My Shingle

September 2005

This Lawyer Was Lucky…But I Wouldn’t Try This Trick At Home

September 19, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

This article, Winning As Your Own Lawyer, NY Lawyer (9/15/05) reports on one of the unusual instances where a lawyer represented himself before a disciplinary board – and won!  From the article: In 2002, Ziegler took over the defense of a robbery charge against a member of a family he had represented for years, even [...]

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Biglaw Attorney With Big Clients Goes Small

September 12, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

And yet another biglaw attorney downsizes, as reported in this article, Law Firm to Serve Smaller Businesses (Grand Rapids Press, 9/10/05).  According to the piece, Barry Kane, a large firm partner and Vince DeYoung, former attorney for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Harrahs’ have  launched a Michigan law firm that specializes in business counseling, intellectual property [...]

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A Home Office Still Needs to Be An Office

September 12, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

For all of you home office shinglers, fellow solo Lisa Solomon authored this guest post at Home Office Lawyer entitled “Putting the Office Back in the Home Office.”  Lisa offers a couple of quick tips to professionalize your home office so that you can keep your home-office and home-life separate from each other.

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The ABA Says It Wants Solos to Join…Yet Is Completely Out of Touch With Our Abilities and Needs

September 10, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

So, the American Bar Association says that it wants us solo and small firm lawyers to consider joining?  If that’s so, it’s going to have to do a far better job of understanding the abilities and needs of solo and small firm attorneys than it has. Consider this article, Solos Lead the Wireless Way, ABA [...]

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Did Partner-ese Cause $90 Million in Malpractice?

September 10, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Associate:  Can I take a look at the certificate of incorporation for my research assignment? Partner:   No! You don’t really need to know the facts.  Just do the research I asked for! I’m just guessing about the partner-associate partnerese dialogue that might have ensued as part of the preparation of The Opinion Letter That Could [...]

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Legal Writing Resources

September 10, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Via Tom Mighell at Inter-alia comes a link to weblog that’s been published since March 2005 but is new to me: Wayne Schiess’ Legal Writing.  Wayne’s site offers examples of poor legal drafting, tips on legal writing and a list of articles that he’s written.  What was most interesting to me though was that Wayne’s [...]

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More Katrina News

September 10, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Following up on this last post, there’s another article, Small Law Firms Hit Hard by Katrin (Fulton County Daily Report – 9/8/05) on the impact of Katrina on small firms.  From the article: "I’m worried about the ones that don’t have friends. Some of the solos and real small outfits might not know other folks [...]

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The Somber Side of Solo Practice

September 3, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

I know that frequently I’m regarded as an avid advocate (some of my blogging buddies would even call me a cheerleader) for solo practice, focusing primarily on the benefits of going solo rather than the risks or drawbacks.  But in the wake of Katrina, I’m reminded of the somber side of solo practice:  how many [...]

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What Business Expenses Are Too High For You?

September 3, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Matt Homann of Non Billable Hour has run his cost benefit analysis and gives us his conclusions here: Poor health and strained family relations are both “business expenses” I’m unwilling to pay. Are you willing to pay that price?

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Niche Practice: Historic Preservation

September 3, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Here’s a history making attorney:  Sam Slaymaker, who’s Making Local History By Focusing on Preservation (Lancaster News, 9/3/05).  According to the article, Sam Slaymaker becomes first local attorney to devote an entire practice to preservation law. He hopes to serve homeowners, farm families, real-estate developers and municipalities. Slaymaker has the background for his niche – [...]

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