Operations
How Much Do Solo and Small Firm Lawyers Earn?
How Much Do Solos Earn? An Excerpt from Solo by Choice: Among its expansive topics, Solo by Choice briefly covers what solos earn – a topic I’ve also addressed at MyShingle here and here. Accurate information on solo salaries are hard to come by given the variation in practices, the fact that many solos also…
Read MoreTo Trust or Not To Trust: What to Do With Flat Fees? (Part I)
Some lawyers refuse to experiment with flat fee billing – not because of confusion over how to set prices or concerns over under-charging — but because they believe that flat fees raise ethical red flags. Truth is, the vast majority of jurisdictions allow flat fee billing, but at the same time, they also impose caveats…
Read MoreLet’s Crowdsource State Ethics Rules on Flat Fees for Lawyers (Part II)
Flat fees make life easy for clients. No lengthy bills to review, no sticker shock about the ultimate cost. Just one price for getting the job done. But if flat fees are so easy, why aren’t the ethics rules that govern them? In Part I of this post I tried to simplify the principles governing…
Read MoreIf You Must Hire An Unpaid Intern, Here’s a Contract for That
For many law students, the summer of 2021 has proved challenging. With the pandemic grip still tight back in the fall of 2020, many firms cut back or cancelled summer programs entirely to avoid another awkward summer of remote work. Meanwhile, as placement offices failed to get their act together when law schools opened virtually,…
Read MoreSurrender to the System to Save Your Sanity
At least fifteen years ago (maybe more), my husband bought a Garmin GPS navigational system for our car. Though I dutifully punched my destination into our new toy, I found myself deviating every time my printed-out Mapquest instructions or my own instinct conflicted and sent me on another route. As an end result of trying…
Read MoreThe Remote Versus Physical Office Debate Revisited, Post-Pandemic
Once upon a time, the biggest question that a starting solo confronted was whether to work remotely from a home office or from a physical office. Indeed, I devoted long blog posts here and here about making a decision between the two, and assuring lawyers that there was really no right answer. Fast forward to…
Read MoreUse a sow to prevent a client from hogging time when it comes to fixed fee legal services
Despite the myriad of benefits associated with flat fees – from rewarding efficiency rather than time to eliminating onerous timekeeping – most attorneys still haven’t adopted them. One concern that attorneys have about flat fees is that the arrangement will encourage client phone calls every minute or leave attorneys holding the bag against a zealous…
Read MoreHow to Work with Freelance Lawyers to Increase Profits, Decrease Stress and Get Your Life Back
I am thrilled to share a post from a long time friend, Lisa Solomon who has been a pioneer in the freelance lawyer space since the mid 1990s. Lisa helped encourage adoption of freelance services by showing lawyers how they could save time and make more money through outsourcing. But most of all, Lisa gave…
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