Starting a Law Firm | Naming Law Firm Part II

There are many many choices to make when trying to start a new law firm. Sometimes it seems overwhelming.  Where should I start?  Making a list and outlines always helps me, but you still need a header.  (As an aside, because I am so into reading all forms of knowledge I can get, here is a cool link to a book by Atul Gawande called “The Checklist Manifesto” that I am planning to read.)

So my header to day is Naming Your Law Firm.  A tried and true choice is using some form of your own name.  After all, aren’t you going to be the one to represent the clients?  Aren’t they going to come to your office with your name on it to hire you to help them with their divorce or other family law problem?

I have strongly considered using some form of my own initials.  It sounds a little more professional and grown up to me.  It also creates more of an impression of strength and stability to me and it is different from all the other “John Doe Law Firm, P.C.” names out there.  You need to be careful though, there is plenty of information out there on misleading potential clients with your law firm name.  It can be unethical to try and mislead potential clients about the size of your law office and the number of attorneys working there.  However, I think using your initials is reasonable and not misleading – after all, the “Law Tigers” moniker seems to be ok for some reason.  All things to consider when starting your own law firm.

Your professional affiliation or “business association” is also important.  As lawyers, we know that we need to use business associations like Corporations, LLC’s, Professional Corporations, Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, and S Corporations in order to protect our businesses from liability and to deal with taxation issues.

Which leads me to think that my initials and some for of business association behind it might look good.  Here goes:  “JMF Law Firm, LLC”.  Not bad.  Not too bad at all.  I haven’t made a final decision yet, but I am leaning towards the initials direction.  I should also note that there are other firms out their with that designation.  They aren’t in Minneapolis or Apple Valley, Minnesota, but when thinking about search engine optimization (SEO), I do want to keep in mind some originality in my new firm name.

One thought I have been turning over in my brain when thinking about the best way to market for starting a family law firm is to ask for outside opinions.  I’ll be honest, my wife is my biggest sounding board.   She is very astute and gives me an honest opinion which I really value.  But, she doesn’t know much about the law or marketing.  She thinks I should use my last name in some fashion.  I’m not sure my last name is all that catchy. I’m not sure it will sell.  I’m not sure she’s wrong.

I am not sure about a lot of things about starting my own law firm, but I am sure I am excited and happy about the decision to start a firm.