Leading The Modern Solo Legal Practice In 2026 And Beyond
What Should I Do In The Next Three Months As A Solo Lawyer?
In the next three months, in our view, a solo lawyer should focus on six things in their practice:
become as comfortable as you can with technology and AI.
2. position the practice for the future in regard to the emerging and the niche.
3.make the client user experience more frictionless.
4. define your unique value proposition against AI.
5. rethink pricing on routine and complex work.
6. stay visible and have a growth mindset.
Get Comfortable With Technology And AI As Much As You Can
As much as technology, and especially AI, is a movable feast, there is no question that lawyers need to become more savvy with it.
That means understanding what the consumer is doing with it, what the client is doing with it, how the major tools operate, and how the tools you are using day to day or intend to use day to day actually work.
The literacy side, the competency side of it and the ability to manage it in a lawyerly sense, and in a risk management sense, all matter..
The words “as you can” are important.
Some AI fatigue is setting in.
The constant updates. The movement from one model to the next. The amalgamation of models. The major models getting better at certain things than others.
Which one do you use? How do you keep up?
From our perspective, work with it as comfortably as you can.
That means your own skill level, not someone else’s.
If you need training, put your hand up and get some.
Then have your own playtime with the models. Use them. Test them. See what you can actually do with them.
Do the same with your existing technology.
People get excited about new technology, particularly AI, because it is the flavour of the month but seriously, what about the technology you are already using?
Can you use it better? It can be as simple as five minutes a day.
Five minutes a day becomes roughly half an hour a week. That becomes about 25 hours a year. If I said you had to do another 25 hours of CPD, you would probably be jumping up and down. But five minutes a day learning, using and playing with technology is not a bad investment.
Playing with it is important, as is being comfortable and not overwhelming yourself.
Do not chase the latest and greatest technology for the sake of it.
Accept that you are not going to be able to keep up with everything.
The first step is not to become an AI expert overnight. That is not realistic, and for most lawyers it is not necessary.
The real issue is becoming competent and comfortable enough to understand what these tools can do, what they cannot do, where the risks are, and how they might fit into your practice.
That includes AI tools. It also includes the technology you already have.
A lot of lawyers are sitting on software, systems and platforms they barely use properly.
Before chasing every new thing, look at what is already in front of you.
Five minutes a day is enough to start.
Not because five minutes is magic, but because it creates a habit and over time, that habit compounds.
Positioning Your Practice For Now And The Future - Niche & Emerging
Something that needs to be done more urgently in our view is re-positioning your practice now and into the future in light of AI.
You need to accept that AI is going to eat your cheese.
It will take more and more routine work out of your practice.
You need to replace that with more clients.
You also need to review your fee setting mechanisms.
In light of the above, you need to look at emerging areas of law and see whether there is something you really want to learn and niche into at a practice level to try and AI proof yourself?
You can do that while still doing your existing areas of practice. Even general practitioners can niche.
Being known for something into the future is going to become more important as AI scales more and more.
Your competitors will get better using AI.
Your clients will come to you differently after having used AI. They will want different things.
Consumers will bypass lawyers for some routine work that, in the past, they would have given to lawyers.
So ask yourself this - What do you want your practice to be known for three or four years from now?
Make The Client Experience As Frictionless As Possible
The client user experience is very important.
Put yourself in the client’s footsteps.
How do they find you?
How do they engage with you?
What is the engagement process like?
What is the intake process like?
What are the barriers that make it difficult for a client?
Predominantly, this is going to be online.
However if clients are still ringing you, how does that stack up? What happens when they call? What happens after hours?
You may not know unless you test it.
Hopefully, you are doing client satisfaction surveys halfway through the matter and at the end.
If not, get people you trust to act as consumers and test your systems and processes and give you honest feedback.
You need to make it as frictionless as possible because AI makes things frictionless.
Clients are also now often quite happy with “good enough” because of AI.
That does not mean your legal work can be sloppy. It just means the way clients interact with your services has changed.
Booking systems, intake forms, basic information, automated responses whilst you are asleep - these things matter now more than ever.
So the systems around the client experience need dealing and optimising with sooner rather than later.
Define Your Unique Value Proposition Against AI
You need to define your unique value proposition.
And it cannot just be:
“I am a property lawyer who does conveyancing in the inner suburbs of Sydney.”
Frankly - so what? There is nothing unique about that.
The better questions are:
What are you really good at?
What is AI really good at?
What is AI better at than you?
What are you better at than AI?
What can you and AI do together to produce a better result for the client?
This is an ongoing thinking process.
What is your unique value to your client.
Which in our view goes back to niching.
You may be a property lawyer. You may do conveyancing.
But what do you niche in? What are you really really good at, that few others are not.
For example, terminating off-the-plan contracts that have not worked out. That is a niche.
Most property lawyers may be able to do it, but do you specialise in it?
Do you understand the nuances? Are you known for it?
There are a lot of similar examples.
The point is to work out what you do, what AI can do, what AI can help you do better, and how you represent that value to the client.
Rethink Pricing On Routine And Complex Work
You also need to rethink pricing.
If routine work is being taken away, challenged, or made easier because of AI, you need to rethink your pricing on routine work.
Irrespective of whether you do that or not, clients are going to challenge you on it.
You also need to rethink pricing on complex work.
I do wonder why more lawyers do not have more tiered hourly rates, fixed rates, or staged pricing for complex matters, especially in light of AI.
Sometimes lawyers are almost afraid to charge more for complexity.
However if you have positioned yourself in an emerging area, or a niche area, and the work is complex, then pricing should reflect that.
If clients are coming to you because of the complex nature of the matter, then your pricing should reflect the difficulty, judgement, responsibility and value involved.
None of this is easy.
Emerging areas of law and niche lawyering are a hard slog.
A lot of the issues lawyers will deal with in the future are going to be hard issues, difficult issues and complex issues.
That is operational reality but also that is where opportunity lies for lawyers.
Stay Visible And Stay In A Growth Mindset
Last but not least, stay visible and stay in a growth mindset.
Do not bury your head in the sand.
Do not stay in the office, throw your hands in the air and say, “This is all too hard.”
Stay visible.
The dominant place to stay visible is online.
However there is still room for face-to-face networking and visibility.
People seeing you, knowing you and understanding what you are about still matters.
Online visibility matters.
You need to be clear about what you are known for.
You also need to stay in a growth mindset. That means constantly learning, relearning, upskilling, adapting, testing, measuring and experimenting.
AI is changing the legal profession. It is also changing the legal marketplace.
Let’s face facts, it is changing the world.
So in the next three months, if you want to position yourself better, these are the issues to start with.
Get as comfortable with technology as you can.
2. Position your practice into the emerging and the niche.
3. Make the client user experience seamless.
4. Define your unique value proposition against AI.
5. Rethink your pricing on routine and complex matters.
6. Stay visible and adopt a growth mindset.
None of it needs to be perfect.
But it does need to be dealt with - asap.
FAQs
What should a solo lawyer focus on in the next three months?
A solo lawyer should focus on getting more comfortable with technology and AI, positioning the practice for the future, improving the client user experience, defining their unique value, reviewing pricing, and staying visible.
Why does AI matter for solo legal practices?
AI matters because it is changing how clients find legal information, how routine work is done, and how lawyers need to explain their value. It does not remove the need for good lawyers, but it does change the way solo lawyers need to practise and position themselves.
Should solo lawyers change their pricing because of AI?
Solo lawyers should at least review their pricing. Routine work may face more pressure, while complex and specialised work should be priced to reflect the judgement, difficulty and responsibility involved.
How can a solo lawyer stay competitive in 2026?
A solo lawyer can stay competitive by being clear about what they are known for, using technology sensibly, reducing friction in the client experience, and continuing to learn, test and adapt.
We work directly with solicitors, barristers, and consultant lawyers on the decisions that shape an independent practice - structure, positioning, pricing, systems, capacity, financial control, AI use, and strategic direction.
This is practical, experience-based advisory work for lawyers who want a stronger, better-run practice and clearer judgment about what needs to change next.
You can work with us through a Strategy Session or a Solo Law Firm Tune-Up.
We also offer practical tools, guides and webinars for lawyers who want to get on top of these issues properly.
Details are on www.paulippolito.com.au
