My Shingle

February 2006

Overkill for a Missed Hearing

February 25, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Seems like this judge overreacted by sentencing an attorney to 60 days in jail for missing a court appearance (notwithstanding that he’d explained his absence) – as reported in this article, Judge Mulls Over Missed Court Date – In Jail (ABA E-report 2/24/06).  It’s not clear from the article what exactly made this judge so [...]

Read more Ethics & Malpractice Issues 4 comments

Information on Billable Hour

February 25, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

The Billable Hour, run by  Lisa Solomon and her husband, Mark, announces the release of resources on the billable hour, now available here on their website.  They invite submissions from others who can offer other resources on the billable hour.

Read more Announcements 2 comments

I Have Been Crazy-Busy

February 22, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

This past month has been crazy-busy, but busy in a good way.  Many new opportunities have come my way and I’m optimistic about what’s ahead.  But I’ll be the first to tell you that my practice has not always been this way.  I’ve had slow months when I felt frustrated enough about earning the equivalent [...]

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The Death Penalty Must Be Wrong If Its Too Big for Biglaw

February 22, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m not sure where my own personal opinion on the death penalty lies.  I’ve always believed that it’s incredibly disparately and arbitrarily applied – I’m just not certain whether the remedy is wholesale elimination of the death penalty or reducing its random application by improving the quality of legal representation provided to indigent defendants. But [...]

Read more Big Law/Small Law 4 comments

More Tips on Starting A Practice

February 22, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

David Swanner, a solo South Carolina Trial Lawyer gives us his tips for starting a practice, which are followed by a discussion of the merits of Mac v. PC.

Read more Law Practice Management 4 comments

Too Much Complaining: A Good or Bad Thing?

February 19, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

I’ve been thinking alot about my colleague  Jon Stein’s recent post complaining that there are too many bloggers complaining about the practice of law and urging them to focus more on the positives.   Like Jon, I don’t have much tolerance for complainers (as exemplified by this earlier post).  But at the same time, complaining is [...]

Read more Legal Profession Trends 2 comments

Wisdom from a Chicago Solo

February 19, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Peter Olson, Solo in Chicago expresses the sentiments that drove many of us to solo and small firm practice in this post. And Peter offers a follow up link to an article from NALP on achieving work life balance.

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Be the One Who Says Stop

February 19, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Did this lawyer really need to accuse a judge of extortion?  Did this young lawyer really need to express sarcasm and disrespect in an email turning down a job offer? And did this hiring attorney need to respond by forwarding her email (apparently without redacting her name) to third parties? Why don’t lawyers realize that [...]

Read more Ethics & Malpractice Issues 2 comments

Improvements Coming for NY Solos and Their Clients

February 19, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

A couple of years back, we posted about  New York’s formation of a committee to examine difficulties facing solo practitioners.  As this article describes, the Committee’s Report has now issued, recommending a variety of chances including improving the efficiency of calendar calls and scheduling conferences which often waste solos’ time on waiting and figuring out [...]

Read more Solo Practice Trends 0 comments

Niche Blogs

February 19, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

Kevin O’Keefe of  Lex Blog has a post on niche blogging, summarizing tips by Darren Rowse on choosing a niche topic.  The tips include selecting a topic that interests you, where there’s not yet much competition and which will offer enough content.  These tips are particularly important these days in starting a law related blog, [...]

Read more New Marketing Ideas 10 comments

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