Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

Do you even know of anyone who does? For me: no & no…seriously. I think the last time I used a paid legal research provider was working at a large Loop firm at a summer job during law school in 2001.

Here’s an overview of the “opening” of the legal research field. Now that Public.Resource.Org has filed all federal cases back to 1950, along with Cornell Law School’s groundbreaking Legal Information Institute, the federal systems mostly all there.

On the state level, the IL Supreme Court has opinions posted going back to 1996. Free Fastcase is one of the best reasons to join the ISBA.

Saw this piece about lobbying as a booming practice area…looks like mostly big firms. Obviously on the “top ten” lists it’s going to be all big firms primarily representing the big corporate players. But I’ve known some folks who make a pretty penny in smaller firms doing lobbying work.

If you’re chummy with your state reps (and Tony Rezko) I think you get some things done in Springfield.

I’ve heard about this set-up enough now that it’s “post” worthy.

The idea is for you as solo or small firm to set-up a direct referral relationship with another solo or small firm in your respective specialty area.

For example, firm #1 specializes in family law which likely includes a large divorce chunk. Now, a divorce has a dramatic impact on a persons life but particularly financially and in regards to estate planning. So the divorce specialty firm knows that a revised/new estate plan is critical post-divorce but the firm doesn’t practice in that field.

So firm #2, the specialty estate planning firm steps in as “of counsel” to firm #1. The client stays with firm #1 but firm #2 (or lawyer #2) does the estate planning work and then pays firm #1 a referral fee.

The divorce/estate plan match is a good one but I’m sure many others could be discovered. This puts some money in firm #2′s pocket and there’s better client service at firm #1. Likely not a long term arrangement but could be a good set-up before #1 transitions more fully into a new practice area with the required investment.

Saw another free CLE offering from the folks over at Loyola:

I attended their last one on the Chicago Residential Landlord/Tenant Ordinance…good stuff. Hey they’re #1 on the Chicago free CLE meter.

Just to add to my personal experience to what’s been reported here and here about the Cook County Circuit Clerk’s antiquated filing system, I was up in Daley 802 reviewing an old dissolution of marriage file a couple days back and lo-and-behold a big bunch of pleadings from a different case were in this case file. Who’s to say whether or not a big bunch of pleadings from the case I was interested in were elsewhere??

A couple things I don’t think have been covered in previous articles on this subject:

First, even with Cook’s antiquated paper-filing system, paper-filing may lack some convenience in terms of Internet document viewing but it could still be an accurate and effective system. However, the bigger problem isn’t “paper,” the problem is documents are lost (regardless of format)!

Second, lets be honest about causation, like most of Cook County government, we have non-competitive, one-party government. There’s no incentive to change.

I saw this little nugget from ABA yesterday:

This month, the American Bar Association Law Student Division will launch a mental health initiative with the goal of helping law students who are battling depression and anxiety.

“It’s something that no one talks about,” said Suvor, a third-year student at George Washington University School of Law and chairman of the 51,500-member group.

Part of the ABA Law Student Division’s plan is to establish March 27 as the group’s National Mental Health Day at law schools. The organization will provide schools with a mental health toolkit, which is an online source for student bar organizations and law deans to make available to students.

Included in the toolkit is “The Hidden Sources of Law School Stress,” a pamphlet written by Lawrence Krieger, a clinical professor at Florida State University College of Law.

Hmmm…maybe a different career choice is in order?? I’m no psychiatrist but I’m not sure lawyerland is right for everyone when we read things like the above and the fact that the lawyer occupation generally has the highest reported depression rate of any occupation.

My observations…both in law school and in the practice of law, I observe waaaayyyy too many people who are letting this one aspect of their lives dominate their view of themselves and their self-worth.

Law school’s a fishbowl; and nearly always a fairly small fishbowl. Personally I enjoyed the academic rigor of law school much the same as other aspects of my formal education. I think the law school error most people make is their life revolves only around law school. Perhaps during the 2-4 weeks of exams you do need to scale back and focus on school but for the rest of the year, law school should just be that 6-8 “job” you have in addition to other aspects of life. If law school becomes more and your other interests and loves go by the wayside; that is depressing.

The post-law school legal profession is even stranger. What’s strange is the seeming goal of various legal groups to sort of create both a professional and social life that includes only interaction with other lawyers. YUCK! Why are there bar association theater groups and orchestras? Does creating an entire life around a profession that’s depressing you help? I think not.

Saw this piece of advise in the NYTimes’ Shifting Careers blog (it’s worth a read…written by a former lawyer). Michael Melcher (another former lawyer I believe) and author of The Creative Lawyer (is there such a thing) is today’s guest poster.

His take is career-focused, i.e., most people have several careers over their lifetime and you need various outside advisers to help in these transition periods. The full article discusses uses for your board and how to go about selecting its members.

A personal board of directors is simply a collection of people who know you, are interested in your well-being, and have useful points of view. You consult with them on a regular basis -– say once every six months. It’s unlikely that you will assemble your board members in person, but you do assemble their perspectives.

Can I say I think that being too independent is my biggest weakness. That American self-reliance thing isn’t a strength. Bottom line, you can’t do anything BIG by yourself…whether building a family, business, blog, ect.

I remember a 2005 interview with my favorite football coach, recently retired Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs commenting on why he’s been so successful. His answer: great people around him…I (he) was just one of these P.E. guys.

Lawyers are too often the opposite…we think we’re the smartest person in the room instead of building a great team around us.

Instead I’ll phone in a bomb threat, or at least that’s what happened out at the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton yesterday.

Toby Owhoka, 48, of the 900 block of College Boulevard was charged Tuesday with felony disorderly conduct, according to a news release from the DuPage County sheriff’s office.

Police said Owhoka called the Jury Commission at the county courthouse in Wheaton at about 3 p.m. Tuesday “stating that she was upset about having to go to jury duty.”

During her call, she made numerous threats, including one to blow up the courthouse, authorities said. After a search of the courthouse, no bomb materials were found.

When am I going to get called for jury duty?

I missed it…maybe The Connected Lawyer knows. But I was at Old Orchard last week when it was evacuated when a man with a scarf over his face was shopping.

What to my wondering eyes would appear but a little free publicity about yours truly in the March ISBA Bar Journal. One of their staff writers summarized a longer article that I’ve previously written about here. It’s in the Lawpulse section. I almost didn’t feel right about it when the author contacted me…a “profile” of me being sent to all ISBA members one month before the election for the Board of Governors.

Yes, my title now includes lawyer and BLOGGER…it’s only taken three years.

Hey gang, can we at least not password protect the current month’s issue??

But semi-seriously, whether blogging or writing for various publications, you just never know who’s going to read your stuff and where a little publicity might lead.

Here’s the article advising entrepreneurs. Some rules to get started:

First, act more like an entrepreneur at your current job.

Find a mentor.

Team up with a partner.

Exceed expectations.

Never be defensive.

Study successful entrepreneurs.

Get in people’s faces.

Fake it until you make it.

Give yourself a crash course in sensitivity training.