My Shingle

February 2005

If We Can’t Beat Them, Let’s Compete With Them!

February 22, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m never more mortified than when I see lawyers trying to shut down legal document preparation services like We the People which purportedly compete with lawyers – as the Illinois Bar is doing.  See Lawyers Protest Expanding Legal Document Preparers, Chicago Sun times (2/21/05).   I can’t understand why attorneys, who offer a valuable service, feel [...]

Read more Business Models 57 comments

Is There A Malpractice Action a-Comin’?

February 22, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Many attorneys who practice criminal law believe that their malpractice exposure is minimal.  After all, it’s hard to show that it’s more likely than not that a client would have avoided conviction but for the attorney’s negligence – it only because it’s so hard to predict what juries might do.  But after reading this article, [...]

Read more Criminal Law, Practice & Policy 4 comments

More on Going Solo After Law School

February 22, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

David Swanner,  a South Carolina  solo weighs in with some good advice about starting a practice out of law school over here at his web log, South Carolina Trial Law.  David knows about going solo after law school first hand – because he’s done it successfully.

Read more Questions & Advice 6 comments

Alabama Court Appointed Attorneys May Strike

February 22, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

We’ve already had a lengthy discussion over the reasonableness of $30-$40/hour court appointed rates back here. Now, there’s an interesting development relating to court appointed rates out of Alabama as reported in  Lawyers for Poor Threaten Walkout, David Holden,  Huntsville Times (2/22/05).  According to the article, the state currently pays attorneys for indigent criminal clients [...]

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Should You Marry Your Law Partner?

February 22, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Arnie Herz of Legal Sanity discusses what it’s like to work with a spouse and links to some other articles that discuss this issue.

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Reid Blogs

February 22, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

My D.C. colleague and Law Practice Management Advisor, Reid Trautz recently started blogging at Reid My Blog.  As I can personally attest (having started my firm before Reid came on board with the D.C. Bar), Reid has done an enormous amount to increase the resources available for D.C. attorneys who want to go solo.  And [...]

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On Line Tools for Family Law Attorneys

February 22, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Here’s an article, Matrimonial Lawyers Have a Powerful Tool in the Internet, Jonathan Bick and Jonathan E. Von Kohorn, Small Firm Business (2/22/05) that offers a primer on how family law attorneys can use the Internet to research and investigate their clients’ cases.  Potential uses include: identification and substantiation of claims and defenses; discovery of [...]

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Lawyer Sanctioned for Disclosing What A Judge Should Have

February 15, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Here’s another outrageous story of judicial heavyhandedness.  This story,  Attorneys Sanctioned for Representing Client’s Challenges of Judicial Ethics (Empire Journal 2/14/05).  According to the article, the New York Appellate Division, First Department sanctioned two New York attorneys (to the tune of $2000 and $250 respectively) for “frivolous conduct” when they argued that a judge who [...]

Read more Ethics Issues 6 comments

That Slippery Downhill Spiral

February 15, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m finding that it takes a strong stomach to blog about lawyers’ ethics transgressions.  Even though I’m careful and try to do the right thing with every action I take, I often feel as if I’m just a breathe away from tipping over to the other side.  Maybe it would start with a small act [...]

Read more Ethics & Malpractice Issues 2 comments

Lack of A Retainer Can Cost Lawyers’ Their Fee

February 15, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Next time you find yourself thinking about letting the retainer agreement requirement slide (“I trust the client,” or “There’s no time,” are some excuses that might run through your mind), think again.  Lack of a retainer agreement one can cost you your entire fee.  That’s what happened in the case desribed in this New York [...]

Read more Ethics & Malpractice Issues 22 comments

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