Maybe you just graduated from law school and opened up your own practice in your hometown or joined an existing small law firm. You want to be a success, but there is no shortage of lawyers. You want to expand your client base as much as possible, but you don`t have the resources for a large PR campaign and aren’t well known enough for word of mouth business.

Having an online presence is a necessity in these times and the first step is a website. If you want a professionally designed website, it can cost several thousand dollars. If you have basic technical knowledge, you can create your own website using platforms such as Drupal and WordPress.

These are relatively user-friendly content management systems and they provide many website templates, so if you needed to, you could simply plug in the information for a website. Why is a website important? When a person needs a lawyer, they don`t look it up in the phone book anymore. They go to a search engine to find one. A website is your portal to new clients. A well designed website that highlights your skills and knowledge along with easily accessible contact information can begin generating leads as soon as it`s indexed by Google and other search engines.

In a world dominated by cloud computing and virtual everything, you can save money by having a virtual office. A laptop, tablet and cell phone can be your office manager and an answering service can be your receptionist. You don`t even need to have a brick and mortar building. Check your messages on the road, access your financial and contact records via your laptop or tablet and you can be completely plugged in.

There are also companies such as Total Attorneys that specialize in creating efficient virtual offices. They are cloud-based companies that assist in all aspects of your practice from marketing to office management. What makes these companies a hit with small firms is that they can pool the resources of all their clients to save money on large-scale projects. For example, it would cost a single firm considerably more for advertising, but if a company like Total Attorneys could broker for 100 law firms, the advertising company would probably provide a price break.

They can also assist you in all aspects of your office management including legal software, invoicing, data storage and client collaboration. You can focus on gaining clients and winning cases and Total Attorneys can keep your one-man office running smoothly and efficiently.

Most new law school graduates have to start at the bottom and work for several years before they have the clout and clients to start their own practice. With today`s low cost alternatives like Total Attorneys, new grads can start out with all the help they need to begin their own practice.

There are a million law degrees graduates out there and they all want to be the best. The ones that rise to the top are those not afraid to take the bull by the horns and try something new. With today`s technological advances, you can shoot to the top right from the start.