Starting a Family Law Firm

Welcome!  This is the first blog posting on what I hope to be a long line of interesting posts on starting a family law firm.  I’m currently licensed to practice law in Indiana, but my wife and I will be moving to Minnesota area in August of 2011.

I am sure a lot of you might question how I am going to start my new family law firm and doing divorce work in Minnesota when I’m not even licensed there yet.  I plan on taking the July, 2011 bar exam and, with luck, I will pass and be licensed in September or October, 2011.  Despite a lot of trepidation, I did just fine on the Indiana exam when I took it in 2007. Taking the bar exam is a nerve wracking and largely painful experience.  However, once I studied hard and did thousands of multiple choice questions, passing really isn’t that difficult.

So, assuming I can pass the bar exam, I aim to start right away on planning for my own solo family law firm.  I have been following several blogs and purchasing books to prepare.  One of the best blogs is My Shingle.  I continue to be surprised on how good the content is and how helpful My Shingle is on the issue of starting a law firm – be it a family law firm or not.

My short bio is that I am a graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law in 2007.  I moved with my wife to Indiana shortly after graduation.  My wife is currently a resident, family medicine physician, but has just been hired by a medical group in Minnesota.  While in Indiana, I practiced law at a general practice firm for a little over three years.  I gained a ton of experience and focused about 60% of my practice on family law. In fact, I still have several cases upon which I am handling out of my home, basement office.  I always had the idea in the back of my mind that I really wanted to start a law firm (even in law school) but I knew I need experience first before I would be comfortable starting my own family law firm.  I can’t say I’m completely comfortable, but I am excited.

I plan on posting often on my journey of starting a family law firm  – everything from the planning stage, to actually running the family law firm.  I’ve learned a lot since graduation and I am going to try to share some of what I learned in this blog.  Stay tuned!