Archive for January 2015
Finding the Courage to Start
The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start. —John Bingham In the dozen years I’ve blogged here, I’ve sung the praises of solo practice – the unexpected surprises, the enormous opportunity, and the satisfaction that flows from doing work that matters or makes you feel alive or…
Read MoreAsk An Ethics Question: Gift Cards
Updated – 1/30/2015 A few days ago, a question appeared on the Solosez Listserve, inquiring whether a promotional strategy – whereby individuals referred to a firm by an existing client would be entered into a drawing for a gift card upon coming in for a free consultation – passed ethical muster. Happily, everyone who responded…
Read MoreConvert Time and Expertise Into Money With Hire.Bid
A few weeks ago, I earned $1000 for a couple of hours offering some insights in my practice area. While certainly not a large enough fee to close up shop for the month, it was a tidy little windfall that helped cover some home repairs that I’d put off for a while. What if there…
Read MoreHands On Lawyers and One Future for Legal Services
What’s the most effective way for lawyers to protect their clients from a data breach of Sony-like magnitude? Sure, they can sponsor trainings for clients, develop handbooks and checklists and purchase cyberinsurance. Or lawyers could take the most direct approach and identify and plug the security gaps themselves. Sounds crazy – and outside a lawyer’s…
Read MoreA Place Where Solos Can Work Away
To me, there’s nothing more depressing than the concept of the staycation – essentially, spending valuable days off from work hanging around the house and area where you live. Sure, I get the concept of local sightseeing (I live in the tourism capitol after all) but that’s what visitors and houseguests are for. To me,…
Read MoreCalifornia Bar Offers A Reason to Keep Your Website and Blog Separate
Should a law firm blog be incorporated into a website or function as a freestanding entity? That’s a question that’s been asked almost since the beginning of time, with at least two experts – Sam Glover and Kevin O’Keefe endorsing separation for a variety of different reasons. But now, a recent California ethics decision offers…
Read MoreFree and the Contract
Once upon a time, law firms used wills as a loss leader. Clients would come to a law firm for a free will and in theory, the firm would have first dibs on the more lucrative probate work when the time came. These days, free contracts are the 21st century version of free wills with…
Read MoreHow Can An Incubator That Can’t Support Itself Teach New Solo Lawyers To Do So?
Seven participants in Florida International University (FIU)’s LawBridge program which provides incubator space to lawyers willing to do low bono work recently got a rude dose of reality when FIU was bumped from its donated space by a large law firm that presumably could pay rent. Without free space, the FIU program leaders can’t figure…
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