How Do Lawyers Determine the Opportune Moment to Go Solo?

Going solo has likely crossed your mind as a young lawyer. If you’re like me, “crossing your mind” means relentless over-analysis, even before taking a single step. Where to begin? How to plan? What do I need? Is this what I want? Cash flow? Networking? Gaining clients? How will I know if I’m competent for this topic? When is the opportune moment?

As a truth in many areas of our lives, we all know there isn’t usually an “opportune” moment—and that only makes the over-analysis worse! But we also know that analysis paralysis is real; its cure is just to make a decision. I’m here to give you the nudge. You’ll find that many issues solve themselves, and your decisions may become easier.

How I Decided to Go Solo

Remember that everyone’s path is a winding one. For me, I was wound up pretty tightly. In 2023, I was an associate in a small- to mid-size firm in downtown Denver. And it wasn’t that I didn’t like it. I did—very much. Great mentorship, excellent coworkers, and a cushy spot in a parking garage. So why was I spinning? Or dragging my feet to get to the office in the morning? My (very loud) inner monologue could only identify that it wasn’t working but couldn’t identify why.

But that go-getter in me—the one in all of us—suddenly decided that the why didn’t matter. And it was this decision that allowed me to take my first step. Overnight, I wrote my resignation letter. The next day, I talked it out with the partners at the firm (they were shocked, and frankly, I was too). The next week, I formed my own company and hung my own shingle.

Only then did the why reveal itself, though it wasn’t monumental or life-changing. The why was simply shrouded by the unsorted overwhelm and anxiety that had accumulated over the year. I was unfulfilled and wanted more in my career. I wanted more control over my own schedule, more interesting cases, topics I loved but didn’t have the opportunity to pursue, and even designing a brand for the kind of attorney I wanted to be.

Stop Overanalyzing Your Decision

In my experience, the over-analysis of why it wasn’t working functioned only to prevent me from taking the next step. We are in an era with unlimited tools to create something out of nothing. We should let that drive our thoughts rather than looking backward or inward for solutions to a current problem that has deeply unsettled us.

The “opportune” moment, then, is perhaps the moment we put a stopper on the thoughts that don’t have meaning; to let go of what doesn’t serve us and instead fill our minds with what is next. Do not be fooled, though. What is next is not instant sunshine and unicorns. Starting new is difficult. Networking is difficult; cash flow is difficult. Balancing the moving parts of a case next to the moving parts of your own company and managing that case takes a ton of brain power. But after you take the first step, you are suddenly in a space of many opportune moments: going solo doesn’t mean you’re alone.

Once You Go Solo, Embrace Opportunities for Support

Tell everyone that you’ve started your own practice—everyone in your own legal community, your friends, their parents, and your mentors over the years, and blast it on your social media (within the rules, of course). Our era of creating something out of nothing brings with it a generation full of ideologies for support, growth, connectivity, and vulnerability. Lean into that. “Hey, I know you want to start your own small business; I just started my own solo practice; it would be great to work together!” Thirty years later, you just might be helping them wind up their business as they prepare for retirement. Your newlywed friends may (probably) need an estate plan. Or someone’s dad probably needs a lease update for their rental property.

Find Mentors

One appreciation I have found (in the legal community especially) is the willingness to help. Ask a mentor if they’re willing to share a version of their fee agreement so you can draft your own—I bet they will even help you review it. Lean into your state’s bar association sections. Or, cold call an attorney you’ve seen at a CLE, introduce yourself, and ask if they have some time for coffee. Many of them do.

Look Out for Referrals

In response to your output, be on the lookout for referrals coming from left field. I was surprised to receive a phone call from a long-lost coworker who saw my Instagram post that I was open for business—we hadn’t talked in years. Remember all those folks messaging you during law school with legal questions? They likely still have legal questions, and this time, you’re allowed to give them a client number and answer them. The more often (and the more recent) you are on someone’s mind, the greater the chance they will remember you for a referral—so check in, follow up, and say hello. Opportune moments abound.

This article is but one experience. Reach out to other solo practitioners to learn about their moments of opportunity. Let those moments fuel your own forward-thinking goals. Ask what worked for them and evaluate if it could work for you. If you find that it isn’t working, remember that you don’t always need to ask why. (That’s what got us into the mess we just left behind.) Try something different. And try again. And again. Until you find what clicks for you, your solo practice, and your goals.