Archive for September 2009
Do Legal Flat Fees Encourage Freeloading?
Updated September 1, 2022 When I posted this a dozen years ago, many lawyers feared flat fees because they assumed that freeloading clients would take advantage. But there are ways to guard against that with some of the information provided in The Legal ClauseIt . But there’s another issue too: lawyers also exaggerate the freeloader…
Read MoreDon’t Settle for Second Place When Starting Your Law Firm
As I’ve written here previously, I’m an ardent admirer of Michelle Obama, particularly her ability to make the seamless life seem so easy. This upcoming book on the Obamas by Chris Anderson, which is intended to portray Mrs. Obama as an insolent, money-hungry shrew of a wife, makes me like her even more. Anderson’s book…
Read MoreOne False Move Can Cost You Your Practice…And How You Can Avoid It
This week’s news brings a couple of stories of solo and small firm lawyers who may not be practicing law much longer. First up is Rochester, New York solo Melissa Mahler, who is the subject of insider trading charges by the SEC. Back in 2004, when Mahler worked as an associate at Nixon Peabody, she…
Read MoreSelf-Employed Lawyers Are Happiest
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on a recent Gallup Poll which showed that even in this recession, business owners outrank ten other occupations in overall well being. The reasons aren’t surprising — they reflect the importance of freedom to choose the work you do and how you do it, say psychologists who commented…
Read MoreWTF? GoSoloEsq.com Is Selling MyShingle.com Resources for $29/Month!
A few weeks back, someone on one of my listserves inquired about a new site for solos, Go Solo Esq.com, which bills itself as a "virtual law office center for solos." Apparently tossed up in an effort to capitalize on the number of attorneys now considering solo practice in a weak job market, the site…
Read MoreCan you find cash for your clients?
Are there cases that you’d avid to handle but your client can’t pay your fees? Before you send the client packing, consider whether there are ways to cover the costs of the case. I’m not talking about litigation finance companies which can fund personal injury matters but come with their own set of perils. However,…
Read MoreHappy Double Digits to My Mira
A decade ago today, I gave birth to my second daughter and as it happened, my last child, Mira Justine Israel. I remember wondering before she arrived whether I could possibly love her as much as her older sister. But the second I held Mira in my arms, I discovered, as all parents do, that…
Read MoreShould You Warn Your Client About Hacked Email Services?
After posting last night about the trade-off between confidentiality and client communication, I came across Joe Hodnicki’s post at the Law Librarian’s Blog about the rise of services like Yourhackerz.com which enables users to buy a password to another anyone’s online email accounts like AOL, Yahoo, gmail or social networking sites like Facebook for one…
Read More