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If you’re seeking to start a legal practice in the United Kingdom, get in touch with our knowledgeable experts. At Solicitors Marketing can assist you with establishing a law firm from wherever you are located.
The number of smaller, more boutique style of law firms is on the rise, with solicitors establishing multiple law practices all around the country that are enticed by the prospects of being self-employed and profiting right away from their own effort instead of working toward aggressive goals and filling other company owners’ wallets.
All of this appears to be very appealing, but building and operating a successful legal practice is no easy task. And we at Solicitors Marketing are well-versed in assisting established law firms and making sure that they reach their goals. Taking everything you know and have learned throughout the course of your firm’s development may help you avoid errors and find the best strategy to take quickly.
Our legal consultants have years of expertise as Senior Partners, Founders of Law Firms, Lawyers, Solicitors, and Marketing Consultants. Their vast expertise can help you in all phases of establishing a company, from planning to implementation. We will definitely be able to help you with how to start a law firm.
How to Start a Law Firm – Applying to Open a Company in the UK
To do this, you’ll need to complete an application to open your company. We may go through your most important papers before you submit them so that there are no mistakes made. The cost is determined by the amount of paperwork you want to be examined.
Checklist – Points to consider
Before you jump in, do take the following into consideration:
- Do you have at least three years’ experience? (Ideally 5 years for reasonable insurance rates)
- Do you have any SRA penalties or active investigations that may obstruct your application?
- What is the status of your initial setup? Have you secured enough funds for PII, as well as personal expenditures for 4-6 months?
- You should also think about the extra costs of any other insurance that you may need.
- Do you have any restrictive covenants in your current contract?
- Is the company going to be lawyer-owned or an alternative business form (ABS)?
Setting Up Your Law Firm – Let Us Support You.
When it comes to establishing your legal business, there are a lot of factors to consider. It might appear overwhelming when you consider all the various demands that must be met throughout the start-up process. Some of the following topics should be addressed immediately:
- Agreeing on management and regulatory compliance obligations
- Establishing contact with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
- Creating a business plan for your law firm
- Examine your competition and any market gaps.
- Discussing your business plan with the bank
- Taking a third of your working time to administration and compliance
- Finding out if ‘loyal’ clients will actually instruct the new firm
- Locating a network of consultants for the legal work you are unable to complete
- Obtaining PII quotations
- Thinking about how to market your new law firm at its outset and into the future
- Also, having an exit strategy is a good idea.
Many individuals recommend that you hire consultants to cover the skills areas in which you may lack in order to have the greatest opportunity for your law firm’s success. It’s frightening trying to get all of the knowledge you’ll need to start your business. We relieve you of the burden of researching it yourself.
It’s also critical to choose the sort of firm style you want to run. Will it be a recognised sole practice, a traditional partnership, an ABS, or a limited liability partnership (LLP)? We can discuss these and other options if needed.
You can apply under the following examples:
- Recognised Sole Practice
- Recognised Body
- Licensed Body (ABS)
How Long Does it Take to Set up a Law Firm?
That’s a difficult one to answer, as it will depend on how quickly you want to get things done. If your firm is going to be remote and your lawyers and team are going to work from home, and no physical space is required, things can take place fast. At Solicitors Marketing, we think it generally takes 3-4 months from the very start, depending on the speed of response from the SRA. We can move as quickly as you’d like, and if everything is in order, the SRA can respond quite quickly to applications (on occasion in a matter of weeks).
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How Much Does PII insurance cost?
This is dependent on the turnover and industry. It’s usually between 2% and 5% of revenue. It’s frequently at a lower level for smaller start-up businesses, depending on the degree of risk involved in the work being done.
We can connect you with a number of experienced brokers who can provide you with an estimate.
Marketing Your Law Firm After It is Set Up
Ok. So you set up your law firm successfully, and now you want to capitalise on getting clients. This is where we can really help you out with your law firm website design service. To sell yourself and the services you provide, you’ll need a website with bespoke content that engages your prospects. It may seem like a lot of work to generate the material, but we can assist with our customised legal content writing service. We can also give you a significant boost to your Google My Business (GMB) profile by placing you on Google Maps for the keywords you need to be on, for more info, read our article on GMB for law firms.
You’re becoming a legal business, which implies you’ll have to handle a lot of non-legal activities in order to maintain and grow the firm, and some things you may outsource. This means you can devote your efforts to generating income and expediting the growth of the firm while we handle administration and regulatory duties.
Law firm digital marketing and business development efforts are often necessary to drive your law firm forward and bring you in leads which are not from word of mouth. Fortunately, the internet market can assist you in generating new leads and customers. A strong website, effective Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing campaigns can provide you with a competitive edge over organisations that are newer to the market.
The great thing is, our SEO for law firms and PPC advertising for law firms services are geared towards delivering this kind of high impact. In addition, we can also look into your branding and give you some ideas on how to gain a boost. We have years of expertise in delivering these services as well as other services to help you along the way.
We can assist you in developing a viable business plan that is critical for the long-term growth of your new firm. It should be based on a sustainable and expanding market for your services in which you are confident that you can compete.
We assist a variety of small, medium, and large legal firms throughout the country with management and marketing services. As a result, you’ll get expert guidance on the market as well as best practice recommendations. The great thing about us is that we are a team of marketing experts and legal professionals; this makes us well placed to help law firms determine their ideal business and marketing systems tailor-made for their needs.
Let’s Talk about Setting up Your Law Firm Today!
If you’d like to get the ball rolling on your legal firm’s path, please contact or send us an email. We can go over the next steps as well as the costs involved in getting started. Don’t worry; all of your information will be kept private and confidential.
Ask our Expert Legal Marketing Team
At Solicitors Marketing, we are a one-stop-shop for law firm marketing solutions based in the United Kingdom. With over five years of experience in the game, we are committed to the legal industry as marketing experts who are here to deliver an outstanding experience to all our clients by providing top-of-the-range digital marketing services that will boost your law firm’s online presence, increase your exposure and bring you more clients.
Call us on 0203 833 4926 or fill out the form below, and we will reply within 24 hours on UK working days.