I’ll be catching a flight out to the West Coast tomorrow, headed for the
Blogher conference where I’ll be on one of the panels. This is all very new for someone like me who attends conferences predominated by lawyers. At Blogher, while I’ll be in the gender majority, seems that I may be in the
July 2005
Steve Jobs Advice Works for Solos Too
Thanks so much to Ernie the Attorney for this link to a commencement speech by Steve Jobs. In his speech, Jobs describes a rocky path to different types of success, beginnings and endings and new opportunities. It’s worthwhile reading for us solos who many times, find ourselves dead-ended or uninspired in our practice and…
Is It Ever Too Soon to Go Solo?
Ann Israel, a biglaw recruitment attorney who writes a column for New York Lawyer typically responds to questions about how to make partner or what’s the best law school to choose. It’s rare that she gets a question like this one from an attorney wondering whether he should go solo after his first year out…
Free Legal Research Hits Florida
Add Florida to the list of jurisdictions with free legal research services, as reported in this article. Florida is using Fast Case for its service which provides access to US Supreme Court Cases, Florida Supreme Court cases and Florida statutes and regulations. I’ve always thought that free legal research is one of the most…
Lawyer Sues Clients for Money; Not Sure of What to Make of All of This
I’m not sure what to make of the story described in this article, Law Firm Sues Couple Over Past Legal Fees (7/23/05). Seems that a couple spent three years fighting to keep a large subdivision from being built near their home, racking up $92,000 in legal fees in the process (in addition to which, they…
A Day in the Life of a Solo Blogger
Via Legal Underground, I learned about this neat ABA sponsored experiment whereby marketer Larry Bodine helped solo Andrew Ewalt set up this weblog and will be monitoring his business growth throughout the year. I’m predicting that Ewalt’s blog will improve his search engine rankings, may get him some interviews or speaking engagements but as…
When a Client’s Right to Access Counsel Hangs by A Hook…Of A Bra
Donna Thompson-Schneider is a solo criminal defense attorney who hasn’t visited her incarcerated clients. Lest you think that this is another story about an irresponsible attorney giving her clients ground for an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, read on. The reason that Donna hasn’t visited her clients is because the prison has a practice of …
Our Stratified Legal Profession: How Blogging Will Change It
From this Press Release, I learned about a new book, Urban Lawyers, by John Heinz and University of Chicago Professor Edward Laumann, that examines Chicago’s legal profession using data gathered as part of an American Bar Foundation study conducted in 1994/95. That’s too bad, because while the book sounds intriguiging and confirms much of what…
Need Help Compiling Top Ten Reasons to Shingle
Hello, readers! I’d like to put together a Top Ten List for my sidebar of reasons that lawyers should consider hanging out a shingle. GAL posted something similar here, a list of the benefits of being an independent practitioner. For me, the reasons for going solo include autonomy, flexibility to achieve balance with family, an…
Solos Learn From Clients’ Bad Experiences
Within the past few months, I read an article, I believe at law.com by a large firm associate, complaining about how much she disliked when other people she encountered shared their negative experiences with other attorneys. (as I recall, in this case, the hotel bellhop had cornered her). The associate wrote that she didn’t quite…