Back in 2013, the legal service industry in the U.S. generated $256.66 billion in revenue. By 2018, it rose to approximately 288 billion. Since the global recession in 2009, the overall industry revenue continually increased year-on-year.
In 2018, there were more than a million people in a legal occupation in the country. By 2022, it is expected to rise to 1.38 million. The majority of this number is composed of lawyers. They also earned the highest salary in this industry, with an average earning of $144,000 per year.
Given these statistics, a lot of us think that business opportunities in the legal industry are limited. But the reality is far from it. There are various ways lawyers or attorneys could utilize their education and even earn more with a side business.
With that in mind, here are eight lucrative business opportunities for those in the legal industry in 2022.
Go Solo! Start a Private Practice
When you love to be the boss, you might want to consider going on solo practice. The chances of succeeding in your solo career are high when you set up your practice in rural areas. The competition is low in these places.
Nonetheless, you can also increase your chance of success by renting a space adjacent to a business with the potential for cross-referrals. This includes insurance brokerages and accounting firms.
Provide Counseling Services
Lawyers enter the legal profession with the main goal of helping others. Considering this, it is easier for you to transition into a field, even if it may seem unrelated. For instance, you may want to consider a career in counseling.
There are various areas of counseling you might like, including but not limited to marriage and family counseling, career counseling, and sports counseling. Remember that before you could work as a counselor you would need to obtain another certification or qualification.
Be a Legal Consultant
There are tons of businesses, especially small ones, that do not have an official legal adviser. The main reason is that their business is too small to retain legal counsel. But they need the help of a lawyer to make sure that their company practices, policies, and employee manual comply with labor laws and other government mandates.
So some companies hire lawyers to train their employees on how to improve their compliance. Others hire lawyers to help revise employee handbooks and contracts to make sure they are in line with the law.
Be a Career Coach
When you have worked in your profession for many years, you gain more wisdom. You have more understanding of the upsides and downsides of the legal profession. You are aware as well of the worst challenges one could face in the profession. Nonetheless, you also know ways for quick success.
Since you now have the knowledge and wisdom of being a lawyer, you could give sound advice to those just starting in the legal profession.
Write a Book
You might also consider writing a book to cater to law students and young lawyers with the knowledge and experience you learn as a practicing lawyer. It could be a law textbook on a field you are an expert in or a guide in becoming a successful lawyer.
Nonetheless, your book does not have to be about law-related stuff too. There is this California-based lawyer, Tucker Max, who published his infamous book ‘I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell’. Though it garnered a lot of negative reviews, still his tales offer a good hearty laugh.
Become an Agent or Manager
Having a solid background as a lawyer makes it easy for you to become an agent for talented individuals. It could be for an artist, celebrities, performers, artists, and athletes. These talents need the help of an agent who could help them close excellent deals, make negotiations, and handle any legal matters.
Open a Bail Bonding Firm
If you’re tired of representing a client but still want to be involved with the legal industry, you could open a commercial bail bonding firm. Just remember, once you become a bail bondsman, you cannot have professional connections in the local legal system. Requirements vary from state to state, but your knowledge of the law could help your firm be a success.
Write a Blog
If you have a lot of spare time at hand and love writing, then blogging might be the right side business for you. It is easy to set up a blog these days since plenty of platforms offer preset blog formats for free.
You could write about just any topic that interests you, whether about law-related matters or hobbies.
Opportunities in the legal industry are enormous. Hopefully, these suggestions will give you an idea of what side business to start.
