Thinking, Going, Gone Solo: Tips for Starting a Solo Practice

Lauren Lester is a solo-preneur who practices family law in Colorado with her client-centered firm Lester Law. She is also the Co-Founder of On Purpose Legal Network, an online community of lawyers redefining success in the legal profession.
Lauren graduated from the University of Florida – Go Gators! – and earned her law degree from Georgia State University. Before becoming a lawyer, Lauren worked as a project manager for 10 years overseeing the website development for clients, including national brands. Lauren is passionate about the business of law and helping lawyers build practices they love.

Anne-Marie Rabago is Director of the Texas Opportunity & Justice Incubator (TOJI) at the State Bar of Texas. She led the April 2017 launch of TOJI and quickly scaled the program to become the largest legal incubator in Texas (and possibly the world). In 2019, she guided TOJI’s statewide expansion and transition to virtual delivery. In less than three years, TOJI served 69 Texas lawyers to help start and build 72 solo, small, and nonprofit firms spanning 35 areas of law serving low- and modest-income Texans.

Prior to her work with TOJI, Anne-Marie served as Director of the Access to Law Initiative, a legal incubator at California Western School of Law (CWSL). In addition, she was an Adjunct Professor of Federal Income Tax at CWSL and a Faculty member for Solo Practice University where she teaches solo and small firm attorneys about tax requirements for their legal businesses.

In 2009, Anne-Marie started Rabago Business & Tax Law, APC, and over the following seven years, she advised hundreds of small business owners on tax and legal compliance matters. Before stepping into the legal industry, she held various professional roles including fundraising for two regional theatre companies, sales management for an international retail chain, recruiting and corporate training for a Fortune 100 financial services company, and international tax consulting for a big-4 public accounting firm. These experiences informed Anne-Marie’s business and tax savvy and made her an invaluable team member to her business clients. For this work, she was named a San Diego Super Lawyers? Rising Star in 2016 and 2017.

Anne-Marie is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Member of the American Bar Association. She has been active in the Section of Taxation as Vice Chair of the Tax Practice Management Committee and Chair of the Young Lawyers Forum, receiving the Section’s prestigious John S. Nolan Fellowship Award in 2014. Currently, Anne-Marie serves on the Membership Board for the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division.

After completing her JD at CWSL, she received an LLM in Taxation from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Anne-Marie is licensed to practice law in California and Texas. In her spare time, she is an avid craft beer enthusiast who enjoys world travel adventures with her husband.