For those who are regular readers, you know that I don’t believe in business plans. In my own case, when I started my firm, even my best predictions suggested that I’d go belly up in three months and had I memorialized my reality in a business plan, I’d never have had the nerve to
Are Pay Per Lead Services and Attorney Ratings Sites on A Collision Course With Themselves?
Public demand for lawyer ratings is on the rise. As the above graph from Google Trends shows, searches for the terms “attorney reviews” have increased five-fold in the past five years (the drop off results after October 2012 only because all data hasn’t yet available).
The push for lawyer reviews is hardly surprising. Today’s consumers
Blawger Hall of Fame
What do you do with someone who’s blogged nearly a decade and been nominated for ABA Top 100 Blawg Contest for six years straight without ever coming remotely close to winning the category? Stick her along with nine other guys (and yes, they really all are guys) in the Blawg 100 Hall of Fame. That’s
Web’s Best Online Profiles…Or Pick Up Lines?
Damian is the litigator God would have invented if He’d thought that at all a good idea. Chaz is the lawyer with the best name. Owen can tell you how it feels to fall off a cliff- because he’s done it. And don’t forget Kim, the firm’s Style Queen and who possesses both the sense
What if solos were start ups?
In the nearly ten years that I’ve been blogging at MyShingle, solo and small firm practice has never really been what you’d call buzz-worthy. Sure, there was that time when the economy first tanked that suddenly solo was the new soho , or when it seemed as if every blog on the beat – from
A lawyer who still has to market: shameful confession or practical reality?
After I shared this quick video clip from the Avvo Conference on my Facebook page, a high school acquaintance remarked:
Sounds like you’re a lawyer that needs to market, what stress!
Though intended sympathetically, the comment stung. Because yes, after almost 25 years of practicing law, 18 as a solo I suppose that I
Jobs Uninvented
Much of the work that I do as a lawyer today involves issues that weren’t even around ten years ago. So I was excited to see this recent post from Jordan Furlong on some of the roles that lawyers might play as the more traditional legal positions shrink: It’s an interesting list:
- “Amazon.Law” Provider: Sharp,
If You’re Looking to Work Away From Your Home or Office, There May be a Desk Near You…
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Starbucks isn’t the only salvo for home office lawyers in search of a cure for cabin fever. Thanks to this neat little site, Desksnear.me, lawyers who want a change of scenery from their current work environment, or who need a place to bill time while on the road or at
Growing Solo: The Rise of the Dynamic Law Practice
These workplace trends described by Smart Company are worth a read because they apply with equal force to law firms. Most interesting to me is the concept of “dynamic staffing,” where groups of employees are formed from within and outside a company to help on a particular project. The concept of dynamic staffing is a
The $75/hour law firm
No, not joking. Just a few days after my two part series on the viability of a $99/hour firm, I came across this $75/hour business model, the Justice Cafe in Fulton County Georgia, offering a la carte family law service to walk in clients. Lawyers staffing the Justice Cafe will work on contract