My Shingle : MyShingle : Solo and Small Law Firm Management and Marketing

Imagine having $100,000 to start a law firm.  That's the consolation prize for the 190 associates laid off today by Latham and Watkins:  six months of severance pay, capped at $100,000, reports AmLaw Daily.  I realize that when you're saddled with student loans and the accoutrements of a biglaw lifestyle, $100,000 doesn't seem all that rich.  But for those of us, myself included, who lauched our firms with student loans and car and mortgage payments hanging over our heads, even $10,000 would have made a huge difference.

Still, I also know that getting laid off is no fun and no matter how much money a firm shells out to soften the blow.  After all, it's the ego, not the budget, that takes the real bruising in a layoff and no amount of reassurances by colleagues or bravado on your own part can eliminate those niggling doubts that maybe you just weren't good enough.  So go ahead and sulk for a few days - you're entitled. 

But once that's out of your system, consider this.  You have a chance to reinvent yourself, to create something new that's never existed and be the lawyer you always wanted to be.  And what's more, some of you actually have the resources to see it through.  After all, who ever heard of an independent contract drafting commentator and consultant, before Ken Adams designed that position for himself?  Or a high-powered litigator-turned successful mediator like Victoria Pynchon?  Or a solo who practiced Supreme Court litigation exclusively like Tom Goldstein at (now) Howe & Russell? Or an energy regulatory attorney who runs a trade association and handles occasional 1983 civil rights actions and writes books and blogs (that would be me!) 

What do you want to do - argue Supreme Court cases?  Rescue victims of the housing crisis from foreclosure?  Handle class actions?  Try cases?  Negotiate big deals.  Make precedent?  Run a small, neighborhood law practice? All of these options are possibilities, they truly are.  But you have to break from those who lack the vision or imagination to see that these possibilities.

So when the head hunters tell you there's a tight job market, shut your ears.  Because there's no competition for a job which hasn't yet been announced at a firm that doesn't yet exist.  That position is yours for the taking, provided of course, that you create it.

If you are thinking about starting a firm, you can download my free ebooks on this topic here (inspiration for lawyers and social networking for lawyers) or here (From Biglaw to Yourlaw).

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Over the past few months, it seems to me that the number of lawyers starting their own practice is on the rise.  My perception is based largely on anecdotal evidence, from increased traffic to this site (both direct hits and from search terms like "starting a law practice,") a bump in sales of Solo by Choice, announcements of new practices on Twitter and Solosez and (most annoyingly), the near daily launch of all kinds of marketing products and consulting services purporting to help lawyers who want to start a practice. (By the way, if you're considering using any of these consultants or services, read this first).

But now, I've got some hard core evidence as back up my observations.  The Charlotte Biz Journal reports that:

About 90 boutique firms and solo practitioners opened in Charlotte in 2008, according to the Mecklenburg County Bar. That’s an increase of nearly 30% from the 70 boutiques and solo shops that opened in 2007.

Most of the lawyers interviewed in the article previously worked at large firms and launched their own firms either by themselves or with another fellow expatriate.  Oddly, however, few of the lawyers interviewed in the article said that they started their own law practices because their former law firms tanked.  Instead, the reasons they offered for hanging a shingle are the same as they've always been:  "a desire for more control over one’s practice; better work-life balance; the freedom to work with smaller clients who might balk at big-firm billing rates." 

At the same time, the article makes note of the downturn of the Charlotte legal market.  Perhaps the lawyers interviewed weren't laid off, but my guess is that economic uncertainty ultimately served as the impetus for many of these lawyers' decisions to start a firm. 

As the saying goes, freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.  I'll be the first to admit that the freedom of solo practice is far easier to embrace when all other roads lead to nowhere.  Of course, once you have your first taste of freedom, you may never want to go back. 

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Last week, I unveiled the Bars Reviewed 2009, which surveys the services that bar associations are providing to solo and small firm practitioners.  I've received really valuable feedback in the comment section and I've been working to continuously incorporate the comments into the chart.

But the survey isn't just a vanity tool to generate visibility for my site.  Rather, it's a useful tool that lawyers and bar administrators will want to bookmark, link to and visit frequently. Here are some thoughts on how to use the Bars Reviewed, Table:

1.  Solo and small firm lawyers: Use the table as a short cut to click through to your bar's features and more importantly, to locate applicable ethics rules and opinions.  And, why not explore the features that other bar associations are offering.  Many bars offer forms and templates that can be adjusted and utilized in your jurisdiction - so take advantage of resources beyond what your bar has to offer.

And here's a tip - if you find a bar that offers a service, such as free legal research or an interesting conference that is only available to members, you might consider joining that bar anyway.  Most voluntary bars don't require that you hold a license in that state, so it might be worthwhile, for example, to pay $250 to join another bar if it can get you access to a free legal research service or a substantial discount on malpractice insurance.

2.  Those contemplating solo practice: Many of the states listed have online bar guides and checklists which will give you some ideas on what to expect if you decide to start your own firm.  Many of the guides are general enough that they provide an overview of tasks involved in startig a firm that are common to all jurisdictions.

3.  Bar administrators and LPM advisors: This chart is intented to make your lives easier.  Many of the bars do offer valuable materials - this will give bar administrators an idea of what other bar associations are doing and perhaps serve as a springboard for future collaboration.  Information wants to be free, as they say!

Have you found the Bars, Reviewed useful?  How do you plan to use it?  Please send your comments below.

[by the way, the Bars Reviewed isn't intended to replace that other MyShingle flagship, Soloformania.  We'll be updating that feature as well].

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In response to my post on The DC Bar and Avvo, I received a comment from DC Attorney that angered me enough to write this post.  Specifically, DC Attorney attacked my integrity, and the integrity of this site with the following remark: 

Regardless, since it's obvious Carolyn and Josh King have a financial stake in Avvo's promotion, it's not really worth the time to bother with either.

Let me be clear:  I do not have any financial stake in Avvo whatsoever.  I have a listing at the site, but  given my highly specialized practice area, I don't generate clients from my listing nor do I ever expect to.  I've previously defended Avvo, however, there, my remarks came in response to the dismissal of a class action against Avvo.  And in my most recent post, my focus was more on the DC Bar's reaction to the site, rather than a promotion for the Avvo itself.

Look, DC Attorney - if you don't agree with my position on Avvo, just say so - and preferably, identify yourself when you do.  But don't you dare attack my integrity.  I realize that it's hard to believe that a little site like mine can offer so much content without financial support from outside sources, but yes it's true.  Because MyShingle has always been, at least in part, a labor love and posting here, even over six years has never felt like work. 

Above all, though, I value, and stand proud of my integrity particularly in a place like the blogosphere where many others are quick to cash in on fame and change their position once cash starts flowing.  So I want to make clear that at least here, my readers can trust that I am fully transparent, as I have been for six years.  If I ever recommend or post favorably about a product or a company, I will always disclose my affiliation and whether I'm getting a financial benefit (in fact, in this post where I recommended Blawging Lawyers, I noted that Grant Griffiths was a friend.  What I didn't say is that Grant has offered me affiliate opportunities which I declined).  And even where I do have paying sponsors (such as the law.com affiliation and Nolo), I am always clear that I retain full control over my site content and my sponsors respect that.  In fact, I choose sponsors carefully, and I'm only interested in those who appreciate my mission: to improve the image of solos and equip them with encouragement to succeed and to serve as an honest broker. 

As some of you may know, I am currently working on a build out of MyShingle, and I will, in a measured way, be taking on sponsors and adding features to help the site generate revenue so that I can continue to provide features like Bars Reviewed.  But no matter what I do, I will always be transparent with readers.

As for DC Attorney, I'd have been happy to take this offlist with him, but he cloaked his email. How  ironic that someone who thought to attack my integrity didn't even have the integrity to identify himself.

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Update - please see the comments, as they are very informative.  I think perhaps my position may be too extreme - funding a couple of non-profit positions or funding indigent criminal defense prgrams may not, on further reflection, be a bad idea (although in many instances, solo and small firm lawyers handle these kinds of matters as well and could actually afford to take those cases with a $60k investment). But in the long run, if firms are to thrive, they should also explore ways to diversify their investment, they should explore other options such as funding smaller firms, thereby planting seeds for growth down the line.

Believe me, this is a post that I hate to write as I'm loathe to criticize a big law firm like Simpson, Thacher that is desperately trying to do the right thing to mitigate the hardship of associate layoffs by paying associates $60,000 to work at a nonprofit for a year.  Still, I can't contain myself, because while it's a magnanimous act, business wise, it's also a stupid idea.  Instead of paying associates to work for non-profits and develop skills that they may not ever be able to use if they return to the firm, why not, as I've previously suggested, use that money to help displaced associates set up their own practice and then outsource innovation to them.

In case law firms have been sleeping, the President just signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law, which is chock full of $787 billion worth of goodies designed to stimulate a industries like energy, education and health care.  And on its heels, it's likely that we'll see a $75 billion mortgage rescue package that will inject new life into the real estate industry.  If it works as intended, the stimulus package will create new industries, which will need legal representation to guide them through unchartered practice areas.

Sixty thousand dollars is chump to change to law firm associates accustomed to earning $160,000.  But to a lawyer seeking to start a practice, a $60k nest egg is an utter godsend.  Instead of working for a non-profit, a lawyer could (as I have  here) start a trade association to represent the myriad of new interest an industry groups bound to crop up as a result of the stimulus legislation.  After a year or two, the associate would be positioned as an expert in a hot new area, and could bring a lucrative practice to his or her former firm.  And even while delving into new areas, lawyers could still fulfill a civic duty by taking on court appointed work, consumer credit or bankruptcy cases as part of their practice - so the law firm could feel as if it contributed to the public good.  Best of all, during their year or two as free agents, associates would learn how to market themselves and run a business, thus getting the training that they need to help their firm move forward upon their return.

Of course, who can blame biglaw?  After all, law schools raise graduates to believe that the legal profession offers three options:  biglaw, government and non-profit/legal aid work.  Even with all of the consciousness raising by the solo/start a practice genre of blogs like this one, or this or this or this, that option of hanging a shingle completely eludes our profession's collective radar.  And if this major crisis doesn't change these attitudes quickly, then honestly, I'm not sure what will.   

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Summary

Update (7 pm, 2/19/09) More comments below, with links to additional NC Bar resources and Canada resources too.  In response to Eric's question, the review took place strictly based on websites alone  - I personally visited about 30 of them, and delegated the remaining review, then did additional link checks.  Talking to bar personnel would have been useful, but too time consuming for this project.  However, I have heard from some bar folks - and I welcome comments or complaints.

Update (4:00 pm, 2/19/09) Apparently,  the survey has overlooked some of the bar's important features.  In the comments, you will see that the MN bar also offers a site at practicelaw.org - though that is different from the MN Bar site listed in other places.  I've also received a call from the NH bar that they do offer many services, but due to password protection, they're inaccessible.  Likewise, Wisconsin has an extensive Practice411 site here.  I want the table to be inclusive but at the same time, it should not be so difficult to find information.  Keep those comments coming, though - I want to make sure that the table is accurate.

It's been a long, long time coming, but I am finally ready to unveil one of MyShingle's flagship features, The Bars, Reviewed 2009, a survey of resources for solo and small firm lawyers offered by the 50 state bars, plus the ABA and a handful of city bars.   The survey lists bar resources in a variety of categories: law practice management office, solo resources, listserves, IOLTA handbooks, ethics rules, legal research and other features. 

Back in 2002, when I first survey, I concluded that the bars were serving the needs of solos and small firm lawyers fairly well.  At that time, most bars had a robust web presence (at least for that time period) and offered a variety of online guides and forms to help solos get their practices off the ground.  Unfortunately, times have changed, but most bar associations haven't.  In the six years that have transpired between the two surveys, there hasn't been much progress at the bar sites.True, most of the solo guides remain online, but few have been updated to reflect new developments like outsourcing, social media or software as a service tools.  

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[Note- the tape cuts out at 50 seconds - music continues because I could not split the track]

It's been a little over a year since the release of my book, www.aSolo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be.  My book, which was the first book on law practice in five years made is both a why to, on why lawyers should consider starting a solo practice, as well as a how to, as in how to leverage 21st century trends like alternative billing, outsourcing, technology and social media to build a successful practice.

Even as I was writing the book, which went to press around September 2007, I felt as if the foundation was constantly shifting underneath.  When I first created my proposal - sometime around my 40th birthday in 2004 -- biglaw was booming and yet, so many associates were toiling unfulfilled.  I'd already seen too much talent (primarily women) exit the law, so I positioned my book not just as a guide for those who'd already embraced solo practice, but also for those who were searching for more fulfillment in law but who'd never seriously considering the option of starting a firm.  Now, a year later, with law firms dumping lawyers left and right, more lawyers are forced to evaluate other options, and fortuitously, my book is one of many resources now available to guide them.

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The legal profession is on the skids like never before -- though you'd scarcely realize it from visiting a bar association website.  As law firms shed attorneys at an unprecedented rate -- 4376 layoffs since January 1, 2008, 2614 in calendar year 2009, and 700 on a single Black Thursday, one would think that the bar association websites would be on high alert, offering discounted CLEs and networking events and otherwise mobilizing to help unemployed lawyers find work.  Instead, it's business as usual for the ABA and many other bar associations (stay tuned for my Bars, Reviewed release tomorrow!) with no mention of the burgeoning layoffs anywhere on their websites.

Still, to its credit, at least the ABA isn't making the current financial crisis any worse for lawyers.  Would that I could say the same for one of my home bars, DC Bar. Not only is the DC Bar petitioning for a dues increase when its members are tightening their belts, but the Bar is trying to limit at least one resource that could help lawyers find work by launching an assault to shut down Avvo, a lawyer directory site that allows lawyers to post a robust, professional looking profile on-line for free.   The profile listings enable clients to find lawyers, but they also encourage lawyers to connect, but giving them opportunities to provide testimonials and endorsements to their colleagues. 

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I don't generally post endorsements or recommendations about products or services at my site.   But every so often, as now, I'll make an exception where I believe that the service is worth passing on to others.

First up is my friend and colleague Jon Stein's lawyer marketing email list.  Jon put the list together a couple of years ago as a break off from Solosez and it's been thriving ever since.  I check in frequently because I'm always looking for new marketing tips.  Even better, the list lets me learn from other lawyers' experiences - so if they share an idea that hasn't worked, I can either try to figure out a way to modify it or perhaps, would forego it entirely.  You can post a message to the list at sololawyermarketing@yahoogroups.com and subscribe at sololawyermarketing-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

The second service I want to mention is Blawging Lawyers, by my friend Grant Griffiths and his partner, Michael Martine.  I won't mince words - this is a program that is designed to show you how to use blawging for marketing and client generation.  And there's no one more qualified to teach than Grant Griffiths, a former lawyer renowned for relying on his blog on his sole marketing tool.

I'm familiar with the great blawgosphere debate from a few months back over whether lawyers can or should blog for love (i.e., conversation) or money (i.e., marketing).   I never quite understood the debate because frankly, a blog designed for marketing and a blog intended to stimulate conversation are two separate animals entirely, just as self-help books fall into an entirely different category than writings by philosophers like Camus or Buber or Kant which on their most basic level also try to help individuals make sense of their place in the world.  Which genre is superior?  Of course, I have my own views but mostly, it depends on what the reader wants.  Somehow, I'm not so sure that a lawyer who's just lost a job will be up for plowing through Sartre's essays to realize that even when things seem hopeless we all have a choice- he'd probably prefer the breezy-easy-reassuring tone of the self-help book instead.

The point is that there's room in the lawyer blogosphere for all types of blogs and the existence of one form doesn't diminish the other - or at least, it shouldn't.  For those who want to blog to provoke debate and stimulate discussion or simply because you have something compelling to say, you'll find no better models than Scott Greenfield or David Giacalone just to mention a few, though there are plenty more.  On the other hand, for those who want to learn to blog to market and generate clients, then Blawging Lawyers is one good place to go.

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Sorry for the silence here at MyShingle.  I was out on travel last week, and juggling two deadlines and an argument at the D.C. Circuit through the end of this week.  In the interim, you can take a look at some of my marketing related posts at Nolo's Legal Marketing Blawg.  For those who don't know, Nolo has been a sponsor of my site since November.  I'm a huge fan of the Nolo books - they're well written and a great way to educate clients.  Many of the books offer enough substance to provide a good "lay of the land" overview for lawyers as well. 

Anyway, I should be back up and running with some new posts and new announcements in a couple of days, so stay tuned!

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If you are a lawyer at a large firm, I know that you are terrified right now.   The carnage at AmLaw 200 is growing:  858 layoffs last week alone, according to Lawshucks.com, for a total of 1528 for the month and 3290 since January 2008.  And even if you're just a law student, we all know the consequences of the cutbacks: more unemployed lawyers flooding the market, snatching up jobs and squeezing out newbies.

Well guess what?  I'm scared too, at least part of the time.  That's probably the last thing that you wanted to hear.  After all, I've had my own firm for 15 years and I've been singing the praises of going solo since 2002, when I started MyShingle.  If being solo in this economy frightens someone like me, what hope is there?

Plenty, if you're willing to think about starting your own practice.  Because if you're able to muster the gumption or nerve or whatever you want to call it to birth a new practice out of the ashes of your career, you realize that you can always do it again.  When you start your own firm, you discover a survival instinct in yourself.  You find an invincibility that you never knew you had, because frankly, it never mattered as you dutifully plodded along the path you were supposed to take: law school, enduring the drudgery of document review for several years at biglaw and then making partner or moving in-house or perhaps even leaving the law to start a family.  But just because you chose a safe route, doesn't mean that you don't have it in you to start a firm.  We humans have an awesome survival capability and most of us find unexpected strength to rise to the occasion.

Don't get me wrong.  Starting a firm isn't a panacea in these troubled times.  Running a law firm is a risky business.  As a solo, from the day I opened my doors, I always knew that I could lose everything the next.  And believe me, I've had some major losses- cases, clients, opportunities - over the past fifteen years.  (Of course, as an aside, the realization that our firms are always vulnerable is what separates us solos from the hubris of biglaw, with its belief that the party would never end). 

Still, if I know anything for sure from having started a firm, it's this:  that I could do it again if I ever had to.  If my clients fire me tomorrow, if my phone doesn't ring, I know that I have it in me to start all over again.  And once you start your own firm, you'll realize that as well.  Perhaps you will fail, but more likely, you'll succeed beyond your wildest dreams.  But either way, once you learn first hand what other solos and I have, your life will never be the same.

I'll be hanging around Legal Tech on Tuesday, February 3 - hope I'll get to meet some of you there.

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