They say that necessity is the mother of invention. But motherhood itself is also the mother of invention – or more accurately, the engine behind creative, entrepreneurial ideas to make motherhood more compatible with legal practice. This article, The Lawyer Moms, Boston Globe (5/8/05) reports on on such mom-lawyer-inventor, Patty Campbell Malone, who along
2005
Can You Make Your Hobby Into A Law Practice?
This article, Lawyer by Day, Fashion Designer by Night, Skirts the Issue, Portland Press Herald (5/8/05) reports on Maine attorney Margaret Minister O’Keefe, a law firm partner who represents local artists and designers by day and has created her own fashion label by night. O’Keefe had always sewed but started up again when her…
What If You Never Leave…
This sad story, Lawyer, 35, Dies After Winning Swimming Race, New York Lawyer (5/5/05) drives home the importance of following one’s dream. The article reports that Brendon Wen, a young attorney and solo criminal practitioner, died of heart failure after winning a masters race with his best time ever. But the article also described…
Comparative Advertising: Keep This As Proof!
According to this article, A New Trend Among Firms: Comparative Advertising, Leigh Jones, NLJ (5/4/05), large firms are taking off the kid gloves when it comes to marketing, including Oblon, Spivak’s ads that proclaim superiority over other biglaw competitors that are identified by name in the ad. That’s funny, because over at Legal Underground,…
Maryland Bar Ruling Banning NonLawyer/Lawyer Referral Groups Discriminates Against Solo and Small Firms
Sometimes a bar association issues a decision that’s so impervious to the realities of legal practice that you have to wonder whether those who drafted it ever practiced law. That’s my thought about the Maryland Disciplinary Committee’s recent Ethics Decision, Ethics Docket 05-11, Participation in For-Profit Referral Organization with Non-Attorneys and discussed further in this…
Former Biglaw Telecom Attorney on the Cutting Edge in Solo Practice
I came across this March 2005 article by my colleague here in the D.C. area, Mark del Bianco entitled Being on the Cutting Edge. Among other things, the article offers both an amusing and realistic assessment of the benefits and occasional drawbacks to a small regulatory practitioner with a wide reaching Internet presence.
Malpractice Isn’t Only A Small Firm Problem
According to this National Law Journal article, How Small Firms Can Ward Off Malpractice, most legal malpractice actions are filed against small firms, with one to five attorneys:
Solos and small-firm attorneys find themselves particularly vulnerable to charges of malpractice. According to the American Bar Association,
most malpractice suits are filed against lawyers…
McMarketing vs. The Real Deal
For those of you who know me personally, you probably know that I’m not the world’s greatest marketer. If I were, I’d probably have retired from the practice of law and would be blogging here full time. But I think I have a pretty good eye, a sense of what works and what doesn’t, even…
Loneliness and Isolation: Hazards of Solo Practice
Ironically, one of the greatest benefits of starting a law firm – being able to work alone – may actually be one of the greatest hazards of solo practices, as this Q&A from the Massachusetts Bar Association website points out (thanks to my fellow blogger David Giacalone for sending this article my way). Here’s what…
Go Ask A Blogger – It Works!
The greatest thing about blogs is that they give small lawyers like you and me access to resources that were once completely out of our grasp. The reason is that at least now, most bloggers still blog because they’re completely enthusiastic about their field or enjoy sharing information.
Tom Lincoln at the Trial Prep blog…