MyShingle Solo

Solos Don’t Need A Separate Education

November 21, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

By now, you’ve probably seen the New York Times article, What They Don’t Teach Law Students: Lawyering which like some digital version of Helen of Troy, launched a thousand (well, maybe several dozen) blogs — though as Scott Greenfield points out here, there’s lots of fire but no heat; for all of the complaints about [...]

Built This Way

November 2, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

This morning, I made lasagna for dinner, as my two furry companions waited eagerly to lick the bowl. Due to my involvement in an extensive regulatory proceeding, once again this week, I won’t be home until 8 p.m. and since my husband has a meeting, he’ll be back even later. My daughters are now 12 [...]

Please, No More Solo Stereotypes

October 31, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

It’s bad enough that Clifford Winston and Robert Crandall are receiving so much press for their book, Let’s Deregulate All the Lawyers . which I debunked in part in this last post. What’s even worse is that this crock of half-truths is now being used to revive the myths about solos as the untouchables of [...]

No Need to Deregulate Lawyers if We Debunk An Economist

October 25, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Clifford Winston, an economist at Brookings continues to gain mainstream media coverage for his new book, First Thing We Do, Let’s Deregulate All the Lawyers in which Winston and his co-authors argue that non-lawyers can do the same job as lawyers only faster, cheaper and – in many instances better. In that respect, Winston may [...]

Thank You, Steve Jobs

October 6, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

I bought my first Mac in August 1987. Perhaps more than anything up until the birth of my daughters, my Mac changed my life by making me realize that with my words and a means of production, anything – becoming a writer, starting a business or effecting change – was possible. My Mac gave me [...]

To a New Year of Meaning

September 30, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Both today and yesterday, I have been observing Rosh Hashanna, the Jewish New Year. When I was in college and law school, I abided the rituals, well, religiously, foregoing work and use of any electronics and spending my time in services. But back then, the prayers and rituals resonated with me in a way that [...]

Why Does NAMWOLF, An Association for Women & Minority Lawyers Exclude Solos?

September 26, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Legal excellence knows no color or gender, reads the tagline for the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF). Unfortunately, NAMWOLF’s egalitarian notion of legal excellence doesn’t extend to size: shockingly, NAMWOLF bars women and minority owned solo and two-attorney practices from even applying for membership . For an organization that professes [...]

Ethics Rules May Be Stupid, But Rules Are Rules

August 13, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Update (8/13/2011, 10 am - Please read through the comments and my responses in the Comment Section. I plan to update this post but for now, I will respond in the comment section. For convenience, I have uploaded the NY Rules of Professional Conduct here – NYRulesofProfessionalConduct4109-6 which I will reference in my comments] Also, [...]

How Do You Know When It’s Time to Go

May 31, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

According to this recent New York Times article on easing out the older generation of lawyers, the shelf life of a solo practitioner is 70 or 80 years old compared to 60 or 65 at big law. Even so, who wants to linger on past their prime like the party guest who wouldn’t leave? I [...]

An Open Letter to “Content” Writers: Pay Me $1500 And I’ll Publish You

May 24, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Recently, I’ve been receiving daily emails like this one: Hi Carolyn, My name is Mary and I’m a writer for (http:[omitted]. I’ve been following your blog lately, and because we write on similar topics, I thought you’d be interested in a recent article we published, “20 Alternative Jobs For Law School Grads”. If you think [...]

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