My Shingle

Growing Your Practice

Unleash Your Inner Scholar: Why Solos Should Write A Law Review Article

December 12, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Seems that ATL Editor David Lat is concealing a dirty little secret underneath his robes.  As you know, by day, David toils as a mild-mannered blogger exposing the secrets of, and dishing out biting commentary on AmLaw 100 firms.  But after hours, he busts out his secret inner scholar and transforms into a veritable Volokh, [...]

Read more Biglaw to Solo 0 comments

Lessons from Crowdsourced Advice for a Struggling Solo

September 26, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Ten days ago, in an effort to reply quickly to a struggling solo who’d contacted me for advice, I reached out to readers to crowdsource a response. The post touched off 40 comments, some offering sound advice to a solo in these circumstances, others not so much. The comments also spawned several sub-discussions on what’s [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 2 comments

Crowdsourcing Advice for a Struggling Solo

September 16, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

[Update 9/23--Readers - thank you for your response.  We've collected an enormous amount of information, some very helpful, some of it obvious and some of it (diving in full force to cases by copying pleadings stood out to me as inadvisable and potential career killer but there are others). I've got to read through everything [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 40 comments

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 [...]

Read more Announcements 0 comments

Guest Post, New York Bankruptcy Lawyer Jay Fleischman

October 28, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Editor’s Note:  In honor of National Pro Bono Week, I’m pleased to host a guest post from Jay Fleischman, a  New York bankruptcy lawyer and owner of Legal Practice Pro, on why pro bono service represents a win-win for solos and the legal profession. If you’re a solo then you’re likely stretched pretty thin already. [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 18 comments

Should You Open Up Shop in Sears?

May 12, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Across the pond in the UK, there’s growing anticipation over the possibility of legal services coming to a supermarket near you as the 2011 effective date of the Legal Services Act draws near.  Passed by the UK Parliament in 2007, the Legal Services Act permits non-lawyer entities, like banks or supermarkets, to manage or own law firms, [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 1 comment

Impact of Blogging on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners

March 21, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Back in December, I had the amazing privilege of sharing a panel at Norwestern’s Fourth Annual Judicial Symposium on Civil Justice Issues with Eugene Volokh and Mark Herrmann, co-founder and former blogger at Drug and Device Law (as an aside, Herrmann’s last word as a blogger came in this article on both the pros as [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 0 comments

Sale of a Law Practice, Interview With Ed Poll & Lawyers at Midlife

March 12, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Searching for fodder for blog posts, I came across this advertisement posted by a soon to be 70 year old retiring lawyer who is seeking buyers for his law practice located in Syracuse, in Hamilton County, Kansas.  According to the ad there are only two other lawyers in the County, thus allowing for a County-wide [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 1 comment

Big Ways for Small Firms to Grow Now

March 11, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

A few weeks back, I posted about several innovative business models that might work for small law firms.  Along those lines, yesterday’s online issue of  Time Magazine offers eight quick and decidedly twenty-first century tricks to grow a business in a down economy.  I’ve focused on two below. Outsource: Outsourcing is a theme that I’ve [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 3 comments

Help, My Virtual Assistant Is Turning Me Into A Moron!

February 21, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

I’ve always considered myself a “practical technology user,” adept at mastering the latest and greatest on a strictly need to know basis.  For example, I still can’t program a Tivo or download a movie on my ipod or operate the family Wii because I have no interest in the activities enabled by those technologies.   But [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 15 comments

← Previous Entries