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Pro Bono

NY’s New Pro Bono Requirement Discriminates Against Solos And is Unfair to New Lawyers

May 2, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

File this one under what were they thinking. Now, as a condition of gaining admission to the New York Bar, new graduates (and presumably, new admittees from other jurisdictions) must perform 50 hours of pro bono work, reports the New York Law Journal. There’s so much wrong with this proposal that I scarcely know where [...]

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Make Your Own Groupon: Sell One, Donate One

February 10, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

While some may disagree, I stand by my original opinion that Groupon isn’t a great way for lawyers to market legal services. As I noted in the comments, a business model that requires any provider to share 50 percent of already deeply discount services doesn’t strike me as a viable business or marketing model, irrespective [...]

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Community Involvement As A Marketing Tool

September 13, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

The following is a guest post by Noble McIntyre of McIntyre Law in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Let’s be honest. That title sounds cynical at best, opportunistic at worst. But hear me out. Getting involved with your community can be one of the best ways to market your firm, not just because of the business you’ll [...]

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An Open Thank You to Maryland Court of Appeals Chief Judge Bell

August 15, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

It came in the mail, sometime in July 2008; an innocuous slim envelope bearing the return address of Maryland’s highest court buried in a heaping pile of junk.  I’d just paid my bar dues for the year and satisfied my pro bono and IOLTA reporting requirements, so I nearly tossed the letter, expecting that it [...]

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Guest Post, New York Bankruptcy Lawyer Jay Fleischman

October 28, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Editor’s Note:  In honor of National Pro Bono Week, I’m pleased to host a guest post from Jay Fleischman, a  New York bankruptcy lawyer and owner of Legal Practice Pro, on why pro bono service represents a win-win for solos and the legal profession. If you’re a solo then you’re likely stretched pretty thin already. [...]

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Veterans’ Issues As A Practice Area

May 26, 2009 by Carolyn Elefant

A few years back, I highlighted a small firm specializing in veterans’ issues.  Now, four years later demand for legal services for veterans remains high.  Fortunately, for solos considering veterans rights and benefits as a practice area, there are multiple opportunities for first rate, hands on training. Today, the Maryland Daily Record discusses the HPRP [...]

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Free Foreclosure Training for Maryland Attorneys/Why Pro Bono Is A Win-Win

July 10, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

UPDATE:  The relatively new blog, Nextlex notes these FREE PLI webinar resources on foreclosure law and predatory lending. In both my book and on this blog, I’ve written that pro bono training programs offer one of the cheapest and most effective ways to get up to speed on matters that you might handle in your [...]

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Do Something You Stink At…And Become A Better Lawyer

May 13, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Yesterday, I spent a beautiful Saturday outdoors, helping to build a house with Habitat for Humanity as part of an Energy Bar Association pro bono service project. I have to admit that I didn’t seek this project out: my decision to participate was a spur of the moment response to an email that came through [...]

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How Doing Good Can Help You Do Well

April 12, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Many solos who’d like to perform more pro bono work can’t do so for lack of time.  So why not multi-task, and make pro bono work part of your marketing activities portfolio?  Consider the example of lawyers profiled in this article, Creating a nonprofit helps others – and doesn’t hurt business either (ABA Journal, April [...]

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Attention: RFP FOR PRO BONO SERVICE BY SMALL LAW FIRM. Honestly, do you think a large firm would respond?

February 24, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Imagine that your law firm issues the following Request for Proposals: Busy solo practitioner seeking large firm to partner on pro bono matters for small, walk in clients with no funds to retain an attorney at full rates.  Firm must turn these clients down in the absence of pro bono support.  Matters include messy family [...]

Read more Biglaw Practice and Issues 4 comments

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