Learning the skills of small firm practice in a classroom

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Most attorneys would agree that three years of law school, a summer studying for the bar exam, and a framed certificate on the wall with the letters “J.D.” do not necessarily prepare an attorney to open his or her own firm. Beyond raw knowledge of the law and an ability to apply that knowledge to the facts of a client’s case, a sole practitioner or an attorney practicing in a small firm needs to know how to run a business — from renting office space and paying support staff salaries to billing clients and maintaining malpractice insurance.

Born: 1954

Education: J.D. William Mitchell College of Law 1983; B.S. University of Minnesota 1976

Employment: Meyer & Associates, P.A., owner, 1996-present; Pritzker & Meyer, founding partner, P.A. 1987-96; Schwebel, Goetz, Sieben & Hanson, associate, 1982-1987; Mediation Center, 1987-93; Creative Dispute Resolution, 1993-present

Professional Affiliations: Minnesota State Bar Association (member of governing council, Civil Litigation Section, 1993-present); Minnesota Women Lawyers; Minnesota Trial Lawyers (board member 1993-present); American Trial Lawyers; Academy of Certified Trial Lawyers of Minnesota

Honors: certified as a civil trial specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and Minnesota State Bar Association; selected by peers as Minnesota Leading Attorney in Personal Injury 1996-99; AV rated by Martindale-Hubbel since 1990

“[As lawyers], we are running small businesses,” observed St. Louis Park attorney Helen M. Meyer during an interview with Minnesota Lawyer. “We tend to not talk about the law as a business because we think it demeans [the legal profession] in some way. But we can deliver better legal services by understanding that we are businesses.”

Meyer pointed out that law schools generally haven’t provided a course on how to run a law firm successfully — until now.

Earlier this summer, Meyer, along with Prof. Neil Hamilton, taught a three-week course entitled “Skills of Small Firm Practice” at William Mitchell College of Law. According to Meyer, she and Hamilton created the course together (there was no textbook) and were very pleased with the results. The course exposed law students considering starting their own firms to the implications of running a law firm as a business — without demeaning the legal profession, Meyer explained.

Meyer said she hopes to teach the class again and would not significantly change the syllabus.

“The most important thing [the students] came away with was an appreciation for … the business side of law,” said Meyer. “The students left the class with the knowledge that one can practice law in a way that is meaningful and positive.”

Passion for the law

After founding two law firms, Meyer knows a lot about the practice of law and the business side of law. She is certified as a civil trial specialist, is active in various bar-related activities and is well-respected in Minnesota’s legal community.

“Helen is not only an excellent lawyer but also an outstanding teacher,” said Hamilton. “She’s the model of the ethical lawyer in my view.”

After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor of science degree in 1976, Meyer worked with juveniles — many with legal problems — in a psychiatric hospital.

“I was originally driven to go to law school because I wanted to help people … and to me, lawyers were in the best position to make a difference in people’s lives,” said Meyer.

Meyer said she initially thought she would practice juvenile law, but was exposed to trial work when she began clerking for a Minneapolis personal injury law firm — Schwebel, Goetz, Sieben & Hanson — while attending William Mitchell College of Law. Meyer’s professional path — which is now focused on personal injury law rather than juvenile issues — is “an example of a clerkship setting the course for a career,” she told minnesota Lawyer.

After graduating from William Mitchell in 1983, Meyer continued working with the Schwebel firm for a number of years. She said her experience there gave her the tools to later branch out on her own.

Meyer credited her mentor at the Schwebel firm, attorney Diane Hanson, for inspiring her with a passion for the law and a passion for clients’ causes.

“I learned from [Hanson] that one can care deeply about a client’s cause — and that that’s appropriate,” Meyer said.

In 1987, Meyer and another attorney from the Schwebel firm, Fred H. Pritzker, founded their own plaintiff’s personal injury firm — Pritzker & Meyer, P.A. (The law firm is now known as Pritzker & Associates.) Meyer gained extensive experience in the settlement and trial of wrongful death and personal injury claims and was responsible for firm management. Over the next nine years, four more attorneys joined the firm.

“I didn’t anticipate starting my own firm — it just developed,” said Meyer. “I don’t know how viable it is to graduate [from law school] and go right into your own practice,” she observed, adding that most lawyers who start their own firms work in another firm before branching out on their own.

In the fall of 1996, Meyer founded her own firm — Meyer & Associates, P.A. She said her earlier partnership “split up on good terms,” and that she branched out on her own because she “wanted to go in a different direction.”

Meyer & Associates started off with two attorneys — Meyer and shareholder Paul Downes — and now has three attorneys who do personal injury work and one attorney who does workers’ compensation work on an of counsel basis. The support staff has also grown from four in 1996 to six at the present time.

Meyer said she enjoys the flexibility that running her own firm allows.

“I recommend small firm practice. You really can feel connected to your work and have control over the direction of the firm,” said Meyer. Sole practitioners and attorneys who practice in small firms usually have a high level of job satisfaction because they have a sense of control over their work lives, Meyer observed.

Small firm skills

The Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) provides a Solo and Small Firm Resource Center to help lawyers in small firm practice. (The Web site is www2.mnbar.org/ solo/index.htm.) In addition to information about the MSBA’s Solo and Small Firm Section, the Resource Center provides practice and research aids, Internet guides, information about technology, law-related and general interest discussion lists, and links to online publications and newspapers.

While the Resource Center is a good start, Meyer and Hamilton encourage an even more proactive approach and urge Minnesota’s law schools to provide more help to those “entrepreneurial” students who want to create
their own law firm or join a small firm. With their “Skills of Small Firm Practice” course at William Mitchell College of Law, Meyer and Hamilton have taken the lead.

According to Hamilton, 47 percent of all lawyers in private practice were in sole practice in 1999, and over 18 percent were in firms of two to 10 lawyers. “In terms of the ethics of duty, the Rules of Professional Conduct, the students need help in creating a law office that operates efficiently within the Rules to meet client needs,” said Hamilton, who teaches professional responsibility at William Mitchell.

Hamilton highlighted several areas where law students need extra help, including:

• rules-based ethical problems of small firms,

• malpractice exposure,

• risk management,

• law office management, and

• financial planning.

Hamilton and Meyer decided to create their summer skills course as a way of addressing these needs.

According to the course syllabus, the six-session one-credit skills course analyzed “what veteran lawyers identify as ‘the things I wish I had known’ in the context of starting a firm of one’s own.” Meyer said that the students in the course — the vast majority of whom already had a decade of experience in fields such as accounting and computer software — were “somewhat unique in that they already had a vision” of starting their own law firms and planned to use their existing experience and connections to build their client base.

The 22 students — who were assigned to two-person firms — formulated personal and firm mission statements and created business plans for their hypothetical partnerships. Guest speakers discussed topics ranging from office location to financing the practice to risk management. The guest speakers represented a broad cross-section of practice areas and geographic diversity, Meyer said.

The students’ first task was to create personal and firm mission statements —something Meyer encourages firms of all sizes to do.

According to Meyer, a mission statement is “a leadership tool” that is important on several levels.

“[A mission statement] forces the leadership in a firm to be honest with themselves about what they are doing and why they are doing it,” said Meyer. “[Mission statements] also communicate clearly to everyone who works in a firm what [the firm] is about,” The firm should then communicate its mission to the public, she added.

The students were also expected to create a business plan and put together a budget for their hypothetical firms — something that Meyer said many small firms fail to do. Creating a budget every year “brings into sharp focus how much money you need to run a firm,” Meyer observed.

In drawing up a budget, the starting point is to decide what kind of income you want to make, said Meyer, who estimates that solo attorneys have to bill two and a half or three dollars for every dollar they anticipate bringing home. Attorneys need to budget for rent, support staff salaries, phone lines, computer hardware and software, and other overhead costs, she said.

The type and location of office space is one area where attorneys can really control costs, said Meyer, who encourages attorneys to creatively approach the issue and assigned students in the skills course to investigate office space in various areas.

Meyer explained that many attorneys say they need to have an office space in downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul, but are unable to articulate why they need to office downtown, where office space can cost $30 per square foot. Meyer suggests that attorneys take a close look at their motivations. While some clients may expect a fancy office in a downtown location, most clients probably do not, observed Meyer. Consider your clientele, and then make yourself accessible to them, she noted.

The skills course also discussed other options, such as office sharing and virtual offices to keep overhead down, Meyer said.

Meyer observed that some firms overspend on technology, such as computers and software, when their firm culture and areas of practice don’t demand it. “Technology is a tool — if you don’t need the tool, don’t spend the money,” Meyer advises.

However, Meyer recognizes that use of technology is a personal choice. Her firm is very dependent on technology because much of what it does is repetitive and requires intricate organization. Other lawyers rely very heavily on technology because they practice without support staff, Meyer pointed out.

“[But] palm pilots, Web pages — those things are fun stuff. … If it gives you pleasure, go for it,” said Meyer. “But be honest with yourself about what you need.”

Meyer said that when the students initially created their budgets many outlined elaborate and expensive computer needs. In the end, said Meyer, most decided that they really didn’t need all of the technology they originally thought they would.

According to Meyer, there are some skills or personality traits that may dictate whether an attorney will profit from starting his or her own solo practice or small firm. Still, Meyer maintains, success ultimately comes from within.

Attorneys considering starting their own practices should consider whether they are willing to accept the possibility of failure, Meyer observed. Ask yourself what the worst case scenario would be, and recognize that if you fail, you won’t have any income, she explained. According to Meyer, “it’s a financial question — how much can I afford to lose?”

In addition to being comfortable taking risks, it helps to have some leadership and management ability, and to focus on a limited number of practice areas, Meyer said.

“Don’t just open your doors and say you’ll take whatever comes in,” she advised.

It’s also important to understand the market and determine how to communicate to that market that you are available to help clients, Meyer continued. But keep in mind that the most important person to please is yourself, she added.

“Experience has taught me that it’s really important to periodically ask yourself whether you are doing the work you want to be doing, and whether you’re doing it in the firm you want to be in,” said Meyer. “I’ve been able to create a firm that has brought out the best in me. … I benefited from the fact that I really love what I do. If you enjoy the work you’re doing, and you’re good at doing it, then success will come your way.”