In a volatile employment market, students are finding it more difficult to find a job as a graduate lawyer. If you've thought about starting your own practise with more experience and a greater network of clients, you have some substantial advantages over traditional law firms.

Here are some ways to shine when you start your own law firm.

A killer website

While large law firms have a large budget to start their website, you can use your better knowledge of social media to create a website that is much more interactive than the standard legal websites. Consider a password protected part of the website that your clients can access to get specific resources such as privacy polices and HR forms, that they can access after hours for a fee.

Consider pairing with some IT friends to create your website and optimise your SEO in return for some legal help in their firms.

Keep your fees low

Considering you don't have the overheads of a law firm, such as city offices and administration staff you can keep your fees low. Work out of home as much as possible and offer to meet clients at their workplaces or other venues such as co-working spaces. Most cities have co-working spaces you can hire out on, as needs basis for a much lower fee than renting an office each week.

You can also look to outsource some of your administration tasks using electronic freelance worksites, where you can find low cost paralegal services on an as-needs basis.

Use your network

If some of your fellow students are also working on their own business, you can form an informal network to help share out workload and allow you to bid for larger jobs. Your fellow students will often have different specialties and experience from work placements so you can often find you compliment each other quite well.

To find new clients it's worth keeping in touch with your legal professors from university as well as reaching out to your extended network through friends and family. In many cases small business owners find it hard to justify high legal fees so offering low cost consultations where you come to their place of business can help you occupy a unique niche in the legal services market.

Congratulations on starting your own law firm. Running your own business allows you to take control of your destiny and take on the work that you wish to pursue.