Journey to Building a Solo Law Practice
This week we’re hearing from Cindy Wysocki, a public defender who left to build her own practice in family law and estate planning.
A female-focused glimpse into different paths to financial success.
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What's your age, location, pronouns?
49, WA, she/her
What’s your current job?
I am an estate planning and collaborative family law attorney. I help families plan for peace and avoid the need to submit disputes to court by creating documents such as wills, trusts, prenuptial agreements, postnuptial agreements, community property agreements, and property settlement agreements. I help people create divorce agreements, parenting plans and child support orders within a cooperative or collaborative legal process.
Walk us through your pay journey. How did your income progress over time? What were the turning points that led to the most salary growth or loss? What were times where you struggled the most?
I started my legal career after law school in 2006 working as a public defender. I knew this was not a long-term career, but the job market for lawyers was tight at that time and I took the job I could get. Because I knew I had not found a long-term career, I was frugal with my modest earnings ($47,900 per year). While at the public defender, I married. After three years at the public defender and saving $40,000 (which seemed like a lot of money), I left the public defender's office and convinced my husband to quit his job to travel for six months in East Africa, Nepal, India and Thailand.
After returning from travel, our son was born. I started my own law firm 10 months later so I could work-part time, choose my clients (unlike the public defender where clients are assigned) and spend more time with my son while he was small. I didn't make a lot of money, but always made enough to pay for childcare and increase my family's standard of living. It seemed people desperately needed help with family law matters (divorces, parenting plans, child support), so that's what I did.
I learned the practice by developing relationships with other attorneys in the community, and sometimes spinning my wheels on a steep learning curve. I always prioritized developing and maintaining my professional skills, even as I worked part-time. When my son was small, my business worked like a water faucet, where I could turn up or down the work simply by taking more or fewer clients. I had no business plan other than keeping my expenses as low as possible. I did this until my son was 4 years-old and then ramped up my business and my income to full-time in preparation for a second child and time off from work following her birth.
When my daughter was an infant I did a little work, and when she turned one year-old I began practicing law full-time again. The work quickly overwhelmed me and my lack of business savvy. My income at this time was enough to support my family by myself. However, I had no idea how to run a business, so I joined a business coaching program. The business coaching cost more than our mortgage, which was scary at first, but over two years of coaching, I developed most of the basic components of a business.
My income quickly grew to significantly exceed my husband's earnings and our household budget, including private school and maxing out retirement savings. In 2022, my husband was able to take time off of work to parent full-time, read an enormous number of data science textbooks, and change careers to pursue his growing passion (data science in the power industry). When my husband went back to work in his new career in February, 2023, I began plotting a change in my business. Rather than relying on litigating family law cases for most of my income, my professional goal is to help families avoid court altogether through estate planning and collaborative family law.
That transition is currently underway, and my income has dropped in 2024 as the business transitions away from lucrative (and toxic) litigation into more proactive, planning-based work, which will require for the first time addition of a missing pierce of my business: marketing. The success of my new business plan has yet to be determined, and my foray into marketing my business has barely begun. For the first time this year, I am spending more money on the business than I am earning, as I close out my few remaining litigation cases and ramp up my estate planning and collaborative law practice. Over fourteen years, my business has been dynamic, morphing to meet my family's changing needs, wants, and my personal ideals and lifestyle goals.
At times when you took significant job risks, did you have a safety net?
I am taking a risk now by throwing out my bread and butter (litigation) and spending more money on the business (marketing plan is in the works). I do have a safety net (savings from my past profits).
Any recent purchases that made you excited or happy?
I'm not a big spender. I did enjoy purchasing an Apple watch and fancy running gear to train for a half marathon last fall. Oh, and an impulse trip to Costa Rica - with all the luxuries including expedited passports! That was a joy.
What’s one of the worst money mistakes you’ve ever made?
One of the worst money mistakes is neglectful management of my retirement savings. For years, I would put money away and not properly manage it. I also started saving for retirement later than would have been ideal.
What’s one of the best financial decisions you’ve ever made?
Investing in my business has been the absolute best financial decision I've made. The business allows me to make more money than I could ever save by being frugal (my default money skill I learned as a kid). When I find myself feeling stingy (which happens), I remind myself that the power is mine to make money. I can turn the water faucet up higher if I need/want more money.
Would you attribute your financial success to luck, privilege, timing, and/or hard work?
There has been more hard work than luck. Sometimes I feel like I am banging my head against a wall on repeat. But when I look back, I see progress and purposeful change over time.
What job or pay advice would you give to your younger self? What have been your biggest learnings?
You are more powerful than you think. Work the plan - you might accomplish less in a year than you want, but you can accomplish more in five years than you could imagine. Ignore the circular, catastrophizing thoughts - they are noise.
What would you want to be if you weren't doing this job?
I would run a float spa - and I may do that one day.
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