My Shingle

December 2005

Are You Desperate Enough to Succeed As A Solo?

December 22, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Desperation isn’t the greatest trait to display if you’re trying to meet a mate. But if you want to succeed in starting a law firm, desperation, or more accurately, the willingness to do something absolutely desperate to bail out a case or save your firm can serve you well. I was reminded of the power [...]

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You Don’t Have To Get It Perfect…

December 21, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Allison Shields of the new Legalease practice-building blog has a post taking inventory for the New Year that contains some great advice: you don’t have to get it perfect, you just have to get it going. That advice applies to many lawyers contemplating solo practice. Sure, you don’t want to just jump into it without [...]

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Business Cards on the Cheap – Why You May Want them

December 20, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Most lawyers have duplicates of many things – we’ve got courtroom attire and officewear, dress glasses and regular ones, different sets of shoes and for women, handbags. So why not have several business cards? Most marketing experts advise against this because different cards means that we dilute our brand. But I’ve found several uses for [...]

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It’s Still Not Too Late

December 20, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

It’s still not too late to send out a holiday gift or thank you and there are some ideas listed in this article here, including Billable Hour timepieces by fellow solo Lisa Solomon. Even if you can’t order these gifts in time for holidays, you can stock up now and distribute them as thank yous [...]

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New Business for Women and Minority Owned Solos & Small Firms

December 20, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

If you’re a women or minority owned solo or small law firm, there’s some new opportunities for you described in this Press Release. According to the National Association of Minority & Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF), many major corporations have announced an initiative to increase utililization of minority and women owned firms – and have [...]

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Why Not To Burn Bridges, Part II

December 20, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Following up on this earlier post here is yet another article on alumni networks, this time from the Chicago Tribune, entitled Companies Learn to Value Alumni (December 18, 2005). As the article reports, law firms are the latest to join the trend: Law firms are among the latest adopters. Their practice of forcing out lawyers [...]

Read more Biglaw to Solo 2 comments

Wouldn’t You Like to Be Remembered Like This?

December 20, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

I came across this article, Lawyer killed head-on in accident (12/9/05, NH Republic) about Massachusett criminal defense lawyer Geri Laventis tragic death in a head on car wreck. I did now know her at all, but here is how she was described by her colleagues: Judge William B. McDonough, who presides over Holyoke District Court [...]

Read more Celebrating Solos 4 comments

Reasons to Come Clean

December 20, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

This article, Tiffed by Staff, John Gibeaut (ABA e-Report 12/16/05) shows the benefits of coming clean when you’ve committed an ethical infraction – or even think that you might have committed one. The article describes the case of a Delaware solo real estate lawyer who recently received a public reprimand for mishandling client funds. The [...]

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Yes, You Can Be A Part Time Shingler

December 11, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Solo Wannabee wonders whether you can start a law practice part time. Surprisingly, the conventional wisdom on this question is no, that solo practice demands full time commitment to make it and that client demands are full time. But that’s not my view. As I’ve said before, there are as many right ways to hang [...]

Read more Business Models 14 comments

My Shingle Turns Three

December 10, 2005 by Carolyn Elefant

Three years ago last night, MyShingle made its entry into the blogworld with this inaugural post and our declaration of intent: We seek to serve a broad audience — solos and small firm lawyers foremost of course, but also lawyers who dream of hanging out a shingle and law students for whom solo and small [...]

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