2009 marked a dismal year for lawyers in the United States.  The National Law Journal explained that there was a decline of over 5,259 attorneys at the top 250 law firms nationwide.  This was the largest cuts they have seen in the 30 years since they have been tracking these figures.

So what does this mean for new attorneys?  Well for one, it means that jobs within legal firms will be hard to come by and secondly that you may have to start thinking about self employment.  The idea of self employment as an attorney may not seem as glamorous as working in a big firm, but the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics found that approximately 27 percent of lawyers are self employed.  Fortunately there are options available to help new attorneys have the professionalism of a large firm without the large costs.

Virtual Offices offer attorneys the ability to have the benefits of a fully equipped office space as well as a full time receptionist at a fraction of the cost.   Some of the benefits received with a virtual office package are:

Mailing Address: Receive a prestigious mailing address for your practice with features like; automatic email notification of arriving packages, on-call mail staff to check your mail by phone, FedEx services, copy and mail forwarding.

Live Receptionist: Work from anywhere and have a live receptionist answer your calls and transfer them directly to you.  Record your own personal greeting for your Voice-Mail with 24/7 access.

Meeting Rooms by the Hour: Why spend the money to rent an office on a monthly basis when you can have them on call by the hour.  Meet you clients in luxurious conference rooms which can accommodate up to forty people.