When a lawyer or law firm picks office space, the debate about what space to take, the furniture to buy and how to advertise can become a real issue.  These are make or break issues when a law firm begins.  If a lawyer goes in the wrong direction, it can fatally effect the success of a law firm.

Most lawyers want the A office space and the A furniture.  They almost cannot help themselves.  The A office space and the A furniture makes them feel good.  It makes them feel like a success.  They are proud and excited to bring people into their law firm when the space and furniture are nice.

This makes sense on a lot of levels.  This also plays into the motivation of a lot of lawyers for going into the legal business in the first place in that they like and want nice things (even if they don’t openly admit this).

Of course, the A office space and the A furniture can end up being a noose around the neck of the new law firm.  With the A office space and the A furniture, there is often little money left over for advertising.  So, while the space and furniture is nice, before long, no new clients are coming in to see it because there is no effective marketing in place.

From there, the law firm is indebted heavily and not generating much revenue.  At the end of the day, a law firm cannot survive for long in such a scenario.

So, what’s the answer?  Certainly most law firms don’t want D or F Office Space.  Otherwise, what’s the point in advertising only to bring clients into space that will literally send the clients running away in fear of hiring the law firm?

Will B or C Office space and furniture work?  If you do B or C office space, will you still have money left over for marketing?  If not, what’s the plan to bring in new clients?

It’s here where most law firms need to have a vigorous debate and find the right balance.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them below.