Solos & Small Firms

Law.com is running a feature on the practical matters of solo and small firm law practices. This is an area largely ignored by law school students, who either get wooed by the big firms or, in the rare case, choose to go with some sort of public service or public sector job. Particularly in this era of big firm mergers and "full service" practices, things seem to be favoring the bigger firms. But this is apparently not the whole story:

Initial signs are that, generally, business is good. By practicing the economies of scale that small-firm life allows, most firms are keeping up with the competition if not outdistancing it.

I'm not sure exactly how an economy of scale argument would favor smaller firms over larger ones, but let's just accept that business is good. There also seem to be a lot of advantages that aren't self-evident at first glance, and that appeal to me as someone who is not particularly interested in ending up working primarily as a manager or supervisor:

Small firms can have great strengths. The few principals in charge can exercise direct control on every aspect of each case. A partner in a small firm still can actively participate in the profession of law, not merely supervise what has become the business of law... We personally handle all aspects of trial preparation that in a large firm would typically be delegated to a team of associates and paralegals. We know that no matter how much help we might have available in our office, when the case goes to trial, it's on our shoulders. Our personal reputations are on the line, as is the liberty -- and sometimes the very lives -- of our clients.

Sounds very exciting, very challenging, and very fulfilling. As long as you're going to put in a lot of crazy hours, you might as well have the responsibility and frontline experiences to go with it.