Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

A Florida lawyer faces ethics charges for a blog post critical of a local judge. Sounds like there are some interesting first amendment issues: do we as bar members have restricted first amendment privileges when discussing judicial conduct?

As for us here at Solo In Chicago we’ll continue to not name names…we’ll just talk about competence and incompetence when we see it.

Quite a bit of news out in the last few days regarding various lawyer “directories”…i.e. Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo. News stories here and here plus commentary from the venerable Chuck Newton here. The Martindale-Hubble piece discusses its waning usage. Avvo successfully dismissed the class-action lawsuit against it. Mr. Newton gives what I see as an accurate small firm perspective…i.e. these “fake” rating systems don’t help us. The personal touch with your referral sources is what brings in the business. We’ve written about Martindale-Hubbell before here. Apparently there’s still some benefit for the big firms but even it appears to be waning. I’ll say this, at least I can find myself on Avvo…I’m no where to be found on M-H and I am a licensed attorney in the State of Illinois.

In the Chicago area we have the Sullivan’s Law Directory which lists lawyers with practice areas and contact information. I used to get these but no longer. I do think they at least attempt to include all lawyers whether you’re a subscriber or not. In IL the Supreme Court lists all lawyers on the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary website…that’s what I use to look-up lawyers.

Had a frustrating example of judge-made law in court yesterday. We took an approx. $20k judgment against a defendant. I always try to get a Memorandum of Judgment signed simultaneously with entry of Judgment to immediately lock-up any real estate. This is proper. A judgment is a “judgment” immediately! And yet the Court yesterday required us to wait 30 days before they’ll sign-off on a Memorandum of Judgment.

I got my first contact by an offshore “Legal Outsourcing Consultant” as it called itself. They were pitching to me for assistance in the real estate lease administration, mortgage and title areas.

A piece about the dwindling income of lawyers compared to others in the business world. Of course the legal field has never been a get rich field. The corporate world has always been where the big money is. More greater concern is plight of many, many young attorneys as profiled here.

How should lawyers discriminate between the use of e-mail versus snail mail?

As reported, Monday, December 17, 2007, was supposedly the heaviest mail day of the year and it got me to thinking…

I don’t think this is “mission critical” so to speak but I think there might be some client perception issues. I know over the last 3-4 years it had been my goal to always encourage e-mail and really attempt to go nearly exclusively “e-mail” with everything from firm letters to court orders. I’ve been ever-so-slightly backing off the e-mail everything mindset. Surely for “generic” client communication it’s still the majority medium. But when dealing with court-related documents we’ve gone back to snail mail.

Here’s a list of advise for “newbie” BigLaw associates. Here’s #10 on the list:

Consider yourself a solo practitioner doing work for senior associates and partners. This mindset will help you realize the need to consistently deliver “good work, value-added creativity and efficiency.”

Ah the pride of a “solo practitioner”…or you could become a real one!

This piece has gotten a lot of attention on the Web, it’s title, Tracing Business Acumen to Dyslexia, is descriptive. The theme of piece is that persons with dyslexia need to sort of “create their own way” due to rejection by the “system.” And that skill set has often turned greatly successful, particularly for entrepreneurs. One of the key strong suits identified: the ability to delegate. I can think of more than a few lawyers who could use some help in this area.

Here’s a good interview with tips about career change. A lot of the points are useful for the new solo attorney.

My weekly e-mail from John Remsen included a pitch to create a personal marketing plan. There’s a pdf with some “workbook” materials to really help yourself establish clear goals with follow-thru. These were a couple good points:

How Much Time Should You Invest?

Of course, implementing your plan is the key to success….and it takes time. Non-billable time. I
recommend that Partners invest 200 hours a year, and 100 hours a year for Associates. It’s critical you do a little bit every day. Fifteen minutes here. A half-hour there. Effective marketing and business development is not a “start-stop” process. It’s like an exercise regimen…results come with consistency over time.

What Types of Things Should You Do?

Partners should visit top clients at the clients’ places of business each year. (Refer to my previous Marketing Tip about Client Site Visits.) Associates should focus first on honing their legal skills and“credentialing” activities. For all attorneys, lunch once a week with a client, prospective client or referral source is a good habit. Joining and being actively involved in a well-chosen organization is another good thing to do. (Refer to my previous Marketing Tip about Individual Marketing Plans.) Article writing and speech giving are good activities, as well.