Financing a Law Firm

Setting fees for legal services is obviously a major issue to consider, not only when establishing your practice, but throughout the life of your law firm. There are various ways to price your fees.

While poor management is cited most frequently as the reason businesses fail, inadequate or ill-timed financing is a close second. Whether you're starting a business or expanding one, sufficient ready capital is essential.

Figuring out how best to accept credit card payments from your clients can be a daunting (and intimidating) process. From deciphering all the techno-babble about complicated fee structures and minimums to choosing an account that gives you the maximum amount of control over your money - you'll be swimming in murky water at the best of times (and you've got to watch out for sharks).

This article illustrates how borrowing funds and converting non-deductible litigation expenses into tax deductible expenses has the cumulative dual benefits of creating a larger pool of funds for law firm investment in litigation costs, growth and partner distributions, and reducing the firm's net cost of using borrowed funds.

There are two kinds of people in the world, says finance expert Tom E. Greene: word people and number people. Most lawyers fall into the first group, which explains why they either panic or gloss over when faced with financial concepts in litigation.

The balance sheet is a snapshot of the company's financial standing at an instant in time.