Inspiration & Encouragement
The Founding Fathers and the Future of Law
This past week, a rather vigorous Twitter debate over whether ethics regulators should characterize and regulate benign lawyer matching platforms as for-profit referral organizations was ultimately shut down with cries for “collaboration” and let’s all work together kumbaya-style to find a system that works for everyone and promotes access-to-justice besides. Leaving aside whether it’s realistic…
Read MoreSolo & Small Firm Lawyers Average $198k/year…So Why Do We Portray Solos As Losers?
Updated September 20, 2022 To paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of the solo and small firm practitioner has been greatly exaggerated. At least that’s the case if one is to believe the Attorney Compensation Report released by Martindale-Hubbell today which found that solo and small firm lawyers take home an average of $198,000 in annual…
Read MoreSome Inspiration for Solo and Small Law Firms
Starting and running a law firm isn’t always the joyful journey that many of us imagine. When it comes to the decision of whether to start a firm, many lawyers suffer from analysis paralysis, drawing up detailed business plans and weighing the pros and cons and waiting for “the right time,” (whenever that is) that…
Read MoreStop Playing It Safe: Just Screw It & Start Your Own Law Firm
The 2018 Winter Olympics figure skating competition didn’t go exactly the way eighteen year old Olympic figure skater Nathan Chen had hoped. Entering the competition as the only male figure skater in the world to complete five different types of quadruple jumps in a single performance, Chen stumbled through the team competition and short skate…
Read MoreWhy Those Get Rich Quick, 4-Hour Legal Marketing Programs May Not Work For You
As Seth Godin observes, marketers usually sell pleasure. Think about some of the most popular legal marketing programs. They teach you how to take your law practice to seven figures, or how to run a six-figure practice in a seven-hour workweek and so on. The programs sound great. Some of these programs have worked for…
Read MoreTrading Big Law for Legacy
For a quarter of a century, superstar commercial litigator Roberta Kaplan was what I like to call “big law famous.” In other words, I imagine that Kaplan, a litigation partner at powerhouse law firm Paul Weiss, was well-known to the small circle of biglaw folks who subscribe to publications Bloomberg and American Lawyer – but hardly…
Read MoreThe Big Backpack and the Future of Law
By the time you read this post, I will be lounging on a beach by the Mediterranean, or toasting my younger daughter (who just chose the college she’ll attend) with a glass of sangria while watching a colorful sunset. For this holiday – as with every other time that I’ve traveled for more than a week…
Read MoreCan You Handle the Truth About Starting A Firm?
Nearly every lawyer is familiar with that iconic moment in A Few Good Men where Jack Nicholson’s character Colonel Jessup, backed into a corner under cross-examination by a young military defense lawyer Lieutenant Kaffee played by Tom Cruise, defiantly retorts back: “YOU WANT THE TRUTH? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH?” Of course, this being an…
Read More