Allison Shields of the new Legalease practice-building blog has a post taking inventory for the New Year that contains some great advice: you don’t have to get it perfect, you just have to get it going. That advice applies to many lawyers contemplating solo practice. Sure, you don’t want to just jump into it without
Inspiration & Encouragement
Don’t Be An Empty Suit
Every four months for the past fifteen years, I’ve avidly read the Alumni Notes section of my alma mater’s publication,the Cornell Law Forum to see what my classmates have been up to since graduation. In addition to alumni notes, the Forum publishes a couple of articles by professors and students. While some have been moderately…
Are You Stuck in A Rut?
In this article, Clearing the Cobwebs, (Meg Tebo, ABA Journal, October 2005), solos share some ideas on what they do to get unstuck. Solutions include working the New York Times crossword puzzle, surfing the web, seeing a matinee and restarting the day by eating breakfast. The last one sound odd, but Barbara Kessler, who…
How to Succeed as A Lawyer – A Great Read
If you’ve not seen this great letter, How to Succeed as A Lawyer (Roland Boyd), that was first published more than 40 years ago in the Texas Bar Journal, then put down what you’re doing and read it now. On the surface, the letter simply dispenses tips from a father to a son on how…
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…
Are Solos Really Free?
Thanks to David Giacalone of f/k/a for this post on Lowell Komie’s fiction about law practice, including what it’s like to be a solo (see this one too). David also quotes from Komie and his apparently mixed feelings about whether a solo practitioner is truly “free.” Consider these two views expressed by Komie in an…
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…
Re-energize Your Practice
Solo practice keeps a lawyer so hopping, what with networking lunches, new client consultations, sending out bills and studying up on new areas of law that it’s hard to believe in those early years that it can ever turn dull or boring. But it does. And if that’s how you’re feeling about your practice now,…
Getting Knocked Down, Getting Back Up
Any lawyer who’s been in practice more than a week has been there, on the losing side. It may be losing a massive multi-million dollar trial or simply being bested by an opponent in a heated negotiation. But while getting clobbered is never enjoyable, we’ve got to get back up and ready ourselves for more. …
From Regulatory Biglaw Attorney to Cutting Edge Reproduction Specialist
What you may want to know upfront is that this article, Fatherhood by a New Formula, Sandra Boodman, Washington Post (1/18/05) isn’t really about small firm attorneys. Rather, it’s more about a growing trend of gay men who are becoming dads using egg donors and a gestational surrogate. But in the course of reading…