MyShingle : Solo and Small Law Firm Management and Marketing

The Greatest American Lawyer has been on the greatest of blog-posting frenzies this past week, with a number of must-read posts.  But the one I've selected to focus on is this, which asks Have you ever considered waiving fees even when you did nothing wrong?   There, GAL describes his decision to forego several thousand dollars in fees when his client suffered summary disposition as a result of a court's completely unanticipated reversal of longstanding precedent, which it then applied retroactively to pending suits.   As GAL points out, he wasn't to blame for the state's highest court overruling precedent nor did his retainer absolve the client from paying if he received an adverse result.  But GAL felt:

it was the right thing to do given our constant push to share a level of risk with the client. Many firms would be shocked by an approach which penalized the firm for essentially doing nothing wrong. I think that it is critical that attorneys always have some skin in the game, as they would if the matter was being handled purely on a contingency fee. The goal is not simply to collect as much money from the client as possible. The goal is to deliver results. When those results are not achieved, even when the lawyer has done their very best, there ought to be some sharing of the risk.

• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks (1)

I've been having a lousy week, with one matter continuing to generate all kinds of knotty issues.  So it was a real pick-me-up to get a call from the editors over at Lawyer and Business Executives in the News to inform me that I'd been selected  Person of the Week.  And even though as Person of the Week (and a Brandeisian, just like one of the editors), the Lawyer and Business Executives in the News looks like a really interesting blog that covers a bunch of different law, business and political topics. 

• Print
• Comments (5)
• Trackbacks

Over at The Practice, Jonathan Stein ponders whether clients should be billed for smaller incidental costs like photocopying or faxing.  Jon falls on the side of rolling these incidentals into overhead rather than reflecting them on a client bill.

I agree with Jon.  But for me, the much trickier question when it comes to billing clients for expenses is what our obligation is, as attorneys to seek out the lowest cost options when we're passing the costs on to our clients.  The question is more timely now than ever because with the advent of the Internet, we're able to gain access to so much more price information and more readily obtain lower prices than a decade ago.

• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

Yet another article, Smaller Can Be Beautiful for Some Lawyers, (bizjournal, 11/2005) on biglaw attorneys leaving their firms for smaller - or in this case, mid-sized pastures.   But what I found so sad about this piece is the reason that some folks stay on at biglaw:  not because they prefer the work but rather, they love the view.  Here's a quote:

Jenkins, the lawyer who joined Jeffer Mangels, said that while she has fond memories of Littler Mendelson, she thinks she is a good fit with her new firm. She even finds she doesn't miss some old creature comforts. "I used to be on the 27th floor of the Littler building," which offered sweeping views of San Francisco Bay. "I used to think 'How am I going to get up in the morning?' without that view.

Seems to me that if the only reason that you're going to work is to stare out the window, that doesn't sound like reason to stay...but reason to leave.

• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

It's not just biglaw attorneys who are hanging shingles these days.  This article,  AUSAs to Start New Trial Firm, Justin Scheck, the Recorder 11/23/2005 reports on a pair of former US Attorneys who'll be hanging a shingle in Northern California and foregoing biglaw practice.  The reason?  These guys want to be trial lawyers.   And they're probably  going to  be darn successful ones for sticking to their dream - welcome Ramsey and Erlich to shingle-dom!

• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

I loved Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action and so I was happy to come across this article, Two Person Firm Wrestles Oil Giant  (November 26, 2005) about another small firm doing battle with a major corporation, albeit with better results.   But it's still an uphill fight.  From the lead of the article:

It's the old tale of David and Goliath.  A tiny law firm in Kansas City's River Market took on one of the big five oil giants and won a multimillion-dollar personal injury lawsuit.  That was in September. But attorney Lon Walters still has 24 more cases against BP Amoco involving people who say they became ill or saw loved ones die after being exposed to massive oil spills from a refinery in Sugar Creek.  The cases are being watched by lawyers across the country to see how the firm of Walters and associate Christin Cipolla beats the odds, and if it can continue to do so.

"These cases are very costly and very time-consuming," said Michael B. Leh, a tort attorney in Philadelphia. "In many cases, it is very comparable to A Civil Action," a book and film about a small law firm's uphill battle against W.R. Grace & Co.

But the real question is:  if a case like that showed up at your door, would you take it?

• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

A few weeks ago at Blawgthink, I met David Swanner, who blogs at  South Carolina Trial Law Blog.  David was giving out copies of his Winning With Powerpoint CD that you can get from him through his blog as described here.   From David's perspective, the payment is possible referrals, but more importantly, an opportunity to help improve litigation practice.

It's taken me a while to put up this post because I actually wanted to take a look at the CD.  David has put the presentations together in a professional and organized manner.  As for the quality of the examples, some presentations are quite good while others don't seem that they'd be very effective with a jury.  But you can learn from the good and the bad about what to do and what not to do.  Also, seeing some of the poorer quality stuff made me a little less intimidated since I'm still trying to improve my own power point presentation skills.  Anyway, go over to David's site and learn more about him and his CD and maybe you'll come up with a marketing idea that's similarly cool.

• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks (1)

Finally - it's happening.  Big companies are started to wonder why they should pay $600 an hour to fly their regular biglaw counsel from New York or L.A. out to Buffalo or Kalamazoo to litigate a case, when they can just as well retain local counsel for a fraction of the price - and better service to boot.  This trend of large corporations broadening the pool of law firms that they retain, instead of just hiring from a select few is called pinpointing and Larry Bodine of Legal Marketing Blog blogs about it here.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks (1)

As Thanksgiving and winter holidays approach, like me, many of you are probably scrambling to find the perfect gift for lawyer-friends and colleagues who've helped you throughout the year.  This year, you don't need to waste any more billable hours looking for gifts because fellow solo Lisa Solomon and her attorney husband Mark have come up with a great idea:  really elegant and reasonably priced watches and desk clocks that divide the hour into six minute increments.   They're available for purchase online at The Billable Hour (www.thebillablehour.com). 

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

When it comes to blogs, the question on almost every solo or small firm lawyer's lips is  "Will a blog get me business?"   Once my answer to that question was a qualified "possibly," - I felt that that blogs wouldn't necessarily generate clients directly, but nonetheless, could help diversity a solo's overall marketing portfolio.  Now, I'm wondering whether perhaps I was too conservative.  Because as Kevin O'Keefe of Lex Blog reports, solos are getting clients from their blogs  - and the example he's used is my blogging colleague, Kansas Family Law Attorney (and Home Office Lawyer), Grant Griffiths.

So I decided to try to figure out the reasons for Grant's success.  I visited his blog and it's a great example of a practice-focused blog, a mix of helpful information for clients and links to current events and news stories.  Then, I put myself in the shoes of a prospective client using the Internet to find a divorce lawyer in Kansas and ran a couple of searches like this and this and this.  No surprise that Grant's firm comes in top five under any of these combinations. 

• Print
• Comments (34)
• Trackbacks (5)

David Giacalone of f/k/ahas this post about the recent Florida Supreme Court decision in the 1-800 PIT BULL case (we noted the matter earlier here). The court ruled that a Florida law firm's use of the phone number 1-800-PIT-BULL and a logo depicting a pit bull in a spiked collar violates Florida ethics rules - and issued a public reprimand against the firm.  David wonders why the bar needs to regulate these types of ads and can't trust consumers to make their own judgments about them. David's post also lengthy excerpts from the ludicrous decision which, among other things, ponders such weighty questions as whether use of the pit bull logo demeans all lawyers or is deceptive (because it's not possible to evaluate whether the firm actually conducts itself as a pit bull would in representation of clents) and whether the logo of the pit bull in the spiked collar reflects the dog's role as "man's best friend." (the court concluded that it did not).

WHICH OF THESE DOGS IS DECEPTIVE OR DEMEANING?

• Print
• Comments (9)
• Trackbacks (6)

Many lawyers tend to complain when our clients try to play to lawyer.  These lawyers either feel as if the client is trying to usurp of exclusive domain or simply don't want to take the time to explain why the law doesn't work as the client believes it does.  Yet as this article, Court:  NY Lawyer's One Mistake Enough to Overturn Verdict, John Caher, New York Lawyer (November 18, 2005) bears out, it pays to listen when your client offers ideas on legal strategy.  The article reports on the case of Herman Turner, whose conviction was recently vacated for ineffective assistance of counsel.  Turner's lawyers had failed to raise a statute of limitations defense that Turner himself had brought to their attention.

As for me, I've always listened to my clients' questions about legal issues in the case.   After all, as a lawyer, it's my job to do my best for my client - even if my best may mean checking my own ego at the door.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Readers, I apologize.  I long ago promised to include a side link to any solo or small firm who asked and I've been a bit late in following through.  But tonight, I went through the old emails and hung up those shingles (it may take a little time for them to appear at the site, so wait about 24 hours if you don't see it right up).

Caveat:  I may have misplaced some of the email.  So if you don't see your link posted, drop me another email at elefant@myshingle.com and I'll put it up.  Don't be shy.  And if you're a solo or small firm with a blog or website who hasn't sent a link, feel free to go ahead and do so now.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In these fast moving, high tech times where it seems that everything's about buzz and hype, no one wants to be caught thinking inside the box.  But as Douglass Rushkoff explains in this essay Get Back in the Box (Fast Company 11/2005), more companies should think about climbing back in the box and returning to the basics that made them great.  And guess what - when it comes to focusing on doing what you do best, solos have it over big firms once again. 

• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

From time to time in my practice, I have a need for paralegal type support or quasi-legal  research.  The tasks might include summarizing depositions, finding background on a particular industry, following up on marketing leads, gathering web materials on a recent trend in the law, updating one of  my websites or weblogs or  even doing some very basic legal research like compiling a bunch of statutes or background caselaw on a topic.

Surprisingly, I've found it increasingly difficult to retain qualified people to handle  administative and low-end research needs on an ad hoc basis.  When it comes to outsourcing more heavy weight legal research projects, there are plenty of options.  But the high end research services simply aren't cost effective for low end needs.  I've had no luck hiring law students either; I find that by the time the law school posts my ad and students see it, my need for help has already passed.   Virtual secretaries or paralegals are another option, but most charge a mark-up for short term, "piece work;" and I've found the rates higher than what I care to pay for low end work.  So this month, when a unique research project cropped up (gathering information about a very distinct industry for use in a lawsuit), I decided to turn to Craig's List. 

• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

I've been back from BlawgThink for a few days, but for various reasons, haven't been able to post my thoughts until now.  First, everything that's already been written by my fellow BlawgThink attendees here and here and here -- about the energy and the passion and vision  pulsing through the conference, not to mention the plain joy of meeting other bloggers whom you've read and admired from afar face to face -- well, it's all true.  And what I've taken home from BlawgThink is that same spirit of exhilaration and optimism that pervaded my first year of law practice, my early days on the web (this doesn't even go back far enough) and my entre into blogging as I'm once again reminded of all of the promise that blogs hold for solo and small firm lawyers and the entire legal profession.

So now that I've had time to Blawg-think about all of these possibilities, it's time for me to Blawg-do.  I've spent this evening (see how late I'm posting?) playing around with wikis and getting familiarized with Mind Manager so that I can put on cool presentations like this one.  I am going to finally figure out how to podcast and develop an approach to assess the "return on blogging."  And I want to use these tools to help solo and small firm lawyers improve our practices, increase our revenues and better serve our clients.

Thanks so much, Matt Homann and Dennis Kennedy for another fabulous conference that has rekindled my excitement for blogging all over again.
 

• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

Patrick McEvoy of Rainmaker Best Practices wonders about who thought of these really awful law firm taglines? (McEvoy doesn't name names, but you can find many of the taglines that he uses as examples and their respective owners on this list.)  So what's McEvoy's test for a good tagline?  Basically, it's a phrase that says something about the company and isn't just a bunch of randomnly generated words.   

By the way, the same holds true for taglines for blogs (someone likes ours!).

• Print
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks (1)

This article, Making Their Case to Clients (Nov. 13, 2005) reports on a recent LexisNexis Martindale Hubbell survey on small firm marketing practices.  The survey found that small firm lawyers  spend five percent of their revenues and eight percent of their time on marketing efforts.  And the majority of firms surveyed said that "hanging a digital shingle" was their single most most effective marketing tactic. 

You can download the survey at Tom Kane's Legal Marketing Blog, where you can also read his four installment deconstruction of the survey.  Kane notes that the survey is incomplete in that it doesn't report on activities such as joining bar associations, sponsoring seminars or client feedback programs which are also effective marketing tools. 

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

In a recent piece for Law Practice Today, (November 2005), Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell list nineteen web logs that deal with law practice management issues, including My Shingle.  You'll want to make sure to include a bunch of these sites in your newsreader, if you haven't already done so.

solotips

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

What do you do when a client consistently refuses to take your advice?  It's a knotty problem for many lawyers as to whether they should keep those disagreeing clients and try to bring them around or simply dump them.  This article, Feuding Over Vaccines, (Sandra G. Boodman, Washington Post, November 8, 2005) discusses how pediatricians are dealing with the same issue.  According to the article, an increasing number of parents are refusing immunization for their children, citing risk of autism or other issues.  At the same time, virtually all pediatricians strongly support immunization thus putting them at odds with patients who don't.  Some doctors feel so strongly about their position that they have dismissed patients whose parents refuse to have their children vaccinated.  The article discusses the attendent ethical issues that a decision to dismiss a patient may raise (e.g., that the child will go without medical care) as well as ways to try to convince parents to take another approach.   

• Print
• Comments (4)
• Trackbacks

Just wanted to announce to great new blogs by solos.  First up, by my colleague here in the DC are David Kaufman is Qui Custodes, a blog of personal security tips.  In his introductory post, David explains the derivation of the blog's name (roughly meaning "who guards the guardians") and reminds us that even as we guard our clients' interest and security, we need to watch out for ourselves - and now David will help us do that.  Some of David's tips relate to personal rather than purely professional situations, but even in those posts, you'll find something applicable to your practice.

Next up came to me by way of email, New York Medical Malpractice Blog by New York attorney Gerald Oginski.  One reason that I liked this blog is that it's packed with posts like this one (Why You Shouldn't Rely on a Lawyer Who Says Your Case is Worth Millions).  These posts not only help prospective clients know what to expect when they contact a malpractice attorney, but they also help lawyers learn how to distinguish between good cases and not-so-good ones and to articulate the difference to clients.

• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Long before solos were blogging and before it was cool to be solo, a band of ABA solos from the GP Solo Committee had a great idea:  why not start an online community.  Thus, as Meg Tebo (also a sezzer) reports in A Birthday to Celebrate (11/2005), Bruce Dorner and others joined forces to create a virtual law firm where the sun never sets:  Solosez.   From humble beginnings, the firm has grown to 1600 members strong, with 150 messages a day, ranging from substantive law to childrearing advice and requests for recipes (political discussion is limited).  Solosez even boasts an online introduction which lead to marriage. 

I know that I frequently criticize the ABA, but Solosez is one of those things that the ABA (or more accurately, its members) get right.  True, I love blogging and my blogging buddies (many of whom I'm be seeing or meeting soon) - but my solosez colleagues (some of whom I've also met offline) have helped me out on my cases and with personal matters over and over again.  I'm just glad that the online world remains big enough for both. 

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Another article about a really bad solo, Jo-Ellen Wells (Estate Seeks to Disbar Divorce Lawyer), this one out of New Hampshire who took money from several clients and never did the work and in one instance, represented a divorcing wife when the lawyer had already been retained by the husband (though apparently, Wells never did the work for him either).  But amongst Wells' other indiscretions:  She said she had an office when she really worked from home - and met with clients in Denny's or Barnes & Noble.

Personally, when I worked from home (and actually do now), I never let on to clients.  I'd meet primarily in part time office space, but have also met at the court or even once at a Starbucks.  Are home office lawyers ethically obligated to disclose that they don't have offices?  Grant, I'll leave this question for you.  As for other home office lawyers, do you tell your clients where you work?

• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

Since many of us solos may find ourselves working on more less universally observed federal holidays like Columbus Day or Veterans' Day Solo, Brandi Karl has a great idea to compensate:  proclaim your own holiday!  Of course, Brandi's holidays are more productive than observant:  she suggests Brainstorming Day (to devote to a certain project), Work at Home Day (to break up the mix of the office routine) or email day (seems self-explanatory).  (Meanwhile, it appears that GAL has been observing (won't call it celebrating here) work at home day with his wife out of town and his sons under the weather, though he's still blogging prolifically)   

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

We frequently associate solo and small firm practice as populated with small clients who can't pay the bills.  But that's not so, at least according to this recent article, Petra Pasternak, NY Lawyer (11/7/05).  As the article reports (and not surprisingly), a recent study by Worth Magazine found that wealthy clients are "migrating...to smaller firms that heed the personal touch." (no link to original study) The article also noted that many large firms are not interested in serving wealthy clients or lawyers have left the firm to start their own practice, presumably, where they continue to service wealthy clients.

• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks (1)

Usually, those article you read on networking are a lame restatement of the obvious:  attend bar functions, pass your card out to everyone you meet or set up lunch dates.  What's even worse with some of these suggestions is that they put lawyers at the mercy of others, who may reject your card or your invitation to lunch or rebuff you at the bar event.  Thus, networking can become as demoralizing as a series of unsuccessful singles parties - and after enough rejection, you may want to quit (I know that I've felt that way, after both the bar events and singles parties, though the latter did eventually lead to my husband)  So that's why I really enjoyed my colleague David Abseshouse's recent article,  The Power of Networking (November 7, 2005 - NYLJ).  Because David's advice to lawyers to become "resource hubs" is empowering; it puts marketing lawyers in the drivers' seat when it comes to the marketing dynamic.   

• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks (2)

Reader Frank Kautz forwarded this great article, Small Firm Life:  Friendly Fire (Raymond Dowd New York Lawyer 11/4/05) which begins with this advice to lawyers:  "Quit worrying about your adversary coming after you; it's your client you need to worry about."  Sadly, that's true.  Though there are some pretty bad lawyers (as we've just posted here), many clients aren't perfect either.  And sometimes, you need to practice defensively to protect yourself.   Among Dowd's tips for watching your back with clients are entering into written retainer agreements, informing clients of their rights and responsibilities, and respond to client complaints in writing.  Read the full article for more ideas.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks