Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

So in domestic relations contempt of court land we’re often filing Fee Petitions or having them filed against us. They’re actually quite informative, you really get to see what other lawyers are billing clients and they help you know the market for attorneys fees. I got one recently where the attorney has parking costs listed as expenses in the fee petition. Is this reasonable? Will a judge give him those costs? I think it’s fringe.

Just so everyone can better educate their clients, if necessary, let me share my experience getting a prisoner out of Cook County Jail yesterday. This is the case I’ve written about previously. So we were in court yesterday morning and the judge “released” her immediately. That’s the gist of the court’s order…Respondent shall be released from the Cook County Department of Corrections immediately. This was say 1030am at the Daley Center downtown. Well my client actually got released from the Cook County Jail (26th & California) at 11pm. The client had been held over the weekend so she had some stuff down at the jail so I do understand that it was necessary for her to go back to jail first and then get released. But 12 HOURS…brutal. Just wanted everyone to know the meaning of “immediately” in this context.

Ah lets make it two…

So I’m on enough lawyer list serves that invariably and frequently some newbie asks advice in some form of the above. I thought there were some interesting points made recently.

First, and this should be a no-brainer, CONTROL YOUR EXPENSES. I still kick myself about throwing away money in the early start-up years. For me it was overspending on office space and commercial lawyer referral programs. A law firm can potentially earn you a nice living, but it’s different than a non-legal start-up business where oftentimes you can really grow a business for 3-5 years and then sell it or go public. A legal services business is much harder to sell even though now (at least in IL) you can sell a Firm and your growth will generally be more slow and steady.

Second, get your 10-60 second “elevator speeches” down. Take some time to figure out how to explain to people (clients, potential referral sources, family members) EXACTLY what you do. Many people don’t understand what attorneys do, and what types of cases you are and are not willing to work on. I could kick myself for the number of times I’ve answered oh “I’m a family law and real estate attorney.” BAD ANSWER!

Lawyer Search Guide…it’s a free registration. Clients can find you!

Don’t hit the cameraman!

Well, following in the foot steps of Dennis Rodman, convicted former Sun-Times publisher Conrad Black has been sued for walking into or shoving a cameraman outside the Dirksen Federal Building during his recent trial.

His recent Richard Nixon bio. was a great read though.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least add my $.02 on our little Supreme Court’s “extravagance in eating shall we say.” Here’s one of the many articles on the controversy. Essentially the IL Auditor General raises concerns that at various judicial conferences the breakfasts are costing $40 per person and lunches $48 per person.

Illinois’ auditor general is again rapping the state Supreme Court for costly food tabs on taxpayers’ dimes — with some meals hitting nearly $50 rather than the recommended $8 per person.

The court far overspent for breakfasts and meals at five conferences for judges, with a combined tab of more than $200,000, according to Auditor General William Holland’s report released Thursday. That includes $78,000 for 1,700 meals at a February 2006 conference in Chicago.

Lunch at one conference ran $48 per person for 958 attendees, with breakfast at the same event costing $40 apiece for more than 800 people.

Travel guidelines limit judges’ reimbursement to $8 for breakfast or lunch when traveling to Chicago and $7 per meal downstate, Holland said. He recommends judges either follow the smaller meal limits or increase the guideline limits.

The Law Bulletin actually had the best piece on the issue (but of course it’s password protected). A spokesman for the Supremes said that the meals are part of a larger package…i.e. they’re negotiated as part of room rates, conference rooms, ect.

How ’bout meals on your own with just 1 or 2 dinner banquets at the conferences?

Read the full report here, or the summary report digest here.

Seriously, I know I’ve been critical of their extremely low percentage of success in serving civil process, increased rates for that low percentage, and their unwillingness to answer the phone in the eviction department, but yesterday I was quite grateful for a couple of very kind and courteous Sheriff’s police who of all things were in the process of taking my client into custody.

No joke, one of the downsides to these Cook County Domestic Relations appointments is you often get unwinnable cases. Like it’s an allegation of unpaid child support for 5 years or something and you’re supposed to represent this person at a hearing on the Petition for Rule in two weeks. So my female client got jailed yesterday for the weekend. I won’t go too much into the details but these cases are ALWAYS about a party’s refusal to follow a court’s previous order. Well she was very, very upset back in the hallway behind the court room. And one of the Sheriffs actually spoke with her in her non-English language, they let her make a couple phone calls, and I was able to counsel her for a while.

Quite frequently it’s like you have a couple minutes to speak with your client and then we’re taking him away.

Another example written about here where a small California firm celebrated its 125th Anniversary by making a $125,000 contribution to a local area food bank. We’ve previously written in this space about a Chicago firm that sent our Martin Luther King day cards with a listing of the local non-profits that they support. I think this is a two thumbs up, right? Nearly every firm can do this to some degree…there are non-profits from the Barnabas Project (which I’m on the Board of) with our $10,000 annual budget to the Salvation Army that’s everywhere. I surely think this helps build the values of your firm and there’s surely a marketing aspect too. Most of these places are publicizing their donors.

A downside? My only thought would be if you’re funding groups that drift a bit towards controversy. It’s hard not to support your local food bank but you might offend some people if you’re supporting Planned Parenthood or its opponents.

That was contained in a speech by a former Prez…do you know who? I suppose it applies to me too with my state school education. But I’ve been reading all these book reviews lately over at The Connected Lawyer so I thought I’d share a review of my favorite read of the year so far. This is step one towards creating my “Book blog” (with a better title) as my business…something akin to Charlie Rose and just representing this author who I know well as she becomes the next J.K. Rowling. If you haven’t attended the Printer’s Row Book Fair put on by the Tribune (first weekend in June, South Loop) that was a great find last summer. But seriously, if you’re a former Washingtonian with plans to become a future Washingtonian or a former White House Intern (no not Monica) or just part of the good old Illinois “Combine” you’ve got to read Homo Politicus by Dana Milbank with the Post.

An absolutely hilarious “anthropological study” that’s a journey through “Potomac Land.” The subtitle is, “The Strange and Scary Tribes that Run our Government.” It’s full of great tales of human sacrifice (Scooter Libby), hazing (Arlen Specter), real status (not just titles), and how Party trumps family. Hey I didn’t say this tribe is healthy.

Anyone a Guru out there? Primarily it’s a Q/A Website where people can solicit answers to their legal questions from lawyers. I’ve used LawGuru for about a year now…if someone posts a question in elder, family or real estate law I get an e-mail with a Response link.

I’ve been amazed over the last few days on several lawyer list serves I’m on, seeing other lawyers describe there experience w/ LawGuru. Many attest to being some of the most responsive lawyers out there but getting little to no business for there efforts. I’d concur with that sentiment. I got one low $$ client from a LawGuru post from probably hundreds of responses at this point.