Archive for March 2009
Would You Hire An Unemployed Lawyer As A Volunteer?
From Newsday, I learned that the Nassau County Attorney’s office hopes help out in this economic downturn by opening its doors to bring on several volunteer lawyers who haven’t been able to find other employment. Positions range from working with the county’s Home Ownership Center to advise in mortgage default situations to defending the county…
Read MoreIf the White House Can Chat With Constituents, Why Can’t You Do The Same With Your Clients?
Just as then-candidate Obama’s campaign offered solo and small firm lawyer valuable marketing lessons on using social media to speak to and genuinely engage clients, likewise, his presidency continues to serve as a valuable source of ideas. As you probably know, today, President Obama conducted an online town hall, eliciting questions from the public through…
Read MoreRichard Susskind & The End of Lawyers: What It Means for Solos
By now, you’ve probably read some of the press or blog reviews about Richard Susskind’s recent book, The End of Lawyers. So you’re probably familiar with Susskind’s main premise that disruptive technologies which routinize or automate certain legal tasks will erode the need for traditional legal services or displace them entirely. Susskind anticipates that clients…
Read MoreThe Lock-Step Monster
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Robert Frost Why is it that biglaw is always engaged in a constant game of follow the leader? A few years back, sites like Above the Law gleefully documented the steady upward march of…
Read MoreI Can Do An Appeal With My Eyes Closed, But I’d Rather Be Flying Blind
After twenty years of practice, I can do an appeal from start to finish with my eyes closed. I’m intimately familiar with the Three-Bears like requirements for timely filing (too early can render the petition incurably premature; too late and the petition misses the unforgiving statutory deadlines and gets unceremoniously bounced) to the arguments –…
Read MoreWhy the Devil’s in the Details of Ethics Rules When You Start A Law Firm and Why That Needs To Change
I’d love to be able to share the specifics about how to start and run a law firm for every jurisdiction in the country. In part, that was the reason behind MyShingle’s The Bars, Reviewed which summarizes the benefits for solos and small firms offered by the 50 bars and the ABA and provides quick…
Read MoreHow Your World Opens Wide When You Start Your Own Law Firm
Back when I worked for others, my social interactions were remarkably stratified. As an associate or a newbie government lawyer, I spent lunches and breaks palling around with other junior lawyers who occupied the same lower tiers of the employment hierarchy as I did. My sole social encounters with partners or superiors came during polite…
Read MoreReal Life Marketing: Collaborating to Market Your Law Practice
So what does Mr. Clean have to do with law firm marketing? Not much, if you’re talking about Mr. Clean all by his lonesome – though I suppose there’s some buried lesson there about branding or image. But what caught my eye about this cleaning product, however, is that it’s a real life example of…
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