How to write a business plan for a solicitor practice?

Writing a business plan for a solicitor practice can be an intimidating task, especially for those just starting.

This in-depth guide is designed to help entrepreneurs like you understand how to create a comprehensive business plan so that you can approach the exercise with method and confidence.

We'll cover: why writing a solicitor practice business plan is so important - both when starting up, and when running and growing the business - what information you need to include in your plan, how it should be structured, and what tools you can use to get the job done efficiently.

Let's get started!

Why write a business plan for a solicitor practice?

Understanding the document's scope and goals will help you easily grasp its structure and content. Before diving into the specifics of the plan, let's take a moment to explore the key reasons why having a solicitor practice business plan is so crucial.

To have a clear roadmap to grow the business

Running a small business is tough! Economic cycles bring growth and recessions, while the business landscape is ever-changing with new technologies, regulations, competitors, and consumer behaviours emerging constantly.

In such a dynamic context, operating a business without a clear roadmap is akin to driving blindfolded: it's risky, to say the least. That's why crafting a business plan for your solicitor practice is vital to establish a successful and sustainable venture.

To create an effective business plan, you'll need to assess your current position (if you're already in business) and define where you want the business to be in the next three to five years.

Once you have a clear destination for your solicitor practice, you'll have to:

• Identify the necessary resources (human, equipment, and capital) needed to reach your goals,
• Determine the pace at which the business needs to progress to meet its objectives as scheduled,
• Recognize and address the potential risks you may encounter along the way.

Engaging in this process regularly proves advantageous for both startups and established companies. It empowers you to make informed decisions about resource allocation, ensuring the long-term success of your business.

To get visibility on future cash flows

If your small solicitor practice runs out of cash: it's game over. That's why we often say "cash is king", and it's crucial to have a clear view of your solicitor practice's future cash flows.

So, how can you achieve this? It's simple - you need to have an up-to-date financial forecast.

The good news is that your solicitor practice business plan already includes a financial forecast (which we'll discuss further in this guide). Your task is to ensure it stays current.

To accomplish this, it's essential to regularly compare your actual financial performance with what was planned in your financial forecast. Based on your business's current trajectory, you can make adjustments to the forecast.

By diligently monitoring your solicitor practice's financial health, you'll be able to spot potential financial issues, like unexpected cash shortfalls, early on and take corrective actions. Moreover, this practice will enable you to recognize and capitalize on growth opportunities, such as excess cash flow enabling you to expand to new locations.

To secure financing

A detailed business plan becomes a crucial tool when seeking financing from banks or investors for your solicitor practice.

Investing and lending to small businesses are very risky activities given how fragile they are. Therefore, financiers have to take extra precautions before putting their capital at risk.

At a minimum, financiers will want to ensure that you have a clear roadmap and a solid understanding of your future cash flows (like we just explained above). But they will also want to ensure that your business plan fits the risk/reward profile they seek.

This will off-course vary from bank to bank and investor to investor, but as a rule of thumb. Banks will want to see a conservative financial management style (low risk), and they will use the information in your business plan to assess your borrowing capacity — the level of debt they think your business can comfortably handle — and your ability to repay the loan. This evaluation will determine whether they'll provide credit to your solicitor practice and the terms of the agreement.

Whereas investors will carefully analyze your business plan to gauge the potential return on their investment. Their focus lies on evidence indicating your solicitor practice's potential for high growth, profitability, and consistent cash flow generation over time.

Now that you recognize the importance of creating a business plan for your solicitor practice, let's explore what information is required to create a compelling plan.

Information needed to create a business plan for a solicitor practice

You need the right data in order to project sales, investments and costs accurately in the financial forecast of your solicitor practice business plan.

Below, we'll cover three key pieces of information you should gather before drafting your business plan.

Carrying out market research for a solicitor practice

As you consider writing your business plan for a solicitor practice, conducting market research becomes a vital step to ensure accurate and realistic financial projections.

Market research provides valuable insights into your target customer base, competitors, pricing strategies, and other key factors that can significantly impact the commercial success of your business.

Through this research, you may uncover trends that could influence your solicitor practice.

Your market research may reveal that potential clients may prefer a local solicitor with a good reputation, or that clients might be looking for a solicitor with a specific area of expertise.

Such market trends play a significant role in forecasting revenue, as they offer valuable data about potential customers' spending habits and preferences.

By incorporating these findings into your financial projections, you can present investors with more accurate information, helping them make informed decisions about investing in your solicitor practice.

Developing the marketing plan for a solicitor practice

Before delving into your solicitor practice business plan, it's imperative to budget for sales and marketing expenses.

To achieve this, a comprehensive sales and marketing plan is essential. This plan should provide an accurate projection of the necessary actions to acquire and retain customers.

Additionally, it will outline the required workforce to carry out these initiatives and the corresponding budget for promotions, advertising, and other marketing endeavours.

By budgeting accordingly, you can ensure that the right resources are allocated to these vital activities, aligning them with the sales and growth objectives outlined in your business plan.

The staffing and equipment needs of a solicitor practice

Whether you are at the beginning stages of your solicitor practice or expanding its horizons, having a clear plan for recruitment and capital expenditures (investment in equipment and real estate) is vital to ensure your business's success.

To achieve this, both the recruitment and investment plans must align coherently with the projected timing and level of growth in your forecast. It is essential to secure appropriate funding for these plans.

A solicitor practice might incur staffing costs such as wages for solicitors, administrative staff and support staff. In addition, the practice might need to purchase equipment such as computers, printers, and other office supplies. Other costs might include rent, insurance, and any legal software or subscriptions the practice requires.

To create a financial forecast that accurately represents your business's outlook, remember to factor in other day-to-day operating expenses.

Now that you have all the necessary information, it's time to dive in and start creating your business plan and developing the financial forecast for your solicitor practice.

What goes into your solicitor practice's financial forecast?

The financial forecast of your solicitor practice's business plan will enable you to assess the growth, profitability, funding requirements, and cash generation potential of your business in the coming years.

The four key outputs of a financial forecast for a solicitor practice are:

• The profit and loss (P&L) statement,
• The projected balance sheet,
• The cash flow forecast,
• And the sources and uses table.

Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail.

The projected P&L statement

Your solicitor practice forecasted P&L statement enables the reader of your business plan to get an idea of how much revenue and profits your business is expected to make in the near future.

Ideally, your reader will want to see:

• Growth above the inflation level
• Expanding profit margins
• Positive net profit throughout the plan

Expectations for an established solicitor practice will of course be different than for a startup. Existing businesses which have reached their cruising altitude might have slower growth and higher margins than ventures just being started.

The forecasted balance sheet of your solicitor practice

The projected balance sheet of your solicitor practice will enable the reader of your business plan to assess the overall financial health of your business.

It shows three elements: assets, liabilities and equity:

• Assets: are productive resources owned by the business, such as equipment, cash, and accounts receivable (money owed by clients).
• Liabilities: are debts owed to creditors, lenders, and other entities, such as accounts payable (money owed to suppliers).
• Equity: includes the sums invested by the shareholders or business owners and the profits and losses accumulated by the business to date (which are called retained earnings). It is a proxy for the value of the owner's stake in the business.

Analysing your solicitor practice projected balance sheet provides an understanding of your solicitor practice's working capital structure, investment and financing policies.

In particular, the readers of your plan can compare the level of financial debt on the balance sheet to the equity value to measure the level of financial risk (equity doesn't need to be reimbursed, while financial debt must be repaid, making it riskier).

They can also use your balance sheet to assess your solicitor practice's liquidity and solvency:

• A liquidity analysis: focuses on whether or not your business has sufficient cash and short-term assets to cover its liabilities due in the next 12 months.
• A solvency analysis: takes and longer view to assess whether or not your business has the capacity to repay its debts over the medium-term.

The cash flow forecast

A projected cash flow statement for a solicitor practice is used to show how much cash the business is generating or consuming.

The cash flow forecast is usually organized by nature to show three key metrics:

• The operating cash flow: do the core business activities generate or consume cash?
• The investing cash flow: how much is the business investing in long-term assets (this is usually compared to the level of fixed assets on the balance sheet to assess whether the business is regularly maintaining and renewing its equipment)?
• The financing cash flow: is the business raising new financing or repaying financiers (debt repayment, dividends)?

As we discussed earlier, cash is king and keeping an eye on future cash flows an imperative for running a successful business. Therefore, you can expect the reader of your solicitor practice business plan to pay close attention to your cash flow forecast.

Also, note that it is customary to provide both yearly and monthly cash flow forecasts in a business plan - so that the reader can analyze seasonal variation and ensure the solicitor practice is appropriately funded.

The initial financing plan

The sources and uses table or initial financing plan is a key component of your business plan when starting a solicitor practice.

It shows where the capital needed to set up the business will come from (sources) and how it will be spent (uses).

This table helps size the investment required to set up the solicitor practice, and understand how risks will be distributed between the business owners, and the financiers.

The sources and uses table also highlights what the starting cash position will be. This is key for startups as the business needs to have sufficient funding to sustain operations until the break-even point is reached.

Now that you have a clear understanding of what will go into the financial forecast of your solicitor practice business plan, let's have a look at the written part of the plan.

The written part of a solicitor practice business plan

The written part of a solicitor practice business plan plays a key role: it lays out the plan of action you intend to execute to seize the commercial opportunity you've identified on the market and provides the context needed for the reader to decide if they believe your plan to be achievable and your financial forecast to be realistic.

The written part of a solicitor practice business plan is composed of 7 main sections:

1. The executive summary
2. The presentation of the company
3. The products and services
4. The market analysis
5. The strategy
6. The operations
7. The financial plan

Let's go through the content of each section in more detail!

1. The executive summary

The first section of your solicitor practice's business plan is the executive summary which provides, as its name suggests, an enticing summary of your plan which should hook the reader and make them want to know more about your business.

When writing the executive summary, it is important to provide an overview of the business, the market, the key financials, and what you are asking from the reader.

Start with a brief introduction of the business, its name, concept, location, how long it has been in operation, and what makes it unique. Mention any services or products you plan to offer and who you sell to.

Then you should follow with an overview of the addressable market for your solicitor practice, current trends, and potential growth opportunities.

You should then include a summary of your key financial figures such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

Finally, you should detail any funding requirements in the ask section.

2. The presentation of the company

The second section in your solicitor practice's business plan should focus on the structure and ownership, location, and management team of the company.

The structure and ownership part provides an overview of the legal structure of the business, who the owners are and how much each has invested and owns. If you are seeking financing it is important that the reader gets a clear picture of which legal entity is receiving the funds, and who controls the business.

The location part should give an overview of the premises from which the company is operating, and why that location is of particular interest (catchment area, accessibility, amenities nearby, etc.).

When describing the location of your solicitor practice, you could emphasize its potential for growth. It may be located in an area that is experiencing rapid population growth, with plenty of potential for an expanding business. You could also point out its convenience and accessibility to customers, with easy access to public transportation, or the possibility of expanding to other locations in the near future. Furthermore, its proximity to potential customer base, such as nearby businesses and schools, could be a major selling point. Overall, the location of your solicitor practice could be a prime investment opportunity.

Finally, you should introduce the management team. Explain each member's role, background, and experience.

It is also important to emphasize any past successes that the members of the management team have achieved, and how long they've been working together, as this will help potential lenders or investors understand why they should trust in their leadership.

3. The products and services section

The products and services section of your solicitor practice business plan should include a detailed description of what your company sells to its customers. 

For example, your solicitor practice might offer services such as conveyancing, wills and probate, and family law. Conveyancing is the process of transferring the title of a property from one person to another, wills and probate deals with legal issues surrounding a person's estate after they have passed, and family law covers matters such as divorce, adoption, and child custody. These services would provide customers with the legal advice and assistance they need to carry out many of life's important decisions and processes.

The reader will want to understand what makes your solicitor practice unique from other businesses in this competitive market.

When drafting this section, you should be precise about the categories of products or services you sell, the clients you are targeting and the channels that you are targeting them through. 

4. The market analysis

When you present your market analysis in your solicitor practice business plan, it's crucial to include detailed information about customers' demographics and segmentation, target market, competition, barriers to entry, and any relevant regulations.

The main objective of this section is to help the reader understand the size and attractiveness of the market while demonstrating your solid understanding of the industry.

Begin with the demographics and segmentation subsection, providing an overview of the addressable market for your solicitor practice, the key trends in the marketplace, and introducing different customer segments along with their preferences in terms of purchasing habits and budgets.

Next, focus on your target market, zooming in on the specific customer segments your solicitor practice aims to serve and explaining how your products and services fulfil their distinct needs.

For example, your target market might include business owners who need assistance with setting up new companies. These customers may need help with paperwork, filing documents, and understanding the legal requirements of starting a business. Finally, they may also need advice on the best legal structure for their new business.

Then proceed to the competition subsection, where you introduce your main competitors and highlight what sets you apart from them.

Finally, conclude your market analysis with an overview of the key regulations applicable to your solicitor practice.

5. The strategy section

When writing the strategy section of a business plan for your solicitor practice, it is essential to include information about your competitive edge, pricing strategy, sales & marketing plan, milestones, and risks and mitigants.

The competitive edge subsection should explain what sets your company apart from its competitors. This part is especially key if you are writing the business plan of a startup, as you have to make a name for yourself in the marketplace against established players.

The pricing strategy subsection should demonstrate how you intend to remain profitable while still offering competitive prices to your customers.

The sales & marketing plan should outline how you intend to reach out and acquire new customers, as well as retain existing ones with loyalty programs or special offers. 

The milestones subsection should outline what your company has achieved to date, and its main objectives for the years to come - along with dates so that everyone involved has clear expectations of when progress can be expected.

The risks and mitigants subsection should list the main risks that jeopardize the execution of your plan and explain what measures you have taken to minimize these. This is essential in order for investors or lenders to feel secure in investing in your venture.

Your solicitor practice could face risks from changes in the legal environment. The legal industry is constantly evolving, and your practice may need to adjust to changes in areas such as data protection, tax, or employment law. Your practice might also face risks from cyber-attacks. The confidentiality of your clients’ data could be compromised if you fail to take the necessary steps to protect it. As technology continues to advance, it is important to stay up to date with the latest security measures to ensure the safety of your data.

6. The operations section

The operations of your solicitor practice must be presented in detail in your business plan.

The first thing you should cover in this section is your staffing team, the main roles, and the overall recruitment plan to support the growth expected in your business plan. You should also outline the qualifications and experience necessary to fulfil each role, and how you intend to recruit (using job boards, referrals, or headhunters).

You should then state the operating hours of your solicitor practice - so that the reader can check the adequacy of your staffing levels - and any plans for varying opening times during peak season. Additionally, the plan should include details on how you will handle customer queries outside of normal operating hours.

The next part of this section should focus on the key assets and IP required to operate your business. If you depend on any licenses or trademarks, physical structures (equipment or property) or lease agreements, these should all go in there.

As a solicitor practice, you may have key assets such as your client list and your reputation. Your client list could contain valuable contact information for current and prospective clients, while your reputation could be one of your practice's most valuable assets. Additionally, you might have various forms of intellectual property, such as trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, which could be used to protect your practice's unique ideas, processes, and products.

Finally, you should include a list of suppliers that you plan to work with and a breakdown of their services and main commercial terms (price, payment terms, contract duration, etc.). Investors are always keen to know if there is a particular reason why you have chosen to work with a specific supplier (higher-quality products or past relationships for example).

7. The presentation of the financial plan

The financial plan section is where we will include the financial forecast we discussed earlier in this guide.

Now that you have a clear idea of what goes into a solicitor practice business plan, let's look at some of the tools you can use to create yours efficiently.

What tool should I use to write my solicitor practice's business plan?

There are two main ways of creating your solicitor practice business plan:

• Using specialized business planning software,
• Hiring a business plan writer.

Using an online business plan software for your solicitor practice's business plan

Using online business planning software is the most efficient and modern way to write a solicitor practice business plan.

There are several advantages to using specialized software:

• You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
• You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
• You can access a library of dozens of complete business plan samples and templates for inspiration
• You get a professional business plan, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank or investors
• You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast
• You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
• You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows
• You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck

If you're interested in using this type of solution, you can try The Business Plan Shop for free by signing up here.

Hiring a business plan writer to write your solicitor practice's business plan

Outsourcing your solicitor practice business plan to a business plan writer can also be a viable option.

Business plan writers are experienced in writing business plans and adept at creating financial forecasts without errors. Furthermore, hiring a consultant can save you time and allow you to focus on the day-to-day operations of your business.

However, hiring business plan writers is expensive as you are paying for the software used by the consultant, plus their time, and their profit margin of course.

From experience, you need to budget at least £1.5k ($2.0k) excluding tax for a complete business plan, more if you need to make changes after the initial version (which happens frequently after the initial meetings with lenders or investors).

You also need to be careful when seeking investment. Investors want their money to be used to grow the business, not spent on consulting fees. Therefore, the amount you spend on business plan writing services (and other consulting services such as legal services) needs to be negligible relative to the amount raised.

The other drawback is that you usually don't own the business plan itself: you just get the output, while the actual document is saved in the consultant's business plan software - which makes it difficult to maintain the document up to date without hiring the consultant on a retainer.

For these reasons, outsourcing the solicitor practice business plan to a business plan writer should be considered carefully, weighing both the advantages and disadvantages of hiring outside help.

Ultimately, it may be the right decision for some businesses, while others may find it beneficial to write their business plan using online software.

Why not create your solicitor practice's business plan using Word or Excel?

Using Microsoft Excel and Word (or their Google, Apple, or open-source equivalents) to write a solicitor practice business plan is a terrible idea.

Why?

For starters, creating an accurate and error-free financial forecast on Excel (or any spreadsheet) is very technical and requires both a strong grasp of accounting principles and solid skills in financial modelling.

As a result, it is unlikely anyone will trust your numbers unless - like us at The Business Plan Shop - you hold a degree in finance and accounting and have significant financial modelling experience in your past.

The second reason is that it is inefficient. Building forecasts on spreadsheets was the only option in the 1990s and early 2000s, nowadays technology has advanced and software can do it much faster and much more accurately.

And with the rise of AI, software is also becoming smarter at helping us detect mistakes in our forecasts and helping us analyse the numbers to make better decisions.

Also, using software makes it easy to compare actuals vs. forecasts and maintain our forecasts up to date to maintain visibility on future cash flows - as we discussed earlier in this guide - whereas this is a pain to do with a spreadsheet.

That's for the forecast, but what about the written part of my solicitor practice business plan?

This part is less error-prone, but here also software brings tremendous gains in productivity:

• Word processors don't include instructions and examples for each part of your business plan
• Word processors don't update your numbers automatically when they change in your forecast
• Word processors don't handle the formatting for you
• ...

Overall, while Word or Excel may be viable options for creating a solicitor practice business plan for some entrepreneurs, it is by far not the best or most efficient solution.

Takeaways

1. A business plan has 2 complementary parts: a financial forecast showcasing the expected growth, profits and cash flows of the business; and a written part which provides the context needed to judge if the forecast is realistic and relevant.
2. Having an up-to-date business plan is the only way to keep visibility on your solicitor practice's future cash flows.
3. Using business plan software is the modern way of writing and maintaining business plans.

We hope that this practical guide gave you insights on how to write the business plan for your solicitor practice. Do not hesitate to get in touch with our team if you still have questions.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• In-depth business plan structure
• Tips to design your business plan cover page
• What should you include in your business plan appendices?
• How to present your sales and marketing strategy in your business plan?
• Key steps to write a business plan?
• Free business plan template

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