By Jim Calloway
Director, OBA Management Assistance Program

Most lawyers work from home from time to time, often in the evenings or on weekends.

But more lawyers are now working from home on a full time basis.

In fact in March 2009, Washington Post ran a story titled Recession Sends Lawyers Home - Firms Trade Brick-and-Mortar Prestige for a Better Business Model. The story profiles attorney Geoff Willard , who left his job as a partner at DLA Piper, a very large and prestigious law firm, to try a career alternative. He joined a "virtual" law firm and now works at his home in a room adjacent to the kitchen and family room. The bottom line for Mr. Willard is that he reduced the rate he billed his clients by 25 percent and reduced his work week from 60 to 85 hours per week at DLA Piper to a more comfortable 40 to 50 hours per week. Ninety percent of his clients made the move with him. He estimated that under the old system he netted about 30% of his billings as profit and the new system he retains about 85 percent.

You can read the rest of Mr. Willard’s story at http://tinyurl.com/dadgq4.

Admittedly, this situation turned out to be a really perfect example of how a home office might work well. Mr. Weller’s clients knew him and his qualifications as he had represented them for a substantial amount of time. He was able to offer them a significant reduction in his billing rates as an inducement. They were probably already used to communicating with him primarily by telephone or e-mail.

This is far from the stereotype that some have of a home office lawyer grabbing a rag to wipe the jelly and crumbs off the kitchen table so the client can sign their retainer agreement. But it seems clear to me that home practice or virtual practice is a path that more or more lawyers are considering.

Quality of life, the high cost of monthly overhead and the number of hours most lawyers work per week are all factors in this. Let’s just take a ballpark figure of 50% of gross revenues going for overhead. That’s not really an unreasonable figure if it is total overhead, including irregular items like CLE, replacement hardware and some new furniture from time to time. That means that if you worked a normal week, the first half of the week is to pay the staff and other overhead and the last half is for you, after your personal "overhead" and taxes are paid. Of course, any client who fails to pay their bill comes out of your "half," not the overhead. Is there really any wonder why so many lawyers routinely work nights and weekends?

And, is there any wonder a lawyer might want to work less and take home more?

Years ago, when everything was less expensive, including legal fees, home practicing lawyers were often looked down on by the rest of the profession unless they had a good reason, like semi-retirement, disability or a need to spend more time parenting than full time lawyering would allow. I recall the first lawyer I ever heard announce that he was going to do this carefully explaining to a group of us that since he was going to do nothing but research and write appellate briefs, he could always meet with the clients in the office of the lawyers who did the trial work. It was therefore a waste of money to pay office overhead. Even with a "good" explanation, not everyone was convinced—or maybe they were just a little envious.

Today, however any skilled lawyer with a laptop, an Internet connection and a phone has the requirements for most legal work covered. Toss in a printer, scanner and copier and you are fully equipped. (Although for very small jobs, scanning and then printing can avoid the need for a copier at that moment.)

But a home office shouldn’t be put together too cheaply. For example, a lawyer who works some evenings at home can make due with a rather inexpensive combo printer-fax-copier-scanner if he chooses. There’s always the heavier hardware at the office for big jobs. But the full-time home office lawyer, particularly one who may have to frequently make several copies of thick documents doesn’t want a machine that doesn’t have an automatic sheet feeder or requires the lawyer to hand sort copies instead of automatically sorting them into different trays by itself. No matter what the practice setting, there’s no reason to waste that sort of lawyer time week after week. It is better better to go with a decent scanner such as a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 and then a printer with a document sheet feeder and a few trays to collocate the copies.

The problem for new lawyers starting out is that building a practice from a home office is somewhat challenging. It is one thing for Mr. Weller’s clients to hear that he has changed his work location and is going to be charging him less. It is another for a client to hire a lawyer for the first time without visiting a law office that looks like a law office.

Except in very rare circumstances, it is not a good idea to meet with clients in one’s home anyway. Too many legal matters involve issues that could get emotional and you do not want clients showing up at your home demanding to speak with you during the evening meal.

Various business models have been lumped together under the label virtual office, but many include a person who can answer the phones and take messages when the lawyer is occupied and a location where client interviews can be conducted on an "as needed" basis.

Some home-based lawyers work out arrangements with lawyers they know to rent or borrow a conference room from time to time. One quid pro quo might be agreeing to do routine filing at the courthouse in return for using a spare conference room from time to time.

Libraries offer conference room availability in some cities. And a quick meeting on a matter without confidential communications to be overheard can be held in a local coffee shop.

Mail and package delivery is another issue for the home-based lawyer. It is a bad idea to put one’s home address on court pleadings, for example. One lawyer I visited with in my office recently told me she has worked out a very inexpensive deal with FedEx-Kinkos for a mail drop service. The address was given a suite number even though it was really only a mail box and, as a part of the service they e-mail her anytime they sign for a certified mail or parcel delivery.

Some lawyers simply cannot be successful in a home-based practice. I visited with a lawyer who confessed, "If I tried that, I’d work an hour, then do yard work for a while, then decide to cook something for lunch and, before you know it my day would be gone."

There are some lawyers who could not imagine practicing law without a secretary and other staff. But there are also going to be more lawyers who just need a laptop, an Internet connection and a quiet place to work.

Chuck Newton has long championed the "no office" style of practice on his "Ride the Third Wave blog" at http://stayviolation.typepad.com.

"I have taken the liberty of coining our type of firm as "Third Wave law firms" or "Third Wave practices".  We work from our homes or from cubicles or small shared offices free from the confines of standardization, centralization, concentration, synchronization and bureaucracy, which has primarily contributed to the dissatisfaction of lawyers with the practice of law.  We live, support and fight for diverse lifestyles.  We do not employ other lawyers or staff so much as we operate within these adhocracies or fluid organizations in which we as attorneys and firms come together only to work on specific cases or tasks.  In other words, we are freelancers.  We survive not on libraries, expensive associates, in-house computer systems, and highrise offices of marble and mahogany, but off the Internet, online research, and information." (From his blog)

When you read Chuck’s words, it seems like there should be some inspirational music playing in the background.

Let me be clear. I am not advocating for or against this type of practice setting. But it is clear that with the economic upheavals at hand and a generation of younger lawyers who resist the idea of regularly be trapped in an office sixty hours a week, there are going to be some for whom this business model holds much appeal. There will probably several versions of new innovative lawyer business models emerge in the near future.

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal April 11, 2009 - Vol. 80; No. 10.