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Solo Practice

Solo In Chicago

Empowering the Second City's entrepreneurial legal community.
By Peter Olson

Post Frequency: 2.2/day

Last Entry: March 13, 2009 at 12:21:00

Personal Assistant Options

Posted on March 04, 2008
Here's a recent Tribune piece entitled Your Personal Assistant, Half a World Away. The piece references several Indian companies that serve U.S. small business.Some companies mentioned:Get FridayTutorvistaAsk Sunday

What Can I Do With a JD??

Posted on March 04, 2008
Part of an occasional series in the February ISBA Young Lawyers Division newsletter. This week the interview was with State Rep. and lawyer Franco Coladipietro. I thought he made 4 main points worth repeating:First, work hard and show up every day. Second, find good mentors...

March Madness and "Solo In Chicago"

Posted on February 28, 2008
Or "Solo" anywhere else for that matter. So we're about to enter the best run of sporting events for the entire year (this is just one person's humble opinion of course). From about next weekend when some of the college conferences start to have their conference BB tournaments through the Masters, is the best run of sporting events for the year...

Targeted Direct Mail to Referral Sources

Posted on February 25, 2008
Chuck Newton has a great step-by-step explanation of his use of direct mail with his potential referral sources. You can apply much of what he's using to many, many practice areas.

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The House on the Rock & Your Legal Services Business

Posted on February 25, 2008
Have ya ever been to the House on the Rock in Spring Green, WI??I think I've read that it's the most popular tourist destination in Wisconsin. Against my will I visited it a couple summers ago (we were camping with friends and it was sort of "group" decision)...

The Store Manager's Sick So Wal-Mart is NOT Opening Today

Posted on February 25, 2008
That's the sort of unbelievable thought I had late last week when I appeared in a local courtroom and a particular judge was out that day so the clerk was just "giving new dates," i.e. nothing substantive was getting done that day. Are you kidding me? And my criticism would not lay too much with the particular judge who was out...

BIG LAW Says: Blog is Not "Appropriate"

Posted on February 21, 2008
Did ya see some of the coverage about Skadden's "Hot Associate" contest on a blog, Skadden Insider. From "above:"The Firm recognizes that blogs are prevalent in today's culture and that blogs about Skadden are to be expected. Nonetheless, we believe that the "contests" on one of these blogs is inappropriate and does not reflect our values and standards of behavior...

The "Experience Question"

Posted on February 21, 2008
So we're hearing this all the time from Sens. Clinton and McCain regarding Sen. Obama. Of course whenever I hear Hillary talk about her 35 years of experience I about want to throw up...yeah and I have "experience" as a flight attendant and as a children's book author (through my wife)...

Small Firms and Recession

Posted on February 21, 2008
Ah the dreaded "R" Word. Hey I'm not running for public office this cycle (there is that ISBA Board of Governors seat though), I can say it. But I've been reading several articles about law firm "adjustments" to a slowing economy. Saw this today about DLA Piper (yikes its organge Website is blinding) hiring a bankruptcy/reorganization group...

It's Not Free CLE; But it is a Free Resource

Posted on February 20, 2008
A little birdie tipped me off to MentorCLE.com, "Online video CLE courses for Illinois attorneys."Essentially you can view their courses free but if you want MCLE credit then you need to buy them. Lots of very relevant topics, except, "Pro Bono for the Soul...

The Stroger Family & Cook County Justice...

Posted on February 20, 2008
Ah the one-party system of Cook County. I saw this in today's Tribune:As recently as last week, 26 juveniles who might have been sent home with monitoring bracelets on their ankles were held at the detention center (Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center), officials said...

Innovative Old Microsoft...

Posted on February 16, 2008
Serious...anyone taken a peek at the new Office Live Small Business 2.0 MSFT unveiled this past week? Here's a piece with a video clip. Lots of freebies...it seems like the place to go if you don't have a Website.

Health Insurance Options

Posted on February 16, 2008
The Shifting Careers blog over at The Times had some ideas on health insurance for the self-employed...Have a look at Anne Zelenka?s health insurance primer for solo workers at Web Worker Daily in which she comes down strongly in favor of the high deductible plan for those who can afford it...

Law is Fun? Hmmm...

Posted on February 16, 2008
An interesting new law-oriented Website. Law.com had a interesting interview with the founder...his thoughts on creating the site and the many, many facets to the site.

The Key for Any Start-Up Solo

Posted on February 16, 2008
From Chicago Lawyer...When civil rights attorney Jon Loevy decided to go on his own after less than two years at Sidley Austin, he opened up shop without an office, let alone a legal pad.In 1997 it was just Loevy, with a computer and a phone, he said, working out of his garden apartment in Lakeview...

Don't Over-Specialize Too Early

Posted on February 16, 2008
Among the advice from Sandy Lourie of Barack Ferrazzano in Chicago Lawyer's Q/A...I think I would advise new lawyers to make sure they don?t over-specialize too early. I think that clients, at least on the transaction side, are looking for general advice...

The Free CLE Just Keeps on Coming

Posted on February 16, 2008
Clifford Law Offices getting in on the "accredited CLE provider in Illinois" action:Clifford Law Offices, an approved continuing legal education provider in Illinois, is hosting its first webinar 3-5 p.m., Feb. 21. ?The Ethics of Trial Work? presented by Northwestern University School of Law Professor Robert P...

Free CLE: February 18th

Posted on February 15, 2008
Yeah so Monday's another one of those dead President court holidays so instead of spending your morning slugging it out at Daley, come and break bread at the Loyola School of Law, Protecting the Rights of Chicago Tenants - 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Seriously, you've got to know your Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance if you practice in this field and that's the gist of what this about...

Don't Tell Clients Where You Live!

Posted on February 09, 2008
Did you see this about the Rockford attorney who it seems was gunned down in his own driveway by an unhappy client? Sad, sad story:A Rockford lawyer slain while clearing snow outside his home may have been gunned down by a man he had represented in a criminal case, authorities said Friday...

Is Health Insurance a Reason to Stay at a Job you Hate?

Posted on February 06, 2008
Oh my answer would be, "it depends." The Anti 9-to-5 Guide provides its answer...a new "blog" to me.

Student Loan Options

Posted on February 06, 2008
Saw this piece recently from the Baltimore Sun's Eileen Ambrose...or as we get here in the Chicago paper, "a Tribune Co. Newspaper." She outlines several options in the piece, including some that have been recently enacted by Congress. If possible keep or get your loan from the federal government, not a private lender...

Is it Colorful? Does it list your Practice Areas? And,

Posted on February 06, 2008
what's on the back? I speak of business cards of course. This post was triggered by this recent piece here but even more so by a personal experience a couple days back.I attended a planning meeting for a fundraiser conducted by our local Rotary Chapter and our public library...

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

Posted on February 06, 2008
Oh, the weather outside is frightful...So we here in the Chicago area have been getting wacked pretty hard recently with snow, slush, rain, ect. 6-12 inches predicted for today. But for me, no worries! I'm a home office lawyer; a veritable Third Waver...

Are you Failing Enough?

Posted on February 02, 2008
If not you're probably not taking enough risks. I'm sure Churchill, Lincoln and Nixon had some quotes on this topic over the years or just look at their careers...read here. Why isn't failure a bad thing?Failure underscores the need to take chances. The clich� is right: If you take no risks, there will be no rewards...

Law Firm "Has Joined the Firm" Announcements...

Posted on February 02, 2008
Do you get these? I sure do (not always sure why but...). Why are these sent? Are they useful? Should they be done differently? I know when I joined one of the firms that I previously worked for that the principle lawyer sent out an announcement that I had joined the firm...

It's Fun to Stay at the...

Posted on January 29, 2008
Y.M.C.A. It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A. They have everything For young men to enjoy. You can hang out with all the boys..." Hey don't kid yourself, I own a copy of the Village People's Greatest Hits and I'm a member of my local Y.M.C.A. branch. But that's for another blog...

Who Will be the Next Cook County State's Attorney??

Posted on January 26, 2008
I acknowledge up front I'm a political junkie with a "problem," but putting on my pure attorney-at-law hat for a while, isn't it a bit concerning the lack of scrutiny that's been given to the State's Attorney race here in Cook/Chicago??At the pure citizen/taxpayer level, at stake is an office with a $100 million budget, more than 900 lawyers and the authority to launch investigations, issue subpoenas and convene grand juries...

My First Court Appointment: Cook Domestic Relations

Posted on January 26, 2008
We previously blogged here on these indigent contempt of court cases in Cook County. It's unique when your client approaches the bench in Cook County Jail garb in handcuffs (I don't do criminal so this is about the only scenario where I see this). So by way of a little follow-up, I got appointed to my first case this week...

Next on the Docket for the Supremes: A Fee Waiver Appeal??

Posted on January 22, 2008
Yep I think that's called litigation run amok or is it the ACLU again? But I digress...so a transgender woman was denied her rule 298 fee waiver for a name change and now she's appealing to the IL Supreme Court. The IL Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/5?105) and Supreme Court Rule 298 control the petitions to sue/defend as an indigent person...

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Fairest Lawyer...

Posted on January 22, 2008
of all? Hmmm...well I don't know. But it does matter according to a new study entitled Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: The Effect of Time Spent Grooming on Wages. Here's an overview article. It turns out that particularly w/ men that those who invest time/effort in their appearance earn more.

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