All the first life form needs is the ability to self replicate, mutate, and die. It seems to me like it would be possible for a crystal formation to emerge with that trait, and then evolve into bacteria, or other life as we know it.
People who give the odds of life emerging on its own at being statistically lottery-esq seem to assume an over constructed form of life. It may not spring into being with eyes, bones, and a brain, but even having it spring into being with a fully developed amino acid seems a bit over assumptive.
I don't see how there's any justification to assume that it couldn't start without amino acids and then evolve into them, any more than there's a justification to assume it couldn't start without hands and then evolve into having hands.