Solo Practice

Be Back Up & Running in A Few Days

Posted on February 08, 2009
Sorry for the silence here at MyShingle.  I was out on travel last week, and juggling two deadlines and an argument at the D.C. Circuit through the end of this week.  In the interim, you can take a look at some of my marketing related posts at Nolo's Legal Marketing Blawg...

The Economy Scares Me Too, But I Know Something You Don't

Posted on February 01, 2009
If you are a lawyer at a large firm, I know that you are terrified right now.   The carnage at AmLaw 200 is growing:  858 layoffs last week alone, according to Lawshucks.com, for a total of 1528 for the month and 3290 since January 2008.  And even if you're just a law student, we all know the consequences of the cutbacks: more unemployed lawyers flooding the market, snatching up jobs and squeezing out newbies...

Reader Question: Should I Take Consumer Cases Short Term Even Though I Want to Do Business Law Long Term?

Posted on January 29, 2009
I try to respond personally to the many emails that I receive from readers, but every so often, the email raises a question that has broader interest to other readers, so I post it here.  Here's an email that I recently received, with my response - but I welcome you to chime in: Q:  I am a second year corporate associate at a biglaw shop in a major city...

Is Biglaw Planning on Changing the Rules of The Game?

Posted on January 27, 2009
Boo-hoo for biglaw.  Unable to cope with the economic downturn, biglaw may now try to change the rules of the game. Over at Ideoblog, Professor Larry Ribstein faults ethics rules such as the prohibition on non-compete agreements and non-lawyer investment in law firms and conflicts of interest requirements...

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The Importance of Human Back-Up

Posted on January 24, 2009
For nearly the past two weeks, I've been dealing with a family situation which has taken me out of town, spending both days and nights at the hospital.  Like many of my colleagues who responded to the MyShingle contest question, I too employ technology that allows me to take my office with me on the road...

Contest Winners Finally Posted - Read how solos are using technology to practice law

Posted on January 22, 2009
I've finally posted all of the responses to the MyShingle 6th Birthday contest. Most of the posts dealt with using technology in a practice, while a few others addressed what lawyers are doing to make themselves matter.  I published all the posts as I said originally  - feel free to read them and comment - not all have rendered on the first page, so please click here to view them all (it's random placement)...

Anthony Colleluori: How I've Made A Difference Practicing Law, and How Being A Lawyer Changed My Perspective

Posted on January 22, 2009
(reposted from That Lawyer Dude) I couldn't wait for my first case. I was a brand new "Lawyer" in Hofstra University's brand new Criminal Defense Clinic (we hadn't taken the bar yet but we worked under a student practice order while supervised by an admitted attorney)...

Julie Tower-Pierce: Helping Others Find Alternatives to Full Time Law Practice

Posted on January 22, 2009
Early six years ago, and not long after Carolyn launched this blog, I sat before a clunky desktop computer with a newborn baby nestled on my lap in an isolated New England town, wondering how I could possibly leave my baby and return to full-time practice...

Peter Garcia - Using Technology to Build a Law Practice

Posted on January 22, 2009
I have found that the technology I use is indispensible in serving my clients and building my fledgling practice.  Most importantly, these tools have helped keep my overhead extremely low and pass those savings on to my clients.  This has allowed me to help others who might not have otherwise been able to afford a lawyer, while giving me the ability to cover my expenses and reinvest in my firm...

Kimberly Alderman - The Virtual Shingle

Posted on January 22, 2009
Without technology, my practice simply wouldn’t be possible.  Four years ago, I built a cabin in remote Alaska, hours from the nearest gas station or corner store.  I didn’t know when, but I knew I would make it back.  Eight months ago, I left my clerkship in the Virgin Islands, boyfriend in tow, and migrated north to the cabin, ready to solo remote living style...

How Newdorf Legal Uses Technology To Reduce Client Costs And Improve Service In Business Litigation

Posted on January 22, 2009
It’s nice — especially for the lawyer — when the client has a six-figure litigation budget for a case.  But not every client can afford that, and even if you can, not every dispute is worth it.  Fortunately, advances in technology have leveled the playing field so that small firms with low overhead can provide many of the same services that were once the exclusive domain of the large law firms...

Rinky Parwani: How Technology Helps Me Serve Clients or Make A Difference

Posted on January 22, 2009
Simply put – I have the two most important clients in the world.  A six month old daughter and two year old son.  I am a single mom (their alcoholic father terminated their rights completely).  Without my now successful law practice which I started on MY PARENTS kitchen table last March when my son was one, I was pregnant and was going through a divorce...

Adrianos M. Facchetti - California Defamation Law - 3 Key Ways Technology Helps Me Serve Clients

Posted on January 22, 2009
3 Key Ways Technology Helps Me Serve Clients I wish I could tell you a story that perfectly illustrates how technology helps me serve my clients.  It’d be dramatic and poignant, perhaps involving Perry Mason.  Carmina Burana would be playing in the background and it’d undoubtedly involve a victory at trial...

Michael D.J. Eisenberg - The Other Woman (or how technology helped me take a vacation)

Posted on January 22, 2009
The Other Woman . . . I admit it, there is another woman.  She is alluring, demanding, and very intrusive.  And yet my wife puts up with my law practice. I am writing this while on vacation in the Caribbean.  We had a vacation like this a year ago and my new wife was so thrilled that she saw me relax...

Stephanie Kimbro - Virtual Law Office Provides Real World Benefits for Clients (and Me)

Posted on January 22, 2009
From the first day my virtual shingle went up, the web-based virtual law office technology has allowed me to work with clients of moderate income levels in a more efficient and convenient way for both the clients and myself.  I won’t pretend the motivation for opening my virtual law office (VLO) was for the greater good of the public...

Ben Glass - Why What I Do Matters to the Profession

Posted on January 22, 2009
Why What I Do Matters to the Profession By: Ben Glass, Fairfax, VA www.greatlegalmarketing.com In May 2005 I sat in the back of a room at a Renegade Millionaire conference hosted by Dan Kennedy, hearing story after story of how people in different professions and businesses were making a difference in the lives of others in their profession or business by teaching them how to built profitable, successful businesses...

Alexis Martin Neely - Why What I'm With My Law Degree Matters

Posted on January 22, 2009
I went to law school to make a difference and really help people.   I graduated from law school in 1999, when the economy was having a party and law firms were fighting for the top law school graduates.  By the time I graduated, starting salaries had crept up to $135,000 per year and I graduated first in my class from Georgetown University Law Center, giving me my pick of law firms, any one of which would give me a fat signing bonus and pay for me to move to their city...

Alexis Martin Neely - Why What I'm Doing With My Law Degree Matters

Posted on January 22, 2009
I went to law school to make a difference and really help people.   I graduated from law school in 1999, when the economy was having a party and law firms were fighting for the top law school graduates.  By the time I graduated, starting salaries had crept up to $135,000 per year and I graduated first in my class from Georgetown University Law Center, giving me my pick of law firms, any one of which would give me a fat signing bonus and pay for me to move to their city...

CONTEST APOLOGY FOR DELAY

Posted on January 15, 2009
I wanted to apologize for my delay in posting the results of the contest - there are so many great posts and I'd like to get them all set up to post in seriatum - but a couple of matters, including an unexpected family emergency have put me off track...

The Contract Lawyer Conundrum

Posted on January 15, 2009
[Some edits as of 1/16/09] Over at her blog, Legal Research and Writing Pro, my friend Lisa Solomon summarizes the recent spurt of posts round the blogosphere on the grim life of contract attorneys, who endure low wages, intolerable working conditions and frequently, degrading treatment from other lawyers...

Solos Do Everything Biglaw Does, Only Backwards and in High Heels

Posted on January 11, 2009
 Many large firms assume, wrongly, that solo and small firm lawyers don't handle complex issues.  Truth is, many of us do.  But unlike biglaw which has the luxury of researching and strategizing about these issues in a vacuum, we solo and small firm clients do all that, plus tend to our clients' needs...

Back to School

Posted on January 08, 2009
[Post has been edited] I'll be teaching a course on how to use web 2.0, social media and other collaborative technologies to Build Your Own Bar Association through Solo Practice University.   From what I can tell, I'll be a bit of a heretic on the faculty:  not only did I love law school but I also sincerely believe that it provided a real education, and that what I learned has helped me in my own practice and throughout my career...

Announcements: ENCORE Tele-seminar of From Biglaw to Yourlaw; Solo By Choice Sells Out

Posted on January 06, 2009
Last week's Biglaw to Yourlaw Teleseminar was a great success, but folks still continue to download the free e-book.  I had hoped to make a tape of the call available, but somehow managed to botch the recording.  Since I need to re-tape anyway, I'm going to do a second round of the call - this time on THURSDAY, JANUARY 8 at 3 pm EST...

Solo Trends for 2009

Posted on January 05, 2009
Tomorrow and throughout the week, I'll be posting the essays that I received in response to MyShingle's Sixth Birthday contest.  But for my first post of the New Year, like many of my blogging colleagues (e.g., Ross Kodner, Neil Squillante,Niki Black and Stephanie Kimbro) I wanted to share some of my predictions for 2009...

The Importance of the Company We Keep

Posted on December 28, 2008
I've finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers which argues that a variety of factors, such as luck, era of birth or family support account as much for success as sheer talent.  After all, what explains the break out success of certain individuals with innate talent in comparison to the mediocre performance of those equally endowed?  If you haven't read Outliers, Gladwell's premise sounds depressing...

Free E-book From Biglaw to Yourlaw & Free Teleconference, December 30, 2008

Posted on December 28, 2008
Given that 1762 lawyers lost their jobs in 2008 according to the Law Shucks Layoff Tracker, I decided to release a new e-book entitled From Biglaw to Yourlaw. You've always believed starting a firm was a last resort.  Now, it may be your only resort...

Contest Extended Through December 30!

Posted on December 23, 2008
pI've decided to extend our 6th Birthday contests another week, through December 30.nbsp; The details are a href="http://www.myshingle.com/2008/12/articles/announcements/celebrate-myshingles-6th-birthday-with-two-great-contests/"here/a but basically, you can write a post on one of two topics:nbsp; either quot;Why I (or my law firm) mattersquot; or how I use technology in my practice to serve clients...

No Security Beats False Security Any Day: Free Teleseminar on Why Biglaw Lawyers Should Start A Firm

Posted on December 23, 2008
And so, another biglaw firm -- this time, 150 year-old New York based Thacher, Profitt -- comes tumbling down.  But though the names may change (think Heller, Ehrman, Thelen and Brobeck.com) the circumstances are virtually identical:  Step 1:  Each firm suffers some kind of economic crisis...

No Security Beats False Security Any Day: Free Teleseminar on Why Biglaw Lawyers Should Start A Firm

Posted on December 23, 2008
And so, another biglaw firm -- this time, 150 year-old New York based Thacher, Profitt -- comes tumbling down.  But though the names may change (think Heller, Ehrman, Thelen and Brobeck.com) the circumstances are virtually identical:  Step 1:  Each firm suffers some kind of economic crisis...

Contest Extended Through December 30!

Posted on December 23, 2008
I've decided to extend our 6th Birthday contests another week, through December 30.  The details are here but basically, you can write a post on one of two topics:  either "Why I (or my law firm) matters" or how I use technology in my practice to serve clients...

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