Solo Practice Blogs

IMG_0849

The Ramsey County Law Library is committed to being a resource for small firms and solo practicing attorneys. With this in mind, the Law Librarian has identified several other blogs which offer unique insights and tips for such practices. These blogs were all found through the ABA Journal Blawg Directory.  Check them out!

  •  http://rurallawyer.com/  Thinking of leaving the metro and setting up practice back in your old home town? Get an honest inside peek at such a life change at this site.
  • http://lawyerist.com   This deep,wide blog contains covers different law practice points of view, including marketing, practice management, technology, career development, law school success, legal ethics, starting a new practice, and much more.
  •  http://solopracticeuniversity.com/blog  “…Devoted to all solo/small firm practitioners, discussing issues faced, offering advice, education, support and inspiration.” This site attacks those thorny issues exclusive to the solo practice, such as obtaining health insurance coverage, generating business, client relations issues, and so much more. The mainstay of this website is the collection of online courses aimed at solo practitioners.
  • http://www.smallfirminnovation.com   Operated by Clio, “the leading practice management, time & billing and client collaboration platform for small- to mid-sized law firms,” this site looks at nuts-and-bolts practice aspects including accounting, hiring, marketing, outsourcing, technology, work-life balance, and a “reference library.”
  • http://www.attorneyatwork.com   Dedicated to offering “one really good idea every day,” the Law Librarian is biased in favor of this site which also offers great book recommendations and fantastic book reviews.
  • http://www.iphonejd.com   Do you operate much of your practice from your iPhone or iPad? This blog is dedicated to assisting you.

So…maybe you have tips and stories of your own that should be shared? Maybe you need to start writing your own blog. Get started at http://wordpress.org .

 

tvisa-cover_for_web[1]Human trafficking doesn’t often make headlines in the Minnesota legal news, but now and then a case with local connections can arise.  A well-meaning practitioner can easily be at loss for how best to serve the needs of a trafficking victim client outside of conventional legal tools. This is why The Immigrant Legal Resource Center has published a valuable resource book, Representing Survivors of Human Trafficking: A Promising Practices Handbook (ILRC 2010).

Based on their ten years of working with trafficking survivors, authors Ivy Lee and Lynette Parker created this book to assist survivors’ advocates, which include case managers, health care providers, and law enforcement agencies, in addition to attorneys. The result is not a conventional legal treatise per se, but rather a guidebook to serve as a social roadmap of real cases and lessons learned firsthand. As well as an overview of the basics, the book contains tips for identifying a potential victim of human trafficking, answers common questions about trafficking situations, and offers suggestions on how to deal with the practical challenges of a trafficking case. There may be diverse options for relief available to the practitioner and client, as well as the service providers of a trafficking case.

Despite its non-law book layout and its California-slanted perspective, the extensive experience of the authors makes this handbook particularly thoughtful, relevant, and comprehensive. It is available for checkout at the Library.

 


Over 180,000 Minnesotans are summoned for jury service every year. Service may be compulsory, but few are actually chosen to this powerful and exclusive club. If you have recently been called up for jury duty in Ramsey County, you are apt to have questions, particularly regarding what you “can-and-can’t do” where your electronic communication habits are concerned. (Example: In a recent trial, a judge required the jurors to provide information to their Twitter accounts.) For answers to some of these questions and other information, see the Courts webpage.

Are you a practitioner planning your voir dire questions for an upcoming jury trial? Consider reading Inside Jurors’ Minds:The Hierarchy of Juror Decision-Making by Carol Anderson (NITA 2012). This book is basically a psychology primer for litigators. Anderson explains how it is impossible for jurors not to apply the same cognitive tools in court that they use for everyday decision-making. So despite any careful instructions presented to them about keeping an open mind and so forth, jurors still bring their lifetimes of mental baggage and preconceptions into the jury box. As human beings they really have no choice. According to Anderson, good litigation strategy depends on recognizing these tendencies that we all possess and making a game plan with them in mind.

For those litigators seeking more news and information pertaining to juries, an interesting blog is available here. (Note: Most of this information is presented with Florida law in mind.) Jurors Behaving Badly is a less formal but still informative blog aimed at jurors, courtesy of Judge Steve Halsey of Minnesota’s 10th Judicial District.

 

If it’s a small or solo practice, most likely it does not. If this is the case, you might at least want to consider purchasing the Legal Information Buyer’s Guide & Reference Manual (2013 ed.). New England LawPress publishes this book “…to address the needs of the solo practitioner and the attorney in the small or medium-sized law firm operating without a law librarian.” (p. 5)

This 857 page resource contains extensive history of the legal publishing industry, with the publishers’ developments and mergers noted along the way. It also explains what the most bare-bones law office needs for its core collection of legal information, and how best to evaluate the extras. Guidance is provided on managing the time, money and mess of supplementation. It identifies the best authoritative sources in each of numerous legal specialties, as well as the appropriate published codes, court reports and research guides for each state. The book concludes with addresses, phone numbers and websites for publishers and representative prices for used law books.

“When are online services or subscriptions a better deal than the hardcopy versions?” you ask. A chapter on services and pricing of computer-assisted legal research is also provided, with the options going far beyond the market-dominant standbys of Lexis and Westlaw. (Sometimes a very good, and most affordable option is plain old free internet and Google.) Stop by the Law Library if you would like to take a look at this useful reference tool.

 


The Ramsey County Law Library is currently seeking attorney volunteers for our Tuesday afternoon Housing and Conciliation Court Clinic. This is a great opportunity to do some pro bono work from the convenience of the Courthouse. More information is available here.

 

Having recently been “friended” by my teenage niece on Facebook, I had the chance to see what she was up to and who else her “friends” were (close to 200 of them). But when I tried to play a video link on her page, my McAfee lit up like the Fourth of July. I did not personally know the “friend” who left this loaded link on her page, and I’m not sure she did either.

Whereas a teenage girl’s overblown “friending” might be excusable, careless or unethical friending by legal professionals is not so forgivable. As reported by Julie E. Bennett in this week’s Minnesota Lawyer, social networking is useful (perhaps necessary) for today’s practitioner, but also loaded with potential ethical hazards. It may be tempting to “friend” an opposing party or witness for purposes of viewing their otherwise publicly unavailable social networking page for relevant information. This kind of “friending” may run counter to MRPC Rule 4.2, which forbids a lawyer communications regarding the subject of representation with a person who is known to be represented by another lawyer without that lawyer’s consent. “Friending” an unrepresented party could also violate MRPC Rule 4.3, which requires a lawyer to clearly indicate their role and partiality in the communication. Using a fictitious identity or an employee to gain access to a social networking page for such purposes also violates MRPC Rules, and possibly criminal statutes as well.

…Looking at it from the other direction, safe and prudent practice would require a lawyer to be hyper-cautious of any social networking “friend” requests they might receive, and should warn clients (both potential and retained) to likewise be cautious.

 

Watching recent local news stories of lawyers under ethical scrutiny often reveals a common thread: These individuals are often trying to manage a law practice alongside a substance or behavioral problem. The library recently acquired Michael J. Burke’s Never Enough: One Lawyer’s True Story of How He Gambled His Career Away. Burke tells in brief, to-the-point language how he managed to drink his way through law school and finally get a grip on his alcohol problem, only to take up compulsive gambling as a new outlet for his addictions. Burke describes losing millions of dollars of client trust account funds, including $600,000 in his last two months of gambling before ultimately being convicted and disbarred. The book provides an interesting look of what exactly happened to him following his conviction, all the way to the correctional facility, and his orientation therein and thereafter. It is a fast read, since Burke knows firsthand how precious time is in your busy professional schedule.

Burke provides contact information for lawyer assistance programs in all fifty states, including Minnesota’s Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers. This organization offers help to lawyers, judges, and law students affected by addictions, mental illness, stress problems, or “any condition which negatively affects the quality of one’s life at work or at home.” Eligible participants may receive up to 4 counseling sessions at no charge through their counseling affiliate.

 

Modern litigation practice inevitably requires a certain familiarity with the mediation process. After all, the expensive nature of litigation will naturally push most cases toward settlement, in which cases a mediation session might turn out to be your client’s only “day in court”. Yet its informal nature can leave both the practitioner and the client at loss for needed structure and direction for the process.

Published this year by the American Bar Association, here comes Representing Clients in Mediation: A Guide to Optimal Results Based on Insights from Counsel, Mediators and Program Administrators by Spencer Punnett. This book is composed of concise step-by-step instructions and advice on every stage of the mediation, from selecting a mediator to closing the deal. Punnett also liberally peppers his work with “sidebars” – entertaining tips and quips from mediators, lawyers, and law professors alike. The final product is a valuable research-based tool which can help practicing litigators optimize their results, or simply inform laypeople about the mediation process.

More information about this book is available here.

 

Pro bono service might be easily marginalized as the morally benevolent, feel-good side of one’s legal practice. But according to Nelson Miller’s Building Your Practice with Pro Bono for Lawyers, pro bono work has unique financial and career benefits that are often overlooked. In these pages, Miller describes how pro bono work can help expand both a lawyer’s skills set and professional reputation. Since a successful law practice also depends on networks and communities, pro bono work becomes a valuable tool for practice development. Miller writes, “In the end you should find yourself busier with paying clients because of your pro bono practice.” (p. 9) The book describes numerous pro bono opportunities in detail, including services to veterans, prisoners, immigrants, needy children, the homeless, and people with disabilities. Each chapter concludes with an emotionally resonant story of pro bono work in action.

 

Are you a solo practitioner facing down the busy holiday season with its additional demands to your already-packed schedule? Are you starting to think that you could use some extra help around your office? Even solo practitioners who have always cherished their “lone wolf” status can come to the realization that it is time to expand their practice to include an employee or two. Dan Heilman writes about this process in the December 3, 2012 issue of Minnesota Lawyer (“Solo Practice: Now Hiring”).

So when does a solo attorney know that this moment-of-truth has hit them? Typically it is when he or she realizes that they cannot bring in any more revenue because their “plate is full”, i.e. administrative tasks cutting into billable time. It can also hit when an attorney realizes that despite being able to bill many tasks, they could bill more per hour for the more demanding aspects of the practice, and charge a smaller billable hourly fee for simpler tasks that could easily be delegated to someone else.

For this reason, Heilman warns against simply assuming that “I just need a secretary.” A close look at your practice and the major drains on your time might show that you do indeed need someone to handle administrative tasks, in which case an administrative assistant would best serve your needs. Are you being buried with file management and case prep? Perhaps a paralegal could best take these tasks off your plate. Do you spend much time doing research and traveling to routine court appearances? It might be time to take on an associate. (The latter two, of course, would generate their own billable hours at a rate lower than yours.) The end result of your new hire would ideally be more time for you to network your business and to bill for your special expertise.

Some practitioners might believe that hiring an extra person is beyond their financial means, but Heilman also points out that you may not have to pay an employee typical market rates if you can offer them a flexible schedule in return. Indeed, many experienced and highly skilled legal professionals find themselves seeking flexible gigs that combine well with family commitments, school, or another job. Others may simply be burnt out with the “big law” scene, and desire a more intimate work environment closer to home. Not certain about your caseload or business future over the long term? Legal staffing agencies can help you find someone for contract employment. It is true that these agencies charge a placement fee for direct hire placements, but they might be worth the savings in time and effort that posting a job notice and going through resumes entails.

…Or to consider it another way, you could make someone’s holiday a very special one this year by offering them the perfect employment opportunity!