New Office, and Offices Generally (Advice for Solos)

I just signed a lease on a second office, closer to home. It's located at 7225-27 West Madison Street in the hip, up-and-coming (though not because of me) suburb of Forest Park. Here is a map.

I still have my first office, located a bit further west in Westchester (One Westbrook Corporate Center, Suite 300).

Speaking of offices, I've had a number of questions over the past few months from new solo practitioners wondering how to set up an office. This is an important issue, especially with the current economy, where credit may be hard to obtain.

If you are hanging out your own shingle, you can do one of two things:

1. Go traditional -- get a big office, hire staff (secretary, paralegal), and take a big loan to finance all of this.

2. Do what I did, and in a sense continue to do -- operate in a low-budget way. I have only one employee, and he's a clerk who works on contract (only when I need him). I answer my own phones, and respond to my own e-mail. I use technology to keep in touch with clients, and I make myself flexible in terms of where I'll meet them (I make housecalls, although I'm trying to cut down on that). I get my business from referrals and, increasingly, from the internet. I have no debt.

So, you might ask, why do I have two offices? Well, office #1 is an office-sharing arrangement, through a company called HQ. For $200 per month, I get 8 hours of office time -- I typically use that to meet with one or two clients. If I need room for more than two clients, I rent out the office's conference room. HQ also has offices all over Chicago -- I can use these offices for a fee. (Am I sounding like an ad? I don't mean to. I'm sure HQ also has some competitors who presumably do a similar job for a similar price.)

I needed office #2 because (a) it was a great deal and (b) I need to get away from my family. I mean that in the best possible way, but my wife also occasionally works from home, and we find ourselves fighting over the fax machine and such. (There's also the issue of a high-spirited 7-year-old girl who loves to yell up to daddy in his office, even when daddy is on the phone.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that technology has made it easier than ever for a savvy, debt-averse attorney to make it on his or her own. You aren't required to get a big office and a bunch of staff to make a go of it.