I realize I'm a little behind in adding my comments to this post, but I wanted to add my appreciation for the valuable thoughts offered. I've been working hard to build up my social media accounts to help my business and I have to say it has really paid off. It's been a long road but I love blogging and I'm finally starting to understand how I can use my other social media platforms to promote and feed my business blog. Thanks again.

When I get cold calls over the phone and a person asks me one question after the other and tries to keep me on the phone I immediately invite them to come in and quote them a high retainer. Their parting words are usually " ok I'll get right back to you".

Thanks for posting on this topic.

Great idea for a post Susan.

I guess I come from the school of thought that says, when they show up, bill 'em. When I first started my solo practice in 2005, I offered a free consultation. It quickly became apparent to me, however, that my days were spent doing free legal work, and the cases I did take on didn't pay very much.

In the long run, I took on too many cases for too little money. I'd much rather meet with fewer potential clients, partially qualify them with a consult fee, and collect a bigger retainer. I have a little son at home, and if I'm not getting paid, I'd rather spend time with him and my wife.

Additionally, most clients that can't pay a consult fee most certainly can't afford my initial retainer.

The only exception, of course, is contingency cases as the previous posters discuss.

Great Article!

Jim Hart
http://raleigh-divorce-lawyers.com

I'm a firm believer in doing the next right thing, no matter the cost. This has translated into success into my practice, as I am rewarded for helping people that others wouldn't touch. The fact that people say thank you and nearly cry when they look at you in the eye at the end of their case is one of the greatest gifts I've been given as a lawyer.

That being said, there is no secret. I live by the motto that I will not compromise my integrity, I will not compromise my morals, and I will not compromise my personality all in favor of making a few extra bucks. So the secret...it's just being yourself...that is if it works ;)

Chuck brings up an interesting thought in his comment. If it is true, we home office lawyers work faster and more efficient out of our home office. Why aren’t the ivory tower lawyers being slapped down for charging more to their clients for making the clients pay for the ivory tower in the first place? Why isn’t big law being slapped down for being so inefficient they have to charge more fees? If it is true that it should not take a home office lawyer “4 to 5 hours of billable time on a case” because we are more efficient, why aren’t we being praised? I just don’t get the argument that since we work out of our homes we are more efficient and we should not be able to charge as much. If I may be so frank, what a bunch of bullshit. Shouldn’t the courts and the legal consumer demand more efficient legal work? Someone enlighten me please!!!

In my state, at least, the generalization about bar disciplinary panels being dominated by big firm lawyers is inaccurate. The investigative panel is about 10% from big firms, and the review panel is 33% from large firms. The rest are solos and small firm lawyers, so bias against solos and the types of practices they tend to have is not a factor.

The loneliness and stress of solo practice, particularly in a general practice where one tries to wear too many professional hats while also handling practice management roles for which law school does not prepare us, is a prescription for trouble. Add in a problem with alcohol or drugs, a domestic problem, depression, or a combination of those, and bad things happen. The GC of our state bar told me that probably 90% of bar discipline cases probably would not be there but for alcohol or drug abuse problems. Moreover, the 74% of lawyers who are in solo or small firm practice includes virtually all of those who were in the bottom 5% of their law school class, whose capacity for juggling all of this may be limited at best.

Big firms don't all limit hiring to the "top 10%" but they do screen screen out the lowest performers. That clearly doesn't mean they are morally, ethically or professionally better -- far from it -- but they don't hire the bottom 10% of lawyers. They also have office managers, accounting staffs, and management controls to reduce the risk the types of screwups that most often lead to bar discipline. And they have the resources to effectively defend against any disciplinary issue that may sneak through.

Finally, Bar disciplinary counsel are stretched thin, and easily outgunned. Therefore, like any prosecutor exercising discretion in picking the cases to prosecute and keep the win rate high, they tend to pick the low hanging fruit by prosecuting lawyers who will be relatively ineffectual in response.

D.C. Bar members have inquired about the nature of the D.C. Bar’s relationship with Seattle-based Avvo, Inc., an Internet-based for-profit attorney marketing service. The Bar has not entered into any agreement with Avvo; instead, Avvo has obtained Bar member information directly from the Bar’s Web site, in violation of our restrictions on use, and used that information for its own commercial purposes (including e-mail solicitations to Bar members). The Bar has been advised that Avvo has refused requests from individual members who wished to be removed from Avvo’s Web site.
Information about Bar members is available to the general public for noncommercial purposes on the Bar’s “Find a Member” Web page, www.dcbar.org/find_a_member/
index.cfm. That information is limited to member names, business addresses, business telephone numbers, dates of admission to the Bar, membership status, and disciplinary history. In addition, member fax numbers and e-mail addresses may be listed if the individual member has provided that information to the Bar without restriction on its use, and members may opt-out of providing such information at any time. Members’ time-sensitive information on the Bar’s Web site is updated regularly.

The Bar has asked Avvo to remove all improperly acquired D.C. Bar member information from its Web site, cease all attempts to acquire such information from the Bar’s Web site, and cease using improperly acquired information for any commercial purpose.

The D.C. Bar takes no position on the voluntary participation of individual members with Avvo or similar services. The Bar does not endorse or warrant the accuracy of any information about Bar members on Avvo’s or any other third-party Web site.

Common law trademark rights arise merely by the use of a name in commerce. This ruling is great for cybersquatters and bad for legitimate businesses who have common law trademark protection.

The U.S. Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) of 1999 was an expansion of the Lanham (Trademark) Act (15 U.S.C.). The ACPA was intended to provide protection against cybersquatting for individuals as well as owners of distinctive trademarked names.

Cheers!

Everything else is just a lot of wording and re-wording some politically correct language. The reality is: if you are not from an upper middle-class family, just don't go to law school. There is just no room for you in that part of American society. That's why law schools are so much less diverse than business schools, medical schools or other graduate schools.

Kimberly, thank you for being in my class and for commenting and congratulations on going out on your own!

It's exciting, scary times but you will do well if you make up your mind to do well. I hope my class played some small part in giving you the confidence you will need to succeed.

Keep me posted!

it is a shame that they canceled a class that actually provided hands on learning and information, especially now when many graduates will be forced to hang their own shingle because of the limited jobs available in this economy. I enjoyed your class, learned a lot and am in the process of opening my own practice. Quinnipiac is a nice school but it lacks hands on learning. When I first graduated I was mortified at what they never taught me (ex. how to write a motion!). Your class and Sandy Lax's Family Law were the only two classes where I actually learned more than theory. Good luck with everything you do.

Kimberly

P.S. Your advice about starting a blog is a magnificent piece of advice.

I started blogging about bankruptcy topics a few months ago, and now it's a primary source of clients; and the clients themselves are better educated about the way I practice bankruptcy law and the way the process works, just because of the blog itself!

Susan,

I love your blog, and I notice that I come back here frequently to read the great advice.

And I'm absolutely, completely certain that I want to subscribe to your RSS, as you suggest at the end of the post.

I only have two questions.

What's an RSS?

How do I subscribe to yours?

Thanks,

Paleolithic Joe

This was a great post. I'm a solo so I often feel like a part-time lawyer, especially when I'm "on the line" slopping food in my son's school cafeteria.

My biggest work/life balance challenge? Not cross-examining the poor teacher.

Congratulations to you and to all those that are teaching at Solo U. I look forward to hearing the great reviews as well as the invaluable impact your program will have on the success' of solos across the country.

Thank you for your compassion towards my generation (I'm 58 going on 59). The process of getting into blogging is remarkably intimidating at first, and I'm slowly working away at it. And putting a toe into linkedin and facebook. But I still have no clue how to use twitter in the practice, so I'll be surfing the internet over the weekend trying to get it. "Getting it" gets harder over time, so I appreciate it that you're working to help educate those of us who are still working at it. Still, the harder I work, the luckier I get!

That's a thoughtful, intelligent article. Unless you work really, really hard to learn your area of law as a lawyer, you can't rise to the top of the profession. I have noticed that the harder I work, the luckier I get. And I laugh when I think about how hard I thought I was working back in law school!

Your site is such a great thing right now since so many big law firms are laying off!

@Joseph - Thank you so much. Our goal is to do that...make a difference to solos. I want this to be a place they call home for a long time to come!

Wow, congrats on the opening, it's been a long time in the making, and is sure to make an impact on Solos across the land!

Truly pioneer stuff here.

I am glad to see that I am not the only lawyer working from home. I have worked from home, from coffee shops, bookstores and hotel rooms. If there is a need for a face to face client meeting, I use conference space. I use *FREE* software for everything from virus prevention to word processing. Glad I started this before the Second Great Depression (The 2GD).

Great post!

I'm not an attorney, but I am curious as to what will happen with legal fees once more solo practitioners enter the market. One advantage I see of going solo is that your overhead costs will be very low, as compared to BigLaw. Question here is, if you are a solo attorney, how should you price your services so that 1) you don't leave any money on the table, and 2) you can effectively market your services without the scale of BigLaw.

Another fantastic post Susan. My husband and I really feel that while it might be tough now (let me tell you, it is!) when this economic downturn gets better, we will be there, and be READY TO GO full steam ahead. Very motivational!

@Kim - you of all people with your nomadtoes should be 'sherpa'-ing away!

@James - couldn't agree more that we should help others to catch up if our goal is to bring clients into the environment where we work with such comfort. It would make our lives easier as we progress

@Chris - Hey, how can I stop educating, that would be like not breathing! :-)

@Joseph - You can lead a horse to water, right?

@Daphne - yes, you will lead your people of the North Country..or at least lead your firm :-)

@Leanna - hands on is the best way to show them 'the light.' You are a great sherpa!

I think rather than telling people to come join us at this great party, we might be more helpful if we say "why don't we meet for coffee with our laptops and we can get you set up on Facebook, Twitter, Avvo, etc."

Love the post. I am that one who is trying and plan to usher in a new day in the North Country. It may take a bit of time but I'm committed to the cause. Then one day I'll be blogging about those vacant stares.

I just started my blogging, and twitter, and facebook. Resisted myspace because of its unprofessional nature, and that spilled over to Facebook. Well now that I am on FB, I've already gotten two prospects, one of which followed through to the blog and then emailed me from there. That client didn't pan out but hey, I have another one this weekend.

What you say is the truth. I know of two more solos who don't even have a website, and one who had a law.com page but no more. I told him he needs to do something (he's busy as hell he says, but barely making ends meet). After I showed him my blog, he said, "Awesome! I want one. Who has to update it, me? No way."

I left it at that.

I kid. It really is imperative that solos and small practices understand the business aspect of law in a way not required in larger firms, and that includes the technology that clients are using. If your client is on LinkedIn, you should be on LinkedIn, &tc.

I am consistently reminded that I am amongst the elite who knows the Internet and its world well. Most people in the area I live have as much knowledge as the group you met in your post - and I am always met with blank looks when I mention my life, my job and what I do.

And yes, dialup is still very common where I live, which is by no means an impoverished location.

We of the web world truly are egotistical to think everyone is just like us, and I thank you for reminding those who have forgotten that we need to help lead, not move beyond.

I totally know what you mean! As a favor to a fellow solo, I took a look at her first newsletter. She's not particularly tech-enabled, so she's sending this one out print. Well, it's a start. The articles were like law journal articles, boring and just synopses of statutory or case law developments. I told she needed to give her readers information they can *use*. You know, "How to Protect Your Business From Whatever" or "How the New EPA Changes Affect YOUR Company"? Nothing, Venusian. Deaf ears.

Even if attorneys aren't going to get on the e-train, there are so many basic business principles to be learned online that can be extrapolated to "real life" practice. Its going to be difficult to drag these people into the new millenia. And, until we do, we're going to keep getting boring newsletters and confused comments about that "fad" that is Facebook.

Doesn't hurt to try, though!

Way to go David. Good idea to focus on two areas. We did the same thing. I have lots of friends in Seattle who are struggling to find firm work--I encourage them to follow your lead (so far they're not interested). Best of luck to you!

Welcome Aboard!!!

Its not bad once you get used to the Water!!!

Thank you all for your comments and compliments!

@Adrian - as a new solo myself, I looked into the Yellow Pages. While they may work for some attorneys (and many I know use them exclusively), what can you really put in there? A phone number, the obligatory picture in front of a bookshelf and maybe the nature of your practice? With a website - particularly a blog - you give potential clients a flavor of yourself and information they need & want. They're more apt to call if they "get to know you" on your site.

Then the bonus - it pays for itself and continues on. With Yellow Pages ads, you constantly have to feed that beast stacks of cash to keep it happy.

Good luck in your future practice.

I stopped using the yellow pages in my practice when I was still actively practicing family law. I did that as soon as I started my family law blog. It did not hurt my business. In fact it increased my income and new cases a great deal. I also know other lawyers who don't even bother with the yellow pages any more too.

A presence on the internet is even more important now than ever before.

Jeena - thanks for reading my post! I was really excited when Susan told me I could write a guest post on her blog. It was totally fun writing it.

Lisa - I'm glad you found my post interesting. Not many lawyers are as lucky as we are, but we're proof that it's possible!

Very inspiring and funny article Adrianos! You had me guessing about the title for weeks.
You are proof that it CAN be done.