My Shingle

September 2007

Wear Your Scarlet H Proudly

September 30, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

As I wrote in my upcoming book, back in 1993 when I started my law firm and worked primarily from home, I often felt as if I had a huge scarlet “H” emblazoned on my chest. Back then, I jumped through all kinds of hoops to prevent clients from discovering that I only had a [...]

Read more Business Models 6 comments

Jobs At Biglaw Limited – So Why Is This News?

September 24, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

This Wall Street Journal story about how lawyers from the lower ranks of lower tiered law schools have a tough time finding jobs has been getting lots of coverage, such as in thiscommentary by Susan Cartier Liebel; a round up of law professor blogs and this discussion at the WSJ Law Blog. As for me, [...]

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Last Lecture

September 24, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

By now, this story and video of Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch’s inspiring and moving talk has made its way around the blogosphere, appearing at a number of law blogs, including this extensive coverage at Sheryl Schelin’s Inspired Solo. Pausch, a computer science professor is dying of pancreatic cancer and with three to six months [...]

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An Interview With Foonberg – A Blast From the Past!

September 24, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Thanks to the Wayback Machine, you can access most of the MyShingle posts that pre-date November 2004 . For those who don’t recall, I’ve been blogging at MyShingle since December 2002, but I moved from the Slash Code to Typepad platform when I became an ALM affiliate blogger at the end of 2004. Searching through [...]

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Beware the Mis-named Non-Refundable Retainer

September 24, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

UPDATE – In December 2008, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed this decision and held that the non-refundable retainer passed ethical muster because the agreement was unambiguous. See here . Thank goodness for lawyers who are willing to risk a disciplinary sanction to retain $2500 of money that any objective observer would recognize as unearned and [...]

Read more Dealing With Clients 16 comments

GAL’s GAS (Great American Success) Continues

September 24, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Some of my favorite blogs are those with a continuing story line. And there’s no greater story line than that shared by over the past few years by Enrico Schaefer, who revealed himself as Greatest American Lawyer. Enrico’s blog takes us from the the day he quit his job at a firm to start his [...]

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Why Are So Few Women Lawyers Solo?

September 13, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Since women lawyers pull their own weight in the genre of solo and small firm blogs (along with me, there are my colleagues and friends, Susan Cartier Liebel and Inspired Solo’s Sheryl Schelin, I was surprised to learn that Few Women Choose to Practice Solo (NLJ 9/13/07). A recent study released by NALP revealed that [...]

Read more Legal Profession Trends 7 comments

It’s Official – I Have My Own Dewey Decimal!

September 11, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Those of you who read MyShingle regularly may have noticed the dwindling number of posts over the past few months. No, the site is not coming to an end…even after blogging for almost five years, I still find that there’s plenty of new material to cover. But since I’m not a natural born writer, there’s [...]

Read more Announcements 6 comments

First Day, Fresh Start

September 11, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

For me, fall brings a fresh start – both the beginning of the school year and Rosh Hashanna, the Jewish New Year. Back when I was a student, no matter how bad the previous year had been, I’d always welcome the new school year with hope and optimism. Of course, those of us in the [...]

Read more Encouragement 4 comments

Reid Trautz to Give His “50 Top Tips” to DC Bar…Though the DC Bar Makes It impossible for People to Hear About It!

September 6, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

On Friday, September 21, 2007, former DC Bar law practice management expert and nationally acclaimed speaker Reid Trautz will be presenting a newly revised version of the perennial favorite, 50 Hot Technology Tips, Tricks & Web Sites for Lawyers. Ordinarily, you’d have to pay several hundred dollars to sign up for an ABA conference to [...]

Read more Announcements 4 comments