Bruce Macewen’s blog Adam Smith, Esq. is to big law practice what this blog, on its best days, aspires to be for solos and small firms. Always substantive, always skeptical (one of a minority of credible law practice management types who didn’t unquestioningly embrace Richard Susskind) and always spot-on (read his series on business
2010
Let’s Pay New Lawyers To Do CLE
Let me start by saying that I don’t like mandatory CLE (I’m not alone in this view either). Frankly, CLE doesn’t improve our profession and worse, gives the public a false sense of security that lawyers are competent. Let’s face it: those lawyers who take their obligations seriously will always take classes, follow relevant blogs…
Solo & Small Law Hit the Big Time With ABA Soloing Center & Above the Law’s Small Law
Looks like I (along with the other solo practice bloggers) are part of the cool crowd now. Where MyShingle was once the sole solo blog online, now solo and small firm blogs and websites are cropping up everywhere, including the least likely of places: the ABA website and Above the Law!
Last month, the…
No Need to Niche Alone: Collaborative Niche, the Firm of the Future
Regular readers know that I’m a big fan niche practice. Indeed, niche practice is fast becoming a niche of its own on other solo blogs, particularly Chuck Newton’s Third Wave.
But niche practices aren’t just for solos and small firms. Today, I came across this Press Release for the Redgrave LLP, a…
Vary While You Work
No need to feel guilty about spending the afternoon working at the coffee shop, or taking a quick breather from an appellate argument prep with reading or writing a couple of blog posts. According to a bunch of new studies summarized in this New York Times article (H/T Volokh), turns out that study techniques…
MyShingle Fashion: This, and That, and Colorful Flats!
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I blame law school, the Islamic month of Ramadan, and global warming. But then again, I usually blame global warming for everything, including the fact that my clothes came out of the dryer this morning still slightly damp.
But as promised, I return with lots of colorful flats after…
Some Thoughts on Being A Legal Rebel Twenty Years Too Late
I’m deeply flattered that the ABA Journal recognized me as one of its ten solo legal rebels. Trouble is, I don’t feel very rebellious these days.
That wasn’t always so. Back in law school more than two decades ago, I was a rebel in the truest sense of the term, defying conventional wisdom and…
Huh? Lawyer’s Overbilling Blamed on Law School’s Failure To Teach Practice Management
Law schools today get a bad rap, often deservedly so. From outrageous tuition to to ineffectual, elitist law professors to fraudulent post-graduation employment statistics to failure to teach practical skills, law schools have become the scapegoats for everything wrong with the legal profession.
Including theft over-billing. Yes, you read that right. Lawyer coach Rjon…
Would You Advise Your Child to Take on $150k in Debt to Go to Law School?
Yesterday, I received a call from one of my blog readers, somewhat out of the blue. A rising 2L at a top tier school, the student explained that he was interested in learning more about the feasibility of starting a law practice right out of law school. Yet as we talked more, however, it seemed…
My Shingle Fashion: Awesome Black Flats
Flats are complicated, ladies. Okay, no, they’re not, but writing “flats are so easy that even monkeys can wear them” wouldn’t make for much of an exposition. Really, where do you go from there? Everyone is thinking of monkeys wearing shoes, and the gravity of the moment is lost.
Flats are pretty fool-proof, it’s true,…