My Shingle

Late Nights With Maury [Maurice Sendak]

Carolyn Elefant — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:11:19 +0000

Today’s NYT Obituary pays tribute to Maurice Sendak as the children’s author who “wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche.” Maybe so from a critical perspective, but not for those of us who listened to Sendak’s books as kids and grew into the parents who passed them on to our own. For those of my generation, Sendak’s books evoke memories of feeling safe and secure, snuggled close to a parent at bedtime and remind us of the unbreakable power that hard-copy paper books– with their folded corners and stains and tears and imperfections have to captivate us as kids and make us ache with nostalgia as grownups.

As a goody-goody six-year old who’d just about outgrown picture books, the fantastical shenanigans of In the Night Kitchen mesmerized and captivated me. My dad was always designated reader, and my favorite time of day was when he’d settle down on the edge of the bed (for my self-imposed 7 pm bedtime) with my next younger sister and me and read the library copy of Night Kitchen, or our own volumes of Grimms’ Fairy Tales or Little Orphan Annie or Robert Louis Stevenson poems, each of us snuggled up against him on either side.

Years later, while pulling all nighters to get a brief in on time, Mickey’s journey through the crazy night and until dawn would always replay in my mind. When my first daughter was born, I celebrated an excuse to purchase the Sendak Nutshell Library mini-volumes (without looking like some kind of a child-book section stalker). In the bedroom rocking chair with Elana and then Mira, I read or sang A Alligators All Around or Chicken Soup with Rice over and over and over again until they fell asleep in my arms.

I’m sure that In The Night Kitchen renders beautifully on the Ipad and that Where the Wild Things Are was a terrific movie. But still, I miss the smoothness of the pages, the softness of my dad’s worn plaid shirts against my cheek and the sense of accomplishment that I’d feel when with a soft thud, I finally closed the book on those days when all I’d done was nurse a baby, spent the afternoon at the park and gotten one, then two little girls off to sleep. RIP Maurice Sendak and thanks for the memories.

Avvocating Conference: A Great Event & A Class Act

Carolyn Elefant — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:16:38 +0000

Last week, I spoke at Avvocating 2012 (my deck will go up tomorrow; also, full disclosure- Avvo paid my travel to the conference) Much to my own surprise, I’d have to rank it as one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended. Yes, Avvocating was a marketing conference and didn’t pretend to be anything other than that. But the conference was extremely informative, with a number of sessions on search that were quite technical in content so I learned a lot (far more than at the many of the techno-marketing sessions at ABA Techshow). Plus, Avvo had a very low sleaze factor – the marketer/speakers downplayed any hard sell, and the lawyers I met were creative, engaging and hard-working – plus a bunch were dog lovers!

Here are some of my quick impressions about the event and why it worked so well:

1. Avvocating wasn’t attended by a band of losers. Contrary to Scott Greenfield’s assumption (which I must admit that I partly shared before my trip), Avvocating wasn’t at all comprised of desperate solos so lacking in work that they can afford to take two days from the office to spend at a marketing conference. Nor, from what I could tell, were there any virtual firms which probably could have benefited from the lessons on search. Instead, after polling the audience, I discovered that most of the attendees hailed from firms of 2-10; hardly any true solos at all. Moreover, during the breaks, I didn’t see much chit-chat, but lots of phone calls and emails back to the home office (again, more so than is typical for a TechShow or solo conference), so it appeared that many were working while on the road.

I think you know by now that you won’t find a stronger advocate for solo practice than me. But true-solo’ing is a tough road to hoe and even if it works for the short-term, what kind of returns do you get when you exit if you can’t pass your practice on? To the extent that being a true solo prevents you from attending conferences or going out to engage in real networking, then perhaps true solo’ing isn’t optimal for the long run. Lots of solos could have benefited from the Avvo conference; the fact that many didn’t attend isn’t necessarily something to celebrate, but rather, is also potentially troubling (in that solos may be too busy to attend but still not earning much or didn’t attend because they don’t earn enough to afford the price of admission)

2. There’s no such thing as legal tech. Let’s face it, most lawyers, even those who purport to be search experts, don’t know much when it comes to the technical side of search. Avvo gets that, and so it reached outside the legal community, gathering folks from tech companies like Google, Zillow and Microsoft to share insight. There’s so much data out there, and so many interesting insights that can be gleaned from it that can help lawyers strategize about practice areas to pursue or clients to target. Still, at the end of the day, at least some of the search gurus wind up agreeing with Scott: content’s the best way to be found (or, in my view, discovered) online.

3. Ethics take center stage. Ethics weren’t a post-script to the other talks; they played a central role with a full hour session on ethics issues presented by Josh King, Avvo’s GC. Josh really knows his stuff – he follows ethics cases in every jurisdiction (and you can tell that he’s actually read the cases as opposed to partial or inaccurate summaries) and discussed relevant issues in a concise and practical (read, non-academic, ivy-tower!) fashion. Josh also explained that some of Avvo’s less-popular features (like the inability for lawyers to remove their profiles if they receive a review that they don’t like) is what keeps the platform ethically compliant. Some state bars won’t allow lawyers to post, or even participate in a testimonial-system unless the lawyer has no control over it. This kind of rule isn’t entirely over the top – although a client’ ability to review and opine on a lawyer is unequivocally protected First Amendment speech, when lawyers cherry-pick only those testimonials they wish to portray or force alter clients’ testimonials, that’s deceptive. And lawyers have more of an ability to engage in that kind of conduct when they maintain control over testimonials as opposed to having a third-party provider like Avvo do so.

4. Avvo is loyal to its own. Avvo rewards its supporters, active users and its solo and small firm constituency. Avvo paid for lawyers who’ve used its system successfully to come to Seattle and participate in panel discussions or just to attend the conference. And various Avvo speakers, particularly Mark Britton, spotlighted the successes of lawyers who helped the company grow. That actually matters.

I know that Avvo may not be your cup of tea. Many lawyers don’t like the numerical ranking system, or would prefer the ability to take down a profile once they receive a negative review. From my perspective, Avvo has always been a no brainer; online rankings are an inevitability and I’d rather put my faith in a service that’s trying to do right by lawyers than one that’s not lawyer-specific.

Besides, what have big-kahunas like LEXIS or Westlaw ever done for solos? Can you remember a time that LEXIS or Westlaw reward loyal users or spotlighted their achievements? Or offered a free-version of their programs that’s nearly as robust as full fare (recall, Avvo doesn’t cost a dime and while paying may generate better results, or not, you can get much of what you want from Avvo for free). These companies have the resources to help solo and small firm lawyers and they’ve never done anything but use technology to widen the playing field rather than narrow it.

Over the next few years, our profession will be hit with a stream of garbage start-ups, all purporting to disrupt the way law is practiced or expand access to justice. Most of them are little more than a platform built on cheap overseas labor, centered around an unoriginal or harmful idea (think legal auction sites) and are waiting for lawyers to sign up and use the site so that the money will start flowing. By contrast, Avvo brought something to the table when it started (disciplinary records and profile creation), and Avvocating 2012 shows that Avvo continues to do so as it moves forward.

MyShingle In Seattle at Avvocating

Carolyn Elefant — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:00:40 +0000

I’m excited to be speaking at Avvo’s upcoming Avvocating Conference in Seattle on May 3, reconnecting with friends who are also on the agenda and of course, meeting other solo and small firm lawyers. I’ll be talking about the ways that I’ve used online tools like blogging and social media to build my energy regulatory practice and more importantly, offer practical strategies and ideas on practices that other solo and small firm lawyers can implement while focusing on what’s most important: mastery of one’s practice and serving clients. Although energy regulatory practice isn’t a traditional consumer-oriented practice, I face many of the same hurdles as solo and small firm practitioners such as competition both from larger operations with money to burn on advertising (or in my case, fancy sponsorships and junkets) and non-legal providers (you don’t have to be a lawyer to handle cases before FERC). In addition, in contrast to many consumer lawyers who can often gain referrals from colleagues, in my industry, big firms are a little tight-fisted about referring work so I’ve had to come up with other ways to develop a pipeline.

So why I am speaking at a marketing conference, when I’ve been somewhat critical of marketers in the past, particularly a conference sponsored by Avvo, a site that still evokes controversy in the solo/small firm community? First – and most superficially, I love Seattle and the agenda, comprised of a mixture from the legal and tech community is a little different and seems interesting. Second, while Avvo isn’t perfect, ratings sites are here to stay – something that Avvo presciently recognized a long time ago. If you don’t like Avvo, then don’t use it – but recognize that at some point, you may be rated elsewhere.

Most of all, I feel that it’s important for practicing lawyers to have a presence at marketing events. Don’t get me wrong, Matt Homann and Ari Kaplan (who are both former lawyers) are two of my favorite speakers on the circuit today – they’re so dynamic and are always churning out new ideas or serving up new insights. But they don’t practice law and therefore, have to time that a work-a-day solo may not. Moreover, many new solo and small firm lawyers may not have the cash to hire marketing consultants and it’s also important for them to see that they can build a real practice without them.

Anyway, if you are at the Avvocating Conference I look forward to meeting you. And here’s a link for a $100 discount off the price. Be sure to use the discount code MyShingle.

Tidbits Worth the Trip To ABA TechShow 2012

Carolyn Elefant — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:09:53 +0000

As my friend Matt Homann has said, the best and most interesting part of a conference happens outside of the conference. And even at ABA Tech Show, with some of the most high quality, substantive programming of any conference, Matt’s observation still holds true, with the personal connections taking place outside of the classroom sessions and making TechShow all that much rewarding and enjoyable.

Of course, at a place like TechShow, even many of the personal conversations and off-the-record comments aren’t limited to idle chit-chat, but touch on big picture issues like the promise of technology and the future of law and challenges of moving forward. Those are the topics where three of my outside Tech Show programming “best of’s” come into play:

1. Best idea: One of the best ideas I’ve heard in a long time came in the form of a question from an unidentified participant during the Bilinsky/Adkins session on new virtual business models for law firms. As Dave Bilinsky itemized the litany of potential ethics considerations that the bars have only just started to address, this participant asked “What about a challenge to the Bar rules on the basis that the obstacles to virtual practice violate the Americans With Disabilities Act? The questioner went on to describe at least some of the lawyers who favor, and clients who patronize virtual law practices do so because online services are easier to deliver and access for those with disabilities. (As an aside, after my post on NJ’s Bonafide Office Requirement, I received an email from a disabled attorney who had written a letter to the NJ Powers that Be, describing his own personal reliance on a virtual model). Though I’ve been knocking my head against the wall to change some of the outdated bar rules, the ADA isn’t something I’d ever thought of. Pure genius!

2. Best document generating tool At dinner on Friday night, I sat next to one of my favorite TechShow/blogosphere buddies, Ken Adams. Though you’d probably never guess from Ken’s precise, measured writing style and flair (in contrast to my rantings), we actually have several common pet peeves including low quality forms and templates. But in contrast to me (all complaint, little action), Ken has actually put his money and skills where his mouth is and developed an automated, superior NDA that is now available FREE by registering here. I urge you to take a look at what Ken has developed and take advantage of it to get a sense of what high quality document automation can be like (see my previous post here on my review of Ken’s NDA product.

3.Best Observation I had a few conversations with Scott Stanley, CEO of Associated Legal Blogs a service that offers short feeds from all legal blogs all in one place. After the 60 Apps in 60 Minutes session, Scott remarked on the benefits of apps that take one function and do it really well, as opposed to platforms that incorporate multiple functions in a lackluster way. After Scott shared the insight, the lightbulbs went off in my head, explaining why niche practice, particularly solo niche practices have gained so much ground lately: because of the app-ification of the way we do business. Because of apps, consumers no longer expect or desire a product that does everything OK, if they can find an app that does one thing that rocks. So too with niche practice where smaller clients find a lawyer for their precise problem. Likewise, the app-ification of law has replaced the “one stop shopping model,” as even large firms are increasingly willing to bundle up a bunch of smaller niche practices for their needs instead of sending all their business to one large firm.

Of course, just as a developer may design several apps, solos aren’t limited to one practice niche either. In many ways, my own practice model is a bundle of apps itself – eminent domain, FERC practice, social media in regulated industries and appeals – with the common thread of solving problems of first impression and last resort. But my practice, like others similarly structured works because like apps, discrete, niche areas are easy to set up, inexpensive to market since the target audience is limited, and so well suited to client needs that clients become loyal and supportive fans.

The app-ification of law practice. How about that my futuristic friends?

Needless to say, there were plenty of other bests at TechShow beyond these three – these are just the ones most relevant to my beat at MyShingle. Though if you came away with similar best of’s, I welcome them in the comment section below. In the meantime, if you’d prefer a big picture view of TechShow 2012, take a look at posts by Nicole Black (Legal Technology and Innovation at Its Finest) and InsideLegal’s TechShow 2012: What Went Down, and if you want a quick run down on Jim Calloway’s outstanding keynote on the Future of Law: Dark Clouds or Silver Linings, see Connie Crosby’s excellent summary or Dave Bilinsky’s cautionary words. By the way, tomorrow, I’ll be posting on where I found the future of law last month – surprisingly, much as I enjoyed TechShow, it wasn’t there. Stay tuned….

MyShingle Follow Ups: Tech Choices & Business Cards

Carolyn Elefant — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:01:39 +0000

I’m looking forward to the 2012 ABA Tech Show where I’ll be covering various sessions relevant to solos, including cloud choices for solos and how solos can build a virtual team. If you have any other sessions that you’d like me to summarize on Friday or Saturday (I’ve got a conflict Thursday), please let me know.

Meanwhile, if you are curious about the web and tech tools that solos are currently using, check out this comprehensive chart — and please, add your own tech choices via this form. If you want to get a sense of how lawyers are plugging and playing technology, check out these Solo Lawyer Tech Bios.

Finally, I’m happy to report that the MyShingle Virtual Business Card Fishbowl Drop is a great success so far with 68 cards collected. Given the great response, the contest date is extended through April 5 – and you can continue to upload your cards here.

MyShingle Update on the Virtual Fishbowl Project at Pinterest

Carolyn Elefant — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:36:55 +0000

Last week, I launched the virtual fishbowl project at MyShingle, essentially, an opportunity to submit your business card online and have it posted. The first batch of cards, received through mid-day last Friday have been posted, but there are another dozen or so on hold due to issues with the Pinterest upload application. As soon as the problem is corrected, posting will resume – so if you’ve sent a card already, keep watching for it to appear and if you haven’t submitted, please do so here at this form.

Lawyers: Drop YOUR Business Card in the MyShingle Virtual Fishbowl!

Carolyn Elefant — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:51:41 +0000

Note: You can either read through the entire post to learn more about this experiment, or jump right in and fill out this form to “drop” your business card into the MyShingle Online Fishbowl at Pinterest. If you drop your card before March 15, 2012, you’ll qualify to win one of two $75 Amazon gift cards – plus, you’ll receive a direct link to your website in a MyShingle post, which will confer added visibility and an SEO boost. Read on for details.

Although virtual bulletin board Pinterest has been hailed as the next big thing, most lawyers have been left scratching their heads, unsure what to do with it or how to make money from it. But after I snagged an invite to Pinterest a few months back and spent a few minutes on the site, its appeal to lawyers — or at least, to the solo and small firm legal community — was immediately apparent.

How so? Well, one of the biggest challenges that solo and small firm lawyers face is accessing the working body of knowledge on the minutia of starting and running a law firm — like how to word an announcement or what weight of paper to choose for stationary (if you still use it) to how a nice-looking website should look or where to find a good graphic designer. At large firms or in-house, most of these choices that solos confront are pre-determined by firm policy; if not, they can be researched by staff. And at one time when the small firm legal community was more tightly-knit and collegial, little practice secrets passed from lawyer to lawyer, generation to generation through the solo underground railroad. However, as the legal community has grown and disaggregated, lawyers now learn about products either (1) through bar associations, which often recommend the deepest pocket offering the largest kickback rather than the highest quality provider or (2) through web search which does not always reliably uncover local providers or ethically-compliant goods and services.

That’s where Pinterest comes in. Even though the Internet is wide (they don’t call it the world wide web for nothing), it isn’t deep or customized for individual user preference, making the results of searches frequently dissatisfying (with paid SEO throwing off results even more). Pinterest capitalizes on users’ frustration with generic search. Instead, Pinterest caters to consumers’ preference for options curated to match their unique interests and needs, or alternatively, discovering best-kept secrets through personal recommendations rather than mass marketing.

In essence, Pinterest systematizes the way that solo and small firm lawyers have traditionally traded and shared tips and recommendations. Even though I’ve written about ways that lawyers might use Pinterest for marketing, I’m beginning to think that Pinterest’s most immediate and valuable use for lawyers is as a community for sharing information and gaining inspiration on the day to day details and choices attendant to solo practice.

Of course, that’s all a bunch of conjecture; I’m curious to see whether it works in practice. So with that, I’m launching the MyShingle Virtual Fishbowl for Business Cards , using Pinterest as a platform. (If you don’t get the virtual fishbowl concept, here’s what I mean).

An open, virtual platform for exchanging business cards will accomplish several purposes. First, a virtual fishbowl provides a chance to openly and leisurely examine colleagues’ business cards for inspiration, without the embarrassment of actually reaching into the bowl for a surreptitious peek (Just admit that you’ve done that before!). Further, if you see a card you like, and the owner shared information on the designer and/or printer, you can contact the company directly (though submission of vendor information is optional, if you loved your designer, this is a chance to give ‘em a shout-out!).

Second, exchanging business cards can serve as an icebreaker; a way to start a conversation and learn more about colleagues. To spark some interaction, the submission form asks you to share some of the inspiration behind your chosen business card design.

There’s no cost, and lots to gain by dropping your business card into the MyShingle fishbowl. For starters, when your business card is posted, it will include a live link to your website or URL, which will (purportedly) drive increased traffic to your site As an added sweetener, I’ve set up a Pinterest widget in the sidebar at right, so your card will get some brief visibility on a highly trafficked site like MyShingle. Plus, at least for the month of March, I’ll publish a weekly round-up post, with links to each of the lawyers and/or firms that uploaded cards. Finally, if you upload your card before March 15, 2012, you’ll qualify for a random drawing for one of two $75 Amazon gift cards.

A couple of caveats. First, while I anticipate that the MyShingle fishbowl will primarily attract submissions from solo and small firm lawyers, the project is open to all lawyers at large firms, government or in-house, so long as you are actively practicing (you’ll have to so certify on the form). Second, while there’s currently no cost to upload your card, in the spirit of building community, and purely honor-system enforced, participants are asked to either (1) post a compliment or “like” another business card that you see in the fishbowl or (2) drop an email introducing yourself to another practitioner who seems like someone you’d want to get to know. Back in the day, when I maintained a list of “solo shingles” in the MyShingle sidebar, making a connection was the “price” of a listing — and apparently, that policy, along with the added exposure of the list, resulted in the creation of a few productive relationships and even some business.

To upload your card, please complete this FORM. Each submission will be reviewed and posted in bundles every few days on a revolving basis. Submissions that do not comply with the instructions provided in the form will be rejected, with notice of rejection (and instructions on how to re-submit) provided by email. I also reserve final and absolute discretion to decline to post a submission for whatever reason.

With that, the MyShingle virtual fishbowl is open. Looking forward to you dropping in!

Question for Transactional Solos: What Kind of Contracts Do You Frequently Draft?

Carolyn Elefant — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:12:06 +0000

A few months ago, I reviewed a product released by Ken Adams and Koncision; a form confidentiality agreement that lawyers can use for drafting. Though you’ve probably seen dozens of NDA’s and confidentiality agreements online, Ken’s product is far more high end and detailed, which means that you can rely on it to make a better impression for clients.

Now, Ken is on the look out for another product to develop, potentially with solos and small firms in mind. Options on the table so far include a forms for a Delaware LLC, as well as a suite of “micro-market” M&A documents. But what suggestions do you have? Are there types of documents that solo transactional lawyers encounter routinely, where it would be helpful to have a product that automates the process without a reduction in quality? And what products do those of you who are transactional lawyers use currently to assist with drafting, due diligence and other tasks relevant to a transactional or corporate practice. Please post the comments below. It’s nice to have an opportunity to play a role in creation of a quality product that doesn’t just focus on marketing.

Taking A Break & Questions for Readers

Carolyn Elefant — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:13:34 +0000

I’m not sure why I ever bother to blog the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Most folks either skip town or are frantically racing to meet end-of-year deadlines. Either way, it makes for absent or distracted readers. In fact, that’s generally why I save my New Year’s predictions for January (2009, 2010 and 2011).

I also recognize that some lawyers voluntarily take a break from the blogosphere during the last week of December to plan for the coming year. I’ll be doing some planning myself, in particular, thinking about what I can do to improve this site to make it more useful. You’d think that after blogging here for nine years, I’d have a pretty good idea of my audience’s preferences but truth is that my readership (and I would imagine, most blogs’ readership base) has changed over time. Starting out in 2002, I’d be lucky to attract 30 readers a day, mostly colleagues from Solosez who wanted to support the site, or a few of the then-handful of other legal bloggers. My traffic has grown substantially since then, but there are also plenty of other blogs that address topics of concern and interest to solos, from practice management tips, technology advice and of course, marketing.

While I like to write about others’ blog posts from time to time, I’ve never been a “repeater” or “me too” blogger in that I don’t simply pass on links to another post or chime in and parrot the same advice. So to continue to remain both original and useful, I’d love to get some feedback, either in the comment section below or by email (elefant@myshingle.com). In particular, are there topics that you’d like to see covered that aren’t addressed at other blogs or perhaps some new perspective worth sharing? Likewise, are there topics that I post on here (like my Ethics 20/20 coverage) that simply bore you to tears (doesn’t mean I’ll stop posting on issues that in my view matter to solos, but I’m curious). Finally, are there certain formats that you prefer over others? Would you like to see shorter posts? What about more webinars, videos, podcasts or live interactive Q&A? Finally, if you’re a new reader, please let me know what brought you here.

In the meantime, if you’re a new reader, or you plan to spend the next week thinking about starting a firm or ramping up your business if you’re already in practice, have a look at some of these resources:

Cold Calls for Lawyers (recording, no registration required)

Biglaw to Your Law (recording and slide deck, no registration required)

StartingaLawFirmOnlineGuide.com (writings on every stage of planning and running a practice, plus links to free 6 hour tutorial on starting a firm)

Nolo Legal Marketing Blawg as well as other marketing materials at MyShingle for some ideas on topics like finding clients, identifying new practice areas or making your internet presence more useful.

So enjoy the break, have a wonderful New Year and I’ll see you all back here next year!

Big Law to Your Law Teleconference and Ebook Available

Carolyn Elefant — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:20:56 +0000

The 50 minute recording of last night’s Big law to Your law teleseminar (unfortunately aborted due to problems ony end) is available here Big Law to Your Law Recording. The accompanying slide deck is here and the 40 page ebook (compilation of blog posts) is here. I realized after trying to squeeze everything into a short call that this topic deserves more coverage so stay tuned for future developments on this topic.