How to Start a Solo Law Practice in Texas: Tech Stack & Intake Setup Guide

Why Now Is a Good Time to Go Solo in Texas

Texas has more solo and small-firm attorneys than almost any other state — and for good reason. The state's business-friendly environment, no income tax, and large legal market make it one of the best places to build an independent practice. Austin, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio all have strong demand across criminal defense, family law, personal injury, and estate planning.

The technology barrier that used to make going solo painful has largely collapsed. Practice management software that cost $500/month five years ago now runs $49. Intake forms that required a developer to build are now templates. Digital signatures replaced FedEx. If you have the clients, the tools exist to serve them efficiently without a full support staff.

That said, the operational checklist to get from "employed attorney" to "solo practice" is non-trivial. Here's exactly what you need to do, in order.

Step 1: Choose Your Business Entity (and File It Right)

Texas gives attorneys three primary entity options: sole proprietorship, Professional Limited Liability Company (PLLC), or Professional Corporation (PC). Most solo attorneys in Texas go with a PLLC.

Why PLLC over sole prop? Personal liability protection. If someone sues your firm — not for malpractice (which your insurance covers) but for a contract dispute or premises issue — a PLLC keeps your personal assets separate. The Texas State Bar permits PLLCs for attorneys under the Texas Occupations Code.

• File with the Texas Secretary of State: Submit the Certificate of Formation online through SOSDirect. Fee: $308
• Register with the State Bar: Notify the State Bar of Texas of your new firm name and entity within 30 days
• Get an EIN: Apply free at IRS.gov (takes 10 minutes online). Required for business banking
• Open a business checking account: Separate from personal accounts, separate from your IOLTA trust account

Timeline: 3–7 business days for SOS filing. Budget $400–600 total for entity setup including any registered agent fees.

Step 2: Get Malpractice Insurance Before You Take a Client

Texas does not require attorneys to carry malpractice insurance — but it's one of the most important decisions you'll make as a solo. Without coverage, a single claim can end your practice before it starts.

For a Texas solo attorney, expect:

• Premium range: $1,200–$3,500/year for most practice areas at $1M/$3M coverage
• Higher premiums: Personal injury plaintiff work, securities litigation, and criminal defense with federal exposure run higher
• Lower premiums: Estate planning, real estate, business transactional work
• Texas carriers to quote: TLIE (Texas Lawyers Insurance Exchange), ALPS, Lawyers Protective, Chubb

Tip: TLIE is Texas-specific and has competitive rates for solo attorneys. Get quotes from at least 3 carriers before binding. Some carriers offer a prior acts tail when you leave a firm — ask about this if you're carrying matters from your previous employer.

Step 3: Set Up Your IOLTA Trust Account

If you will handle client funds at any point — retainers, settlement proceeds, escrow — you are required under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct to maintain a separate Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA).

The Texas Access to Justice Foundation administers the IOLTA program. Setup steps:

• Open a separate IOLTA account at an approved Texas financial institution
• Register with the State Bar's IOLTA program (required within 30 days of opening)
• Never commingle client funds with your operating account — this is a disciplinary violation
• Keep scrupulous records: every deposit and withdrawal, ledger per client matter

Common banks for IOLTA in Texas: Bank of America, Frost Bank, Chase, Regions. Call them and specifically ask to open an IOLTA account — tell them it's for an attorney trust account so they waive fees and send interest to TAJF automatically.

Step 4: Choose Your Practice Management Software

This is where most new solos either set themselves up for efficiency or spend the next two years fighting their software. The right choice at this stage saves hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars. The wrong choice locks you into a platform that doesn't fit a one-person practice.

Here's the honest cost breakdown of the common options for a Texas solo:

For a solo attorney, you need intake forms, client management, and billing — not enterprise-tier everything. Steadfast Practice is purpose-built for one-person Texas practices at $49/mo.

Steadfast Practice includes practice-area-specific intake templates for all 9 major areas: Personal Injury, Family Law, Estate Planning, Criminal Defense, Business Law, Immigration, Real Estate, Workers' Comp, and General Practice. You're set regardless of which direction you take your practice.

Step 5: Set Up Client Intake Before You Launch

This step consistently gets skipped or deferred — and it's a mistake. Your intake system is your first impression. If a potential client calls you on a Tuesday evening and you have no way to capture their information digitally, you will lose them by Wednesday morning when a competitor follows up.

For a Texas solo, the intake stack you need on day one:

• Digital intake forms by practice area — not one generic form. A criminal defense client needs to tell you the charge and court date. A PI client needs to tell you the date of injury and treating physicians. Wrong form = useless information.
• Mobile-optimized forms — 60%+ of your leads will fill out a form on their phone. PDF or Word document forms get abandoned.
• Instant notification — you need to know within minutes when someone submits an intake form. Speed-to-contact is the biggest driver of intake conversion.
• Auto-confirmation email — when a client submits, they should immediately receive a "we got it, here's what happens next" email. This one step significantly reduces dropped leads.

For more on how intake mistakes cost attorneys time and money, read: 5 Client Intake Mistakes Costing Texas Solo Attorneys Hours Every Week.

Step 6: Marketing Basics — What Actually Works for a New Solo

Don't spend $5,000 on a website and SEO agency before you have your first five clients. In the first 90 days, focus only on channels with zero or near-zero cost that reliably produce referrals.

• State Bar member directory — Update your profile in the Texas State Bar member directory immediately. This is free, has high domain authority, and gets referrals from other attorneys.
• Google Business Profile — Create and fully complete your GBP listing. This is the single highest-ROI marketing action for a new local practice. Takes 2 hours, produces results for years.
• Former colleagues and classmates — Email every attorney you know. "I just launched my own practice in [city], focusing on [practice area]. Would love referrals if you encounter conflicts or out-of-jurisdiction matters." This costs nothing and often produces the first clients.
• TYLA and local bar events — Texas Young Lawyers Association and county bar associations run regular events where referral networks form fast.
• Avvo and Justia — Claim and complete your free profiles on both. These rank in Google for attorney searches in Texas cities.

For a deeper comparison of tech tools for Texas attorneys, see: Why Texas Solo Attorneys Are Ditching $8K/mo Practice Management Tools.

Step 7: First 90 Days — What to Focus On

The biggest mistake new solos make in their first 90 days is trying to do everything at once. Here's what actually matters in order:

1. Days 1–14: Entity formed, EIN obtained, business bank account open, IOLTA account open, malpractice insurance bound. Do not take any client funds before IOLTA is set up.
2. Days 15–30: Practice management software running, intake forms live for at least your primary practice area, Google Business Profile live and verified.
3. Days 31–60: First clients onboarded through your digital intake system. Identify any friction points in the intake flow and fix them.
4. Days 61–90: Review conversion rate from inquiry to retained client. If it's below 30%, your intake process or response time has a problem. Fix that before spending anything on marketing.

Key insight: A Texas solo practice can realistically run for $529–$1,580/month in hard overhead before you bill a single hour. That's the floor you need to cover before profitability. The goal of your tech stack should be to minimize this number while maximizing how many clients you can serve.

Also Read

• Why Texas Solo Attorneys Are Ditching $8K/mo Practice Management Tools
• 5 Client Intake Mistakes Costing Texas Solo Attorneys Hours Every Week