we say about litigation?
On average, legal offices, even in small cities, can generate income from 220,000 rubles.
If you subtract the costs of running a business, the owner of the company is left with about 50,000 rubles of net profit.
Even with such indicators, it is possible to make a business self-sustaining in 1 year.
And if you form a large client base and get several large clients from large entrepreneurs, then your monthly profit will be from 100,000 rubles.
All this indicates that legal business- a profitable activity if you approach its organization with the utmost care.
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You have firmly decided that you will create your own legal business, you have prepared theoretically and morally for possible difficulties at the initial stages, we prepared start-up capital... But if you are opening your own business for the first time, then you are still not immune from making banal mistakes that most beginning entrepreneurs go through.
Don't get into trouble with personal experience. Use our tips on how to start a legal business from scratch and what mistakes to avoid.
At the heart of all these mistakes is one problem - a lawyer who is just starting his business is ready to attract “at least some” clients at any cost and take on every case.
So, what not to do in the first stages, if you don’t want to kill your nascent business:
Rent an office immediately
Office space is, of course, respectable and business-like. But these are significant additional expenses. At the first stage, when you do not yet have an established customer base, such expenses are simply not advisable. You don’t want to work to pay the office rent or even at a disadvantage? Moreover, the lack of an office can even be turned into competitive advantage, offering clients a specialist visit to a place convenient for them.
Invest in marketing without developing a strategy
It’s good if, before registering an individual entrepreneur or organization, you carefully thought through your business development strategy for at least a year in advance. Then you only need to stick to the plan, directing all resources to its implementation. But if you are still in search of a suitable organizational form, business model, specialization - in a word, you have not yet planned what and how you will do and what goal you will achieve through year - do not invest in marketing. There is a 90% chance that this will be a waste of money. In the first stages, you need to rationally use free and low-cost methods of attracting customers.
Engage in a large number of services and work with everyone
Would you trust your health to a cardiologist who works part-time as a dentist three days a week and replaces the surgeon during operations on weekends? Would you send your child to a tutor who teaches geography, algebra, chemistry, French and singing?
No? What is doubtful about these examples? The fact that you cannot be an expert in everything at the same time! And a lawyer is, in fact, the same generalized concept as “doctor” or “teacher”. The client needs an expert in the area of concern for him, and not a “general specialist”. In addition, scattering across all categories of clients and areas of law will in any case negatively affect the quality of your services.
It's important to understand that at the heart of all these errors there is one problem - a lawyer who is just starting his business is ready to attract “at least some” clients at any cost and take on every task. In fact, from the first days you should strive not to ensure that clients choose you, but to ensure that you can freely choose only good clients for yourself.
How to start legal business from scratch : step by step plan
Below we offer you step by step plan on building a legal business.
Legal services will be in demand as long as the state exists. And no crisis will prevent this.
Employment gives a lawyer a guaranteed income, but sometimes sets a kind of bar: it does not allow personal income to grow and professional level. The solution for an experienced lawyer may be to create his own business - opening a legal consultation.
The very first step
A future entrepreneur needs to start with a sober assessment of his capabilities:
— is there enough knowledge and experience to set off on a “free swim”;
- whether there is a business qualities:
— entrepreneurial spirit in solving emerging problems;
— persistence in achieving goals;
- communication skills;
— necessary business connections;
— cash;
— technical resource (office, computer, Internet and telephone).
However, the latter is a matter of profit. If the decision to open a legal consultation has been made, the next step will be to register the future company as a legal entity or individual.
At first glance, a legal entity in the form of an LLC seems more prestigious. But a sole proprietor can also hire employees. In addition, several lawyers specializing in different areas of law can each become individual entrepreneurs and equal partners. This will significantly simplify reporting on the activities of the legal consultation and expand the list of services offered.
By the way, the use of the phrase “legal advice” in accordance with the law “On advocacy and advocacy in Russian Federation" in the name of an organization is allowed only if it (the organization) was created by lawyers. Don't forget about this when registering your company.
Experienced entrepreneurs advise using the simplified tax system (simplified taxation system) for reporting and paying taxes:
— 15% of profit, in this case all costs of doing business are taken into account;
— 6% of income. Expenses are not taken into account. But for legal advice they are not great, so this simplified tax system looks preferable.
A cash register or strict reporting forms will be required to record income.
To fill out an application for registration with the State Tax Inspectorate, the classifier offers code 74.11 “Activities in the field of law.” Can add
— 74.14 Consulting on commercial activities and management;
— 74.18 Provision of other services.
In criminal proceedings, only lawyers can represent the interests of clients. The new law firm can only provide advice in this area.
But civil law, family law, business law and corporate law represent a wide field of activity for a lawyer. A friendly team of several narrow specialists will be able to attract different clients to the company, and therefore increase income.
Is it possible and necessary to know everything?
Specialization is vital. If changes in criminal law appear extremely rarely, then civil law is constantly changing right before our eyes. Explanations Supreme Court, orders of the Ministry of Economic Development, new federal laws capable of radically changing the situation in a very short time.
Legal consultation usually begins with one or two specialists who will monitor changes in their field. It is impossible for several lawyers to cover all the rights. Therefore, it is wise to decide on the specialization of the consultation, not forgetting the need to receive a stable profit.
If you are not going to do only charity, then a bad niche would be solving problems with
- pensions;
- benefits;
- loans.
When a client has money problems, he will not be able to pay for your work at the proper level.
The next step is to determine the price of legal services. How much will it cost
— consultation;
- compilation statement of claim to court;
— representation in litigation;
— execution of contracts;
- presence at negotiations.
There will always be people who want to get free advice, and sometimes a solution to their problems. A clearly defined price list for services will help, at least psychologically, solve the problem of communicating with “freeloaders.”
How to find clients?
The organizer and future owner of the legal consultation needs to resolve the issue of advertising. How will clients find out about the new company? They will help
— advertising in print media and the Internet;
- sign on the facade office building and a billboard at the entrance;
- business cards and flyers.
How many hired workers are needed and what kind?
The presence of a manager in the office who will respond to phone calls clients and make appointments, will allow consultation lawyers to leave the premises during working hours if necessary.
Such an office manager could be a part-time student, a future lawyer, or a specialist who prefers “sedentary” work.
An experienced legal administrator will be able to
— offer the client a strategy for solving his problem;
— sign a contract for the provision of services;
— draw up a client’s power of attorney with a notary in the name of the absent specialist.
An accountant is needed on staff at a large legal consultancy. Finance and tax professionals have long appreciated the beauty of remote work. A small company can easily find an accountant who will keep records and issue payment orders to the bank, visiting the office if necessary.
If there is someone to clean Staff only, then these are, perhaps, all the necessary workers for the normal functioning of a legal consultation.
The demand for services, small investments at the start, the lack of licensing for legal advice and representation in court make this business very attractive.
Opening your own company is the desire of many experienced lawyers. But they ask questions: “How to open a law firm from scratch?” or “How to attract clients?” Despite a higher legal education and great zeal, for this you still need to have a certain knowledge of the fundamental rules, the observance of which will help you achieve your goal. How to start your own legal business from scratch?
Opening own business in the legal field entails many advantages, but, as in any business, unfortunately, one cannot do without disadvantages.
The following advantages should be noted in having your own business:
- Absence of the boss. You are the head of your own company, which means you are free to make your own decisions.
- Profitability will depend on you, the entrepreneur, earnings can be impressive or quite low.
- Flexible schedule. In the future, having hired staff, you will be able not to work at all, but only manage your employees.
- As the founder of the company, you will receive the greatest profit, unlike an ordinary employee.
Having your own business is prestigious.
Minuses:
- Risk. If you choose the wrong business strategy, then your business may fail, in which case it cannot be avoided financial problems. Take this issue seriously.
- At the starting stage, a lot of investment, effort and time will be required.
- No matter how trivial it may sound, business is always stressful, be prepared for the fact that most likely not everything will work out with ease.
If the waste of effort and risk do not frighten you, then you can move on to those aspects that will reveal in detail the topic of how to open a legal consultation.
How to open a law firm from scratch - instructions
Registration, permits, documents
Let's take a closer look at the question of how to open a law firm from scratch. In order to open your own law firm, you do not need to receive the appropriate education; it can be opened by an individual or legal entity.
However, you must register with the proper government tax authority and choose a form of taxation in order to operate legally.
The company can be registered on Individual entrepreneur or as an LLC for several individuals.
It is better to design the taxation system according to the scheme “subtract expenses from income.” Convenient option– The simplified tax system with a rate of 15% is more profitable.
How to open a law firm with necessary permits? The answer is quite simple. It turns out that, as the current legislation states, special permissions and a license is not required to open a private law firm.
The following documents will be required:
- Passport, its photocopies.
- Confirmation of payment state duty.
- Application for registration of an individual entrepreneur or LLC.
- Selection of type of activity according to OKVED codes.
Important! As soon as you receive a certificate of registration, immediately begin developing a business strategy and promoting your company.
Selection of premises and equipment
An important task when opening a law firm is the choice of premises. The best option for the location of your office would be the city center, because the infrastructure is better there, and it will be more convenient for the client to get to and find you.
It would be nice if your office is located on the ground floor and on the street side, for the same reason listed above.
You also need to take care of the availability of the necessary equipment.
It is best to decorate the premises in the form of an office. To do this, you will need to purchase special furniture (chairs, tables, convenient lockers, etc.) and computer equipment (computer or laptop, printer, scanner, etc.), and you also need to take care of stationery(paper, pencils, pens, etc.).
Prepare for the fact that several clients may come to you at once; arrange items in the space for them as comfortable and convenient as possible.
Recruitment
For the first time, it is better to start the activity of a law firm together with a partner and not hire employees.
Over time, when the business rises and develops, you can think about hiring additional staff.
It is necessary to hire: three qualified workers who will work with all kinds of services; courier Financial questions can be solved with the help of a visiting accountant.
Attention! When recruiting your professional staff, you need to use labor exchanges, submit advertisements in newspapers and relevant Internet resources.
There will be many candidates, they can be both yesterday’s students and experienced professionals. Naturally, it will be preferable to use the services of the latter, but it’s up to you to decide.
As your business expands, you may need staff.
Approximate composition of a mid-level law firm:
- highly qualified lawyer;
- legal consultant;
- lawyer working with individuals;
- lawyer for working with legal entities;
- legal assistant;
- secretary assistant;
- accountant.
Business process organization
How to promote a law firm? First of all, you need to decide on the specialization of the law firm, and also take care of the quality of the services provided.
To do this, you need to create your own corporate style, an appropriate image, and maintain good reputation. All this will further determine the success of your business.
It is necessary to start with providing a small number of legal services, and as your business expands, increase the range of services provided.
After all, it will be very difficult both to open a law firm from scratch and to control it.
It is also necessary to identify the main audience of the clientele, and based on this, organize the work process.
For example, if you are going to provide services in solving business problems, then the best option there will be an organization labor activity from 8:00–19:00, so that it is not difficult for the client to establish contact with you during his work day.
A good option would be if one employee from your staff works on duty on weekends at least until noon.
Business strategy
Organizing a law firm business plan, as well as opening a law firm from scratch, is not an easy task.
Research the market in detail in this area, carefully study your competitors, identify their advantages and disadvantages. This will help you make fewer mistakes in organizing your business plan.
Develop an acceptable pricing policy, this is especially important at the initial stage.
Promising directions at the moment:
- Legal support in the field of real estate and construction.
- Support for migrants. For example, assistance in settling, obtaining citizenship, etc.
- Control of financial and economic activities of companies.
- Protests related to illegal activities of law enforcement agencies.
Search for clients
Aspects when looking for clients:
- Use the Internet. First of all, take care of creating a company website, it is advisable to hire a specialist, fortunately there are enough of them on the Internet, so there should not be any problems with this.
Advertising can be placed on various websites and mobile applications. - Traditional methods of information dissemination. These are: leaflets, word of mouth, organization of exhibitions, seminars and conferences.
It would be a good idea to submit an advertisement in the newspaper, where you briefly tell about the services you provide, the location of the company, and prices.
Placing signs on the streets will also be effective; you can fork out for advertising on television.
Attention! For best result in search of clients, you need to use the services of a qualified specialist - a PR manager.
How can you guarantee that a lawyer will get clients?
The most difficult stage for all organizations is the start-up, and a law firm is no exception. Money invested in advertising and marketing may not always return as ready-made clients. Thus, money can be wasted. And when there are already so few of them, it creates additional problems and increases the company's expenses.
However, there is one solution that will ensure that the money invested generates ready customers. Currently, due to the globalization of the Internet, clients are looking for lawyers there. But how can you get clients without spending extra money? It’s very simple - for this there are special intermediary firms that can provide you with clients.
Attention! If you want to pay only for leads and don’t want to waste money, then you can start working with companies that provide lead generation. This is by no means the main source of clients, but it is a constant one. Especially useful at the initial stage. Click on the banner above and read the terms and conditions.
Costs and profits
Approximate start-up costs:
| Expenses | When to pay | Amount, thousand rubles |
| Registration and acquisition of a legal address | At the initial stage | 30,0 |
| Furniture and equipment | At the initial stage | 50-60 |
| Communication and software costs | Monthly | 40,0 |
| Office rental, renovation (10-15 sq.m.) | Monthly | 130,0 |
| Salary per person | Monthly | 30-40 |
| Transport | Monthly | 10,0 |
| Office | At the initial stage | 5,0 |
Profit will depend primarily on the number of clients and the quality of the services you provide.
The average cost of providing legal services in Moscow is:
- oral consultation – 1000-2000 thousand rubles/hour;
- written one-time consultation on legal issues – 3,000 rubles;
- registration of a person as an individual entrepreneur not including state registration. duties - 4500 rubles;
- LLC registration without state duty – 1100 rubles;
- writing a statement of claim – 9,000 rubles;
- liquidation legal entity– 60,000 rub.;
- representation of interests in court – 40,000 rubles.
Let’s say that in 30 days four of your employees served 20 clients, the approximate price of the service is 10 thousand rubles, if everything is organized correctly, then With the previously assigned range of services, we get the following numbers:
4*20*10000=800000 rubles
The tax amount is 20%, which means:
800000*0.2=116000 rubles
By simple calculations we find out the net profit:
800000.0 – 119000.0 – 315000.0= 369000.0 rub.
At the first stage, getting a large number of clients is a rare occurrence, but when the right approach after a few months this becomes quite achievable.
As a result, in a successful scenario, payback is achieved in 1-3 months.
Opening your own law office is quite a risky business that requires a lot of effort, but with a skillful approach it can bring significant profits.