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Solo Practice Trends

Rhode Island Family Lawyer Joyfully Goes 100 Percent Virtual

May 31, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

Back in 1999, seven months pregnant with my younger daughter, I surrendered the Washington D.C. office around the corner from the White House that I’d occupied for half a decade.  Though the rent was bargain basement cheap – around $500 including the phone line – I realized that I’d only used the space a dozen [...]

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Stumbling Into Solo Practice

May 27, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

Some law firms start with fancy business plans and grand visions.  Others happen seemingly by accident – and yet if we look back, we can trace the result to a series of choices earlier made.   In this nostalgic post, New York Personal Injury Attorney Eric Turkewitz shares how his firm was born out of a [...]

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It’s Easy Being Green…If You’re A Solo

March 18, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

What do large law firms have in common with Sesame Street’s Kermit the Frog?  For both, it’s not easy being green.  Take a look at the hoops that mega-firm Reed Smith had to jump through when its clients started inquiring about the firm’s green initiatives.  As described in this article, Reed Smith first created an [...]

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What’s A Solo?

March 7, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

After learning that he’s one of the 83 percent majority of lawyers in New York who practice as solos, Eric Turkewitz asks just what does that mean anyway? Specifically, Eric wonders whether the term “solo” as used in these kinds of surveys means just one lawyer, one lawyer with support staff or one lawyer with [...]

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Solo Practice Doesn’t Mean Forever

March 4, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

Just like goodbye doesn’t mean forever, solo practice doesn’t either – or at least, it shouldn’t.   Some lawyers who start their own practices are committed to building and running a firm for the long haul.  Others view solo practice not as a permanent end in itself, but as a transition – a way to ride [...]

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In House Counsel Looking for Deals…Why Not With Solos?

February 10, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

If you thought that large corporations had deep enough pockets to pay whatever fees their outside counsel demanded, you’d be wrong.  Turns out that corporate counsel are positively simmering over the way that many large law firms are ripping off clients with exorbitant mark-ups on contract law attorneys.  Indeed, corporate counsel are so steamed that [...]

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A Global Law Firm of Solos

February 1, 2008 by Carolyn Elefant

Who says a solo has to work alone?  Over 3000 solos, myself included, are part of a global virtual law firm, Solosez.net.  If you’re interested in learning more about the history of Solosez and what makes it such a special place, check out this article from law.com.  By the way, I’m quoted in the article [...]

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Lombardi’s Response to My Post on Listserves

December 17, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Earlier today in this post, I described my disagreement with Iowa personal injury attorney Steve Lombardi’s complaints about misuse of listserves. Lombardi has now weighed in with a responsehere. Lombardi raises one issue to which I gave short shrift: that lawyers should not blindly rely on advice offered on listserves without conducting their own independent [...]

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I Hope That This Hillman Article on Client Choice Isn’t Intended to Create More Hurdles for Shinglers-to-Be

December 16, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Under legal ethics principles, a clients’ right to the attorney of their choosing trumps even the economic interest of the firm representing the client. For that reason, firms cannot force lawyers to enter into non-compete agreements or impose onerous restrictions that would prevent a client from following a departing attorney to another firm or to [...]

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The Rich Choose Solo and Small Firm Lawyers

November 20, 2007 by Carolyn Elefant

Worth Magazine just published a list of the top hundred lawyers who serve some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals, with net worths ranging from $2 million to $200 million. (H/T ABA Journal News). The wealth of these lawyers’ clients ranges from In particular, the editors sought out “lawyers with great tact, discretion and stellar interpersonal [...]

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