Federal Judges Honor Pro Bono – But Exclude Solos

According to this Press Release, the Chief Judges of the D.C. Circuit will be honoring eight Washington D.C. law firms for commitment to pro bono as evidenced by meeting a benchmark of 40 percent of lawyers performing 50 hours or more of pro bono service.  But sadly, though I’m a member of the DC Bar,…

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Firms Are Starting Client Surveys

Even if you own your own practice, don’t forget, you can still lose your job:  according to this article, Law Firms Learn to Measure Client Satisfaction, San Jose Biz Journal (4/8/05),  almost 60 percent of companies have fired or are considering firing at least one of their outside law firms, according to a survey conducted…

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They Could Have Stayed At Biglaw…But Didn’t

To those of you toiling at large firms, wondering whether you could make it on your own, this post’s for you.  Here’s two examples of attorneys with large firm backgrounds and large firm specialties (securities law and complex litigation) who took the solo plunge. This article from the Kansas City Star (4/19/05) profiles Jane Stafford,…

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What About Marketing Alternative Rates?

For some time, I’m sure, some law firms large and small, have offered alternatives to the billable hour and probably more have started to do so or at least consider it since Matt Homann started blogging.  But what’s different about the alternative billing approach just announced by  McGuire Woods (reported in Hourly Legal Fees Under…

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This One Ought to Be A No Brainer

Gee, what should  this advice seeker and recent grad (at NY Lawyer) do here?  Work for $19 an hour doing document review at a large firm in hopes of getting some experience?  Or continue to look for a more challenging permanent position?  Uh, what about the most obvious option:  working for yourself.   Even if you…

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What Do You Call Yourself?

The Greatest American Lawyer ponders a fascinating question:  what should we call practitioners who are not in a partnership based law firm, if not solo practitioners?. GAL writes: As many of you already know, I have taken issue with the term “solo” for practitioners who do not practice in a partnership setting. Solo has the negative…

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My JD Bliss Profile

This week, JD Bliss is a profile about MyShingle and me.  Though I wouldn’t necessarily refer to myself, as JD Bliss does, as a "success story" (more a work-in-progress story), I certainly don’t mind the exposure.  For those readers who haven’t checked out JD Bliss, take a look – it’s an interesting site and the…

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Asking for Help

My Small Firm Business column for the month, Ask A Simple Question as been posted over at law.com  In it, I discuss both the benefits of asking for help as well as places to look that you might not have thought about.  I’d have to credit Professor Steven Lubet and his recent article, Artificial Intelligence…

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