Paying Yourself As A Solo Lawyer Checklist And Guide

If a year in, or years in, you are not paying yourself a decent salary out of your solo firm, something’s off.

This practical checklist and guide for solo lawyers, sole practitioners, barristers and independent legal consultants in Australia helps them review the financial pipeline, key indicators and blockages affecting their ability to pay themselves regularly.

We are fans of solo lawyers drawing a regular small salary of sorts by at least 3-6 months into the establishment of a practice.

It does not have to be large.

It can start small and escalate weekly.

I’ll be honest. I was petrified in the early days of my practice to pay myself a small, let alone decent, salary. A heap of “what ifs” stopped me.

What if things slow down?

What if something goes wrong?

What if work dries up?

What if someone doesn’t pay?

What if I need money to reinvest in the business?

These were mostly issues to do with confidence and systems on my part that I needed to address.

It took time and I did address them, but I wish I had a sounding board then to help me with what were essentially micro issues that I needed nuts and bolts help with.

But if a year in, or indeed years in, you are not paying yourself a decent salary out of your solo firm, well then something’s off.

Paying yourself regularly should be non-negotiable

We do a lot of work with our sole practitioner clients in our strategy sessions, to make sure the financial pipeline is flowing and, if not, where the blockages are.

A lot of solos just accept an ongoing low salary when really, with better monitoring and review of a few key indicators, they could be paying themselves more within a matter of months.

I find a lot of them are not willing to step up to deal with uncomfortable issues.

I was the same.

They would rather accept the status quo instead.

It doesn’t have to be like that.

Unfortunately, we all become blind to things like bloated and unnecessary overheads, amongst a whole heap of other things that impact the financial viability of a solo law firm.

Paying yourself regularly should be non-negotiable.

If this sounds familiar, our Paying Yourself As A Solo Lawyer Checklist And Guide are designed to help solo lawyers deal with blockages, key indicators and the uncomfortable issues that may be stopping them from paying themselves properly.

We work directly with solicitors, barristers, and consultant lawyers on the decisions that shape an independent practice - set up, 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