Huma Rashid doesn’t write here anymore because she’s too busy practicing as a criminal defense attorney for a small firm in Chicago. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t read her blog about what she’s doing now, especially this fresh post, Isn’t It Funny How Your Dreams Come True?. Huma has a great career
Inspiration & Encouragement
Future of Law Fridays: When Every Day Is An Opportunity
By way of the awesome Tim Baran (have you ever heard anyone say something negative about this guy?), Community Manager of our sponsor Rocket Matter, came this wonderful story about the transformative power of social media by Brandon Stanton, founder of Humans of New York.
Stanton writes that after losing his finance job…
It Took Solo To Take Prenda Down
Yesterday, federal judge Otis Wright slammed Prenda, a rogue “porno trolling” quasi-law firm that figured out a formula to get rich in the Internet Age. As Judge Wright uncovered , Prenda bought copyright interests in porn movies, placed them in shell corporations to appear as if they were owned by clients (rather than Prenda lawyers)…
Why We Choose Solo Practice
This is one of my favorite scenes from A Civil Action . Billed as a book (and movie) about a class action by an underdog lawyer against a major corporation, A Civil Action is also, somewhat unintentionally, one of the very best books about solo practice, covering the tumults and the triumphs and the dichotomous…
Open Letter to New Lawyer: You should be dragging me into the 21st century not the other way around
Dear New Lawyer,
At 48 years old, I am old enough to be your mother. And you should be ashamed of yourself. Here you are, coming to me for a legal job when you don’t know the first thing about RSS feeds, blogging (reading them, let alone writing them), Twitter, Pinterest or YouTube. And what’s…
The Miracle of the Solo (reprise)
Editor’s note: Tomorrow night is the first night of Chanukah, one of my favorite holidays not because of the presents but what it stands for. Chanukah inspired one of my favorite posts in nearly a decade of blogging, and if you didn’t catch it last year, here it is again.
Tonight marks the…
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…
Why I Don’t Focus on the Hardships of Starting a Law Firm
Starting, or more accurately, sustaining a law firm is hard. Scott Greenfield hammers the point sharply but accurately; Sam Glover more mildly but equally accurately. So why don’t I?
As a longtime blogger focused on solo and small firm practice, and author of Solo by Choice, I’m the first to admit that I, like…
Solo Practice Post-Mortem Part III: Would He Have Made It and Was Soloing a Bad Idea?
Thank You Thursday: “She motivated me to start law school at the age of 42”
So, last week, I wrote about the importance of saying thank you , and noted that I’d be starting a Thank You Thursday column, open to readers who want to thank someone who’s made a difference in their life. The first installment comes from business and estate planning lawyer, Paula Schaefer:
In 1997, I…