Inspiration & Encouragement

This article, Lincoln Lawyer Balances Business, Passion (12/25/05 – Lincoln Journal Star) profiles Lincoln, Nebraska lawyer Herb Friedman’s forty years of small firm practice, which included arguing a case before the United States Supreme Court and pioneering television advertising in his state.  Now 70, Friedman has no plans to retire and reflects on his career…

Desperation isn’t the greatest trait to display if you’re trying to meet a mate.  But if you want to succeed in starting a law firm, desperation, or more accurately, the willingness to do something absolutely desperate to bail out a case or save your firm can serve you well.  I was reminded of the power…

Allison Shields of the new Legalease practice-building blog has a post taking inventory for the New Year that contains some great advice:  you don’t have to get it perfect, you just have to get it going.  That advice applies to many lawyers contemplating solo practice.  Sure, you don’t want to just jump into it without…

Every four months for the past fifteen years, I’ve avidly read the Alumni Notes section of my alma mater’s publication,the Cornell Law Forum to see what my classmates have been up to since graduation.  In addition to alumni notes, the Forum publishes a couple of articles by professors and students.  While some have been moderately…

In this article, Clearing the Cobwebs, (Meg Tebo, ABA Journal, October 2005), solos share some ideas on what they do to get unstuck.  Solutions include working the New York Times crossword puzzle, surfing the web, seeing a matinee and restarting the day by eating breakfast.  The last one sound odd, but Barbara Kessler, who recommends…

If you’ve not seen this great letter,  How to Succeed as A Lawyer (Roland Boyd), that was first published more than 40 years ago in the Texas Bar Journal, then put down what you’re doing and read it now.  On the surface, the letter simply dispenses tips from a father to a son on how…

Thanks so much to Ernie the Attorney for this link to a commencement speech by Steve Jobs.  In his speech, Jobs describes a rocky path to different types of success, beginnings and endings and new opportunities.  It’s worthwhile reading for us solos who many times, find ourselves dead-ended or uninspired in our practice and need…

Thanks to David Giacalone of f/k/a for this post on Lowell Komie’s fiction about law practice, including what it’s like to be a solo (see this one too).  David also quotes from Komie and his apparently mixed feelings about whether a solo practitioner is truly “free.” Consider these two views expressed by Komie in an…