Are You Considering Becoming a Sole Practitioner?

The Aboriginal Lawyers Forum is having its 2025 retreat on May 23-25 in Victoria. At the retreat, I will be moderating a panel on “Managing a Law Firm”. This article is intended to complement that panel presentation.

By way of introduction, my area of law is civil litigation, including disputes in contract, wills and estates, property and commercial matters. I was called to the bar in 2001. I then worked in a large national firm, a mid-sized firm and a number of litigation boutiques. In January 2023, I opened my solo practice.

If you are considering going solo, here are some things to consider based on my experience:

• Are you comfortable enough in your practice to not have the colleagues “down the hall” that you can drop in on for help and support? In my experience, colleagues at other firms will be there to answer your calls/emails with questions, but this is different from being able to drop in on someone in the same firm.
• Are you going to be happy with reduced social contact at the office?
• Consider whether your area of practice can realistically operate in a one-lawyer firm. Do you practice in an area where the files require more than one lawyer working on it? If yes, how is going solo going to work?
• Similarly, does your area of law require that you have the assistance of paralegals or legal assistants? Some of my solicitor friends say that the cost-model of their practice requires that initial work be done by paralegals at a lower billing rate. If this is true for you, consider what employees you will need and all the requirements that come with having employees.
• You will need an accountant and a bookkeeper who are familiar with dealing with Law Society accounting requirements, in particular trust accounting and reporting. In my case, I use a contract bookkeeper who works at her own office and who can access the accounting software that I use online. You will have to be comfortable with running business and trust accounts.
• Consider the technical and other services and memberships you will need and their costs: practice management software, credit card processing, word processing, access to caselaw, scanning and copying, shredding, BC Online, Land Title and Survey Authority, insurance (Lawyers Indemnity Fund and office), Law Society of British Columbia fees, Canadian Bar Association membership, Continuing Professional Development, hardcopy books, office supplies … and others.
• Office space: Do you want to work in your own office, a shared space or from home? For those able to take advantage of section 87 of the Indian Act, can you access workspace on reserve land?

In considering these and other questions you have, I recommend that you speak with others who have done this before you. Before I decided to go solo, I spoke with colleagues who had done so or who had opened a new firm with other lawyers. They helped me answer the questions I had and alerted me to issues that I had not thought of on my own. I found my bookkeeper through a referral from a colleague.

I have enjoyed my solo practice in the two-plus years that I have had my firm. This may be a rewarding choice for you. Just make sure that you do the research before making the decision.