Flying Solo

Flying Solo is a blog that is intended to provide practical experience of opening my own law firm after law school.  In this first post, I will give you my brief background to get started.  You can expect to hear anectdotes, lessons learned, and current struggles and my attempts to overcome them. 

Upon graduating law school, I had a great job lined up and was ready to tackle the bar exam.  I spent that summer doing just that and passed the bar exam in October.  I was working my first full-time legal job, clerking for my hometown Circuit Court and trying to figure out what to do next.  See, when I graduated law school, the legal economy was still changing drastically.  New lawyers expectations, however, had not caught up with those changes.  We (new lawyers) were still being told we should have our next job lined up 9 months in advance.  Meanwhile, firms were only hiring for positions open within the next couple of months.  During the 9 months from passing the bar exam until my clerkship ended, I talked at length with many people in my life about where I would go from there. 

During those 9 months, I discussed the possibility of "flying solo", "hanging a shingle", or just plainly: opening my own law firm.  While I liked the idea and knew I could do it, I ended up taking an associate position with a local law firm.  Turns out, that position was just the push I needed to go out and open my own law firm.  I learned quickly that I like to be in charge and in control of my own practice of law, my reputation and the cases I take.  So, the October after my clerkship ended, I started my own law practice. 

There have been ups and downs and many obstacles I did not expect to encounter along the way.  I hope sharing my experiences with you will help you in opening your own firms and to become successful solo practitioners.  If you would like to discuss my experiences, your experiences or the process of "flying solo" at any time, please contact me at (804) 447-0146 or clbaudean@baudeanlaw.com.