My Shingle

April 2007

How NOT to Handle a Mistake

April 27, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

It’s something that all of us practicing lawyers dread: we file a case, and it’s lost or somehow misplaced at the court, resulting in a missed statute of limitations. So if you find yourself in this situation, do you (a) try to appeal the dismissal of the case, arguing that the clerk erred; (b) ‘fess [...]

Read more Ethics & Malpractice Issues 6 comments

Solo at Above the Law

April 24, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

When I started this blog back in December 2002, I lamented the absence of solo voices from mainstream legal media. But with blogs, we solos have come a long way. The most recent case in point: over at Above the Law, one of the most popular and widely recognized law related websites, solo Billy Merck [...]

Read more Announcements 1 comment

If you had 20 hours of law student time this summer, how would you spend it? And if you’re a law student, what would make you want to take a job with a solo?

April 23, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

This is a two part post, for my fellow shinglers, and also for law students. To my colleagues, first: Imagine that you had twenty hours of reliable law student assistance for the summer…how would you use it? Would you have the students help stock your blog with materials, like at SCOTUS Blog? Ask them to [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 21 comments

Still Solo At 100

April 17, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

When you start a firm, sometimes, it’s hard to imagine lasting 60 days or months. But some lawyers, like 100 year old, Richard Bird, who’s profiled in this article has been running his own firm for more than 60 years! After graduating from Harvard Law in 1933, Bird held a variety of jobs, before starting [...]

Read more Celebrating Solos 28 comments

Gotta Get Goals: Looks Like I’m It

April 12, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

I’ve been tagged by Susan Cartier Liebel to participate in Alex Shalman’s Gotta Get Goals challenge that’s wending its way around the blogosphere.  Like Chuck Newton, I tend to be more of a dreamer than a planner.  That’s not to say that my ideas never come to fruition, or that I meander aimlessly, but I’ve [...]

Read more Encouragement 3 comments

Great Criminal Law Resource, and Why It Helps Solos

April 12, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

At Illinois Trial Lawyer , Evan Schaeffer shares a wonderfully valuable resource, The Center for Criminal Justice Advocacy.  The Center was formed as a free, non-partisan training resource to assist new lawyers in becoming competent criminal practitioners.  And one of the Center’s missions is to provide newly licensed sole practitioners with materials to provide a [...]

Read more Criminal Law, Practice & Policy 1 comment

The Asking Bird Catches the Worm, er, Client

April 12, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m not sure how I overlooked this gem that Dan Hull of What About Clients which asks why are lawyers so shy when it comes to asking for work.  In Hull’s experience, his pitch to clients, which concludes with “we’d love to work with you.  How can I win or earn your business” typically wins [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 16 comments

How Doing Good Can Help You Do Well

April 12, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Many solos who’d like to perform more pro bono work can’t do so for lack of time.  So why not multi-task, and make pro bono work part of your marketing activities portfolio?  Consider the example of lawyers profiled in this article, Creating a nonprofit helps others – and doesn’t hurt business either (ABA Journal, April [...]

Read more Marketing & Making Money 3 comments

Should We Rescue Biglaw, or Run From It?

April 5, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

At the Ms. JD conference that I attended last week, one woman responded to various remarks on the benefits of starting a firm (by some of us troublemakers in the picture) by saying something to the effect that “Starting a firm is all well and good, but if everyone flees biglaw life, firms will be [...]

Read more Big Law/Small Law 10 comments

Striking It Rich by Striking Out on Your Own

April 5, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Thanks to a tip from a sharp eyed reader, here’s a link to a story that I overlooked: The Secrets of Million Dollar Solos, (GM Filisko and Meg Tebo, ABA Journal 3/29/07) that features four solos running million dollar practices. There’s much that other solos and the legal profession generally can learn from these four [...]

Read more Business Models 4 comments

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