Blank Lawyer Type Sign or Shingle.Just dumping a bunch of numbers on you won’t be very helpful, so in order to provide some context for the data, here’s a little information about my practice:

I live and practice in a place that has a somewhat lower cost-of-living than you might associate with Florida (in other words, I’m not in downtown Miami or anything like that).  My practice area isn’t oversaturated with other attorneys; instead, my competition comes from a small number of very established attorneys who have been doing these types of law in this area for many years.  I rent office space from a two attorney firm that recently bought a large, restored Victorian-style house to serve as their new office building.  My rent gets me the following: 18’ by 20’ office, internet, utilities, phone, use of the two conference rooms, kitchen, their huge copier/scanner, and their downstairs receptionist does the welcoming routine (greets my clients, shows them to a conference room, gets them drinks, etc.).

With that out of the way, here’s the breakdown.

January

Clients

  • Clients brought over from previous firm: 3
  • New clients in January: 5
  • Total clients: 8

Expenses

  • Bar dues/membership fees: $426.64
  • Malpractice insurance: $254 deposit, $76/month
  • Office supplies (including paper/pens/etc., furniture, business card, letterhead, postage,    computer, scanner and so on): $2,189.54
  • Rent: $350 (jumps to $550/month starting in February)
  • Fee-sharing with other attorneys: $500
  • Court costs and associated fees: $642
  • Other assorted junk: $400
  • Total expenses: (roughly) $3,700

Income

  • Earned: $7,000
  • Retainer: nothing
  • Net income: approx. $3,300
Analysis: I think January was pretty decent, all things considered. While my expenses were high, I had a lot of one-time startup costs such as furniture, computer, scanner, and such) that I won’t have to repeat in the near future. My clients from this month were a mix of cases sent over from my local bar association’s lawyer referral service, referrals from other attorneys, and one of my wife’s co-workers. I didn’t pay myself anything this month, as I wanted to build up some money in my operating account first.

February

Clients

  • Family: 1
  • Referrals from local bar’s lawyer referral service: 2
  • Referrals from other attorneys: 2
  • Referrals from other professional sources: 1
  • Total new clients: 6

Expenses

  • Malpractice insurance: $78
  • Office supplies (including payments to business credit card): $470
  • Rent: $550
  • CLE: $140
  • Court costs and associated fees: $377
  • Website expenses: $20
  • Other assorted junk: $140
  • Total expenses: (roughly) $1,430

Income

  • Earned: $3,675
  • Retainer: none
  • Net income: approx. $2,245

Paychecks

  • 3 paychecks @ $1,000 each: $3,000
Analysis: February sucked. Though my new client number didn’t drop, the clients that came in were small-value cases that didn’t pay much (on in one case, a free probate for a deceased family member). Add that it was one of the coldest months on record, which I’m sure didn’t help traffic much. Also, in looking at my numbers later on, I realized that I accidentally paid myself three times. I started out the month with the goal of paying myself twice (on the first and 14th/15th of the month), but at the end of the month, I decided to switch over to a 14th/15th and last day of the month combo; unfortunately, I had forgotten that I had already paid myself once on the first of the month, thus leading to three paychecks. This means that, after those paychecks, my operating account was actually down approx. $755 on the month. Like I said, February sucked.

March

Clients

  • Referrals from other attorneys: 3
  • Referrals from other professional sources: 2
  • Came after hearing me at a speaking engagement: 1
  • Total new clients: 6

Expenses

  • Advertising: $30
  • Office supplies (including payments to business credit card): $320
  • Rent: $550
  • Court costs and associated fees: $67
  • Lawyer Referral Service referral fee: $200
  • Other assorted junk: $17
  • Tax withholding (goes into a separate savings account): $1,800
  • Total expenses: (roughly) $2,984

Income

  • Earned: $11,900
  • Retainer: none
  • Net income: approx. $8,916

Paychecks

  • Two paychecks @ $1,500 each: $3,000
Analysis: March was much better. Even after my paychecks, my operating account netted a surplus of nearly $6,000, which was obviously a huge turnaround from February. The difference mainly came from more quality cases (note the lack of any new clients coming in from the local bar’s lawyer referral service), which led to more fees collected.

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In summary, my first quarter led to approx. $22,575 of income and $8,114 of expenses, netting me approx. $14,461.  I’ve taken $6,000 of that as paychecks, leaving my firm with nearly $8,500 in the bank.  I know that might not seem like much to a lot of you, but after all the doom and gloom I read before starting out, I’m actually ahead of where I thought I would be at the moment.  I’m still networking my tail off to increase my exposure and I know I need to be withholding more money to pay my taxes, but I think things have gone okay so far.

As always, feel free to leave your questions or comments below, or shoot me an email at [email protected].  I’m looking forward to hearing from you, and I’ll see you again in May.

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