Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

Or “Solo” anywhere else for that matter. So we’re about to enter the best run of sporting events for the entire year (this is just one person’s humble opinion of course). From about next weekend when some of the college conferences start to have their conference BB tournaments through the Masters, is the best run of sporting events for the year. The NCAA tournament is unmatched for drama and the elegance of the Masters (patrons NOT customers…the pimento cheese sandwiches, ect.) is outstanding. Why the PGA moved the Players Championship out of its slot from 3 weeks before the Masters I don’t know.

All that to say…the side benefits of a practice that you contol are significant.

I saw this piece yesterday about a solo in New Jersey who’s on a trek to see every Division I NCAA basketball team play; he’s seen 222 of 341. I’ve watched my fair share of hoops but I think I’m short of that myself.

But the bigger point: the hobbies and quality of life issues should be part of your thought process when thinking about going solo. Longer term this should be a motivating factor. I remember my first boss out of law school who had a pretty developed solo practice and a great staff going to play basketball for 2-3 hours twice a week.

What’s your real love?

Chuck Newton has a great step-by-step explanation of his use of direct mail with his potential referral sources. You can apply much of what he’s using to many, many practice areas.

Have ya ever been to the House on the Rock in Spring Green, WI??

I think I’ve read that it’s the most popular tourist destination in Wisconsin. Against my will I visited it a couple summers ago (we were camping with friends and it was sort of “group” decision). Brutal!! My wife describes it as evil. I’d describe it as sort of a large haunted house filled with knick-knacks that some wealthy gentleman collected. Seriously, if you’re ever in Spring Green, it’s a nice town about 30 miles west of Madison on the Wisconsin River, go to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin NOT House on the Rock. My wife and I just kick ourselves about our poor decision.

And how does this relate to the legal services business?? MARKETING!

I took a trip to Southeast Minnesota this weekend…I’ll leave it at that or this is close to becoming my travel blog. So we’re just shooting up I-90 from Chicago to Winona, MN, through Rockford, Madison, ect. And boy are you bombarded with House on the Rock advertisements. And if you didn’t know any better the name sounds intriquing. It’s sort of the Wisconsin equivalent of Wall Drug in South Dakota…although my recollection is that Wall Drug is far better.

All that to say, marketing trumps substance in business success. Whether we’re talking Taliesin v. House on the Rock or Mac v. PC, I think I could argue pretty well that the less successful (based on income generated) location/product is superior.

Lawyers constantly miss this one. And what’s sort of funny is that I hear so much criticism from the non-marketing lawyers of the lawyers who do market effectively. Lets be honest, I think it’s jealousy. I think if I weren’t a practicing attorney, the Law Offices of Jeffery Leving (father’s rights) and Peter Francis Geraci are the two best known firms to the law public. Why? Marketing. I see those guys on television regularly and the Father’s Rights billboards are throughout the Chicago area.

That’s the sort of unbelievable thought I had late last week when I appeared in a local courtroom and a particular judge was out that day so the clerk was just “giving new dates,” i.e. nothing substantive was getting done that day.

Are you kidding me?

And my criticism would not lay too much with the particular judge who was out…he/she’s a human. People get sick and miss work. But there are probably 10 other judges in that building…could ya send one over. I’m probably one of the least hassled, it’s my job to be there and frankly my client’s going to get billed regardless. But think of the clients or the pro se folks, they took their day off and maybe gave up a days wages and now they’re likely going to have to do it again.

Okay, so the value lost probably was not the equivalent of one day’s sales at Wal-Mart, BUT, between the attorneys fees for an additional court date and missing additional days from work that missed court day is costly.

Did ya see some of the coverage about Skadden’s “Hot Associate” contest on a blog, Skadden Insider. From “above:”

The Firm recognizes that blogs are prevalent in today’s culture and that blogs about Skadden are to be expected. Nonetheless, we believe that the “contests” on one of these blogs is inappropriate and does not reflect our values and standards of behavior. Numerous attorneys at the Firm have expressed their concern and, in some cases, embarrassment at such contests. We urge the authors of the blog to consider both the privacy and feelings of the affected attorneys and to discontinue the contests.

Good luck puting the blog genie back in the bottle.

So we’re hearing this all the time from Sens. Clinton and McCain regarding Sen. Obama. Of course whenever I hear Hillary talk about her 35 years of experience I about want to throw up…yeah and I have “experience” as a flight attendant and as a children’s book author (through my wife).

But back on point…

How do you overcome the “experience question” in lawyerland?

Personally, I think this is more of a perception question than a real substantive problem. At times I’ve felt that it’s an advantage. At a substantive level, generally each case is fact specific. There can be similarities to past cases but each case often “falls” on its own specific circumstances. On a case-by-case basis I think the more important question is, “what’s your experience with this specific case?” The example I’ve had where lack of experience can be an advantage is overconfidence on the part of the opposing more experienced lawyer and not keeping current on case law thinking the issues haven’t changed in 40 years or whatever.

As for perception, what I mean here is a client looking at your bio. and relative youth and year of law school graduation (don’t volunteer this info.) and thinking she has no experience and therefore I won’t retain her. This is a more difficult hurdle to clear. One point might be is that the solo route can be particularly effective for older law school grads….yeah you just graduated from law school in ‘06 but you’re older and have all this “other” background. I advise loading up on “Of Counsel” lawyers with your firm. Then the response is, “you’re hiring this Firm” not just me individually. As a last resort (actually probably before “last”) start a blog or get published or actually GET SOME experience through pro bono cases…my response if I was asked about so-called experience would be to bridge to all these things I have done: write, speak, ect. You define experience.

Ah the dreaded “R” Word. Hey I’m not running for public office this cycle (there is that ISBA Board of Governors seat though), I can say it. But I’ve been reading several articles about law firm “adjustments” to a slowing economy. Saw this today about DLA Piper (yikes its organge Website is blinding) hiring a bankruptcy/reorganization group.

How should little (but growing) guys react?

I remember a survey from The Economist a couple years back on this subject suggesting: Be Honest, Be Frugal, Be Prepared. And it went on to reference Wal-Mart executives who shared hotel rooms on the road and were encouraged to take pens/paper from conferences (the author follows this mantra as well).

I think the above advice surely applies to legal service businesses (i.e. law firms). Another item that comes to mind is the danger of over-specialization. Clearly some practice areas are getting hit pretty hard right now, i.e. real estate. If you’re a one hit real estate wonder, you’re struggling right now. I was speaking with a small firm partner from suburban Chicago a couple weeks back who’s heavy in the residential real estate business and they had to layoff an attorney.

From personal experience, beyond bankruptcy, I’ve felt that domestic relations work and our condo/townhome/HOA work actually increases during economic downturns.

A little birdie tipped me off to MentorCLE.com, “Online video CLE courses for Illinois attorneys.”

Essentially you can view their courses free but if you want MCLE credit then you need to buy them. Lots of very relevant topics, except, “Pro Bono for the Soul.” Seriously if that qualifies for MCLE credit we need to get rid of the whole darn concept.

Ah the one-party system of Cook County. I saw this in today’s Tribune:

As recently as last week, 26 juveniles who might have been sent home with monitoring bracelets on their ankles were held at the detention center (Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center), officials said. The center acts as a jail for those under 17 who are awaiting trial in criminal cases.

County budget shortfalls and a bureaucratic purchasing process slowed replacement of the devices, which can cost $2,400 each, officials say. The juvenile probation department has been trying to get 200 new bracelets since early last year, said Michael Rohan, the director. The first 70 arrived Friday and officials started distributing them almost immediately, he said.

Or as has been previously reported, the center, where top employees were relatives or friends of John Stroger, then the Cook County Board President, was filthy, violent and scary.

Serious…anyone taken a peek at the new Office Live Small Business 2.0 MSFT unveiled this past week? Here’s a piece with a video clip. Lots of freebies…it seems like the place to go if you don’t have a Website.