My Shingle

MyShingle Solo

The Start Ups That Give Access to Justice Are Already Here

March 22, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

Initially, I was excited when I saw this headline, Meet the startups that are giving everyone affordable access to justice. Great, I thought — an article that finally recognizes what solos — who are, after all, start-up lawyers – are doing to ensure that meaningful access to justice isn’t reserved for deep-pockets. But after a [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 3 comments

The Solo Lawyer Tax

March 6, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

Sometimes, it just plain sucks being a solo. (Yes, you actually read that at MyShingle!) Not only must solos suffer the indignity of getting paid less in cases where they outperform their big firm colleagues, but in many instances, solos also pay more for products and services than larger firms. Call it the solo tax. [...]

Read more Legal Research and Writing 5 comments

Online, things are seldom what they seem…

February 21, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

This past Saturday, I drove a brand-new Mercedes to the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) Hanging a Shingle Day. Though I may have looked plenty fancy, the car cost me just twenty bucks a day to rent (our family van is out of commission right now and I didn’t want to leave my husband car-less). [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 10 comments

Five Things Lawyers and Bloggers Can Learn from Scott Greenfield

February 15, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

I know that there’s nothing more that my colleague, co-defendant and  blogger-in-abeyance  Scott Greenfield would have hated than becoming the metaphorical subject of a formulaic blog post along the lines of Top Lessons Lawyers Can Learn from Zappos, food bloggers,  the Muppets or some other seemingly irrelevant analogy.  Well, sorry my friend but now that you’re [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 4 comments

Twitter and Other People’s Privacy

February 14, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

This Saturday, February 18, 2012, I’ll be attending the Maryland State Bar Association’s Hanging a Shingle program. I’m participating not as a speaker (not asked) or as a way to promote my books, Solo by Choice or Social Media for Lawyers or this blog (I can’t, since the MSBA endorses neither), but simply as a [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 3 comments

Be the Lawyer Who Sits on the Toilet Seat

February 6, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

During the last week of my dad’s life, my sisters, mom and I experienced the best and worst of the medical profession. The lowest point came mid-way through my father’s last week, when my mother and I were accosted in the public lounge outside the intensive care unit (ICU) by one of the doctors who [...]

Read more Client Service 7 comments

A Blog Post for My Father

February 1, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

This blog has been dark for several days, since my father died on Saturday, an unbearably sad event made worse by the circumstances surrounding his passing. Temporarily, our family has put these events out of our mind to focus on his life and our memories like these. Regular postings will resume early next week. My [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 31 comments

Blogging to Change the World

January 26, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

Update (1/26/12, 11 am) Here’s Scott’s post, Un-Optimization, which was also referenced by Kevin. Read the post yourself, but as I interpret it, Scott argues you can’t have it both ways: if you write what you believe in or what is controversial, you take a chance that you will offend or drive others away. If [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 3 comments

To Blog Right, You Need to Imagine Your Audience

January 26, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

Of all of the commandments of blogging, know and write for your audience ranks at the top of the list.  But for those who blog to silent crowds who never email or send comments, the primary source of information about our readers comes through statistical data generated by our stat counters on the popularity of [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 3 comments

There is Nothing Wrong With Trying, Failing and Being Honest About It.

January 20, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

So, a lawyer walks on to Groupon, offers a $99 will, scores some coverage in the ABA Journal, sells 53 of the $99 will packages (with Groupon taking a 50 percent cut) and generates 150 calls and emails from other lawyers who are interested as well as some “uncharitable” commentary.  Now, he’s decided against using [...]

Read more MyShingle Solo 10 comments

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →