How a Virtual Office in Manhattan will allow your New Jersey based firm to charge a higher hourly rate.
For many lawyers, a Virtual Office in Manhattan may be the best option to increase your currently hourly rate while maintaining a relatively small economic footprint. Your clients will think you are running a much larger firm than you actually are, making you look more prestigious without having to take on the extra overhead!
New Jersey and New York are inextricably tied together.
Our states even are tenants-in-common with respect to Ellis Island. Due to our extremely close geographic proximity, your New Jersey based practice most likely bleeds over into Manhattan.
If you are not maintaining a professional identity in New York City, you are literally losing out to tens of thousands of dollars each year in potential new clients and under-billing existing clients. No to mention, if you are licensed to practice in the state of New York, then according to New York State Judiciary law §470, if you want to practice in NY, then you have to have an office in the state. For less than the cost of a monthly PATH card, you can establish your foothold into the lucrative Manhattan legal market with a Midtown NYC Virtual Office presence, in addition to meeting the requirements of §470.
What is a Manhattan Virtual Office?
A Manhattan Virtual Office is a rental arrangement where attorneys can pay a low monthly fee (typically starting at under $100 a month) to rent the use of a premium commercial address and have access to office space and conference rooms on an as-needed basis.
Lawyers, like you, choose to maintain a virtual office identity in New York City because of the prestige it garners among existing clients and new clients alike. When you add a second address to your business card, especially a prestigious Midtown Manhattan address, it creates a perception to client’s that your firm is extremely successful.
On average, New York lawyers charge more per hour than New Jersey lawyers.
But client perception is the least of what a Manhattan Virtual Office provides. You will literally see an increase in your billable hour. A study conducted by the National Consumer Law Center discovered that New York small firm lawyers with 3 to 5 years of experience, on average, charge $59.00 an hour more than their New Jersey counterparts.
Over the course of a year, that difference in billable hours adds up to a substantial amount of missed revenue. Revenue that you could cash in on if your firm used a virtual office in the city.
The moral of the story is this: A Manhattan Virtual Office allows New Jersey home-based lawyers to charge a higher hourly rate than their New Jersey only counterparts, regardless of their practice area. the number don’t lie, so what are you waiting for?
