Year 2

As my second full year as a solo practitioner draws to a close I have to say I'm happier than ever that I took the step of branching out on my own. I worked for more than a dozen years as an associate at two of Washington's leading family law firms and learned a lot at each one. It's great now to have the opportunity to put that hard-won expertise to work in my own firm.

There is, of course, the satisfaction of being your own boss and of depositing all of your billing receipts, even if you have to pay your own overhead, rather than taking the fraction of them a firm pays to associates.

More important, having my own firm means I can practice the type of family law I believe in. We have to have our courts, but most people are better off avoiding that ultimate step and finding ways to reach a fair settlement short of going before a judge. My philosophy is to provide the client with an honest assessment of what is achievable and then advocating for that result through the collaborative process or whatever other form of dispute resolution -- including court -- is necessary.

But what has made my experience especially satisfying is being able to set up my practice in the Collaborative Practice Center of Greater Washington. This means that even as a solo practitioner I have the benefit of wonderful colleagues in our really great office space at Dupont Circle. And, much as I love lawyers, having mental health professionals among those colleagues adds a different dimension to the atmosphere in the office. This creates a great working environment that supports not only clients who opt for the collaborative process in their divorce, but for other clients in litigation and mediation as well.

Being master of my own time has other benefits. It has allowed me to spend pro bono hours on cases where people can't pay or pay right away, as well as on the Collaborative Project of Maryland, which provides assistance to low-income couples willing to try the collaborative process. It also permits me to take on some responsibilities in the practice groups I belong to and to build further expertise in continuing education workshops and conferences.

My practice has grown steadily and last month I took the big step of hiring some part-time help by sharing a paralegal with the other law firm in the Center. In family law, obviously, you live from client to client. It's not like a corporate practice where you have the same clients for years. Once you finish a divorce that's pretty much it for client, except for the occasional change in custody arrangements or child support payments. There's never a guarantee that a new client is going to walk through the door.

Fortunately, they do! I've done some marketing through online outlets. Who knows, this blog and related social networking may also help in reaching out to new clients. But most clients come now, as they always have, from referrals -- from former clients, from fellow lawyers and from other collaborative professionals.

So even though I haven't quite closed the books on 2012 -- I've actually scheduled some meetings for next week between Christmas and New Year's to accommodate clients -- I can look back with a great deal of satisfaction on the two years of my law firm and the Center. I'm grateful for the support from my colleagues here at the Center, in the collaborative practice groups, and in the wider community of family lawyers in the DC area, and looking forward to a new year of moving forward with my firm.