Ideas & Tips

Q:  I’m only applying to law school now, but I am hoping to open up my own general practice as soon as I graduate.  Here is my situation:  I am fairly sure that I will be admitted to a law school in the city where I am intent on living and opening my firm (School…

Perhaps the greatest fear that I hear from most shinglers-to-be is the fear making mistakes.  For example, many lawyers contemplating solo practice, whether fresh out of school or after a tenure at biglaw, have never argued a motion, filed a complaint or taken a deposition (sometimes they’ve never even observed others doing it).  They’re afraid…

There’s a new solo blogger on the block – Susan Cartier-Liebel and today, she offers a simple, but important tip – don’t quit if you want your practice to succeed.

Seth Godin has some great advice on the best time to start a firm:  maybe last year, maybe never.  But the second best time is now.  So go for it (and read Godin’s entire post).

Over at Lex Blog, Kevin O’Keefe posts about some of the negative reaction to his earlier discussion about how younger lawyers are using MySpace for advertising.  Seems that some marketing experts don’t find MySpace a sufficiently dignified or suitable marketing tool. While I find much value in the advice that practice management advisors and experts…

Human Lawyer, a UK Blogger, posts about an article by Susan Singleton in this quarter’s issue of the Solicitors Sole Practitoners Group Quarterly Magazine that talks about how to save money off big legal publishers and stay current with developments in your field.”  The list includes these tips: * Subscribe to nothing unless there is…

The ABA GP Section just posted a list of quality of life resources that offer information on work-family balance, de-stressing and some silling “time wasters.”  In the three years that I’ve been blogging MyShingle, I’ve noticed a proliferation in work balance resources, but not much improvement on the part of lawyers to strike a better…

Gender disparity at large firms is not unique to the US; our colleagues down under in New Zealand share these problems also, as reported in Flexible work practices avoid gender disparity (April 21, 2006); NZ Lawyer Issue 38.  According to the article, women comprise over a third of all law practitioners, but less than 20…