Starting Your Own Practice? Make the Shutdown Your Head Start
By Steve RichardsonStarting a sole practice or going to the Bar means running a business as well as practising law. Steve Richardson of SILQ argues the end-of-year shutdown is a good time to get the back office in order.
When you first decided to start your own practice, you probably didn't realise it would also mean becoming the accountant, the IT department, the bookkeeper and the receptionist, often before your first matter has even been opened. Nobody warns you about that part of the job.
If you are a new Solicitor, or a Barrister going out on your own, take a breath. This is a common place to be, and it is completely fixable.
At a Glance
- Who it is for: New Solicitors, junior Barristers and solo practitioners setting up their own practice
- The problem: Admin, Trust accounting, scattered files and no one to ask
- What SILQ offers: An onboarding manager, a helpdesk, automatic bank feeds, Xero integration and Microsoft 365 integration
- When to switch: Over the end-of-year shutdown, when courts wind down and calendars clear
The Things Nobody Teaches You
Running a practice takes a different skill set, and most of us learn it the hard way. These are the pain points we hear about most:
- Admin that eats your day: Time entries, invoices and follow-ups pile up, and every hour spent on them is an hour not spent on paid legal work
- Money that feels risky: Trust accounting and reconciliations carry real obligations, and a spreadsheet at 9 pm is nobody's idea of fun
- Scattered emails and files: Client emails sit in one place, documents in another and diary entries somewhere else
- No one to ask: In a larger firm, someone down the hall knows how things work. On your own, there often isn't anyone
What If the Software Looked After Itself?
SILQ is Australian practice management software for Solicitors and Barristers. You want to focus on your legal work until you can afford to hand the admin to someone else, so we focus on what makes the biggest day-to-day difference.
Support That Is There When You Need It
Every new SILQ customer gets an onboarding manager who walks you through set-up. After that, our helpdesk is only a message or a phone call away, with real people who understand legal practices.
Automatic Bank Feeds and Xero Integration
SILQ's bank feeds comply with the Consumer Data Right (CDR) and bring in your transactions automatically, so you enter far less by hand. If you use Xero, our integration keeps your books tidy without you having to think about it.
Microsoft 365, Built In
SILQ connects with your Microsoft 365 email, calendar and cloud storage, so correspondence, diary entries and documents sit alongside the matter they belong to.
A Note for Baby Barristers and New Solo Practitioners
You are learning the craft and running a practice for the first time. SILQ handles the basics reliably so you can keep your head in the brief, not in the back office.
Why Is the Shutdown a Good Time to Switch?
The quiet weeks of the end-of-year break are one of the few times when courts wind down and calendars clear. That makes it a good moment to set yourself up properly. You can work through onboarding at your own pace and connect your bank feeds, Xero and Microsoft 365 before the new year, so you walk back in ready to go.
Why It Matters
For new practitioners, practice administration competes directly with billable work, and Trust accounting carries real compliance obligations. Setting up systems during a quiet period, rather than in the middle of live matters, gives both the attention they need.
Ready to Start the Year on the Right Foot?
Book a chat with our team or start a free trial, and we will get you set up before the new year.
Steve is the Co-Founder and CTO of SILQ, where he has led the platform’s technical development since its inception. Combining deep engineering expertise with a focus on practical design, he continuously evolves the software to meet shifting industry needs and user feedback.
