Solo practice in large city vs small to mid-size city? Forum
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jcm043
- Posts: 66
- Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2011 4:28 pm
Solo practice in large city vs small to mid-size city?
I have aspirations to practice criminal defense. Due to the field, not many firms want an associate or partner to practice this. Going solo is the route. Is it easier or harder to put out a shingle in a large city, lets say Memphis or Birmingham size vs a small city like Mobile or Jackson, MS? Guessing it goes with the old saying "It's who you know." Any advice? The last thing I want to do is move back to my hometown.
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Gorki
- Posts: 772
- Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:41 pm
Re: Solo practice in large city vs small to mid-size city?
Going solo is really tough these days. This is most likely because it becomes the one hope at lawyering for 95% of TTT grads. You should really meet up with criminal defense solos for coffee or something and talk to them. Generalist soloing is very dependent on the market, I can only assume a criminal def specialist solo would be more so. You will get a lot of doomsaying and vague advice here on TLS about this. You really really have to talk to someone who practices, preferably someone under 30, and NOT a boomer who has been doing it for 25-30 years and obv has a gigantic reach in his market.jcm043 wrote:I have aspirations to practice criminal defense. Due to the field, not many firms want an associate or partner to practice this. Going solo is the route. Is it easier or harder to put out a shingle in a large city, lets say Memphis or Birmingham size vs a small city like Mobile or Jackson, MS? Guessing it goes with the old saying "It's who you know." Any advice? The last thing I want to do is move back to my hometown.
I know a few people who have gone solo, but not in crim def. They do it on weekends and whatever day of the week they have off from their full time job. . . Every solo I know right out of law school is working in non-firm setting of some sort (from retail to office work) and their solo practice is really a part time job (for now at least).
Have you considered working for a public defender's or county attorney's office at all? You would get the practical apprenticeship style experience and would be able to move out solo after years of actual experience + connections within your areas criminal law community.
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sidhesadie
- Posts: 454
- Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 4:54 pm
Re: Solo practice in large city vs small to mid-size city?
OP, I sent you a PM.
