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Going solo means learning to cut corners on costs

By: DOLAN MEDIA NEWSWIRES//November 14, 2011//

Going solo means learning to cut corners on costs

By: DOLAN MEDIA NEWSWIRES//November 14, 2011//

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By Nancy Crotti
Dolan Newswires

The way Randall Ryder sees it, many lawyers who go solo get it backward. They figure out how much it will cost to set up all their systems, hire an assistant and to subscribe to Westlaw, then try to make ends meet.

Ryder, who specializes in consumer law in Minneapolis, did the opposite. He went solo in March after working as an associate for two years with Minneapolis lawyer Sam Glover. Ryder borrowed some of Glover’s money-saving ideas and tried to see how little he could spend as a solo practitioner who earns 75 percent of his income through contingency fees.

Ryder sometimes works from home to spend more time with his one-year-old, but also shares an office with two other lawyers. He uses free services such as Google Scholar and Fastcase (free for Wisconsin and Minnesoata State Bar Association members) instead of Westlaw for legal research. Ryder admits that in his niche practice, he doesn’t need daily access to Westlaw.

He answers his own phone, using Google Voice or Skype, which free him from being in the office all the time. “Skype forwards directly to Google Voice, which forwards to my cell phone,” Ryder explained. “I just use my iPhone, but it’s masked as a different number.”

Sometimes he misses having an assistant to answer the phone, but he has also found that answering his own phone has deepened his connection to clients. He also runs a paperless office, preferring the online document storage system Drop Box to file cabinets. Ryder acknowledged the risk of the paperless office, but said it works for him and keeps down clutter.

“I know a lot of people think using the cloud is careless and it’s a much bigger security risk than keeping paper files,” he said. “But I also think those are people who don’t use a password on your computer.”

Sean Skrypek, a St. Paul real estate attorney, decided after eight years of working for mid-size law firms to go out on his own last summer. He first worked out of  his home to be closer to his children, but two boisterous toddlers made it difficult to concentrate. So Skrypek started searching for a small office.

He used Craigslist and scouted the Cathedral Hill neighborhood where he wanted to work on foot, looking for “for rent” signs. He found a single office above the W.A. Frost restaurant at Selby and Western avenues, where he shares a kitchenette, conference room and restroom with other tenants. He searched for used furniture on Craigslist and found a credenza and wooden file cabinets that suit his tastes and compliment the exposed-brick walls and stained glass windows of his office.

He called upon an IT-savvy relative to help him find a $400 laptop computer, updated his Blackberry to unlimited minutes, eschewing a land line and an assistant. He gets email on the Blackberry, too.

“It suits my needs fine and it’s relatively easy to sync up with Microsoft Outlook,” he said. “The ease of use for me was key. I’m not a tech guy.”

For marketing purposes, Skrypek uses his proximity to the restaurant below and several others as well as coffee shops in the neighborhood to meet prospective and existing clients. Instead of investing in a Yellow Pages advertisement or a fancy website, he called his former classmates and offered to take them out to coffee or for a drink. He even advertises inexpensively in a church bulletin.

“I dedicate four hours or five hours a week to just marketing. I figure one hour a day,” Skrypek said.

The connections may not pay off immediately, but recently he received two calls from people who were unhappy with the legal help they were receiving elsewhere.

For business cards, Skrypek went online to Vistaprint and spent $40 for 1,000 cards with a logo that’s transferable to letterhead, mailing labels, even coffee cups. Meanwhile, he considers where else to cut corners. When he needs to do legal research, Skrypek heads downtown to the Court of Appeals library, where he can sign on to Westlaw for free.

“Every day that I run this business, I’m always in the conversation of what do I need versus want,” Skrypek said. “When I decide I need something, what is the absolute bare minimum thing I can get without being tied into a lease, or a two-year contract or a monthly payment?”

Skrypek signed a six-month lease on his office, and is considering expanding into one or two more rooms, just for storage space.

Ryder is keeping his space small but classy. “You don’t want to operate out of a broom closet because people won’t take you seriously, but you don’t need a giant corner office,” Ryder concluded. “You have to be economical in order to survive.”

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