Back to School

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I’ll be teaching a course on how to use web 2.0, social media and other collaborative technologies to Build Your Own Bar Association through Solo Practice University.   From what I can tell, I’ll be a bit of a heretic on the faculty:  not only did I love law school but I also sincerely believe that it provided a real education, and that what I learned has helped me in my own practice and throughout my career.  Then again, the world is a classroom to me, and I’ve learned from sitting in court watching other lawyers (my favorite past time, next to poring over turn of the century law review articles in the law school stacks) and from reading documents that I’ve reviewed in discovery and from looking through court files (I remember the days when I had to go down to the actual courthouse to do that!) and I’ve learned from lawyers whom I’ve gotten to know online and those whom I worked for (even those who fired me), with and against and I’ve learned about marketing from real life.  Even after practicing for twenty years, I’m still learning new things, every day.

SPU celebrates the spirit of learning and provides another resource for lawyers who want to learn to start a practice, as I’ve done, albeit in a very different way at MyShingle.com and through my book, Solo by Choice.  Will SPU be valuable?   It’s a great and original concept, to be sure and has Susan’s reputation and passion behind it.  But ultimately, what you get out of SPU or any other learning experience, including law school for that matter, depends upon you.