If you search the wisdom of the Internet, you will find a million answers to this question: When should you hire your first employee?  Any of the answers you find, could be right for your specific situation.  As lawyers often say, it depends.

For me, I hired my first employee – an intern- when I found that my legal work was starting to interfere with my business work.  What I mean by that is that I started to realize that I was spending all my time answering the phones, doing client consultations, drafting motions, going to court, etc. and not enough time networking, marketing, and working on the business.  The realization is that if I kept on that path, I would be busy, yes, but I would never grow bigger because I wasn’t investing in the future but rather, I was simply concentrating on the here and now.

I hired my first employee through the Northeastern University School of law coop system and it was fantastic.  My first intern (who I have subsequently hired as an associate) did most of the legal work, while I supervised.  It freed up my time so I could take my contacts out to lunch, network and market by writing blogs posts and joining Boards and Councils.  Without help, I would’ve never grown my firm to the point where it is now with 3 associates.

What about money?  You are bound to lose money when you hire an employee at first.  That employee will not be able to generate you the business but over time, picking a good employee, whether we’re talking about a secretary, paralegal, associate or law clerk, will make you money.  It just harks back to the old addage – you have to spend money to make money.  But remember to spend your money wisely.