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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.

By Jules Weinstein

In the current economic climate, revenues are falling while operating expenses are climbing.  Wouldn’t it be nice if it were just the opposite?  The good news is that there are alternatives.  Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Entrepreneur, there are ways to save on overhead while growing your revenues. As a small, start-up or home-based company you have choices.

The best choice that I know of is the concept of a Virtual Office Space.  What is a Virtual Office Space, you ask?

A virtual office is a physical location with full mail service included, and a private phone number answered in your company’s name by a professional receptionist, and then forwarded directly to you, or to your voicemail. And most importantly, you have a place where you can meet your clients to conduct and conclude business whenever you need to in a state-of-the-art conference room, or private office.

Just think about how much you can save and grow.  Instead of paying several thousands of dollars for a full-time office, you pay only a few hundred dollars for all these services.  Don’t forget the savings in gas and travel time.

Now let’s look at the positive strategic applications:

1. If you were looking to buy high-end widgets from a company, would your first inclination be to go with a company from say (I hate to do this, but I have to choose one), Culver City (again, I absolutely have nothing against Culver City, in fact, I love Culver City, and especially the wonderful downtown renovation they’re going through), or from a company that is in the heart of the business district in say, Beverly Hills.
2. Would you rather buy these really cool widgets from somebody who answers their own phone or always has their voicemail on using their own voice, or a live, professional receptionist answering in your company’s name?  Which company sounds more credible and legitimate to you?
3. Would you rather do business with someone who meets you at the trendy coffee-shop (also, I love trendy coffee shops, even not-so trendy coffee shops, hell, I love coffee), or a state-of-the-art conference room?

Sounds like an easy choice to me.  And guess what?  The cost for a virtual office space is negligible.  Everything I just described costs you anywhere from $165 - $195.

Richard Fine, the Norwegian Consulate General, told us that he expects to save over $75,000 this year alone.  He also commented; “we’ve been able to fine tune our supervisory approach, so now we don’t have to pay anymore downtime or for office space that isn’t being utilized the right way. Instead of worrying about tedious administrative details or personal issues, it’s allowed us to focus on the critical tasks at hand such as gaining clientele and boosting trade revenues.”

Dan Manheim, CEO of Global Business Centers in Beverly Hills, a leading provider of virtual offices and executive suites around the world explains; “the object of a virtual office is to fully assist business owners and entrepreneurs in building, protecting, and expanding their prestige and profits during both good times and bad.”  Manheim has created, what he calls a Recession Proof Program that provides clients with the best of both worlds; “by combining the advantages of both physical and virtual offices, a company can move all or part of their operations to our facility where they can combat rising expenses related to higher rents, out-of-control energy costs and a myriad of other business related expenses; in other words, our clients can easily downsize their operations without downsizing their image or income.”

So it really doesn’t matter if you’re a start-up, home-based, small or medium sized business, a virtual office can help you reduce your overhead, without reducing your revenues.  Twenty years ago we heard about the technology revolution that was coming, and it’s now here in full force, and virtual offices are a big part of it.

For any question or inquires, Jules Weinstein can be reached at 310-860-4777,

877-889-0120 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it