Solo Practitioners Explore a Range of Networking Options
By Amy Jo Ehman, November 2008
Toronto sole practitioner Bo Arfai has been practising law for just a few months, but already he has a trusted network he can call on for support and advice: jeff, chris, karen, ottawa student, ba2llb and anonymous. They’re part of his online network – people who read his blog, consider his issues, answer his questions and generally commiserate about the difficulties facing a young lawyer hanging up his shingle for the first time.
His blog (soloinontario.blogspot.com) is one of several online communities he visits on a regular basis. “I spend a lot of time online,” says Arfai, who, since July, practises criminal defence law from his home in downtown Toronto. “Even when you’re not actively working online it has some staying power.”
It’s not the traditional notion of networking – those socials, talks, lunches, clubs, hobbies and events that get you “out there” in the community – but Arfai says the Internet has brought him support, advice and, most importantly, clients.
“I know that traditional networking is like going to a Law Society meet-and-greet where you meet 20 people but you don’t have an opportunity to form a good relationship with them, whereas in any sort of online community you definitely do. It’s more consistent. You ‘see’ them more often,” he says.
Face-to-face Networking
Other lawyers feel that that face-to-face networking is essential to a successful solo practice for building trust, generating referrals, creating a support network and easing the isolation that comes with working alone.
“My experience is that relationship building is definitely easier to do in person,” says Nicole Garton-Jones of Heritage Law, a boutique firm in West Vancouver, B.C., specializing in family law, mediation services and wills and estates. “People hire people that they know and trust, and that trust is built through relationship building, through networking. It’s the lifeblood of our profession.”
It’s a lesson that can take years to learn. Law schools traditionally offer little instruction on the practical aspects of running a business, including the people skills needed to generate and cultivate an expanding client base. Add to that the isolation and learning curve of solo practice and networking takes on a larger role.
In 2006, close to 60 per cent of law practices in Canada were solo firms, up from 46 per cent in 1996. Of the lawyers who work in law firms, one-third are sole practitioners. That’s an awful lot of lawyers standing alone at the water cooler.
“Even today, after 22 years of practice, I will from time to time call on my colleagues at the Bar for advice about computer hardware, software and staffing issues, as well as their opinions on a particular legal or ethical matter,” says David Paul, chair of the CBA’s General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Conference, whose practice, Paul & Company, is in Kamloops, B.C. “I can’t overstate the importance of a strong collegial network.”
Even more to the point: “You can’t do a good job practising law in a vacuum,” says Mary-Jo Maur, a sole practitioner in Kingston, Ont.
Filling the Void
How we network and with whom we network is a matter of personality, lifestyle and the nature of the law practice, and what works for one does not work for all. When Garton-Jones started her firm in 2005, she quickly realized that networking for clients was less fruitful than networking with the people who knew her potential clients – their bankers, accountants, investment advisors and mortgage brokers.
“It’s basically circles of influence,” says Garton-Jones. “They are trusted advisors who steer clients to me.” Her referral list has 160 names, many of whom she met while serving on volunteer boards such as the local library and the Chamber of Commerce. She maintains contact by sending cards and thank-you gifts and, beginning this fall, offering an invitation-only speaking series on law-related topics of interest to her referral network.
“I used to pound the pavement, take people out to lunch and go to networking functions. It really worked, but I don’t have time to do that anymore,” says Garton-Jones, who has two small children. “When I have more time, I will do it again. It was enormously effective in overcoming the isolation.”
Garton-Jones created a unique business model in order to work from home and penetrate her surrounding market. She employs several lawyers on contract – all of them mothers working from their homes in the Greater Vancouver Region – who are connected through a paperless digital “office” and rarely get together in person. (She maintains an office with a receptionist where they can meet clients.) For friendship and support, she joined the CBA’s Women Lawyers Forum.
“I need to network more with other lawyers,” she says. “Nobody understands you like another lawyer and we are excellent referral sources for each other.”
Insider Information
When Lucille Birkett of Birkett Ticoll struck out on her own in 1992, she took advantage of the mentorship program and practice advisor offered by the Law Society of Alberta.
“I didn’t hesitate to call them up. I found it gave me a sense of, ‘I’m okay. I’m on the right track. I’m doing the right thing,’” says Birkett, who is poised to move her collaborative family law practice from downtown Edmonton to her home community of Sherwood Park. “I’ve taken 90 per cent of the seminars offered that are related to my practice. It’s also good for networking and avoiding isolation.”
Since going solo, Birkett has often worked in association with like-minded lawyers, a business model in which each lawyer is a sole practitioner working from the same office, sharing the staff and expenses associated with running a law firm. She is also a dedicated volunteer at the Canadian Bar Association, the Law Society of Alberta, her church and, when her children were younger, the hockey rink.
“It’s important to volunteer outside the legal world,” says Birkett, who volunteers up to 800 hours per year. “If you meet people who are like-minded through hockey or whatever your interest, you have that instant connection. You already have a basic trust because it’s someone you know is interested in the same things.”
Experienced networkers caution against “working too hard” for those connections by forcing bonds where none exist naturally. Being yourself while engaging in activities you truly enjoy creates an impression of someone who is likable, credible and trustworthy. “I don’t feel comfortable trying too hard,” says Maur in Kingston. “In an age where people get hit up by telemarketers over the dinner hour, and where you’re bombarded on your cellphone with advertising, folks don’t need lawyers to do that too.”
Maur’s solo practice, which includes family law, domestic violence, residential real estate and some criminal law, began in 1997 after a divorce. She shared space with another female lawyer in Kingston for two years before opening an office of her own. “I was a single mom with four kids (aged three to 10) starting a practice from a shambles,” says Maur, who had practised with her husband before the divorce. “That was a very good way for me to start being on my own.”
Back then, Maur relied on the kindness of her colleagues in Kingston, who offered encouragement and advice. She still relies on those networks, especially with her female colleagues. “It’s really comforting to know that I can pick up the phone and there are at least five people I can call for help,” she says. “If one of us is struggling with a file, we put it out by e-mail on a no-name basis and everyone will write back. It’s good information, but it’s more than that. We cheer each other on.”
Speak the Same Language
Maur is a self-described “friendly person” who moves within several circles based on her personal interests outside the law – her church, her love of horses and her moonlighting as a professional singer, often for charity events. By doing what she loves, these informal networks support her law career.
“Kingston is a big horse community. I get a lot of referrals from that connection,” she says. “I can use analogies from the horse world to help things make sense. For example, imagine that your ex-husband is a difficult horse. You know that beating it is counterproductive. You know you have to convince the horse that it was the horse’s idea. I know it sounds kind of funny, but any horse person will know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Speaking the same language, both literally and culturally, can open doors to a select client network. “I’m a socializing type of person,” says Haidah Amirzadeh, an immigration and criminal lawyer in Saskatoon. “I go to a lot of functions in the immigrant community. Not as a lawyer, but because I enjoy it. Many people get to know me and they do become my clients and refer their friends and family members to me.”
Amirzadeh is an immigrant herself, having fled Iran for political reasons 21 years ago. In early 2007, she left the firm where she was working in order to build her own immigration practice, travelling to Asia and the Middle East to meet with potential clients and opening an office in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
She offers her clients a “comfort zone” when their cultural practices differ from those of long-time Canadians. For instance, her clients often give her gifts and invite her home for dinner, and they drop by her office unexpectedly to chat. “My clients do like me and trust me,” she says. “Sometimes I have to watch that it doesn’t turn to business because I have to charge them in the end. You have to watch those boundaries.”
Amirzadeh avoids the isolation of solo practice by attending lunches, seminars and other law-related events, and by sitting on the board of the Open Door Society. She frequently drops into her former firm, Roe & Company (which is just across the hallway in a downtown office building) and extends an invitation to other criminal lawyers in her community: “I tell them, if you have a client who is not a Canadian citizen, call me for free. I will give you advice. It does happen occasionally that they pass the file on to me.”
Face-to-face Versus Virtual
Back in Toronto, Arfai is also straddling two worlds – the face-to-face world and the virtual world. He hasn’t ignored some of the traditional aspects of networking, such as meeting with more experienced solo criminal practitioners. “There are mentors that I can turn to when I have a sticky problem. Some of them are in the real world and some of them are online,” he says.
Arfai also participates on the Criminal Lawyers’ Association Listserv, where members post questions and get answers, often within the hour. Which goes to prove that a fair number of lawyers are networking the Net. Predicts Arfai: “I think in 10 to 15 years, that’s where everyone’s going to spend most of their time developing a professional career.”
Amy Jo Ehman is a freelance writer in Saskatoon.
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