My Shingle

December 2010

How Far Can You Go if You Don’t Grow?

December 29, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

I realize that putting out a thought post at the end of 2010 may not be the smartest idea. But for some time, I’ve been wondering how far a solo can take a law practice without growth. By growth, I mean initially, part-time or virtual staff, like paralegals, receptionists, non-lawyer assistant and law clerks. That’s [...]

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CDLs Putting Us Other Solos to Shame

December 29, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

For the second year in a row, Scott Greenfield is running a contest for the best criminal law blog post for 2010. Because I’ve been so busy these days, I only read a handful regularly – though I also visit posts with headlines that catch my eye or that friends highlight on Twitter or FB. [...]

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Help A Lawyer Out Is Already Here

December 29, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Last week, I blogged about the importance of lawyers helping other lawyers. In the headline, I used the acronym HALO – Help a Lawyer Out. Since the post, I remembered why the phrase sounded so familiar (no, not because of Help a Reporter Out though I suppose that’s familiar also), but because Andrea Cannavina, owner [...]

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Happy New Year, Solos!

December 24, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m going to be off the grid for a few days, so I will leave you with this amateurish holiday video card (I just couldn’t crop the black out of the beginning – just fast forward to the 18 second mark).  My resolution for new year? Learn to edit video!  I’ll check in a few [...]

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HALO – Help a Lawyer Out

December 21, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Professional courtesy. When is the last time you’ve used that phrase, or heard it as anything other than the punchline of a lawyer joke? For me, professional courtesy is one of the aspects of being a lawyer that I most enjoy. Like giving a free consultation to a client sent my way by a colleague. [...]

Read more Dealing With Clients 7 comments

Some Marketing Projects for 2011

December 21, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

As you know, I post on legal marketing over at Nolo’s Legal Marketing Blawg. This past year, I wrote some fairly meaty posts on a variety of different marketing-relating initiatives for law practices that haven’t been covered with the same depth elsewhere. With the year winding down, why not take the time to look at [...]

Read more Marketing & Making Money 6 comments

Are You Targeting the Clients You Want? Wordle Your Website to Find Out.

December 20, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Is your website working to target the clients you want? You don’t need a high-priced marketing consultant to figure out the answer. Instead, just Wordle it. Wordle is an online application that generates word clouds from text or website URLs that you provide, with more frequently used words depicted in larger fonts. In the past, [...]

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Using Security as a Selling Point for Your Practice

December 17, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

A few weeks ago, Jordan Furlong (who’s North America’s answer to Richard Susskind) tipped me off to Clearspire, a new, “new kind of law firm.” Billing itself as a revolutionary law firm, Clearspire’s website reads like a page out of Susskind, hitting all of the buzz words like alternative billing, combining legal advice with business [...]

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MyShingle Weighs in on ABA Ethics Initiative

December 16, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Well, I was an hour or two late, but I got my comments in on the ABA Issues papers on web use and cloud computing. You can read them below. ABA Comments

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Real Solo Marketing Idea: A Pick Up for Your Practice

December 13, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Talk about turning lemons into lemonade. That’s exactly what Orange County, California solo Brian Pedigo did, when he converted a lemon of a pick up truck into a professional and tasteful mobile advertisement. Here’s the backstory, directly from Brian: I inherited this 1990 Ford F150 after my father in law passed away. We drove it [...]

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