New shingler Scheherazade Fowler (who’s

New shingler Scheherazade Fowler (who’s in great company with other blogger-turned solos Dennis Kennedy, Kevin Heller and Howard Bashman, to name a distinguished few) publicly ponders whether she should keep her Massachusetts bar status active when she’s set up shop in Maine.  No question, regardless of cost, a solo should never, ever, ever let go of bar membership, particularly when it’s in an adjacent jurisdiction.

For starters, multiple bar memberships allow you to represent clients who reside in the state where you practice but may have a suit against an employer or business in an adjacent state.  That’s business that you’d lose out on without active bar membership in the other state.  In addition, with e-filing growing pervasive, as a practical matter, it’s no more difficult to represent clients in another state than in the state where you practice.  Three years ago, I took on a matter in federal court in Baltimore, twice the distance from my home than D.C.   Yet because the Maryland federal courts had implemented e-filing, the case has been far easier to manage than some of my DC work, which has required me to use messengers or make trips over to the court for filings.

Finally, if you maintain an office in a lower cost state but retain the right to practice in a higher cost one, you have a significant competitive advantage.  I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing that Sherry’s tenth floor office in Portland probably costs less than a dump in the center of Boston.  (the same is true in my neck of the woods, where office space even in close-in Bethesda where I live can be had for less than downtown DC).   That’s another marketing opportunity – the ability to compete with attorneys in another jurisdiction on price.

Yes, I realize, from my own personal experience, that multiple bar memberships cost money to maintain.  I pay roughly $400 per month to keep my memberships active in New York, Maryland and D.C.  – and as far as I can tell, those bars are among the less costly bars in the country.   And I also know, from personal experience, that when you’re starting out, just that extra $150 a year can seem intimidating.  But before you go cutting all of those costs, think about the benefits you might lose.  And remember, once business starts rolling in, that $150 is just an hour of your time.