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Questions & Advice

Open Letter to New Lawyer: You should be dragging me into the 21st century not the other way around

January 17, 2013 by Carolyn Elefant

Dear New Lawyer, At 48 years old, I am old enough to be your mother.  And you should be ashamed of yourself.  Here you are, coming to me for a legal job when you don’t know the first thing about RSS feeds, blogging (reading them, let alone writing them), Twitter, Pinterest or YouTube.  And what’s [...]

Read more Encouragement 34 comments

Solo Practice Post-Mortem Part III: Would He Have Made It and Was Soloing a Bad Idea?

August 23, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

Scott Greenfield responded to Part I and Part II on Post-Mortem of a solo practice. Scott criticizes everything from the author of the post (who left a successful practice to start a firm partly because he didn’t like the work he was doing and partly for a better work life balance) to the value of social [...]

Read more Planning a Practice 5 comments

Are You a Nobody Until You Win Your Case?

August 20, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

Noted video-expert and medical malpractice attorney, Gerry Oginski criticizes a Jacoby & Meyers television commercial that concludes with the voiceover: You’re a nobody until you win your case. Gerry comments – and I agree – that the ad isn’t particularly effective marketing since calling potential clients “nobodies” may instill hard feelings at the outset. Though [...]

Read more Client Relations 1 comment

Should A Law Student Considering Solo Practice Blog Now? Yes, Yes & Yes!

July 3, 2012 by Carolyn Elefant

One of my readers, a 3L who’s planning to solo on graduation recently emailed this  [paraphrased] question: What are your thoughts on a law student starting a blog in preparation of starting a firm? I understand that I’ll need to include disclaimers that I am not an attorney or giving legal advice, but can blogging [...]

Read more Blogging 4 comments

Lessons from Crowdsourced Advice for a Struggling Solo

September 26, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Ten days ago, in an effort to reply quickly to a struggling solo who’d contacted me for advice, I reached out to readers to crowdsource a response. The post touched off 40 comments, some offering sound advice to a solo in these circumstances, others not so much. The comments also spawned several sub-discussions on what’s [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 2 comments

Crowdsourcing Advice for a Struggling Solo

September 16, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

[Update 9/23--Readers - thank you for your response.  We've collected an enormous amount of information, some very helpful, some of it obvious and some of it (diving in full force to cases by copying pleadings stood out to me as inadvisable and potential career killer but there are others). I've got to read through everything [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 40 comments

Some Open Questions for Flat Fee Aficionados and Ethics Gurus

May 9, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Over the past few years, I’ve transitioned my practice from the billable hour to flat fees. For me, the flat fee works because most of the matters that I handle are, if not entirely predictable, then easily divided into discrete segments, each of which can each be assigned a set price. Though I can’t tell [...]

Read more Questions & Advice 13 comments

Where Have All the Lawyers Gone?

April 12, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Perhaps the most surprising piece news from last night’s Ignite Law was Jay Shepherd’s announcement that he’s shutting down his firm to focus full time on his business, Prefix LLC which teaches lawyers how to price knowledge. The next day, another colleague revealed that he too will leave his practice to focus on another venture – [...]

Read more Questions & Advice 9 comments

Solos Know Strategies Associates Need To Learn

May 14, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

(Note:  originally published at Complete Lawyer, November 2008 ) If you’ve just read this article’s title, you’re probably racking your brain trying to figure out what the heck a lowly solo practitioner like me can teach you about succeeding as a law firm associate. You probably think that solos simply churn out form documents for [...]

Read more Practice Tips 0 comments

Sale of a Law Practice, Interview With Ed Poll & Lawyers at Midlife

March 12, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Searching for fodder for blog posts, I came across this advertisement posted by a soon to be 70 year old retiring lawyer who is seeking buyers for his law practice located in Syracuse, in Hamilton County, Kansas.  According to the ad there are only two other lawyers in the County, thus allowing for a County-wide [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 1 comment

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