Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

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I remember chatting with a judge from the Cook County domestic relations division during the time leading up to the General Assembly’s passage of the civil union legislation and her take was she didn’t care much about the substance of the issue but she thought civil unions would be a boon for domestic relations attorneys.

What do you think? Civil unions as a lawyer business opportunity or just politics?

Of course it’s too early to tell but it seems like my judge colleague might be off-base. Recently I was at a meeting where personnel from the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk’s office reported that 12 dissolution of civil union cases were filed the first day of eligibility; and NONE since. Here and here is some media coverage of civil union divorces.

I’d predict the civil union legislation is something we’ll look-back on as having made a big splash initially, but, with limited impact for the typical domestic relations attorney.

Why? 2 reasons:

First, the tendency of people to do nothing. Many of the property protections that civil unions aim to provide have been readily available for years through various basic estate planning documents and general contract law but few unmarried couples planned ahead. Why are these same people going to go through the process of applying for and paying for a civil union now?

Second, civil unions are publicized far beyond their ‘weight.’ Simply the same-sex population is less than 2% of the general population and I just don’t see non-same sex couples seeking a civil union instead of a marriage. So I just don’t think the numbers are there for much of a business bump outside of a smattering of neighborhoods.

UPDATE:  831 licenses issued in June 2011.

Looking forward to kicking off the 4th of July weekend by lighting the fuse beneath my law practice starting Friday in Chicago. Rjon Robins & Howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com is bringing these free, in-person Mastermind meetings to Chicago, Ft. Worth, Dallas, and San Franciso over the next two months. Checkout some reviews here from previous meeting participants.

My review to follow after a little detour to the Northwoods.

Mastermind Epilogue

I did make it to Day #1 of RJon’s little Mastermind retreat last week in Chicago. I’d recommend the experience if you’re free for any of the upcoming Mastermind meetings. Why? The main benefit is simply getting 10ish lawyers sitting around a conference table and getting unabashed, hardcore legal business advice. Unless you’re doing your own meetings or have some great mentors around you the reality is that lawyers aren’t getting this type of business forum anywhere else.

Plus it was fun to meet engaged lawyers from around the country and to meet this heretofore ‘Internet RJon‘ in the flesh. Thanks for the invite RR.

Sure, it will take quite a paper cut to kill a man but too many emergency motions can be pretty darn debilitating to your law practice. An emergency motion is simply a court motion where the regular 5 business days notice are not given…often little or no notice is given. Sometimes they’re necessary (not as much as they’re used) but emergency motions really wreck a schedule and cause a tremendous legal work backlog. Frequently the 20 cases that need your attention must come to a halt so you can run into court to deal with the single emergency motion that often isn’t really an emergency.

The inspiration for this post is a matter I’ve been spending a LOT of time with of late, almost exclusively due to emergency motions. The case has been in court 8 times in 5 weeks and all but maybe 2 of those court dates were “emergency” and unplanned/unscheduled court dates. And even ignoring the stresses involved in this particular case, a single client matter has really backed-up the work flow in my office.

What’s a sole practitioner to do in the event of EMERGENCY??

And I’m asking primarily because I don’t have a perfect answer. Because the nature of an emergency motion implies that something important and urgent is being brought into court on very short notice so my usual bevy of ‘coverage’ attorneys don’t work…I need more than someone to step-up for 5 minutes before a judge. I suppose I need more like an ‘Of Counsel’ sort of individual or someone a tad more intimately familiar with our clientele and practice.

The easier solution might be better delegation of tasks generally, then there’s not as much of the law firm business work flow coming to a halt. It’s easier to delegate the mundane day-to-day drafting versus often unique in-court emergency matters.

Or you can simply avoid the domestic relations practice area with its combination of often imbalanced clients and family explosiveness. It’s extremely rare to see emergency motions in other practice areas.