Picking Practice Areas When Starting a Firm Can be a Science

When you're just getting started with your own firm, you'll need to decide on what practice areas you'll specialize in.

This is true for fresh attorneys out of law school as well as experienced attorneys. Because unless you already have a steady book of business, you'll need to reach outside of your comfort zone and take on unfamiliar cases in unfamiliar areas.

When choosing which practice areas to handle, you can make life easier for yourself by knowing that certain areas go hand-in-hand, and certain areas will naturally lend itself to more business in a separate area. Here are some tips to think about when starting your own firm.

If you're just starting off, you have an advantage as you're basically a blank canvas. Think about why you really went to law school and the classed you loved the most. Now make those areas your specialty. It's that simple.

For attorneys who already have some experience, it probably makes the most sense to leverage your experience, unless you truly hated it. In addition, you can perform the same exercise as the young attorneys and choose to practice in areas you really care about along with the areas you have experience in.

After finding a base practice area, you will probably need to add on several more. As mentioned, there are very few lawyers starting a law firm who can sustain themselves only with a single practice area. So look for natural fits to your practice area. For example, if you choose criminal defense, you may want to add DUIs and even personal injury law. Family law, estate planning, and tax law are also natural fits.

You should also think about where business in one practice area can create business in another. Performing patent law will likely create opportunities for corporate work like drafting contracts and licenses.

Choosing the right practice areas is critical when starting a law firm. Keep some of these tips in mind. But if you truly love two completely unrelated fields like trademark litigation and green energy law, don't let anything written here discourage you.

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