Are you planning on pursuing a career as an attorney?
You might look forward to being an attorney but the thought of being stuck in one law firm for several years seems like a nightmare! Luckily, you can pursue a career as a freelance attorney.
A freelance lawyer can work for themselves and can choose clients as they please. They don’t have to work with clients under the direction of a supervisor.
Here’s how to pursue a successful freelance law career:
Decide Your Legal Expertise
The first step is to ensure that you decide what specific legal services you want to offer your clients. To succeed as a freelance attorney then you should consider sticking to one specialized service.
This helps distinguish you from your competition. Here are some examples of what legal services you can offer:
- Creating contracts for businesses and entrepreneurs
- Offering negotiation and adjudication services
- Defending a defendant or plaintiff in court
Once you’ve decided on your legal expertise, you should stick to it for at least a few years. You can change it at a later stage but it’s a better career move to stick to one area.
Make sure you also get the legal qualifications to work in a particular area. After you’ve qualified for the bar you might want to take up an apprenticeship. This gives you an opportunity to gain experience with the services you’d like to offer.
Promote Your Services
The next step is to promote your services to potential clients. The first step should be to set up your office. You can run your practice from your home, an office, or via a co-working space membership.
Make sure you design your workspace to look professional. For example, you can look at Legalsupply.com to find legal supplies for your office.
Even if you don’t run a professional law firm you must give a great impression to potential clients. Make sure you set up a professional email address and phone number for clients to reach out to you.
You should start by reaching out to your close network including your family and friends. You can offer to do work for them on a pro-bono basis.
In return, ask them to provide you with a testimonial. Publish this testimonial on your website and social media profiles. You should also use social media to reach out to clients.
Consider also sending cold emails and direct mail advertisements promoting your services. Find a great copywriter who can help you create these advertisements.
Succeed As a Freelance Attorney
Now you can succeed as a freelance attorney and balance your career with your personal life.
You want to start by choosing one area of legal expertise to focus on. Make sure you seek an apprenticeship first to gain experience in the field.
Afterward, you want to promote your services to your network. Make sure you garner testimonials from your network by offering pro-bono services. Use social media, email marketing, and direct mail to promote your services.
You can find more tips on pursuing a freelance law career on our blog.