Being your own boss undoubtedly has many perks, but is it all it's cracked up to be? Claire Chaffey speaks to four sole practitioners to find out the dos and don'ts of going it alone.

For a certain sector of the legal profession, daily life as a lawyer is vastly different from what most lawyers experience. For many lawyers working in law firms, legal practice involves showing up at a well-equipped office with all the resources, technology and support required to take on whatever task it is your client requires.

But for sole practitioners, it's not that simple. Whether as a solicitor or barrister, they have to juggle the myriad challenges associated with running a small business with imparting legal knowledge, pleasing their clients and trying to make a living.

Lawyers Weekly tracked down two solicitors and two barristers, of varying experience, who have experienced first hand the joys and challenges of working for themselves.

And while their reasons for branching out on their own are different - with flexibility, work/life balance and chasing the dream being amongst them - their advice to those thinking of following suit is the same: go for it.

But before you do, you might want to read about how they did it, why they did it and what not to do.

GOING SOLO: THE SOLICITORS' PERSPECTIVE

For sole practitioner Julia Barber of Julia Barber & Co, dropping out of the big city legal scene was a decision that changed her life. Several years ago, she took a leave of absence from her job as a Melbourne-based lawyer to travel through remote Western Australia. She never left.

Now Barber is a sole practitioner in Broome and has found that being her own boss has provided a lifestyle not previously enjoyed.

"I love it. I absolutely love it. It buys you flexibility," she says. "Yes, you work hard and get older quickly, I'm sure," she laughs, "but in terms of flexibility, you do as you like. You're only answerable to yourself, your clients and your conscience."

The pursuit of flexibility was also the primary lure for sole practitioner Matt Burgess, the principal of Gold Coast firm Burgess Sport and Entertainment Law which was launched earlier this year.

"[The office I was working in] closed down ... and the options for me were to work with another firm in the same capacity ... or start my own firm," he says.

"But the whole purpose and the reason I did it was to create flexibility for myself, so I could continue with the work that I was already doing."

Barber and Burgess both attest to the many perks associated with working for yourself, but they have also experienced the pitfalls which come with establishing and running your own legal business.

Know your limits

For Barber, knowing your limits - in terms of both finances and legal knowledge - is absolutely essential for anyone thinking of going out on their own. "You need to work out what your bottom line is to stay afloat," she says.

"You need to speak to other sole practitioners in your area, know before you set out what your non-negotiables are, such as your rent and other bits and pieces, and work out how much money is going out each month before you break even."

One of the primary dangers, says Barber, is not taking into account things like GST, spending too much at the outset and not properly gauging what your expenses are likely to be.

"When I first went out my rule was that I didn't take an overdraft at all. I borrowed as much as I could in terms of furniture and went to second hand places and set up a mish-mash of furniture in my office, and I knew exactly what money I would need to bill each month for my commitments," she says. "That gave me an idea of what sort of hours I needed to work to stay afloat, without thinking about making a profit."

According to Barber, you also need to know when to ask for help in terms of the legal knowledge required to take on a client's case.

"When you're working on your own, the bottom line is that you can't pop down the corridor and ask somebody," she says.

"One of the biggest traps is taking on work where you don't know what you're doing ... and not getting a [second] opinion."

Burgess agrees, and cites this as a particular hazard for young players. "It's a big thing, especially when you're young, that you are not putting yourself out there thinking you're at the top of the tree," he says. "You've got to make sure you're aware that you're not, and know who to talk to if you find yourself in a situation ... it's very important that you know when to say, 'I'm not qualified enough' or 'I need to speak to someone else'. You need to be very comfortable with saying that sentence and, until you are, you're not in a position to start your own firm."

Don't be a wallflower

Barber and Burgess both believe the most valuable and effective marketing method is word of mouth. While Barber also uses the local paper and Yellow Pages to advertise, it is private referrals from all over the state which provide her with most of her work. But there is a trick to ensuring that referrals will come.

"You need to get yourself out there in terms of the community," says Barber. "I try to be seen in different public places in different ways ... I like to be seen in a few different lights because then people find you more approachable."

Barber does this by taking official roles at the local races, being a member of the Broome Chamber of Commerce, speaking at local schools and even belly dancing.

And it's not just the general community with whom engagement is crucial, but also other practitioners.

"You also need to remain connected to your peers [and] remember it's not about 'us and them' - it's about 'there's enough room for all of us and we need to work together, not against each other'."

Burgess says that having a strong, reliable network is vital, as is the ability to adapt to novel ways to establish a presence in the community.

"The new age of communication is [how] my firm operates because the clients I work for prefer that method of communication," he says.

"I'm communicating by Facebook, Skype and Twitter as opposed to hand-written letter and pigeon. It's just a matter of making sure the service you're providing matches the client you've got ... service the clients properly in how they want to communicate, relate to them, rather than being a lawyer sitting in an ivory tower."

Choose your entourage wisely

For Barber, the importance of support staff cannot be underestimated. "Your support staff are your most valuable thing," she says.

"You're only as good as your weakest link. You need to treat your staff as you would like to be treated and not enough lawyers remember that."

And there are several options on the table for sole practitioners who are looking for the most cost-effective and efficient ways of getting work done.

"In an ideal world, you would have a couple of law clerks and a couple of secretaries rather than other solicitors because my experience is generally that other solicitors don't even break even in terms of their billable hours, so it's not cost effective."

For Burgess, attracting staff is not hard, but selecting them is not a task taken lightly.

"You can imagine that selling sport and fashion [law] isn't really hard ... It's just a matter of finding the right people that I can trust," he says.

GOING SOLO: THE BARRISTERS' PERSPECTIVE

Personal injury barrister Andrew Stone knew that he was going to end up at the Bar the first time he took part in a mooting competition at school. From that moment, he planned out his career which led him to work as a personal injury solicitor for three years before leaving that behind to pursue life as a barrister. Thirteen years later, Stone is a busy member of Sir James Martin Chambers in Sydney, and business is good.

For barrister's clerk Tammy Young, it was what she calls her "never ending pursuit of work/life balance" which led her from working as a solicitor in the top-tier to taking up a position at the Victorian Bar to becoming a clerk with Foley's List in Melbourne.

And while Stone and Young are both content with their decisions, they have plenty of advice regarding how to best manage the business of being a barrister - and avoid some of the traps along the way.

Be prepared

If there is one piece of advice Stone is quick to offer, it's that anyone thinking of going to the Bar needs to prepare well in advance.

One of the most important aspects of this preparation is to take the Bar exams six months earlier than you intend to arrive at the Bar.

"You want to be telling people in advance that you are going to the Bar as part of your marketing, because people will say, 'I'll send you a brief when you get there'," he says.

"But there would be nothing more embarrassing than telling everybody you're going to the Bar in June, failing one of the exams, and then having to put it off until October. So do your exams in advance, pass them all and then start telling everybody you're going to the Bar. Don't tell them beforehand or you're setting yourself up for some humiliation and that is a bad way to start a professional career."

Young also believes preparation is essential, and says there is no better time to sort out your long-term business plan than when you make your initial application to the Bar. "In the letter of application [to the Bar] you have to choose your intended areas of practice, tell the clerk what your areas of practice have been as a solicitor, and talk about where you anticipate your work is going to come from," she says.

"So in a sense, the letter should be the beginning of the formulation of the business plan."

Get real about money

One thing that many barristers don't prepare for, says Young, is the financial strain the first few years of practice can have on them.

It is a well-known fact that new barristers rarely make a lot of money when they first go to the Bar, and start-up costs can throw an extra spanner in the works.

"One of the reasons I think some solicitors don't go to the Bar is because they get hooked on the money. If you're in a law firm earning $80,000 a year and you're told you'll drop back to $40,000 in your first year at the Bar, it's hard unless you have made some provision," says Stone.

"Start-up expenses ... are somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000. One of the real assets when coming to the Bar is an understanding partner with a job, or having some money put away."

Young agrees. "You need to have worked out how you are going to pay for your first year or two at the Bar, because even if you're busy there are initial cash-flow issues to manage," she says.

Young advises barristers to look at sharing expenses such as photocopiers and other essential tools, and to find out how much support you have from your chambers' clerk or clerical staff, if it has them. She also adds that junior barristers can take advantage of the university system: "Many of the barristers, when they come to the Bar, are doing a Masters or thinking about starting one. If they do that they can defer their fees but they are tax deductible in the year they're incurred ... and they have full access to all of the online resources that [the university] has available."

Talk the talk and work that network!

Once you're at the Bar, bringing in briefs is the name of the game. But in such a traditional profession, it is still frowned upon to advertise or indulge in too much blatant self-promotion, so many of the marketing methods adopted by solicitors are simply not available to barristers.

So what is the best way to market yourself? For Stone, the formula is simple: "Read, publish and speak," he says.

"You need to do seminars and articles. That's how you get known. There are vast numbers of seminar organisations, and with all the solicitors having to do their mandatory 10 points of CLE, there are lots of opportunities to present papers and appear to be knowledgeable on a topic. That's probably one of the best forms of marketing. It's not seen as being self-promotion in a gaudy sort of way."

But to do this, you also need to make sure you really know what you're doing - especially in an age where specialist solicitors have a vast amount of knowledge about their particular area of law.

"You've got to be an expert in the field. I think the days where you can get away with being a generalist barrister, who doesn't know the technical side of issues and just wants to do the advocacy, are increasingly difficult," says Stone.

According to Young, the most important thing about marketing yourself is to be sincere.

"I think [marketing] is a very individual thing, because to market yourself successfully you have to be genuine. If you're not comfortable with the process that you elect to pursue, it won't be successful," she says.

"The most effective marketing a barrister can do is into warm markets. If they have a pre-existing practice, they would be emailing solicitors, sending though an updated CV ... which includes their main areas of expertise, their recent cases, other solicitors who brief them and presentations they've given on areas they consider themselves to be expert in."

Young says offering existing clients papers they have already prepared gives barristers the opportunity to renew acquaintances with that solicitor, but also to extend and work on their personal relationships within that firm.

"A lot of junior barristers new to the bar think that they can go out and give a presentation and work will flow from that, and if they are very fortunate it will. But for the most part, people like to brief people that they know," she says.

"It is not just about the knowledge you have. A solicitor wants to know that they'll comfortably work with and get along with the barrister they have briefed. Some solicitors will ring up and they'll say to me, 'Will I like them?' They don't ask, 'Are they qualified?'"

Take a break and look to the future

Young and Stone both agree that working for yourself has many benefits, but one of the obvious traps, says Stone, is working too hard.

"The flip-side to all the fun is that you go on holidays and no-one keeps sending you that cheque," he says.

"The temptation is always to say, 'No, I won't have a break. I'll take another brief' and you burn yourself out. I've learned that lesson, so I now take solid blocks of holidays. You've just got to have the discipline to put time aside in your diary and say, 'That's when I'm not available'."

As well as this, Young says the importance of forethought is paramount to staying afloat and ensuring you meet your business goals.

"Have a plan, a five-year vision. Don't just sit [there] for the next 10 years and at the 10-year mark say, 'What am I going to do now?' You need to constantly have a vision for what you want your career to look like," she says.

"There isn't anyone left to make the decision for you. It really is up to you, and that's exciting and challenging all in the same breath."

The conclusion? Just do it

For all our sole practitioners, working as their own boss has given them a flexibility and quality of life not found within a typical law firm, and it seems they wouldn't have it any other way.

But it hasn't all been smooth sailing, and many lessons have been learned along the way. "Initially, it looked easy, [but] then there was a lot of other stuff that I had to take care of," says Burgess. "It's been a bit of a rolling challenge since then, but one I've enjoyed."

And if there is one gripe Barber has, it's that not enough lawyers choose to become sole practitioners and that, she says, is a loss to the clients.

"It's really strange that you would go into law thinking that unless you're running down the road in your 10-inch heels and power suit, you're not really a lawyer," she says.

"Law is such a wonderful career but I'm not sure that it is such a good thing to pigeon-hole yourself ... Yesterday, I saw eight different clients in eight different areas of law. That's better than sitting and doing the same old crap every day. It gives you a better quality of life and keeps your brain active, without having to do crosswords to ward off dementia.

"My advice to anybody is to take the plunge. The worst thing that can happen is you go broke. But that's life. You just start again. You've got to get out and jump in feet first."

And for Stone, the frustrations are, on most days, outweighed by the benefits.

"There are days when I go home and want to kick the cat," he says. "But it certainly has its rewarding elements and it has its fun elements, and I haven't discovered anything else I think I could do better."