Update – please see the comments, as they are very informative. I think perhaps my position may be too extreme – funding a couple of non-profit positions or funding indigent criminal defense prgrams may not, on further reflection, be a bad idea (although in many instances, solo and small firm lawyers handle these kinds of
Reader Question: Should I Take Consumer Cases Short Term Even Though I Want to Do Business Law Long Term?
I try to respond personally to the many emails that I receive from readers, but every so often, the email raises a question that has broader interest to other readers, so I post it here. Here’s an email that I recently received, with my response – but I welcome you to chime in:
Q: I
The Importance of Human Back-Up
For almost two weeks now, I’ve been dealing with a family situation that has taken me out of town, spending both days and nights at the hospital. Like many of my colleagues who responded to the MyShingle contest question, I too employ technology that lets me take my office with me on the road.
Alexis Martin Neely – Why What I’m Doing With My Law Degree Matters
I went to law school to make a difference and really help people. I graduated from law school in 1999, when the economy was having a party and law firms were fighting for the top law school graduates. By the time I graduated, starting salaries had crept up to $135,000 per year and I graduated
The Contract Lawyer Conundrum
[Some edits as of 1/16/09]
Over at her blog, Legal Research and Writing Pro, my friend Lisa Solomon summarizes the recent spurt of posts round the blogosphere on the grim life of contract attorneys, who endure low wages, intolerable working conditions and frequently, degrading treatment from other lawyers. Lisa suggests that these lawyers consider
CONTEST APOLOGY FOR DELAY
I wanted to apologize for my delay in posting the results of the contest – there are so many great posts and I’d like to get them all set up to post in seriatim – but a couple of matters, including an unexpected family emergency have put me off track. I will either turn my
Solos Do Everything Biglaw Does, Only Backwards and in High Heels
Many large firms assume, wrongly, that solo and small firm lawyers don’t handle complex issues. Truth is, many of us do. But unlike biglaw which has the luxury of researching and strategizing about these issues in a vacuum, we solo and small firm clients do all that, plus tend to our clients’ needs.
Consider the
Back to School
[Post has been edited]
I’ll be teaching a course on how to use web 2.0, social media and other collaborative technologies to Build Your Own Bar Association through Solo Practice University. From what I can tell, I’ll be a bit of a heretic on the faculty: not only did I love law school but
The Importance of the Company We Keep
I’ve finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers which argues that a variety of factors, such as luck, era of birth or family support account as much for success as sheer talent. After all, what explains the break out success of certain individuals with innate talent in comparison to the mediocre performance of those equally endowed?
If
Free E-book From Biglaw to Yourlaw & Free Teleconference, December 30, 2008
UPDATE – ENCORE TELECONFERENCE from Biglaw to Yourlaw – JANUARY 9, 2009 (Thursday) at 3 pm EST. Sign up below. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY SIGNED UP YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE INFORMATION ON THE CALL VIA EMAIL.
Given that 1762 lawyers lost their jobs in 2008 according to the Law Shucks Layoff Tracker, I decided