My Shingle

From the category archives:

MyShingle Solo

Would You Advise Your Child to Take on $150k in Debt to Go to Law School?

August 27, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Yesterday, I received a call from one of my blog readers, somewhat out of the blue.  A rising 2L at a top tier school, the student explained that he was interested in learning more about the feasibility of starting a law practice right out of law school.  Yet as we talked more, however, it seemed [...]

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One, Two, Free: Excerpts from My Plenary on Free

August 17, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

I was honored to deliver a plenary talk on the second day of the most excellent Minnesota Solo & Small Firm Strategic Solutions Conference. Though I know that lots of people prefer talks that offer straight-up marketing advice, I took a slightly different tactic, with a presentation entitled “One, Two, Free: Endless Challenges [...]

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ABA Annual Conference: Big on Fear, Short on Fervor

August 17, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Lawyers Practicing in Darwinian Times! Legal Profession in Turmoil! These doomsday headlines weren’t plucked from some over-the-top law blog. Rather, they’re the titles of the plenaries by the ABA’s former top honcho, Carolyn Lamm and invited guest speaker, Harvard Law professor David Wilkes at last week’s ABA’s come-to-Jesus meeting Annual Convention.
I [...]

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The Pressures of 21st Century Presentation

July 26, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Back in the mid-1990s when I first started speaking about marine renewables at industry conferences, presentation didn’t involve much more than extracting the salient points of my submitted paper and dumping them into a standard, bulleted power-point template. As I added presentations about web resources and blogging to my repertoire, I adopted [...]

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The ABA Makes A Play for Solos, but Should Solos Play With the ABA?

July 21, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Update [7/22/2010] – I’ve spoken with some people about this post and I want to clarify that I was speaking about the ABA as an organization, and not about the staff, the section leaders or the people in the publications department.  The folks who edited the Social Media for Lawyers book did amazing work, Jennifer [...]

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The Declaration of Independence: The World’s Most Successful Mission Statement

July 4, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. [...]

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Postcards from the Bar Exam (circa 1988), Up At An Associate’s Mind

July 3, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

In anticipation of a trip up to Ithaca, New York (more on that later) where I attended law school and studied for the bar exam, I decided to take another trip down memory lane and rifle through an old box of writings from that time in my life.  I uncovered an essay that I’d written, [...]

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Go, Solo, Go: Why I Joyfully Root for Small Law

June 8, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Back when I worked for others, my heart was tight and mean.  My cramped vision of the legal profession as a zero sum game left little space for generosity or good will towards my colleagues.   Each time I learned that one of my classmates made partner at a big firm, or [...]

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My Own Blast From The Past: Everything’s Going To Be Alright

April 26, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

I am not supposed to be posting here.  My blog is moving platforms and this post will be lost in the transition.  Oh well.  There’s a good conversation taking place on line and I wanted to join in.
Today, Scott Greenfield shared his own blast from the past (or if you prefer, his [...]

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Sorry, But I’m Not Contrite About Ignite Law (Just a Little Late to Respond)

April 1, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

The night before ABATech Show, I participated in Ignite Law 2010:  The Future of Law in Six Minute Increments.  I’ll admit — the Ignite event excited me – and I submitted a proposal  because I think and write about the future of law and also because the Ignite format – 20 slides in 20 seconds [...]

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