Operations

This  New York Times article about how a 13-year old’s interview with an Olympic hopeful motivated him to snag one of the last berths on the 1976 U.S. Olympic swim team is a reminder of the role of serendipity in our journey in life or law and the power of a genuine thank-you. Back in…

I’ve been blogging long enough to know that readership trends way down on holidays, so instead of new material today, here are two previously run July 4 pieces to enjoy.  Happy Fourth of July – and if you haven’t already, make this year that you declare your independence! Declaration of Independence: The World’s Most Successful…

My first permanent office, a sublet space in a marble-column-ed Class B building down the street from the White House,  was hardly the fanciest in Washington D.C., particularly back in the mid-’90s when big law firm partners still tried to impress clients with mahogany conference room tables and ginormous corner offices.  Furnished with cast-offs from…

Every time I hear that solos have to be entrepreneurs, I cringe.  Yes, we all know that solos won’t stay in business if they work for free or spend thousands of dollars that they don’t have on marketing or websites or branding — but understanding these realities doesn’t require business skills so much as common…

Just like comedian Rodney Dangerfield, seems that solo and small lawyers just can’t get no respect from the federal courts. Only the slight to solos by federal judges is no laughing matter not just for us solo and small firm appellate lawyers but more importantly, for our clients. The latest round of elitism and reduced…

In an era of  lawyer bashing,NJ Columnist Warren Boroson’s piece Why Every Middle Class Family Needs a Lawyer  could have been an important educational reminder why lawyers still matter.  And while in truth, Boroson’s article makes that case, Boroson does a far greater disservice by advising readers to “avoid solo practitioners” when hiring lawyers. Boroson’s…

Last week, I spoke at Avvocating 2012 (my deck will go up tomorrow; also, full disclosure- Avvo paid my travel to the conference) Much to my own surprise, I’d have to rank it as one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended. Yes, Avvocating was a marketing conference and didn’t pretend to be anything other…

File this one under what were they thinking. Now, as a condition of gaining admission to the New York Bar, new graduates (and presumably, new admittees from other jurisdictions) must perform 50 hours of pro bono work, reports the New York Law Journal. There’s so much wrong with this proposal that I scarcely know where…