I’ve long believed that solo and small firm practice is the best kept secret of the legal profession. For thirteen years, I’ve blogged about all of the benefits that solo and small firm practice has to offer, particularly in these transformative times. Yet even as big law fell from grace, the legal profession continued to
March 2014
Dewey Really Want to Say That Crowdfunding Is Unethical Fee Splitting? The Biglaw/SmallLaw Double Standard
Back in May 2013, Findlaw blogger William Peacock posted about Upstart, a crowd funding site where “backers” provide money to new graduates, who pledge to repay the funds through a percentage of future income for a term of five or ten years. Upstart and similar crowd funding platforms might potentially offer an innovative…
Solos and Smalls Using Slave Labor: Have You No Shame?
Last month, several media outlets reported on the growing backlash against employers who violate labor law rules for unpaid internships. Since I’d previously spoken out against use of free labor by solos and smalls from both an ethical and legal perspective, I decided to do a little sleuthing to see whether firms had changed their…
Future of Law Friday: Disruption in Law Is So Last Century
Over at Lawyerist, Sam Glover penned a thoughtful, witty piece questioning whether the recent crop of legal technology companies promising to disrupt the practice of law, can or will actually deliver. Sam asserts that many of these companies haven’t a clue as to how lawyers practice and consequently, they “build a “solution” to what…
Making A Successful Solo Practice A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Let’s say that you aced law school or spent a couple of years at the most prestigious firm in your state or the country or worked in-house at a Fortune 500 corporation. If you have these credentials — and even if you don’t — but you’re itching to try your hand at starting your own…
Will Bar Associations Help Solos and Smalls Find Clients?
Over at my weekly perch at Above the Law, I took the position in a recent column that bar associations are useless for networking and generating referrals. My column wasn’t meant to diss the bars; I noted that even if they’re not effective for networking, they a wealth of resources such as low-cost CLE,…
Let’s Meet at TechShow
For the third year running, my friend and co-author, Nicole Black and I are hosting a Wine & Dine Offline at ABA Techshow. Techshow is always so busy – and even though I am not presenting, I try to cover the show for readers, catch up with my blog’s sponsors and identify others. So our…
The Unexpected Surprise of Starting A Law Firm
Starting a law firm is nothing if not an adventure always full of surprises. Here are some of the things that surprised me about starting a firm.
You will always be terrified. For as long as you are in practice, you’ll always fret that one day the phone will stop ringing, that business will dry…
Quick and Dirty Professional Advice, Just a Click Away
An apple a day may keep the doctor away – but an app each day ensures that a doctor is always on-hand. One new app, First Opinion allows users to text message doctors health-related questions. FirstOpinion pairs each user with a specific doctor and over time, they build relationships. The app isn’t intended to offer…