My Shingle

You Be Trendy, I’d Rather Run My Shingle

by Carolyn Elefant on October 30, 2006 · 4 comments

in MyShingle Solo

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I guess when you’ve been blogging as long as I have (four years  next month), it’s inevitable that someone will criticize aspects of your blog (such as its name, MyShingle) as so last millenium.  Which is fine, because while I sometimes blog about solo trends and the coolness factor of solo practice, truth is, trends and coolness aren’t my focus, never have been.  In a couple of days, I celebrate my 13th year as a solo, back in the era when solos were regarded as the untouchables of the legal profession and before dotcom entrepreneurs made working from home cool.  For me, solo practice was never a trend, but reality and a lifesaver; the only way that I could find to practice law and accomodate raising my daughters. 

I love running MyShingle, but I’ll always be a practicing lawyer, first and foremost.  And that’s why I favor the solo and practice blogs that aren’t form over substance or full of jargon but those that teach me, by example, how to practice law and deliver legal services to my clients better, faster and less expensively.  Those that help me stay in business just another day so that I can provide an alternative to overpriced, low quality law firms and in so doing, expand access to law.  Maybe that makes me awfully stodgy in a third wave world, but that’s My Shingle and I plan on sticking to it.

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  • http://stayviolation.typepad.com/chucknewton/ Chuck Newton

    Carolyn, don’t feel bad. My blog post was not aimed at you. I was not thinking about your blog when I wrote it. I actually like your blog and I read almost every post. I just had a moment where I got tired of lawyers using the term “hanging out my own shingle”. I thougt the term comes with a lot of connotations that my philosophy of practice does not support. You are trying to redefine the connotations that hanging out a “shingle” represents and I appreciate that. It is hard to blog anything without offending someone you did not expect or intend to offend. Now, don’t tell me that you are not trendy. After all you run your own very active blog. You are on the forefront of fee issues. If we could get attorney’s who wish to open their own solo practices to think in terms of technology, earnings and blogging instead of offices, cashflow and advertising, then these attorneys would do better, and we would all be better for it. Your the best. /s/ Chuck Newton

  • mythago

    Chuck, do you also get upset when people say that their phone is ringing?

  • http://www.jacobson.co.za Paul

    I suppose it comes down to whether your blog is intended to support your practice or become a business in its own right. A blawg need not become something to dedicate all your time to and to the exclusion of your practice. It is a matter of perspective, I think.

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    Hello Dear….Tell me, why you put our photos on this site? Adult People Connection!!!
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