The common dilemma for a legal practitioner is whether to start a legal firm, or a legal business. There is no right or wrong answer for starting a legal firm of our own. At some point of the legal practice, some may think "whether I should have started my own legal firm?" or "whether I should just continue to work for someone else?"
There may be many reasons for a person to start their own legal firm. Some may have started in the form of sole proprietorship, partnership, or group law practice (in Malaysia). I always believe that the reason why we want to start our own legal firm is crucial to be determined when we are making a choice of whether to start the legal firm.
Why do we need to start our own legal firm?
Legal firm is a legal business. What is the purpose of starting a legal business? The main reason, or the "WHY" should be well stated and determined. There are so many firms in the market. Legal business is a business that is very easy to start. All you need is to have a law degree, a practising certificate, subscribed professional indemnity insurance, an email and an address. However, I think one very important ingredient to have, is the PASSION. Passion is inimitable. Something very distinct from one another. There is no point in starting a legal business if the "Passion" is missing.
Passion to have more Money is NOT the real passion. Passion is NOT equivalent to money.
You can always start any other businesses if you do not have the passion in legal practice. As a result, it is important to find out the "WHY" to start our own legal business. Or else, we can always stay on the practice to continue with attaching to a firm without the need to start our own legal business.
After knowing why we want to start a legal business, we have to consider whether we are ready to run the business. Running a legal business is unlike a normal business. We are bound by the law, rules and regulations such as:
- Legal Profession Act 1976
- Legal Profession (Practice & Etiquette) Rules 1978
- Legal Profession (Publicity) Rules 2001
- Solicitors' Remuneration Order 2005
- Bar Council Rulings
- Practice Directions
- Others
Are we ready to conform with all the regulations made available to us in order to carry out the business by conforming with the code of ethics?
Besides that, running a legal business is a lot different than simply practising as a lawyer. When we run a legal business, we need to be good at figures and numbers. As we are running the legal business, we are not only a lawyer, but also the financial controller, marketing officer, sales manager, human resources manager, and even a Janitor!
We will have to put on different hats while we are managing a legal business.
In short, when we are figuring whether to start a legal business of our own, we have to consider on many factors, such as the reason for us to start, the readiness of us in running the business according to the regulations that governs the profession and the business, and whether we are equipped with the business administration skills.
Running a legal business is unlike other businesses. It is not easy to run a legal business if we do not have the PASSION to run a legal business. Running a legal business does not only require passion, but it requires a great sense of "Accountability" and "Integrity" from the legal practitioner.
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