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Beware of Scams
A friend of mine almost got scammed by a fake potential client. I just received an e-mail with the same M.O. I’m waiting for a call back from the state bar to see how I can alert other lawyers. In the meantime, posting it here is the best I can do. Have you heard of…
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Solo Lawyer Resource List
Here is a list of resources that have helped me immensely along the way… How to Start and Build a Law Practice by Jay Foonberg @JayFoonberg Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be by Carolyn Elefant @CarolynElefant Solo by Choice The Companion Guide: 34 Questions That Could Transform Your Legal…
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Checklist
If you read any post on this blog, start with this one. It links to most of the others… I’m a linear thinker. Yet another reason why I struggled in law school. If law school could have been reduced to flow charts, I would have broken records. In sitting down with a friend who’s starting…
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I Don’t Know What I’m Doing
As I said in a previous post, law school doesn’t teach you how to practice law. So how do you actually learn? The obvious answer is CLE, or Continuing Legal Education. Most bars require a certain number of CLE credit hours each year to renew your license. I find that CLEs are usually not helpful…
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Considering Law School? Read This First.
I often tell people that becoming a lawyer is like learning how to walk at least three times over. College does nothing to prepare you for law school. Law school does nothing to prepare you for the bar. And none of that prepares you for practice. In college you are trained to think a certain…
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What I Like About Google Voice
When I started my practice, I had a business landline installed in my house. (If you’re reading these out of order, I started my practice working from home.) I was astonished when the tech handed me the order form and I saw the phone number they’d given me. (702) 485-1200. Knowing it’s incredibly difficult to…
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How to Guarantee Your Practice Fails
I recently read an article in BusinessWeek about the problems facing large law firms and why these firms are imploding at an alarming rate (“Law Firms’ White-Shoes Blues,” Paul Barrett 4/18/12). After a conversation with a friend who was just laid off from her associate position at a small firm, I realized that the face…
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What About an Office?
One of the most pressing concerns of someone looking to start a firm is renting an office. Having an office is much like planning a wedding. Just as you can’t invite Uncle Joe without including Cousin Tony and his wife Angela and if you invite Angela you have to invite her sister Teresa and her…
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Malpractice Insurance
Malpractice insurance, professional liability insurance, whatever you want to call it, the six weeks before my policy renews are my least favorite time of year. They’re even worse than tax season. During this six weeks I fill out a dozen different applications, closely examine each prospective policy for exclusions and limitations, and I always seem…
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What Drives You?
The longer I survive in solo practice, the more often I’m asked to present to law students or lawyers interested in starting their own practices. Early on in my practice, I was one of five lawyers on a panel for a CLE class at my alma mater on “How to Start a Law Practice.” The…