My Shingle

November 2005

GAL Does the Decent Thing

November 30, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

The Greatest American Lawyer has been on the greatest of blog-posting frenzies this past week, with a number of must-read posts.  But the one I’ve selected to focus on is this, which asks Have you ever considered waiving fees even when you did nothing wrong? There, GAL describes his decision to forego several thousand dollars [...]

Read more Client Service 6 comments

A Really Nice Thing – And A Blog To Check

November 29, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

I’ve been having a lousy week, with one matter continuing to generate all kinds of knotty issues.  So it was a real pick-me-up to get a call from the editors over at Lawyer and Business Executives in the News to inform me that I’d been selected  Person of the Week.  And even though as Person [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 10 comments

Client Expenses – Not Whether They Pay, But How Much

November 28, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Over at The Practice, Jonathan Stein ponders whether clients should be billed for smaller incidental costs like photocopying or faxing.  Jon falls on the side of rolling these incidentals into overhead rather than reflecting them on a client bill. I agree with Jon.  But for me, the much trickier question when it comes to billing [...]

Read more Ethics Issues 4 comments

Biglaw’s Got the View But Not Much Worthwhile to Do

November 28, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Yet another article, Smaller Can Be Beautiful for Some Lawyers, (bizjournal, 11/2005) on biglaw attorneys leaving their firms for smaller – or in this case, mid-sized pastures.   But what I found so sad about this piece is the reason that some folks stay on at biglaw:  not because they prefer the work but rather, they [...]

Read more Big Law/Small Law 4 comments

US AGs Decide to Shingle

November 27, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

It’s not just biglaw attorneys who are hanging shingles these days.  This article,  AUSAs to Start New Trial Firm, Justin Scheck, the Recorder 11/23/2005 reports on a pair of former US Attorneys who’ll be hanging a shingle in Northern California and foregoing biglaw practice.  The reason?  These guys want to be trial lawyers.   And they’re [...]

Read more Biglaw to Solo 2 comments

Small Firms Fighting Big Companies

November 27, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

I loved Jonathan Harr’s A Civil Action and so I was happy to come across this article, Two Person Firm Wrestles Oil Giant (November 26, 2005) about another small firm doing battle with a major corporation, albeit with better results.   But it’s still an uphill fight.  From the lead of the article: It’s the old [...]

Read more Celebrating Solos 2 comments

What David Swanner’s Giving Away, and Not Just for Holiday Gifts

November 27, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

A few weeks ago at Blawgthink, I met David Swanner, who blogs at  South Carolina Trial Law Blog.  David was giving out copies of his Winning With Powerpoint CD that you can get from him through his blog as described here.   From David’s perspective, the payment is possible referrals, but more importantly, an opportunity to [...]

Read more Litigation & Courts: Policy and Practice 4 comments

Big Companies Starting To Pin Point Small Firms

November 20, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Finally – it’s happening.  Big companies are started to wonder why they should pay $600 an hour to fly their regular biglaw counsel from New York or L.A. out to Buffalo or Kalamazoo to litigate a case, when they can just as well retain local counsel for a fraction of the price – and better [...]

Read more Big Law/Small Law 2 comments

Announcing “The Billable Hour” Timepieces

November 19, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

As Thanksgiving and winter holidays approach, like me, many of you are probably scrambling to find the perfect gift for lawyer-friends and colleagues who’ve helped you throughout the year.  This year, you don’t need to waste any more billable hours looking for gifts because fellow solo Lisa Solomon and her attorney husband Mark have come [...]

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Solos Can Profit From Blogs

November 19, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

When it comes to blogs, the question on almost every solo or small firm lawyer’s lips is  “Will a blog get me business?”   Once my answer to that question was a qualified “possibly,” – I felt that that blogs wouldn’t necessarily generate clients directly, but nonetheless, could help diversity a solo’s overall marketing portfolio.  Now, [...]

Read more Marketing & Making Money 78 comments

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