Solo Practice

Protect Your Reputation Online With Free Teleseminar

Posted on August 20, 2009
One of my blogging buddies, Jay Fleischman of Legal Practice Pro is hosting a Free Teleseminar on Protecting Your Reputation Online.  And another blogging friend, defamation law expert Adrianos Facchetti will be participating in the call, offering advice on the legal issues related to online reputation management...

Jet Blue Be Nimble...But Can You?

Posted on August 19, 2009
By now, you've probably read about renegade airline Jet Blue's unlimited travel pass that allows customers to fly free between any of the airline's 56 national or international destinations as many times as they want between September 8 and October 8, 2009...

Ride Shotgun With MyShingle and RECAP

Posted on August 17, 2009
Since I was out at the end of last week, I missed the announcement of RECAP, a nifty little Firefox plug-in that rides shotgun with lawyers as they use PACER, automatically uploading a copy of documents selected for download to a free repository where other lawyers and the public can view them for free...

Being A Solo Doesn't Mean Being Lonely

Posted on August 16, 2009
This month's issue of Law Practice Today reprints my chapter, Being Solo Does Not Mean Being Lonely from the ABA's book, Flying Solo.  I wrote the chapter roughly five years ago and therefore, it's a bit dated since it preceded social media.  Still, my argument that lawyers needed be isolated as solos remains valid...

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Real Life Lessons for Lawyers from the Fashion Industry

Posted on August 16, 2009
Last week, I took a quick hop up to New York with my daughters to visit Banana Republic's design studios.  The trip came courtesy of my lucky 12 year old, Elana who won both the tour and $400 in spending money in a contest at Miss O and Friends.  Though I was happy for my daughter, initially I balked about losing a work day during a period when I'm swamped...

Where's the Value Add in Big Firms?

Posted on August 12, 2009
Even if, for the sake of argument, you accept the proposition that biglaw is better than small law, the question is: how much better.  Is an $850/hr partner at a mega firm really $500/hr better than his or her solo or small firm counterpart?  Naturally, we solo and small firm lawyers would say no, but you might argue that we're just being subjective...

Hanging a Part Time Shingle

Posted on August 10, 2009
Conventional wisdom says that lawyers can't hang a part time shingle.  But then again, we're hardly conventional.  Though challenging (and what part of life isn't?!), you can start a practice part time, for a variety of reasons such as not wanting to lose your day job or desire to spend more time with family...

For WSJ Readers - Resources on Starting a Law Firm

Posted on August 08, 2009
From Biglaw to Yourlaw - Yesterday, one of my solo colleagues Mitchell Matorin was profiled in the Wall Street Journal as asomewhat timely example of a large firm lawyer who has found success in solo practice.  The story mentioned MyShingle and has been driving some traffic to this site, so I wanted to highlight some of the useful resources here...

Coffee Shop Etiquette for the Home Office Shingler

Posted on August 07, 2009
The Wall Street Journal reports that several coffee shops in Brooklyn, New York and San Francisco are restricting laptop use.  With unemployment on the rise, patrons are spending more time and less money in coffee shops, taking up space that might otherwise be occupied by paying customers...

Not all lawyers who start their

Posted on August 05, 2009
Not all lawyers who start their own firm experience wild success, and this month's American Lawyer focuses on three who did not.  I don't take issue with the story's spin because I believe that it's important to impress the challenges of starting a practice since too many of the new crop of opportunist start-a-firm gurus blithely gloss over them...

Why Does the Trade Press Focus on Biglaw Attorneys Turned Solo Who Don't Succeed?

Posted on August 05, 2009
Not all lawyers who start their own firm experience wild success, and this month's American Lawyer focuses on three who did not.  I don't take issue with the story's spin because I believe that it's important to impress the challenges of starting a practice since too many of the new crop of opportunist start-a-firm gurus blithely gloss over them...

Some Tech Round Up: LawTech Talk, MILO Conference

Posted on August 04, 2009
Here's a quick round-up of a couple of tech related items of use for solos. For a limited time, Nicole Black of Law Tech Talk is making her screencast on using online tools for case preparation available at no charge.  Go to this link for more information...

Why Is the Illinois Bar Advising Lawyers to Look Stupid By Admitting That They Can't Estimate Fees?

Posted on August 04, 2009
Via Illinois solo Peter Olson's blog, Solo In Chicago, I came across this post on fee agreement essentials which Olson extracted from an Illinois State Bar Association newsletter.  Since my readers frequently ask about fee agreements, I was initially excited to discover a new resource...

Utah Offers Formal Program, But Nothing Precludes You From Building Your Own

Posted on August 03, 2009
New law graduates embarking on the practice of law in Utah won't have to stumble around helplessly as they try to figure out the nuts and bolts of law practice.  According to the Salt Lake City Tribune (H/T ABA Journal) Utah has just implemented a mandatory mentoring program that pairs all new attorneys (not just solos) with an experienced lawyer who can help them with basic practical issues such as how to seek a continuance or deal with a difficult client...

When Should You Make "The Big Reveal?"

Posted on August 01, 2009
In dating, it's known as "the big reveal" - the point in an emerging relationship where both participants put everything out on the table, from old flames to skeletons in the closet to religious preferences and desire for marriage and children...

The Other Side of the Story on The Lawyer Who Represented Himself

Posted on July 27, 2009
Last week, I posted here about Denver lawyer, Mark Brennan, harshly criticizing him for representing himself in a before a disciplinary board that is threatening to pull Brennan's license for doing nothing more than zealously representing his client and achieving an outstanding result...

Biglaw Free and the Solo

Posted on July 26, 2009
A few weeks back, I read Chris Anderson's book, Free which is also available free in a variety of formats, including a sponsored paperback and audio.  I'd been meaning to write a couple of comprehensive posts about how lawyers might incorporate the concepts in practice but hadn't been able to find the time...

Good Luck on The Bar Exam: It's Your First Taste of the Practice of Law

Posted on July 23, 2009
No one could ever accuse the bar exam of testing lawyers on issues that they're likely to encounter in practice.  After all, how many times do you get a client accused of murder when he accidentally discharged a handgun at the precise moment that a suicidal person happened to leap off the building and fall past the window, colliding with the stray bullet?  Or where minors, just a few days shy of majority age claim to be 22 and enter into contracts, then try to void them a few years later? And don't forget adverse possession:  you may never see one of these cases in real life, but the issue is a perennial favorite of bar examiners...

Fee for Advice Sites Pose Traps for the Unwary

Posted on July 22, 2009
Originally, I intended to simply file an approving comment on Simple Justice blogger Scott Greenfield's cautionary expose about Law Guru, but Scott's post is so important, that it demands additional circulation.  Scott reports on a new initiative by Law Guru...

Why Is This Lawyer Representing Himself At A Disciplinary Proceeding?

Posted on July 22, 2009
  By all accounts, Denver lawyer Mike Brennan was treated badly.  Last year, he won a verdict for his client in federal court, only to have it snatched away by the judge, as a sanction for Brennan's inappropriate and outrageous conduct during the trial...

Risking a Law License for $125 A Pop

Posted on July 21, 2009
File this story under "What were they thinking?"  That was my first reaction when I read this disciplinary decision, Cincinnati Bar Association v. Mullaney, in which three lawyers were sanctioned  for partnering up with Foreclosure Solutions, a non-lawyer company which referred the lawyers foreclosure cases (yes, that's right - cases where folks were about to lose their homes!) for $125, then $150 a matter...

Handling Biglaw Practice Areas on a Budget

Posted on July 15, 2009
With many biglaw attorneys now considering solo practice, I wanted to list a couple of ideas and resources to procure biglaw practice tools on a budget.  For most consumer practice areas, such as family law, bankruptcy, trusts and estates, new solos can find a cornucopia of low cost practice tools, such as pro bono training programs, reasonably priced bar courses and forms (many which include valuable CLE credits as part of the package) or even many of the books by Nolo, one of the sponsors of this site (in fact, my love of Nolo books is one reason why I've been thrilled by their support of my site)...

Legal Research for Solos: A Round-Up

Posted on July 14, 2009
Back in the dark ages when I started my firm, the only legal research options available were the library and a $600/month LEXIS subscription service, which actually had a cap on number of searches.  Fast forward fifteen years and Lexis costs have declined considerably, though not as much as one might expect in light of technological advancements and the rise of free and low cost competitors...

The Lessons of Sotomayor and Associates

Posted on July 13, 2009
Fittingly, it was a solo - Eric Turkewitz - who broke the story of Supreme Court nominee, Sonya_Sotomayor's foray into solo practice under the firm name, Sotomayor and Associates -impermissible name under New York ethics rules given that Sotomayor did not have any associates working for her firm...

Nolo Releases Plain English Dictionary iPhone App

Posted on July 13, 2009
One of my site sponsors, Nolo has just released a cool new iPhone app - a Plain English Legal dictionary, as described in this  Press Release.  From the Press Release,a description of the dictionary: Edited by a team of lawyers with expertise in all the vital areas of the law, Nolo's Plain-English Law Dictionary contains nearly 4,000 legal terms defined in everyday, understandable language...

Shingular Sensation Eugene Lee Vindicates Discharged Doctor With $500,000 Verdict in Employment Discrimination Case Against Kern County

Posted on July 13, 2009
JADWIN v. COUNTY OF KERN, Docket No. 1:07-CV-00026 (ED Calif) may have been Los Angeles, California employment rights solo Eugene Lee's first jury trial (indeed, his first trial of any kind).  But the $500,000+ verdict that Lee won for his client, Dr...

If Bloggers Must Disclose, Why Shouldn't the Bar Associations?

Posted on July 05, 2009
According to this CNET post of last month (and as you've probably already heard), the Federal Trade Commission is planning to adopt guidelines this summer which would require bloggers to disclose any freebies, payments or other financial benefits that they receive in return for promoting a product...

Boo to Billable Hours, but Hooray for this Freebie

Posted on July 02, 2009
This post at Greatest American Lawyer reminded me that I'd forgotten to announce that John Derrick of California Appeals is making his book, Boo_to_Billable_Hours available free (that's zero billable hours!) at his site (click on the book link to access it)...

New York Bar Asks What Solos Want and Tries to Deliver

Posted on July 01, 2009
Not sure how I missed this when it first issued, but via Leonard Sienko of the NYSBA General Practice Blog, I learned about the New York State Bar Association's Solo and Small Firm Report, issued June 18, 2009.  I approached the report with some trepidation, fearful that like many others of its kind, it would focus on solos' alleged lack of practice management skills or malpractice incidents and recommend training programs or time management courses...

Clients Search Globally, Act Locally

Posted on June 23, 2009
Over at my roost at Nolo Legal Marketing Blawg, I posted about the Google Local Business Center where in exchange for listing a business, users receive access to a suite of tools that enables them to track traffic to their site and even identify the locations where clients are coming from...

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