There's a phrase that, because it's repeated so often in the corridors of law, has become a diagnosis: law school teaches you how to write petitions, but it doesn't teach you how to open an office. Those who decide to start their own firm quickly discover that the problem isn't legal. It's a management problem. 

And the decisions that seem most tedious in the initial phase—accountant, tax regime, control system, billing routine—are precisely those that separate the firm that grows from the one that closes its doors within twenty-four months. 

This article brings together a series of practical tips, without unnecessary theory, aimed at lawyers who are starting out or who have not yet structured their management as they should have done from day one.

Tip 01: Think: in which area do you want to be recognized? 

The worst decision a lawyer starting their career can make is to try to take on everything. It sounds counterintuitive, because the natural tendency is not to refuse work. But a firm that takes on everything is never remembered, and those who aren't remembered don't get referrals. 

Define a main area of ​​expertise, with a niche clear enough so that people know when to recommend you. 

It's not enough to say "civil lawyer." Say "family law lawyer specializing in contested divorces and custody disputes." 

It's not enough to say "business lawyer." Say "corporate litigation lawyer for small and medium-sized enterprises." 

A clear niche organizes everything that comes after: pricing, marketing , materials, positioning. You can work with more than one area, but you need to have an identifiable flagship product.

Tip 02: Formalities are important decisions!

There are two points that seem bureaucratic but are not: the opening of the Single-Member Law Firm (SUA) and the choice of tax regime. 

The SUA, created by Law 13.247/2016, allows lawyers to operate individually as legal entities, with significant tax benefits compared to working as self-employed individuals. 

The choice between Simples Nacional and Lucro Presumido directly impacts how much you spend at the end of the month. The difference between the two regimes can reach several percentage points on revenue, depending on volume and structure. Don't decide based on guesswork, and don't copy what your colleague did. 

Seek out an accountant specializing in law firms, request scenario simulations, and make your decision based on projections, not guesswork. It's important to remember that lawyers cannot be registered as MEI (Individual Microentrepreneur) due to restrictions imposed by the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB). 

It's also worth remembering that, in 2026, with the tax reform and new mechanisms like split payments coming into effect , the choice of tax regime has become even more sensitive and requires up-to-date advice.

Tip 03: Separate your personal and business finances from day one. 

This is, without exaggeration, the most common mistake among lawyers who open an office. The client pays, the money goes into their personal account, becomes a grocery expense, and nobody knows anymore how much came in as fees, how much went out in costs, or how much was left for operations. 

Within a few months, the office's cash flow becomes fiction, and the vague feeling that "things are tight" can't be explained because the numbers don't exist. 

Open a business bank account before receiving your first penny, document everything, set aside a monthly pro-labore payment for yourself, and respect this separation as if it were an unamendable clause. 

Tip 04: Build a reserve!

The beginning of a law firm is unstable. Clients come and go, pay, are late, and the peak in fees of one month is not repeated the next. Legal management literature is unanimous: you need a financial reserve that covers at least six months of fixed expenses. Without this reserve, any bad quarter becomes a crisis, any crisis leads to debt, and any debt starts eating into your profit margin even before it's built up. 

Along with setting aside funds, create a simple budget. It doesn't need to be sophisticated. Just a spreadsheet with fixed expenses (rent, accountant, software, internet, phone, occasional salaries), variable expenses (costs, travel, materials), and the minimum monthly revenue target for the office to be self-sustaining. This spreadsheet, updated weekly, will tell you more about the health of the business than any retrospective report.

Tip 05: Have a system to organize your office!

This advice may seem premature, but it's not. The classic mistake of a beginning lawyer is to postpone hiring legal software until they "have more clients." In practice, the ideal time is exactly the opposite.

The system should be up and running before the volume of work increases, so you have time to set up deadline alerts, create part templates, organize customer registration, structure cash flow, and establish habits before the routine becomes overwhelming. 

When the volume of cases truly arrives, there's no more time to implement anything. There are free tools and affordable starter plans in virtually all legal software on the market. The initial cost is symbolic. The benefit is exponential.

Tip 06: Standardize processes! 

If you don't define how the office responds to a client's email, each lawyer will respond in a different way. If you don't define how a petition for enforcement of judgment is drafted, each intern will invent a structure. The result of this, in a few months, is rework, inconsistency, and error. 

The solution is simple and requires discipline. 

Choose the three or four most frequent filings from the office (a standard initial filing in your area, a typical defense, a common injunction request, a sample fee agreement) and create templates. 

Document the workflow for registering processes, receiving publications, and billing. It doesn't need to become an ISO quality manual. It just needs to be written down somewhere and followed.

Tip 07: Have indicators, and always monitor them! 

There is an initial temptation, fueled by all the management literature, to measure everything. Resist it. 

In the beginning, three or four indicators will do the trick. 

The first is the average collection period, that is, how long it takes the office to receive payment after invoicing. If it starts to increase, the cash flow will suffer, and you need to know before it does. 

The second is the average cost per process, calculated simply by dividing the total expenses by the number of active requests. This calculation tells you if the ticket price you charge covers the operation. 

The third is the on-time delivery rate. This is the risk indicator, and anything below one hundred percent warrants investigation. 

The fourth, optional but recommended, factor is the origin of the clients. Where does each new client come from: referrals, social media, website, partnerships, events. 

Without this information, all your marketing is guesswork.

Tip 08: Take care of the customer!

The legal profession is a relationship-based one, but most firms treat clients as they show up, without any method. 

There are three things that make a real difference. 

First, a written contract from the outset, clearly stating the object, scope, term, value, payment terms, and grounds for termination. A contract is not a sign of distrust, but of mutual protection. 

Second, structured follow-up . The customer who disappeared didn't disappear because they're doing well. Almost always, they disappeared because they received poor service at some point and nobody noticed. Establishing a routine of contact, even if monthly, even if brief, prevents a considerable number of cancellations.

Third, proactive communication about the process. The client doesn't need to understand procedural law. They need to know that their case is ongoing, that someone is taking care of it, and that the firm is remembering them.

Second to last piece of advice: Study!

This is perhaps the most uncomfortable piece of advice, because it requires acknowledging a limitation that most lawyers at the beginning of their careers prefer not to see. 

A law degree doesn't teach management. Isolated practice doesn't develop management skills. Reading blog articles helps, but it doesn't replace structured training. 

At some point in their early years, ideally early on, lawyers who want to grow need to invest in specific qualifications. 

This is where the MBA in Legal Operations and Law Firm Management from IDP comes in . The program was designed precisely for professionals who experience the problem described in this article: solid legal technical expertise, but management training built on improvisation.

The course is organized into two complementary axes. 

The first course brings together the fundamentals of modern management applied to the legal profession, with in-depth analysis of strategic planning, financial management, pricing of legal services, corporate governance, legal marketing, sales, market positioning, and client experience. 

The second is dedicated to operational performance, encompassing the structuring of Legal Operations, management by indicators, strategic and mass litigation, intensive use of data, business intelligence, jurimetrics, applications of artificial intelligence in the justice system, legal entrepreneurship, and expansion strategies, mergers and acquisitions. 

The methodology is the point that most distinguishes the program, with case studies in every class, problem-solving and deliberation in a simulated hearing, peer review, and robustness testing of the recommendations presented. The student leaves not only with reading knowledge, but also with trained decision-making skills.

One last piece of advice. 

Don't try to do everything at once. Rushing to implement management is just as harmful as neglecting it. 

Start by focusing on your niche, organize the formal aspects, separate the cash registers, set up a reserve, hire a system, standardize two or three delivery methods, choose three key performance indicators (KPIs), and then evolve. 

Every well-executed move supports the next. Every poorly executed move is costly to reverse. 

Building an office from scratch is a journey of small, disciplined decisions, not heroic solutions. And those who understand this from the start save at least two or three years of avoidable mistakes.

Manassés Lopes da Silva is a business lawyer and university professor. He holds a Master's degree in Law from IDP/SP, a specialization in Civil Procedural Law from IDP, and an LLM in Processes and Appeals in Superior Courts. Email: contato@manasseslopes.com