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

(reposted from That Lawyer Dude)

I couldn't wait for my first case. I was a brand new "Lawyer" in Hofstra University's brand new Criminal Defense Clinic (we hadn't taken the bar yet but we worked under a student practice order while supervised by an admitted attorney). I was getting a case load, a client or two that I could "help". I was so excited. When the assignments were announced Doug Colbert (now a Prof at Univ. of Maryland Law but then first director of our clinic at Hofstra Law)had assigned me to a trans-gendered Prostitute!

I was stunned. I thought to myself "how am I gonna do this?" Not only was the guy gay, HE DRESSED LIKE A GIRL!! This was not what I expected. It was also going to be a great personal problem... How was I going to go home and tell my Father and Mother that the son they had spent a life savings on educating, was going to be representing "he-shes?" My Family was going to disown me. Forget my friends. They will all think I flipped! I mean I was Mr. Prosecution at school. I was so conservative, I had actually met and liked President Reagan (still do). "Oh and then what would happen to my political career if I took this case?" NO NO NO I could not represent this...GUY?!

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Early six years ago, and not long after Carolyn launched this blog, I sat before a clunky desktop computer with a newborn baby nestled on my lap in an isolated New England town, wondering how I could possibly leave my baby and return to full-time practice.  I spent hours, days on end, surfing the web over an incredibly slow dial-up connection, hoping to find a resource or online discussion that could reassure me that alternatives to the full-time legal track existed--options that would offer me the flexibility I sought to be a successful lawyer and an available mother, as I defined those terms for myself.  I wanted to know that I wasn't alone in wanting more from the law and life. 

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I have found that the technology I use is indispensible in serving my clients and building my fledgling practice.  Most importantly, these tools have helped keep my overhead extremely low and pass those savings on to my clients.  This has allowed me to help others who might not have otherwise been able to afford a lawyer, while giving me the ability to cover my expenses and reinvest in my firm.  Aside from a reliable laptop and printer, an inexpensive and robust call-forwarding program helped me do just that.  

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Without technology, my practice simply wouldn’t be possible.  Four years ago, I built a cabin in remote Alaska, hours from the nearest gas station or corner store.  I didn’t know when, but I knew I would make it back.  Eight months ago, I left my clerkship in the Virgin Islands, boyfriend in tow, and migrated north to the cabin, ready to solo remote living style.

      My infrastructure is completely dependent on technology.  Solar panels, generator, military-built battery bank, satellite internet, satellite phone.  The internet alone was quite the project to set up, as we had to drive 400 miles to pick up a dish that would put most coffee tables to shame.

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It’s nice — especially for the lawyer — when the client has a six-figure litigation budget for a case.  But not every client can afford that, and even if you can, not every dispute is worth it.  Fortunately, advances in technology have leveled the playing field so that small firms with low overhead can provide many of the same services that were once the exclusive domain of the large law firms.

Newdorf Legal uses the latest legal software and technology to provide cutting-edge service together with excellent value for the client.  Here’s an example of what’s available to our clients.

 

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3 Key Ways Technology Helps Me Serve Clients

I wish I could tell you a story that perfectly illustrates how technology helps me serve my clients.  It’d be dramatic and poignant, perhaps involving Perry Mason.  Carmina Burana would be playing in the background and it’d undoubtedly involve a victory at trial.  I’d be carried off on the shoulders of an adoring crowd and the mayor would give me the key to the city.  Then Google would elevate my blog’s page rank to an “8,” and I’d have 25,000 page views in a single day.  It would be epic, and the reason for all this success would be my clever use of technology to advance the interests of a client.

I wish.  Instead you’ll have to settle for a workmanlike post.
 

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The Other Woman . . .

I admit it, there is another woman.  She is alluring, demanding, and very intrusive.  And yet my wife puts up with my law practice.

I am writing this while on vacation in the Caribbean.  We had a vacation like this a year ago and my new wife was so thrilled that she saw me relax.   So, we decided to try to make this an annual venture.  Unfortunately, this trip is not going quite as planned.

Upon my arrival with laptop in tow, I discovered that there were some fires back in the office.  Of course, while putting out these fires, one cannot help but check the other e-mail, automatically pop on the Instant Message, and respond to friends and colleagues all of who ask Aren't you on vacation?  Why are you working?, and Isn't your wife going to kill you?  A solo's law practice is an unforgiving mistress especially when you are the one in charge and the only one in the office.  Thankfully my wife is a very understanding woman  she has to be, she is the one who first suggested I start my own practice.  But she also knows what I am doing, what I am trying to build, and who I am  trying to help.

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From the first day my virtual shingle went up, the web-based virtual law office technology has allowed me to work with clients of moderate income levels in a more efficient and convenient way for both the clients and myself.  I won’t pretend the motivation for opening my virtual law office (VLO) was for the greater good of the public.  Wanting to provide affordable services more cost-effectively to individuals of moderate income levels was certainly one aspect for developing a software as a service technology that would allow me to communicate securely with clients over the Internet.  However, the main motivation for using web 2.0 technology in my law practice was to create a better balance for my own young family.  My first child was born in January 2006 and my VLO opened that same winter. 

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Why What I Do Matters to the Profession

By: Ben Glass, Fairfax, VA www.greatlegalmarketing.com

In May 2005 I sat in the back of a room at a Renegade Millionaire conference hosted by Dan Kennedy, hearing story after story of how people in different professions and businesses were making a difference in the lives of others in their profession or business by teaching them how to built profitable, successful businesses. I knew that many lawyers struggled mightily with the business side of their practices—Good lawyers who had gone to law school in order to be able to do good for others, in some cases to change the world, but for whom the struggle was mighty because no one ever taught them how to run a law practice as a business. In some cases, good lawyers who wanted to do good for others had been defeated and run out of the profession by the lack of basic business skills.

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I went to law school to make a difference and really help people.   I graduated from law school in 1999, when the economy was having a party and law firms were fighting for the top law school graduates.  By the time I graduated, starting salaries had crept up to $135,000 per year and I graduated first in my class from Georgetown University Law Center, giving me my pick of law firms, any one of which would give me a fat signing bonus and pay for me to move to their city.

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