My Shingle

Leaving A Firm

Should You Sue or Start Fresh When You Start a Law Firm?

November 2, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

If her website bio is any indication, immigration lawyer Kisshia Simmons-Grant is a solo with a bright future. With top tier undergraduate and law school degrees, a prior position in the prestigious Attorney General Honor’s program, tenure as Assistant Chief Counsel with the Department of Homeland Security trying immigration cases and proficiency in Spanish Simmons-Grant [...]

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Don’t Lose Your Reputation When Leaving A Law Firm

May 14, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

(Note: Originally published online at Complete Lawyer, July 2008) Most law students and lawyers know quite a bit about finding a job—how to write a compelling cover letter and an attention-grabbing resume, how to navigate tricky interview questions and how to make contacts who can help with the job search. With all the time we [...]

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Don’t Tarnish Your Fresh Start With A Rotten Ending

September 11, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

Opening a law firm by choice or by circumstance offers a chance at a fresh start.  However, it’s all too easy to tarnish that bright, shiny new beginning with a nasty ending at your former position.   That is what appears to have happened with Jim Driscoll’s departure from St. Louis law firm Brown & Crouppen, [...]

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For WSJ Readers – Resources on Starting a Law Firm

August 8, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

From Biglaw to Yourlaw – Yesterday, one of my solo colleagues Mitchell Matorin was profiled in the Wall Street Journal as asomewhat timely example of a large firm lawyer who has found success in solo practice.  The story mentioned MyShingle and has been driving some traffic to this site, so I wanted to highlight some [...]

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Two Years: The Reason Why You Should Not Leave the Law Now

November 5, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

With the economy tanking and the number of legal jobs declining, now may seem like a good time to leave the law.  Whether you graduated from law school last May and still haven’t found a job or whether you’re one of the growing number of biglaw casualties or a victim of a law firm’s forced [...]

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My Article on Leaving A Law Firm Now Online At Complete Lawyer

July 6, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

When I sat down to write Solo By Choice, I was surprised to find little information on the issues related to leaving a law firm, from negotiating benefits to notifying clients with the exception of   Dennis Kennedy‘s excellent chapter in the ABA’s book, Flying Solo.  Thus, I devoted a section of SBC to these [...]

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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, [...]

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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 [...]

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Rooting for GAL

June 28, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

It’s one thing to write about the  ethics rules relating to leaving a law firm, as I did at this post.  But the way that a law firm should treat a departing attorney and shared clients in theory and the way that things actually work in practice are often entirely different realities, as this post [...]

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More on the Ethics of Leaving A Law Firm

May 30, 2006 by Carolyn Elefant

As more lawyers depart large firms to strike out on their own, the ethical issues relating to departing attorneys gains more attention.  Here’s another article on the topic, Practicing Ethics:  Switching Jobs, NY Lawyer (5/26/06).   The article focuses on the following three issues: * When and what can be told to clients? Most lawyers have [...]

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