How to run a business in addition to practising law

Most lawyers start their own practice knowing their area of law inside and out. What they may not anticipate is how much of running a firm has little to do with practising law.

An on-demand webinar presented by LEAP Legal Software Canada examines that disconnect. In Running a Small Firm in 2026: What’s Changing — and What Actually Matters, four practitioners who have built their own firms talk through what they wish they’d known sooner.

Moderator Josh Koziebrocki, Principal of Koziebrocki Law, leads the discussion along with Erin Cowling, CEO and Founder of Flex Legal; Kimberly Gale, Principal of Gale Law Professional Corp.; and Jagjit Bhathal, founding partner of Hummingbird Lawyers LLP. They gathered for the discussion at this year’s Canadian Legal Summit.

“At some point, we all decide we’re going to run a business in addition to practising law,” Koziebrocki says. “But when you go to law school, nobody teaches you how to run a firm.”

What does the panel cover?

Growth is one of the first topics broached. While starting a firm often feels manageable — you’ve got enough work coming in and enough time to do it — the eventual move to scale gets complicated quickly.

“Growing is the hardest,” Gale says. “The honeymoon stage is the beginning.”

The panel gets into what that transition looks like on the ground, from when to hire to whether the roles need to be full-time. There’s a focus on how to build a team without losing the reason you went out on your own in the first place.

The group also covers the importance of financial fundamentals: knowing your numbers, from cash flow to remittances, should be non-negotiable.

AI and pricing get their own conversation. Clients are showing up to meetings with AI-generated bill analyses and pushing back on fees. How do you show your value when the same tools your clients are using can produce a first draft of anything?

“Anyone who understands this and figures this out will have an advantage over other law firms,” says Cowling.

The session is full of practical takeaways as well. Hire support staff earlier than feels comfortable. For Bhathal, once he brought a clerk on board, his only thought was he should have done it a year ago. Having that assistance lets you scale, “you have to delegate what you can,” he says.

One thing the panel agrees on is that nobody had a manual for running a successful firm. They learned as they went.

“There is always going to be stress, and it is a slog,” Gale says. “But don’t give up.”

Watch now

Whether you're in year one or year ten, the discussion offers perspectives on the business decisions you’re facing. Watch the full session on demand on YouTube or on the Canadian Lawyer event page.

This article was produced in partnership with LEAP Legal Software Canada