Mixing personal finances with your law firm’s books or trust account is one of the most common and dangerous mistakes law firm owners can make. What starts as an innocent overlap, for example paying a bill here, using a firm card there, can quickly spiral into serious ethical violations, accounting disasters, and even potential legal repercussions. Without the proper systems in place, you risk undermining the credibility of your firm, losing the trust of clients, and facing hefty penalties.
In this critical webinar from Practice42, Keep Your Personal Life Out of Your Law Firm Books (and Your Trust Account!), Audrey Ehrhardt, Esq., CBC, and Katie Lilly, CPA, will guide you through the essential steps to keep your personal and business finances separate and compliant. They will dive deep into this conversation to ensure you have the knowledge you need to stay protected including discussions on:
- Understanding the importance of financial separation. Learn why mixing personal and business finances can lead to disaster for your firm.
- Avoiding trust account violations. Ensure your trust account is managed properly to avoid legal repercussions and maintain client trust.
- Evaluating your financial help. Understand whether the help you have hired for your law firm’s books truly understands the unique needs and requirements of legal accounting.
- Implementing systems that protect you. Set up the right financial management practices to safeguard your law firm from self-created risks.
- Spotting and fixing common mistakes. Identify where personal life might be creeping into your business finances and how to correct these issues before they become major problems.
You won’t want to miss this free training on (RESCHEDULED FOR HURRICANE) Tuesday, October 22nd, at 12 pm ET. Space is limited! Register now to secure your spot and protect your practice!
When the entrepreneurial spirit is high, you may find yourself bursting at the seams to open your own law practice. It is an exciting time, but not the time to move forward without taking care of many important tasks first. Trust us, we know. We build successful law practices, and while we know the journey is different for every attorney, there are steps we can take to ensure long-term success.
As you move closer and closer to opening your business, be mindful of these 7 tips you should make sure that you address first:
1. Do your research. Before opening your law practice, know the industry first. This means knowing your market. Being aware of your competitors and what will set you apart from them. Be thorough in your demographic study as a part of this investigation to know what playing field you are getting into.
2. Know your audience. Do you have a clear picture of your target demographic? Can you describe your Client Avatar for your Practice Areas? Who will be needing your services? How will you help? Having answers to these questions can be essential to many aspects of your business, marketing efforts included. Defining your market means that you can better zero in on who you need to reach and retain for your client or customer base.
3. Set your mission and make it strong. Have you developed a mission statement for your law practice? You may have thought about it, but putting it down into writing, into something concrete can be beneficial to helping ensure you have your guiding principles in order. Your mission statement will be your guidepost. It will be the touchstone you can always go back to whenever you are faced with an important decision, and you will be faced with many.
4. Detail your finances. How clear are you on your financial situation? The more detailed you are about your finances, the better. Be scrupulous in your outline of startup costs, as well as how you plan to cover them. Nothing can tank a new firm like failure to plan for costs, both expected and unexpected.
5. Make a business plan. Much like your mission, you may have thought about how your law practice will be structured, managed, and run. Now is the time to put it all in writing. Outline the steps you will need to take to get your business off the ground. How will you foster consistent and sustainable growth? Include your mission statement and what services your firm will provide in your business plan, as well as the industry and market research you have conducted. Your plan should also detail your financials and your financial goals.
6. Get a mentor. When questions and concerns arise, do you have someone you can turn to for advice or just someone to act as a sounding board? Find a mentor, a professional coach, and ideally, one who is a lawyer and knows the challenges you are facing. This person can provide you with more support than you may initially anticipate.
Especially as your success grows, it can be lonely at the top and when you own your own law practice. Shifting into a focused training path with a performance coach can be a real game changer to know that you have someone to turn to for advice when you need it.
7. Assemble your team and support staff. Who is going to help your law practice run successfully? Determine the support and management roles you need in your firm and find the individuals who will uphold their respective responsibilities accordingly. Granted, this may be easier said than done, but it is nonetheless an important part of starting a business out on the right foot.
We know this can be overwhelming. We encourage you to schedule a free 30 Minute Strategy session with the team at Practice42 about how we can help you succeed in your business endeavors. Our comprehensive approach to building law practices that last, includes professional coaching and so much more.
