Profit First: Hiring Your First Associate Is Law Firm Rocket Fuel

If you’re a solo attorney – whether that’s a true solo (just you & no team) or a solo, with non-attorney staff help – it’s definitely a scary proposition to hire your first attorney.  Some solo lawyers, in fact, never do it.  They just can’t get past the fear.  But, if you can make that hire, and make it successfully, that’s like adding lighter fluid to the fire of law firm growth. 




Since law practice is a service industry, that means that you need people putting in hours, in order to make money.  If you’re a solo, the ‘people’ of which I speak are: ‘you’.  Without attorney staff, who can bill on your behalf, your income is limited to what you yourself can bill.  And, that’s a fairly low ceiling.  But, if you can bring one other attorney into the mix, and generate a certain amount of work for that lawyer – you can calculate a profit margin: by defining what you pay that person, and what they can bill out.  Since attorneys bill more than any other employee you could hire (including paralegals), they will generate the most profit margin.  And, if you can hire one attorney, and turn that person into a ‘profit center’ for your business – then you can replicate that role, over and over and over again. 

 

That’s how you achieve real growth in a law practice. 

 

But, it starts with the first one. 

 

. . . 

 

If you can’t get over the hump, bringing on your first associate, let’s talk. 

Through a unique partnership between the bar association and Jared Correia's Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, National Creditors' Bar Association members have access to experienced law practice management consultants at a special discount rate.

To get started, visit Red Cave's NCBA landing page, and start running your law practice like a business.

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