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Hiring Help
Year-end number crunching is always a dicey proposition. Did I make money? Did I lose money? What do I need to keep doing? Stop doing? Change? (I fear change.) However, my numbers for last year (my fifth full year in business) show a 104% increase in gross revenue! That makes the 39% increase I was…
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The Nuts and Bolts of Starting a Law Practice
Published in the January 2013 issue of Nevada Lawyer Magazine. How To Start a Law Practice from GBongiovi
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Office Equipment Essentials
I was dusting my office yesterday and realized that office equipment is a big question for people starting their firms. What do I need, what do I NEED, and what do I just want? You can absolutely run your entire practice from a laptop, a printer, and a cell phone. If you have the laptop…
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More on Marketing…
A business attorney in solo practice who just relocated to a very large city and knows not a soul e-mailed me for marketing advice. My reply… Here’s my recipe for marketing, which has worked for me: 1. You need a kick-ass website. This doesn’t mean you need to spend thousands of dollars a month on…
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Is BigLaw Worth the Salary?
My friend, a solo practitioner and mom to two young girls, was recently approached by a female BigLaw senior partner about going to work for the big firm. My friend agreed to go to lunch with the partner, and, concerned that a BigLaw schedule might take her away from her kids, asked the partner (who…
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Craptastic Job Market
Everywhere you turn, it seems the amazingly craptastic job market for lawyers is making the news. Today’s Wall Street Journal article (“Law Grads Face a Brutal Job Market”) points out that 2001 graduates had about a 50/50 chance of landing a job. This is a swift kick in the crotch to those graduates who now…
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Should I Charge for Consultations?
It depends. Don’t we lawyers LOVE that answer? But seriously, it really does depend. In full disclosure, I do charge for consultations. I didn’t at first. I do now. Yes, people pay. Yes, I’ve lost clients who expect a free consultation. No, I don’t lose sleep over those clients. Yes, those clients who do pay…
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Getting Paid
This is among the most important issues you will face as a solo practitioner. If you aren’t getting paid, the rest doesn’t matter. It seems to me there are two extremes of newly minted lawyers. Mucho Bravado and Wee Chickenlittle. Mucho Bravado was the PITA in school who always thought he was smarter than everyone,…
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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…