Ideas & Tips
New Stuff Coming – Stay Tuned
Hey MyShingle Readers – As you may have noticed, I’ve taken a little bit of a posting break. After 20 years, it’s time for me to refocus on what today’s new law firm owners need and how I can help. I’ve been working on a course based on the materials in Solo by Choice, and…
Read MoreThe Best Advice on How to Start a Law Firm Comes From A Judge!
For almost two decades, I’ve trolled the internet for good advice to share here on how to start or run a successful law firm. And friends, let me tell you that it’s pretty slim pickings out there. Many of the blog posts and e-books on starting a law firm are either written by the lawyer-version…
Read MoreRun Solo Run: Why Law Firm Owners Should Seek Office
When it comes to influencing public policy and the judicial system, it often seems as if biglaw attorneys have the upper hand. Many large firm attorneys have the kinds of connections that can put them on an inside track for judicial appointments. And biglaw attorneys also have ample resources to back candidates who share their…
Read MorePlan Your Law Firm, Courtesy of Canva
If you’ve read my stuff, you know I’m not a fan of a formal business plan as a prerequisite to starting a law firm. For starters, in today’s fast changing world, a business plan can change even as you’re writing it. Plus, a formal plan lends itself to extensive research and analysis/paralysis which holds many…
Read MoreNew Retainer Clause Alert – Payment Apps + Engagement Agreement = Quick Cash for Lawyers
By 2021, most law firms universally accept credit card payments from client with the blessing of regulators. Nevermind that lawyers lagged behind other small businesses and other professionals, and that regulators had to be pulled along kicking and screaming, but we lawyers are well accustomed to the wheels of justice grinding slowly after all. Yet…
Read MoreHere’s to the Crazy Ones
After the law firm where I worked as an associate twenty five years ago gave me six months to find a new job, I had a crazy idea. What if I didn’t look for a job at all and instead decided to start my own law firm? And even crazier, what if that law firm…
Read MoreFrom Biglaw to Yourlaw – Why Lawyers MUST Own Their Talent
I just posted a 48 minute video, from biglaw to your law that talks about why it’s so important for lawyers to own their talent and control their destiny. This video speaks to people at biglaw where the myths of solo and small firm practice are most heavily perpetrated, but it will apply to anyone…
Read MoreDon’t Replicate – Create: How Lawyers Succeed in the New Normal
A week or two before her high school graduation, my older daughter decided to go vegan. To accommodate my daughter’s new eating regime, our family celebrated her graduation at a vegan restaurant which served up entrees like lasagna and chicken parmigiana by substituting nutritional yeast and soy proteins for cheese, eggs and meat. Yet despite…
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