Leap of Faith

Early in her legal career, Elle Duncan decided she wanted the freedom to choose her own clients and lower her rates for those with lesser means. She says she wanted to “stay true to serving my community.” So she went solo in December 2021.

Late in his legal career, class action attorney Barry Mesher went solo rather than retire, because a managing partner persuaded him to open an office and represent a couple of longtime clients in toxic-tort litigation. Today, he works mostly from an office overlooking Commencement Bay in Tacoma. “When I was working at the major law firms, I left my house every day at 5:30 in the morning and left my office in Seattle at 7 at night,” he says. “Now I work 1,000 hours a year, at an extremely reduced pace that is enjoyable.”

The six attorneys we interviewed gave varying reasons for steering into the entrepreneurial lane, but they agreed on one thing. “It sure beats working for someone else 9 to 5,” says Fatima Dabagoglu.

Why Law?

Chanvir “CJ” Singh, Prime Legal, Seattle; Estate Planning & Probate, Tax; went solo in 2020: I went to law school because my family owned a small business, a gas station. I would watch my dad, year after year, pay a lot of federal income taxes. The company we used to have a franchise with was Exxon Mobil. I asked him, “How come Exxon Mobil had a $40 billion profit, and we don’t have a sufficient amount?” He said, “Yeah, son, it’s because I don’t understand the tax code.”

I was like, “OK, I’m going to figure this thing out. I’m going to work hard, but I would like to not be at a disadvantage—and I would like to not have my clients be at a disadvantage. I passed the Bar and went out to help people in the community who don’t have that information at their fingertips and aren’t well-versed in it. That’s always gratifying.”

Fatima Dabagoglu, Dabagoglu Law, Seattle; Criminal Defense, Personal Injury; went solo in 2017: I’m a big believer of doing those personality tests. There are four options, and mine was “affiliation,” which means I want to connect with people. After doing the test, I knew this was the route to go. I already had a vague idea, and this kind of solidified it.

Stacia Hofmann, Cornerpoint Law, Seattle and Boise; Business/Corporate; went solo in 2015: I got interested in the law when I was in college because of an internship I had working for a talent manager. He was a lawyer, and he worked with actors and some sports figures. There were different aspects of the law that I hadn’t thought about—contractual issues, civil litigation issues.

John H. Guin, Guin Law and ADR, Spokane; Construction Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution; went solo in 2007: I graduated with a history degree, and that didn’t leave me a lot of options. I had experience in public speaking, debate and theater, so I had a comfort level in being in front of people. I also had experience and education in critical thinking and writing, so I thought I had a good skill set to be a lawyer.

Barry Mesher, Law Offices of Barry N Mesher, Tacoma; Class Action/Mass Torts; went solo in 2018: My father died when I was a year old; my mother remarried, and my stepfather’s uncle was Henry Friendly, a judge in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. I got a master’s degree in government; I said, “These are the law schools I got into, what do you think?” Judge Friendly said he’d never heard of the University of Puget Sound, and I said, “Well, that’s where I’m going, so now you’ll know about it.”

Elle Duncan, Duncan Law, Renton; Criminal Defense, Business, Estate Planning & Probate; went solo in 2021: At Washington State University in undergrad, I became a mentor for incoming freshman students who were attending public schools in impoverished areas. It got my wheels turning: “How can we be proactive in terms of ensuring we don’t need programs like this on the back end because the public education system is sufficient for students to succeed here?” Initially, I had the idea to go into public education policy. I wanted to ensure I had the necessary legal training and background if I was going to be making policy. Once I got to law school, I decided I did not want to go into education policy. I realized I was a litigator, and not meant to sit at a desk developing policy.

“I’m your typical Generation X person. Self-reliance is a big part of our character.” —John H. Guin

Why Go Solo?

Guin: I’m your typical Generation X person. Self-reliance is a big part of our character. Having been with the firm Winston & Cashatt for 10 years, on the management side of things, I felt like I needed more control over my individual practice.

In the last couple years with the firm, I had developed my own clients. A lot of them were in the state of Montana, even though I was based in Spokane, and I knew the firm didn’t have a relationship with them; they didn’t have anyone else practicing in Montana. I felt comfortable that if I made the decision to leave, I’d have a good client base to at least pay the bills.

Singh: I went solo after working for one year for the Washington State Board of Tax Appeals, and then at a law firm. I always knew I was going to have my own firm. Business is something I have experience in and enjoy.

Dabagoglu: I worked at the Snohomish County prosecutor’s office, then the King County prosecutor’s office, doing their infractions and criminal caseloads. It was 30 hours a week, so it didn’t have benefits. When a prosecutor position became available at the Seattle city attorney’s office, on the criminal team, I got that. Once I left the city attorney’s office, I started doing coverage for attorneys—when an attorney can’t be in court. I started spreading the word, doing traffic infractions, criminal cases. Then I was getting a lot of calls for personal injury, car accidents. I’m the only Turkish attorney who handles personal injury and criminal defense in Washington state. I thought I would give it a shot. There’s a program at Seattle University School of Law called the incubator program—I applied and got in. I did it, and it worked out.

Hofmann: The first 10 years of my legal practice were in litigation. What I really wanted to do is shift the focus back to risk management and trying to lessen the likelihood of litigation for small-business owners. It was somewhat of a leap of faith. I felt confident in my legal skills. It would have been hard for me to learn how to be a business owner and a lawyer at the same time.

Mesher: When I was going to retire, I spoke to the managing partner and said, “I’m thinking about retiring at the end of the year.” He said, “Well, what are you going to do?” I said, “I don’t know.” He said, “Why don’t you consider going out on your own, and that way you have a place to go.” I had about 20 corporate clients I was defending in toxic-tort litigation and told each of those I was retiring, and everyone said, “Don’t you have room on your plate for me?” I was fortunate to talk to two clients who agreed to the arrangement where I defend them, and in return, work that I don’t have the capability to do—calendaring, briefing, that type of thing—I’m able to send to two different law firms.

Duncan: I loved my job that I got out of law school, but I’ve always had a passion for public service. The firm I was at didn’t allow me the flexibility to take on the clients I wanted to. It didn’t allow me the flexibility to adjust my billable rate so legal services could be more affordable for certain clients.

Challenges and Victories

Dabagoglu: By the time the pandemic hit, I had already established myself and had enough cases to keep me busy. We continued taking DUI cases, as officers did not stop conducting their traffic stops and DUI investigations.

Duncan: I opened a firm during the pandemic! People thought I was absolutely nuts. My biggest thing is keeping my operating costs low. Initially, I was just working from home. People always ask, “What is your marketing budget?” Zero dollars. Right now, we’re using social media so effectively, I don’t think there’s a need for it. I was able to move into an office four months after [going solo]. Hired my first paralegal six months in. From the day I announced I was opening my firm, it’s pretty much been on an incline. We’ve achieved results that I’ve never imagined.

Singh: I assumed principles applied to the business of law as they did in other industries, and that wasn’t necessarily true. We started in a small office. I thought, “I don’t want to give my cell out, I’ll use a landline.” Turns out, when we want to move from there, we can’t take the number. “Oh, man, it’s on my business cards, it’s on my website.” One of those small things I didn’t think about. There were lessons learned and mistakes made and time wasted. But you put the effort in; you learn and grow.

Dabagoglu: I didn’t get an office. I knew enough attorneys, if it came down to it and somebody wanted to meet me in an office setting, I could ask for a favor and pay them hourly. But it was never an issue. I told potential clients I could meet them wherever they were, because I was in court all the time. I would say, “I happen to have court that day anyway. I can swing by and meet you at a Starbucks.” A lot of my meetings happened in coffeeshops or food courts.

Singh: We’re planning on moving to a bigger office. We’re hiring one or two paralegals. If we do it wisely, we should deliver better services for our clients in a more cost-efficient manner.

Mesher: I had a client whose father had died, and then his brother was in the same office, and his brother died. He said I could move in there if I wanted. Huge office. I called it the Death Chamber. I still have that office, but a friend and his brother bought a building in Tacoma, on the water. We drink coffee, read the paper and I do work.

Hofmann: It was three years before I found the rhythm. I don’t think there really was anything that was easy.

“Don’t fly by the seat of your pants. You have to be the CEO and the CMO and the COO.” —Stacia Hofmann

Solo Life

Dabagoglu: My biggest case so far was a wrongful death case. My client was a very hardworking person, basically lived on such a bare minimum that all the money that he made was going to his children and his wife. His life was cut short because somebody didn’t look the other way. We were able to get a settlement that is going to take care of the children as soon as they’re old enough. That was fulfilling. That reenergized me.

Guin: I had picked up a large construction dispute for a client in Montana about a year before I made the decision to leave the firm. That ended up lasting three or four years, with a monthlong jury trial in Montana. Lots of documents and depositions and experts. We had to bring in technical experts to talk about the characteristics of concrete and asphalt and aggregate. It was a very trying case for the jury to have to sit through for a month, for sure. Ended up with a successful jury verdict. It was a construction of a new runway on an airport, and I was representing the contractor. The airport had rejected a large portion of the runway, and they were asking the contractor to tear it out and redo it, and hadn’t paid the contractor because of that. It was a high-profile case. A lot of political highlights. They were in the newspaper quite a bit. It let me know I could handle sizable litigation as a solo, with the right resources.

Hofmann: There was a client I had early on who had a complex business model—it involved vehicles and renting them out—and they were looking for help with their contracts. There’s a lot of regulation in that, a lot of different types of risk. That was a fun client to have, because I got to do the sort of risk management I was seeking.

Duncan: There was this guardianship case I worked on of a minor child. The parents passed away, so essentially both sets of grandparents were fighting over custody of this child, a sweet little innocent boy who was very young. And the opposing party was not necessarily operating with the best intentions. My clients, one set of grandparents, were not able to see their grandson. Everything was emotionally charged about the situation because the parents have passed. We ended up achieving a favorable outcome for a case that went on for over a year. That case ended up going to trial. It was nice being able to see, once the trial ended, my clients walk out of the courtroom with their grandson. This is why I do this type of work.

Mesher: One I did for free. The guy whose office I moved into—his father’s and brother’s office, the Death Chamber—he applied for a building permit to demolish one of his warehouses. While the building permit was pending, the building burned down. But the building was still occupied. Got him insurance coverage for that. Seven figures. We got the decision out of the insurer on coverage about two years ago. In addition to getting my toxic-tort cases either dismissed or resolved at a value that the client is happy with, this one was pretty good.

Singh: We did some real estate transactions and commercial and residential closings. I found I enjoyed that. We had great clients. We delivered right away; they paid right away. It gave me an idea: “OK, I definitely want to continue in this area.”

Free Advice

Guin: Developing budgets, doing a business plan, figuring out where your clients are going to come from—all those things you learn with a bigger firm—translate easily into a solo practice. I still do those things after 16 years on my own. I have a budget that I update quarterly and review it regularly.

Mesher: If you’re not a business law attorney, make sure you hire the right people. Having to pay taxes on revenue to the city of Tacoma and the state of Washington, that’s a learning process on corporate filings. If they taught it in law school, I didn’t take the class.

Duncan: Build a network. Having people I can run ideas off of has been invaluable. We’re all busy, especially as solo practitioners, but if you ask, people are willing to help.

Singh: Get the foundational things first: Where do you want to practice? When do you want to practice? Who are your clients? What do you not want to practice? I think young attorneys start out: “Let’s just do everything.” Bad idea.

Hofmann: Don’t fly by the seat of your pants. You have to be the CEO and the CMO and the COO.

Dabagoglu: Do it! There is enough business to go around.