How to start a law firm in Australia: the practical checklist from practising certificate to first client

Strategy12 min readReviewed 11 September 2026

Starting a law firm in Australia is mostly a sequence of regulatory steps, each of which has a body that publishes exactly what it requires, followed by a shorter list of commercial decisions that most new principals get to too late. The regulatory part is well documented by the law societies and the professional indemnity insurers. The commercial part, how the firm will actually get its first twenty clients, is where new firms most often stall, because they open the door and wait. This guide walks the regulatory sequence briefly, with pointers to the primary sources, then spends its second half on the part nobody sends you a checklist for.

It is written for solicitors in Australia considering their own practice. It is general guidance, not advice about your circumstances, and the requirements differ by state, so the regulator for your jurisdiction is the authority on every point below.

Part one: the regulatory sequence

1. Are you eligible to be a principal?

In the Uniform Law states (New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia) and under the equivalent legislation elsewhere, a solicitor generally needs to have completed a period of supervised legal practice before holding a practising certificate that allows unsupervised or principal practice. In NSW that period is typically two years for those who completed practical legal training, or 18 months for those who completed articles. The Law Society of NSW’s page on supervised legal practice sets out the detail and the process for applying to have the condition removed. Check your state’s equivalent before you do anything else, because it determines whether you can open at all.

2. Practice management course

Most jurisdictions require a principal to have completed an approved practice management course before, or within a set period after, taking on that role. The law societies run and approve these. Book it early; they fill.

3. Choose a structure

Sole practitioner, partnership, or an incorporated legal practice (a company). The Law Society of NSW’s practice structures page explains the options and the notification requirements. The choice affects tax, liability, how you bring in a partner later, and what you must notify the regulator of. Get accounting and, ideally, a colleague’s advice before deciding; changing structure later is possible but tedious.

4. Professional indemnity insurance

Compulsory, and state-specific. In NSW it is through Lawcover; in Victoria through the Legal Practitioners’ Liability Committee (LPLC); other states have their own arrangements. The insurer’s new-practice material is usually the best practical guide to the risk management systems they expect you to have, which doubles as a checklist for setting up the firm.

5. Trust account, or a decision not to have one

If you will hold client money you need a trust account that complies with the trust money rules, an external examiner, and the record-keeping to match. Some new practices deliberately structure to avoid receiving trust money at first, for example by using fixed fees paid on invoice, which removes a significant compliance burden while the firm is small. The Law Society of NSW’s trust money and fidelity fund page covers the obligations.

6. Business registration and tax

An ABN, GST registration (legal services are taxable supplies and most firms exceed the threshold quickly), and if incorporated, an ACN through ASIC. The ATO’s starting-a-business material covers the tax side. A business bank account separate from any trust account. An accountant who has acted for law firms before, because the trust account and the professional obligations affect the bookkeeping.

7. Costs disclosure and engagement documents

Before you take a client you need compliant costs disclosure and a costs agreement that meets your jurisdiction’s requirements, plus an engagement letter, a file opening procedure and a conflicts check process. Precedents are available through the law societies. Get these right before the first matter, because the first matter is when they get tested.

Part two: systems that a small firm needs on day one

Keep it minimal, but do not skip these.

Part three: how a new firm gets its first clients

This is the half that determines whether the firm survives the first year, and it needs a plan before the door opens, not after. A new firm has no reviews, no rankings and no referral network of its own. It has one asset: the principal’s existing relationships. The plan is to convert those into work quickly while building the assets that produce clients without them.

Before opening

• Tell everyone, personally. Former colleagues, opposing solicitors you respect, barristers you have briefed, accountants and brokers you have shared clients with, and past clients where the conduct rules and your former firm’s arrangements allow. A short personal email or call to each, not a mass announcement. This is where the first ten matters come from at most new firms.
• Choose a patch. One practice area and one place where you can be the obvious choice. A new firm doing “everything” is invisible everywhere.
• Name, brand and website ready for day one. A clear name, a simple identity, and a website with a real page for the practice area, the principal’s bio and credentials, and a working phone number and form. Our law firm branding guide covers naming and identity, and the website design guide covers what the site needs to do.
• Google Business Profile created and verified. Verification can take weeks. Start it before opening.

The first 90 days

• Reviews from the first matters. Ask every satisfied client, with a link. Five reviews in the first quarter changes how the firm looks to the next twenty prospects.
• One guide a fortnight. The questions your first clients asked, answered in writing on the website. This is the beginning of the search visibility that, in six to nine months, replaces the personal network as the main source of enquiries. The full sequence is in our 90-day guide to marketing a new law firm.
• Referral relationships, deliberately. Two coffees a week with people who see your future clients before you do. Our referral marketing guide covers how to make those relationships two-way and durable.
• Google Ads, small and specific, if the practice area suits it. Urgent matter types, a tight suburb radius, exact-match terms, call tracking. A few hundred dollars a month can produce the first enquiries from strangers while SEO builds. Our Google Ads for lawyers guide has the setup.

What starting a firm costs

Highly variable, and dominated by three items: professional indemnity insurance, practice management software and the principal’s own unbilled time in the first months. Excluding premises and salaries, a lean sole-practice setup, with insurance, software, business-grade IT, a website, a Google Business Profile and the regulatory fees, commonly lands somewhere in the low tens of thousands in the first year. The bigger number is the working capital to carry the firm until billing catches up with costs, which for most new practices means three to six months of personal expenses in reserve. An accountant with law firm clients can turn this into a real budget for your circumstances.

The mistakes we see most

• Opening without a costs agreement precedent and a conflicts check process, then improvising on the first matter.
• Waiting until month three to create the Google Business Profile, then waiting another month for verification.
• A website that says “full-service law firm” and lists nine practice areas, none of which the firm is known for.
• Treating the personal network as beneath a marketing plan, and never actually telling it.
• Taking every matter in the first six months, including the ones the firm is not set up to run, because the phone rang.

If you are at the planning stage and want a second opinion on the patch, the name or the website, our new law firm marketing page explains how we work with firms before they open, and the marketing plan template is built for exactly this stage.