Starting Non-Conventional Solo Practices and a Free Marketing Call

Some lawyers start their own practice, but rather than specialize in traditional legal work, opt for or incorporate alternatives like contract lawyering, mediation or lobbying.  If you’re interested in how to build a practice in those areas, consider these resources: Lisa Solomon, a nationally recognized contract attorney who practices as  Question of Law offers some…

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Contests as a Way to Attract New Clients

I came across this Press Release about a Clean Tech competition that’s awarding $600,000 in prizes to early stage clean energy innovators.  And guess what?  The awards include not just cash but also in-kind services offered by accounting, public relations and law firms – in this case, tech counsel to the “stars,” Wilson Sonsini. Sponsoring…

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How to Get Transactional Training

Much of the advice on learning new practice skills relates primarily to litigation oriented practices.  As I’ve discussed in Solo by Choice, a new solo or lawyer interested in trial work can spend a few days court-watching, accompany a more experienced lawyer to depositions or pick up a pro bono case which might entail representing…

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An Off Hours Law Practice Is An On Point Idea

One of the five "high impact" marketing practices that I discuss in Solo by Choice is non-traditional consultations, such as house calls or an after hours practice.  Not only are are non-traditional consults a way to stand out and accomodate your clients, but they’re also compatible with many solos’ business models.  Making house calls or…

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Making Sense of Online Marketing Options…With A Circle

Consistent with the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the entropy (or in lay terms, randomness) of the array of online marketing options is ever-increasing.  But thanks to this diagram (and post) by Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends, there’s hope of imposing some order on all of the chaos. You need to link here to view…

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Ed Poll’s New Book: Law Firm Fees and Compensation

We hear plenty of talk about the demise of the billable hour, but little substantive discussion about what method ought to replace it.  Sure, there’s mention of alternatives like flat fee billing, hybrids and “value billing,” you don’t always find much “there there.”   Plus, many non-lawyer advocates of value billing fail to account for our…

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New Ideas for Business Cards

Over at my roost at Legal Blogwatch, I posted about ways that lawyers — including solo and blogger, Ernie the Attorney are rethinking the concept of business cards.   As Ernie points out, these days, it’s not hard (or at least it shouldn’t be hard) to find a lawyer’s website by running a Google name search…

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