My Shingle

Biglaw Practice and Issues

Everything You Need to Know to Succeed As An Associate, You Can Learn From Solo Practice

September 1, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

As much as I love blogging about the nitty gritty aspects of solo practice — the how-tos, the marketing, overcoming your fears and all that good stuff, I’m just as interested in the role that solos play in the broader context of our profession and what other lawyers can learn from us and vice versa.  [...]

Read more Articles 0 comments

What Michelle Obama Couldn’t Have Found at The (So-Called) Fifty Best Law Firms For Women.

August 26, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m not much of a political junkie, but I made a point of watching Michelle Obama’s speech to the Democrat National Convention.   Michelle (it’s tough for me to refer to someone a few months older than me as "Mrs.")  intrigues me, largely because she’s a contemporary with many superficialities in common:   we both graduated law [...]

Read more Biglaw Practice and Issues 10 comments

Laid Off By Cadwalader? Why Not Solo by Choice?

July 30, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

This post is for the 96 Cadwalader attorneys who were pink slipped today.   Let me be blunt:  consider starting a law firm.  No, don’t do it now while you’re still nursing your wounds; getting axed is never pleasant even when it’s not your fault (and hey, we all know that it’s economics pure and simple).  [...]

Read more Biglaw Practice and Issues 4 comments

Look Who’s Discounting Their Fees

May 30, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

If you’ve ever discounted your fees, either voluntarily to lure a client to your firm or involuntarily because  your client ran out of cash, you’re in strong company.  As I posted over at Legal Blogwatch, 76 percent of law firms discount their fees.  But what’s even more interesting is that 89 percent of the discounters [...]

Read more Big Law/Small Law 2 comments

What the Paul Hastings Associate’s Performance Review Shows About Law Practice

May 10, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

Not to draw further attention to the Paul Hastings associate, Shiyung Oh’s termination, but I’m fascinated by the new information about life at large firms that’s emerging as a result of the story.  For example,  the Wall Street Journal obtained a copy of Oh’s review, which showed that Oh excelled at her work, but which [...]

Read more Big Law/Small Law 0 comments

Burning Bridges, Finding New Ones

May 10, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

In this earlier post, I criticized a Paul Hastings associates for outing the her firm for the circumstances surrounding her firing.  I agreed that the firm acted boorishly, but I didn’t believe that was anything new – and felt that the associate may have burned bridges and harmed her chances for future opportunities. And now, [...]

Read more Biglaw Practice and Issues 2 comments

How One Paul Hastings Associate Burned 1200 Bridges With One Email

May 6, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

Update (5/10/08) – I have changed my position on this and updated it here. Update (5/7/08) – a commenter points out that the associate did not send the memo to Above the Law, but instead, that it was circulated by another attorney.  This makes the story more unfortunate, because the associate may not have wanted [...]

Read more Biglaw Practice and Issues 18 comments

Real Progress: Biglaw Commits Malpractice Also

December 10, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

When I started this blog, to read the mainstream legal media, you’d have thought that solos were the only lawyers to ever miss deadlines, violate ethics rules or commit malpractice. But I’ve always believed that all lawyers, from those at ginormous firms to those who practice alone, are all equally prone to making mistakes and [...]

Read more Biglaw Practice and Issues 0 comments

Hey, McKee Nelson Associates – There’ll Never Be A Better Opportunity Than Now to Start Your Own Law Firm

November 13, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Thanks to a lemon of a credit market, associates at McKee Nelsonhave the opportunity to make a huge vat of life-changing lemonade. Above the Law’s David Lat is reporting here that NY/DC based McKee Nelson, in an effort to avoid economically-induced, forced associate layoffs, is offering associates two options: (1) a full bonus, plus four [...]

Read more Big Law/Small Law 4 comments

Don’t Just Step Off the Partnership Track; Bypass It Entirely

October 3, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

I’m not sure whether any of you remember the TV show LA Law . Sometime in the second or third season, the firm’s young associate, Abby, was told that she wasn’t partnership material so she left to start her own criminal defense practice. A year or so later, Abby had established her reputation as a [...]

Read more Biglaw Practice and Issues 0 comments

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →