Today, more and more solo practitioners and attorneys at small firms are giving up their large corner offices and choosing to work from home.

Some 30 years ago, this would have been frowned upon or seen as an option only for “extreme” circumstances, such as semi-retirement or a disability. But today, with more attorneys re-evaluating their desire for time with their families and the burdening costs of running an office, working from home has become the ideal way to have the best of all worlds.

Attorneys who capitalize on the work spaces in their homes are saving considerably by not having to incur a monthly rental payment. In downtown Houston, the cost to rent an office space can be exorbitant. Denise Hamilton, a commercial real estate broker for CB Richard Ellis, has noticed an ongoing trend from Houston law firms seeking to reduce their real estate commitment either by “downsizing or streamlining their office space.” According to Hamilton, the average downtown office space rents for between $20 and $40 per square foot.

A home office also saves attorneys from incurring other expenses, such as water and coffee delivery services, telephone answering services, and parking expenses. The costs for parking downtown can range from $50 to $300 per month, according to Hamilton.[1] However, by managing your law practice from your home, the costs saved on office space rent and other expenses can now go directly to the pockets of the attorneys.

While costs are generally the biggest factor in considering a home office, they are not the only criteria. Many attorneys consider home offices to obtain a balance between family and work. In turn, law firms are weighing in more heavily on the benefits even beyond the financial aspects of allowing their attorneys to work from home. Specifically, firms do not want to lose an attorney that brings value to their clients and the overall production of their business. Therefore, they are choosing to support attorneys who are committed to working from home, as the effect of losing that attorney would be far greater.

Such was the case of Jan Hueber, an attorney of 21 years and a partner of 13 years with Cotten Schmidt & Abbott, L.L.P. (“Cotten Schmidt”), a Fort Worth based law firm with offices in Houston, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana. For the past three years, Hueber has worked successfully from her home office in Bedford, Virginia while working at Cotten Schmidt. The opportunity presented itself in July 2006 when Hueber’s husband received a job offer to work in Bedford, his hometown. At the time, Hueber was a practicing attorney of 18 years and a partner of over nine years with Cotten Schmidt. As a seasoned attorney, she was faced with the difficult decision of whether to start her career over at a new firm or open her own office as a solo practitioner. In evaluating her options, Hueber recalled that she “truly enjoyed practicing with her colleagues and was not willing to give it up” at this stage of her career. Also, Hueber’s son was in the fifth grade at the time and she did not want to miss any of his childhood.

Hueber’s partners recognized her contribution to the firm and the value of her practice and were very supportive when she suggested the option of telecommuting. Now, three years later, Hueber telecommutes daily from Bedford to the firm’s Fort Worth office. She travels to Fort Worth once every four to six weeks. She typically stays in Fort Worth for one week to handle all local hearings and depositions. The remainder of her time is spent working in her Bedford office, quietly secluded in a back room of her home. While there are challenges with working in a home office in a completely separate time zone than your colleagues, Hueber considers herself lucky to be able to continue working with a great group of attorneys and people she considers friends, while at the same time being with her family in Bedford.

As Hueber and many like her can confirm, with the advances of technology, anyone with a laptop, high speed internet connection, phone, and printer can productively run a home office. Working at home can be a great arrangement for lawyers, for several reasons:

1. You are no longer required to endure lengthy commutes to the office. Many Houston attorneys endure two or more hours commuting to and from their jobs. With a home office, those hours can now be better spent on your business or with your family.
   
   
2. You can be free from the rigorous demands and timetable of a corporate environment. Working from home enables you to have more control over your schedule and your quality of life. You are no longer constrained to working the typical business hours. Instead, having a home office provides the luxury of choosing times to work that coordinate best with your schedule, provided that your law firm is amenable to an alternative schedule.
   
   
3. You may be able to enjoy several tax benefits from your home office, provided that your law firm is amenable to an alternative schedule. For further information, contact your tax accountant or visit the Internal Revenue Service’s website at http://www.irs.gov. Most helpful is IRS Publication 587, entitled “Business Use of Your Home.”[2] Publication 587 has detailed information on rules for the business use of your home, including how to determine if your home office qualifies as your principal place of business.[3] Nevertheless, “whether you are self-employed or... an employee, you may be able to deduct certain expenses for the part of your home you use for business.”[4] To deduct expenses for business use of the home, part of your home must be used regularly and exclusively as one of the following: 1. the principal place of business for your trade or business; 2. the place where you meet and deal with your patients, clients, or customers in the normal course of your trade or business; or 3. in connection with your trade or business, if you use a separate structure that is not attached to your home.[5]
   
   
4. You no longer have to adhere to a dress code. When working from home, wearing suits, dresses, ties, or high heels can be a part of your past. Working from your home office makes your environment much more relaxed, and that now includes your attire.
   

While starting a home office may sound appealing, it is not always easy to accomplish. The transition from a fully-equipped office, with a secretary, high-end copiers and fax machines, IT specialists, and morning doughnuts all at your fingertips to a home-based office with only you, can be frustrating. As such, there are definite challenges that one should consider before committing to working from home, namely:

1. You may find distractions within your home that make it challenging to get work completed. Often, things such as the television, household chores, pets, children, friends, and family begin to intercede into your morning regimen. These things can begin to take over your work day and keep you from focusing on your business. Therefore, in order to successfully work from home, you must remain disciplined to ensure that these diversions do not hamper your effectiveness.
   
   
2. It may become exceedingly difficult to keep your work and home life separate. You may find yourself working longer hours from home rather than enjoying family time with your spouse or children. Likewise, with a home office within arms length of your couch, it may be difficult to mentally disconnect from work. In so doing, you may find yourself constantly thinking of work, even during times when you should be relaxing.
   
   
3. It may be challenging to transition from working in an office space among several colleagues to working only by yourself, within the quiet four walls of your home office. The lack of human interaction while working from home may make you feel isolated.
   
   
4. You may find that even today with the advancements in the workforce, there is still a stigma associated with running a law office out of your home. Solo practitioners may feel the effects of this the most. It may be a little more challenging to convince a new or prospective client to give you her business if you work from home, the rationale being that some companies are still of the older mindset. This stigma can sometimes be quickly changed for the positive by providing the client a lower billable rate and explaining that your home office does not require you to incur the high operational costs to serve the client’s needs.
   
   
5. You no longer have the luxury of utilizing a large conference room for client meetings or interviews. As a solution, attorneys facing this problem will rent or borrow a conference room from another firm or rely upon companies that provide virtual offices. A virtual office enables an attorney to use a conference room and office at a low monthly rate without incurring the operational costs of running an actual office.
   

Despite the above challenges, it is clear that with the economic struggles being what they are and more attorneys working 50 to 60 hours a week away from their families, creating a home office will become even more appealing. So, if you are seriously considering starting a home office, be certain to thoroughly evaluate your law practice and be honest about how your work environment can promote or hinder your productivity. In so doing, you will be one step closer to making your home office experience a success.

Lisa Brindle Talbot is an associate at Cotten Schmidt & Abbott’s Houston office. Talbot’s practice areas include commercial, insurance and environmental litigation.

Endnotes
1. This fee can depend upon several factors, including whether the parking is covered or in a reserved parking space 2. See http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc509.html - Topic 509: Business Use of Home; see also, Form 1040, Schedule A and Form 8829 3. See http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc509.html - Topic 509: Business Use of Home. 4. See id. 5. Id.