6 Things I know in year 9 I wish I had known in year 1

I remember sitting in my makeshift home office in 2015, surrounded by law books and tea cups, wondering if I was making a huge mistake going solo right out of law school. Nine years and countless lessons later, I can tell you it wasn’t a mistake—but boy, do I wish I’d known a few things before starting.

So pour yourself a coffee (or wine, depending on when you’re reading this), and let me share some hard-earned wisdom that might save you from some of the face-palm moments I’ve had:

1. You Don’t Need a Fancy Office to Be a “Real” Lawyer Listen, I spent months stressing about not having a prestigious downtown address. Want to know the truth? My clients LOVE that I come to them. Not one has ever complained about my virtual office. In fact, they appreciate that I’m not charging them extra to cover expensive overhead. The only people who care about fancy offices are other lawyers—and they’re not paying your bills.
2. Payment Plans Are Where Good Intentions Go to Die Oh, this one hurts to admit. Every single time—and I mean every time—I let my big heart override my business sense with a payment plan where the work was done before the payment was made, it ended badly. Not only did I not get paid, but the relationship soured. Here’s the brutal truth: if they can’t pay your fee before you do the work, they probably won’t pay it later. And you’ll feel awkward chasing payments instead of focusing on the case.
3. Skip the Bar Mixers, Buy Someone Coffee Instead Nine years of bar dues later, you know what’s generated the most referrals? One-on-one coffee meetings with other professionals. Not lawyer mixers. Not bar association meetings. Just genuine conversations with other like-minded attorneys who serve the same clients you want to help. Those $5 lattes have paid more dividends than all my bar association memberships combined.
4. Your Filing System Doesn’t Need to Be Perfect, But It Needs to Exist Look, you don’t need color-coded everything on day one. But please, for the love of all things legal, have some basic system for naming documents and organizing files. Future You will either thank Past You or curse their name. Start with simple folder structures and basic naming conventions. You can always improve it later, but you can’t easily fix years of digital chaos.
5. Exceptional Client Service Is Just Basic Human Decency Want to know the secret to happy clients? Answer your emails. Update them before they ask. Listen when they talk. That’s it (really). You don’t need fancy client portals or AI chatbots. Just treat them like humans who are going through something stressful and need your help. The basics done consistently will beat flashy marketing every time.
6. Your Mental Health Isn’t Optional Equipment This one’s personal. I still remember whispering into my phone in a hospital bathroom, trying to handle a client emergency while my sick kid slept in the room. That was my wake-up call. Burnout isn’t a badge of honor—it’s a business liability. Schedule your mental-health time like you schedule client meetings. Non-negotiable.

The Painful Truth: These lessons cost me tens of thousands of dollars and years of stress to learn. Every successful solo I know learned them eventually—the difference is just how much pain and money it cost them to figure it out.

The good news? You can start implementing these today. Pick the three that resonate most and start there. Your future self (and your family, clients, and community) will thank you.

P.S. Want to know the most expensive lesson? Thinking I could figure it all out myself instead of investing in systems and coaching early on. That stubbornness probably cost me two years of growth. Don’t be like Past Me.