The ABA Journal recently posted an article on the future of the legal profession:

"There will be 10 to 40 percent fewer lawyers in the next decade than there are today, a trend that will effect mostly solos and small firms, predicts Fairfield, Connecticut-based attorney Fred Ury, according to [Jim] Calloway [director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program]. And the growing number of venture capitalists throwing tens of millions of dollars at startups automating basic legal services cannot be ignored by U.S. lawyers, Calloway said. However, lawyers can embrace some of those same systems, tools and techniques to boost their own law practices and attract clients."

As a new startup myself, I need to figure out how to create business in a challenging economic environment. Not only are potential clients seeking lower cost alternatives to the traditional attorney fee structure based on the venerable billable hour, but there is a huge movement afoot to meet that need in the form of low-cost do-it-yourself document assembly services such as LegalZoom. Need a will? Power of attorney? Simple divorce papers? Just click a link and avoid talking to (and paying for) a lawyer.

To that end, I have added my own online document assembly service to my law practice. The drawback to LegalZoom and its commercial competitors is that they cannot offer legal advice -- you're completely on your own, so if something goes wrong, you could be stuck with a bigger problem than what you started with. My service goes beyond what they offer -- for a low, fixed fee, you can ask for a personal consultation on your legal documents, whether you create them on my website or not.

Times change. The trick is to keep up and not be left behind.

This blog is an advertisement for the Law Office of Philip R. Yabut, PLLC, and the information in this post is not to be construed as legal advice, nor does reading it form an attorney-client relationship. Please do not post confidential information in the comments section.

So you want to start a small business -- in my case, a law firm. Virtually all experts recommend drafting a business plan, which is what I have started with step 1: the mission statement. After all, the first thing you need to step into the self-starter world is a reason to exist.

Of course, being a lawyer, the first thing I did is look for reference material online. There are many resources floating around the Internet to assist in creating a business plan. Perhaps the most referred link is the Small Business Administration's "How to Write a Business Plan" page, which has comprehensive and user-friendly guides for the budding entrepreneur. I also found CMS Law Firm's blog Starting a Law Firm helpful (they recently created a new site here). Finally, here's a link to the American Bar Association's solo practice resource page.

Taking all of this advice, plus that of my loving fiancee, I set to work on coming up with a mission statement. I thought about how I want to make my embryonic practice stand out in a sea of solo and small firms in the Metro DC area. I wrote down a few bullet points describing what I envision my firm will be in the near and not-so-distant future. Since a mission statement should only contain a few sentences, I condensed the points into a short paragraph, which is now on my firm website and Facebook page.

"It is our mission to provide quality legal representation with the highest level of integrity. We will strive to provide services based on value to the client, helping the growing segment of the population that cannot afford legal representation under a traditional billable hour system. Through these principles, our goal is to become a leading family law practice in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia."

Adaptation.

Business Planning Square 1: Mission Statement