3.4 Law Firm Registration and Management

The practice's forms (the Nepal menu): (1) the sole practitioner (the traditional chambers; full responsibility, simple and flexible, the ceiling real); (2) the partnership (lawyers joined; shared name and liability; registered under the companies/firm-registration framework; profit and loss shared; mutual agency — jointly liable for malpractice); (3) the company form (the limited- liability questions — jurisdictions debate the professional company; Nepal's own rules described functionally). The choice's criteria: liability, tax, image, succession (the comparative table). The management's craft (the office's systems): location and chambers (the confidentiality architecture — private consultation space); IT and library (case management, research databases, the currency of the collection — outdated law as malpractice's seed); the team (seniors, juniors, paralegals, support — supervision owed, delegation not abdication); the systems (diary and docket — deadlines never missed; conflict-check institutionalised; engagement letters written); file management's lifecycle (opening with the wakalatnama first — chronological filing, closing with documents returned and receipt, confidential destruction even in the dustbin); client management (expectations set honestly, updates proactive) — Unit 7's fuller treatment of office management and legal auditing.