My Shingle

Litigation & Courts: Policy and Practice

Sponsored and branded legal briefs: Appealing or appalling?

February 27, 2013 by Carolyn Elefant

If you’re a regular reader, you know that I’ve often griped about 21st century advancements like  attorney bidding sites or listing sites not because I’m trying to defend lawyers’ turf, but rather, because I’m  skeptical as to whether these sites really expand access to law in a meaningful way.  As I’ve written here, many of [...]

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This Is What Happens When You Scare Solo and Small Firm Lawyers Away From the Cloud

November 7, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

Many solo and small firm lawyers are still suffering the effects of Hurricane Sandy, reports the New York Law Journal.  Power outages of a week or more, left many solo and small firm lawyers unable to access files or communicate with the court.  What’s most unfortunate, is that the after effects of the storm could [...]

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Social Media and Lawyers’ Duty To Report

September 19, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

By now, you may have heard via Simple Justice or  Legal Ethics Forum about the news accounts  of the public defender who lost her job after posting a photo of her client’s leopard-print briefs on her Facebook page along with a caption suggesting that the underwear was the client’s family’s idea of proper court attire.   [...]

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Should You Ever Play the Solo Card?

November 16, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

For solo and small firm lawyers who routinely battle big law, there’s often a temptation to play the solo card. In other words, to seek special dispensation from court rules and practices in light of solos’ more limited time and resources. Some lawyers believe that playing the solo card is justified as a way to [...]

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Practice Tips, Courtesy of Rakofsky v. The Internet

June 7, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

(updated, 7 am 6/7/11 to change a few points) As I mentioned a few weeks back, I’m one of the 81 defendants who’s been sued by Joseph Rakofsky. The post that won me an admission ticket to the front lines of this lawsuit tracked a theme common to 45 other posts I’ve written: what not [...]

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Where I’ve Been Hanging Out Online

May 3, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

So I know that there wasn’t much happening  at MyShingle last week. Between my talk on starting a practice at Georgetown Law and three days catching up with clients and colleagues at my trade association’s Global Marine Renewable Energy Conference, I didn’t have much energy left for posting. In addition, I’ve been spending a bit [...]

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Making Your Clients’ Cases Pay for Themselves

April 22, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

So here’s a hypothetical for you. Sympathetic client with an interesting and compelling case seeks to retain you. The client can pay something, but most likely not enough to see the case through. What do you do? (a) Send the client packing; (b) Take the case and treat it as pro bono or (c) Find [...]

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The Rituals of Oral Argument – Please Share Yours!

October 26, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

Ever since I advanced, rather surprisingly, through the rounds of my first year Moot Court competition, I’ve adhered rigorously to certain rituals of oral argument.  Back then, my rituals involved meditating in front of a candle and listening to this James Taylor album over and over again.  These days, I memorize case citations and JA [...]

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You know what…this judge WAS a few fries shy of a Happy Meal

May 31, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Ever since I’ve started my site, I’ve blogged about situations where, in my view, judges have gone way over the line in sanctioning attorneys for conduct, such as sending a lawyer to jail for refusing to apologize or showing up late for a hearing. But typically, these sanctions have issued against solo and small firm [...]

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Seventh Circuit and Wikis

May 11, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

The Seventh Circuit just introduced a really neat tool that I posted on at Legal Blogwatch: a wiki that judges and practitioners can update with helpful tips and advice on court practice. The wiki will help Seventh Circuit newbies, but as I wrote at Blogwatch, more experienced lawyers can use the wiki for marketing. Let’s [...]

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