Guest Blog Post: Dressing for Success -- Experience from a Solo Practitioner

Guest Blog Post from James C. Tai:

Sounds like something my mom used to tell me. I found this to be especially true in starting my law practice. For me, this goes well beyond the shirt on your back and the shoes on your feet. The image of your law practice is much more important than any designer ties that you might own. You can call me vein and insecure, but as a self-starter, it was very important to me to put my firm’s “best foot forward”. I didn’t want to immediately give away to others the fact that I was just a start-up and had limited funds. Set up this stuff when you are first starting out, because as your business grows you will have less and less time to work on these ascetics.

Especially when your starting capital is limited, it is important to look your best, without blowing your own margins. Here are some things you can do for free that can give your practice that “professional look”.

Letterheads- A letter will probably give an opposing attorney (or potential client) his/her first impression of you and your firm. A sloppy (or generic looking) letterhead may signify to the other side (or client) that you do sloppy work, or that your office has limited resources.

I really don’t remember how many hours I spent perfecting my letterhead. I played with the fonts, the spacing, and the information listed for days. I did this using nothing but MS Word. I was shooting for a clean professional look; I didn’t want it to look too stuffy, nor did I want it to have too much “razzle-dazzle”. Trial and error is really the only way. After I came up with a letterhead that I liked, I also created a fax cover sheet using the same theme. Consistency among documents that I was sending out was a very high priority for me.

Firm Logo- While most small firms and solo practitioners have very generic looking or no logos at all, I wanted to have something nice that I can use well into the future. With all the software and resources available on the internet for free, even I was able to come up with some decent logos. Also ask your artistic friends if they can help you. I got a tremendous amount of free help from a graphic design friend of mine.

Websites- A website can tell you so much about an attorney and a law firm. I have seen so many lawyer websites, and I can’t help but jump to conclusions about the lawyer or the firm. A cheap looking site may indicate that you don’t have any resources, or that you are familiar with modern technology. A website that is not functional says the same thing. However, I tend to give an attorney automatic credit for a slick looking site. Good professional looking website templates can be bought quite cheap online. All you have to make some minor modifications to these templates. Again, if you can’t do all it yourself, ask for a friend’s help.

Get your own domain name. Make sure your domain name is the same for the email that you use. This makes you look good and can be done for very little money. I was able to pay for an entire year of a domain name, webhosting and email service for about $60 dollars at godaddy.com.

Business Cards- This one seems pretty obvious. Remember that someone may keep your business card for years, and often times the card will be how someone remembers you. I wanted to stand out, while still looking professional. Make sure you don’t get the cheapest quality cards. I also don’t think that the “executive” cards are necessary. I follow the old adage that you should neither look like a pauper or like someone who does not need other people’s business. I went with the medium quality.

Remember to keep in mind who your target audience is with the cards. If the cards are targeted towards clients, a picture of yourself on it may be appropriate to help them remember your face, but maybe less appropriate if the cards are for other attorneys or professionals. Having different sets of business cards is a good way to cover your bases on this.

“Dress for the job you want, not the one you’ve got”.

James C. Tai, Esq is a principle with Hor & Tai, PLLC (www.hortai.com). James is a Florida attorney who recently opened his own firm. He specializes in small business representation, and real estate matters. He is the author of http://floridasmallbusinesslawyer.blogspot.com and http://floridalandlordtenantlawyer.blogspot.com. He can be reached at jtai@hortai.com.