My Shingle

November 2009

Inspiration for Lawyers From A Boy Who Built A Windmill

November 30, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

–It was a future I could not accept. (William Kamkwaba, Ted Talk at 2:28) A decade ago, William Kamkwaba was just a poor simple farm boy growing up in Malawi, Africa, fully expecting that like his father, he too would become a farmer.  But in 2001, Malawi experienced a devastating drought and famine that knocked [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving and a Thank You to Solo and Small Firm Lawyers

November 24, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m heading out for Thanksgiving but here are a couple of a quick thank yous.   Thank you to all the unsung solo and small firm lawyers who serve clients, solve problems and do justice, day in and day out.  As I said in my last post, you make me proud to be a solo [...]

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Shinglers Who May Inspire You To Start A Law Firm And Become the Lawyer You Dreamed of Being

November 21, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

This past Friday, I presented a nearly full day seminar, Solo By Choice in the Current Economy at the Oregon Bar Center, sponsored by the Professional Liability Fund, the Oregon State Bar Sole and Small Firm Practitioners Section and the Practice Management Section of the Oregon Bar.  But as I was preparing the materials, I realized that [...]

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Podcast on Starting a Practice he Lawyer You Always Dreamed of Being

November 21, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

Last week, I was privileged to be interviewed by Rodney McDowell, who heads the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program and, coincidentally a fellow Cornell  Law School alum (as an aside, we were just a class apart but didn’t really know each other well back in law school – and my guess is that neither [...]

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Free Legal Research by Google & What It Means

November 17, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

What do I think about Google’s recent launch of a free, online legal research tool as part of Google Scholar?  (disclosure: my husband works for Google, but isn’t involved with the legal research project) Funny you should ask, because I’ve been tracking, evaluating and most of all, patiently awaiting the arrival of a functional, robust [...]

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The Page Between Biglaw and Solo Practice, Between Life and Death

November 12, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

Even though I reside in Bethesda, Maryland and practice appellate law in Washington D.C. just like appellate lawyer Mark Levy,  the former Kilpatrick Stockton attorney who took his life after his firm downsized, our paths never crossed.   As a biglaw attorney and a small fry in a highly stratified town like Washington D.C., lawyers like [...]

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Your Blog On Social Media

November 10, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

This is a quick video that my daughter, Elana helped me put together (don’t you love the blog in the frying pan?) that demonstrates how social media can be used to amplify blogging efforts.  That’s the topic I’ll be discussing today at the Avvo’s Mid-Atlantic Tour here in DC (I just noticed that Avvo launched [...]

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LEXIS Responds To Earlier Post

November 9, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

A representative from LEXIS responded to my earlier post,LEXIS, You Could Have Had Us Solos At Hello Unfortunately, I have been experiencing some serious problems with the comments feature of my blog and as a result, have missed many comments.  I would never, ever not post a comment to a site, even if it is [...]

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Second Chance Solo

November 9, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

What would you do if you were exonerated after spending twelve years in prison for a crime you didn’t commit?  Would you spend the rest of your days justifiably bitter, complaining about the injustice of a legal system that could convict an innocent man?  Or would you feel gratitude towards those lawyers who helped to [...]

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Persecuted Connecticut Lawyers Totally Well Represented on Ethics Charges by Pullman & Comley; Total Attorneys, Not So Much

November 7, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

[NOTE:  POST UPDATED 11/8/09 at 2:30 pm.  Jump to end of post for updates] Turns out that at least three of the five Connecticut lawyers who are the subject of a disciplinary proceeding for their participation in Total Bankruptcy.com‘s haven’t completely been hung out to dry as I described in my earlier post.  I received an [...]

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