Hanging your own shingles? Forum
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- presh
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
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Last edited by presh on Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- SuperCerealBrah
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Yea, I knew somebody that did exactly this. It was an Elder Law firm (basically estate planning) and he is doing very well now.presh wrote:It seems like the ideal would be to find a current solo getting close to retirement age and apprentice for a few years before taking over. I wonder how hard that is to find.
- tedalbany
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Bumping to ask opinions on whether it's better to specialize or be a general practice firm at first?
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Generalist.tedalbany wrote:Bumping to ask opinions on whether it's better to specialize or be a general practice firm at first?
- tedalbany
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Cool, that's my preference. Just saw a bunch of solo advice stuff that recommended specializing.anon168 wrote:Generalist.tedalbany wrote:Bumping to ask opinions on whether it's better to specialize or be a general practice firm at first?
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
I think it's always smart to start off as a generalist.tedalbany wrote:Cool, that's my preference. Just saw a bunch of solo advice stuff that recommended specializing.anon168 wrote:Generalist.tedalbany wrote:Bumping to ask opinions on whether it's better to specialize or be a general practice firm at first?
At some point, you will and probably should specialize in something -- either in a practice area (e.g. employment, or DUI, or trademark) or in a particular type of legal skill (e.g. trial lawyer).
This is true whether you go solo or not.
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
i've started a few businesses, some have made money some haven't. i don't like ones where you're entirely responsible for potentially f'ing someone's entire life before i have experience. also if i wanted to open my own shop outta school there'd be no sense in going to a top 14 or even tier 1 over a full ride anywhere in the state of intended shop.
i don't have the awkwardness. i disagree most on this site have it any more so than other lawyers. it's an awkward field relative to the general populace.
i don't have the awkwardness. i disagree most on this site have it any more so than other lawyers. it's an awkward field relative to the general populace.
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Don't do any kind of work that comes in the door. Do the kind of work that has the least chance of biting you in the ass. Crim defense, divorces with small c.p. estates, that kind of thing. You're less likely to run into malpractice issues if you stick with those and other 'basic' practice areas, because: (1) they don't take a whole lot of legal research to get right; and (2) your clients would likely have less success suing you for malpractice in these areas if you do make a mistake (hard to prove your mistake had a material effect on the outcome of the client's matter).tedalbany wrote:Cool, that's my preference. Just saw a bunch of solo advice stuff that recommended specializing.anon168 wrote:Generalist.tedalbany wrote:Bumping to ask opinions on whether it's better to specialize or be a general practice firm at first?
You're not quite a beggar, so you can be a bit of a chooser, but you can't be really picky, either.
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
kalvano wrote:rad lulz wrote:Clients are everywhere. Clients that have decent cases and who aren't unreasonable/crazy and who actually have money to pay you are a little bit harder to find.kalvano wrote:I think it's funny you guys worry abou getting clients. That, there is no shortage of. A regular Joe who needs a lawyer doesn't even know what Baker Botts or Akin Gump is. Those firms never even enter their minds.
I worked for a medium size firm this summer, and my dad is a solo. Clients are everywhere. It's the ability to know what to do and how to do it that a new solo should be worried about.
True. But there's still not a shortage of them.
+1. As someone who knows a couple of people that have been arrested for DUI(luckily never happened to me*knock on wood*) they didn't look for Greenberg Traurig to represent them lol. They ended up choosing an attorney that had been passed by word of mouth and charged them around $2500(with $1000/down, the rest paid in installements).
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Google adsrouser wrote:I would think family law is the norm for new solos..yellow page divorce ad. curious as to what else you could market towards? DUI's or something?
- SuperCerealBrah
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
lol just don't drive drunk bro and you're good.usfvictor wrote:kalvano wrote:rad lulz wrote:Clients are everywhere. Clients that have decent cases and who aren't unreasonable/crazy and who actually have money to pay you are a little bit harder to find.kalvano wrote:I think it's funny you guys worry abou getting clients. That, there is no shortage of. A regular Joe who needs a lawyer doesn't even know what Baker Botts or Akin Gump is. Those firms never even enter their minds.
I worked for a medium size firm this summer, and my dad is a solo. Clients are everywhere. It's the ability to know what to do and how to do it that a new solo should be worried about.
True. But there's still not a shortage of them.
+1. As someone who knows a couple of people that have been arrested for DUI(luckily never happened to me*knock on wood*) they didn't look for Greenberg Traurig to represent them lol. They ended up choosing an attorney that had been passed by word of mouth and charged them around $2500(with $1000/down, the rest paid in installements).
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
As a solo I can't imagine you'd be taking any kind of cases where "you're entirely responsible for potentially f'ing someone's entire life" unless it's criminal defense.uvabro wrote:i've started a few businesses, some have made money some haven't. i don't like ones where you're entirely responsible for potentially f'ing someone's entire life before i have experience. also if i wanted to open my own shop outta school there'd be no sense in going to a top 14 or even tier 1 over a full ride anywhere in the state of intended shop.
i don't have the awkwardness. i disagree most on this site have it any more so than other lawyers. it's an awkward field relative to the general populace.
Your typical contract dispute, family law (i.e. divorce, custody), DUI, tax, etc., are not life-altering events.
Even at biglaw, very few cases are life altering cases from a personal standpoint -- "bet-the-company" does not mean "bet-the-life".
- A. Nony Mouse
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
I don't know, if you're the one getting screwed over in a divorce or not getting custody, I bet it feels like a life-altering event. Admittedly you're not going to be put in jail, but it's still a big deal. (Pragmatically speaking, family law is the most likely to result in malpractice allegations, too.)anon168 wrote:As a solo I can't imagine you'd be taking any kind of cases where "you're entirely responsible for potentially f'ing someone's entire life" unless it's criminal defense.uvabro wrote:i've started a few businesses, some have made money some haven't. i don't like ones where you're entirely responsible for potentially f'ing someone's entire life before i have experience. also if i wanted to open my own shop outta school there'd be no sense in going to a top 14 or even tier 1 over a full ride anywhere in the state of intended shop.
i don't have the awkwardness. i disagree most on this site have it any more so than other lawyers. it's an awkward field relative to the general populace.
Your typical contract dispute, family law (i.e. divorce, custody), DUI, tax, etc., are not life-altering events.
Even at biglaw, very few cases are life altering cases from a personal standpoint -- "bet-the-company" does not mean "bet-the-life".
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- kalvano
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Criminal cases and family law cases, the two things most solos will get the most of, can definitely thoroughly fuck someone over good and proper.
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Relatively speaking I guess. The guy who never gets to see his kids again is not being put to death, or life in a cell, but that is life altering IMO. Someone whose personal and business reputation is screwed up because of tax issues would probably consider it life-altering too. Even a DUI is life-altering for your typical client. Many of them are not well-off, and the DUI will be a serious strike against them in seeking employment for the next 3-5+ years.anon168 wrote:As a solo I can't imagine you'd be taking any kind of cases where "you're entirely responsible for potentially f'ing someone's entire life" unless it's criminal defense.uvabro wrote:i've started a few businesses, some have made money some haven't. i don't like ones where you're entirely responsible for potentially f'ing someone's entire life before i have experience. also if i wanted to open my own shop outta school there'd be no sense in going to a top 14 or even tier 1 over a full ride anywhere in the state of intended shop.
i don't have the awkwardness. i disagree most on this site have it any more so than other lawyers. it's an awkward field relative to the general populace.
Your typical contract dispute, family law (i.e. divorce, custody), DUI, tax, etc., are not life-altering events.
Even at biglaw, very few cases are life altering cases from a personal standpoint -- "bet-the-company" does not mean "bet-the-life".
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
But they're harder to fuck up.kalvano wrote:Criminal cases and family law cases, the two things most solos will get the most of, can definitely thoroughly fuck someone over good and proper.
If you can read, you understand the adversarial nature of the system, and you aren't full of yourself, you should be able to represent clients in misdemeanors & simple divorces (not a biz owner, few assets, no creative pay structures at place of employment), but you'd better bust your ass to learn the local rules (both official & unofficial) before you go in head first.
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
anon168: out of curiosity, why have you never gone solo? Are you considering it?
I have a law school friend who did it and I'm meeting with him later this week, thanks to this thread. Really interesting idea to me. For me, biglaw is a much safer way to pay off my loans.
I have a law school friend who did it and I'm meeting with him later this week, thanks to this thread. Really interesting idea to me. For me, biglaw is a much safer way to pay off my loans.
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
I enjoy the practice of law, not the business of law.johndhi wrote:anon168: out of curiosity, why have you never gone solo? Are you considering it?
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
The biggest obstacle to hanging your own shingle is that Law School does not teach you how to actually practice law. It teaches legal research, some elementary pleading skills, little more.
If you hang your own shingle, do not fear actually calling the court's own clerk and asking what the judge expects.
If you hang your own shingle, do not fear actually calling the court's own clerk and asking what the judge expects.
- kalvano
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
NotMyRealName09 wrote: If you hang your own shingle, do not fear actually calling the court's own clerk and asking what the judge expects.
Pretty much every clerk I've ever met would love you forever if you did this, solo or not. Unless the judge's preferences are well known, it's so much easier on them.
- tedalbany
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Don't most Judges' websites list their preferences?kalvano wrote:NotMyRealName09 wrote: If you hang your own shingle, do not fear actually calling the court's own clerk and asking what the judge expects.
Pretty much every clerk I've ever met would love you forever if you did this, solo or not. Unless the judge's preferences are well known, it's so much easier on them.
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- kalvano
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Not at the state level. I'm not even sure most judges here know they have a website.tedalbany wrote:Don't most Judges' websites list their preferences?kalvano wrote:NotMyRealName09 wrote: If you hang your own shingle, do not fear actually calling the court's own clerk and asking what the judge expects.
Pretty much every clerk I've ever met would love you forever if you did this, solo or not. Unless the judge's preferences are well known, it's so much easier on them.
But if it does, no big deal. If it doesn't, then call and ask. I've yet to meet a clerk that will be yell at you for trying to make their life easier.
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
Call? Good luck getting a clerk to answer his/her phone (esp. state court clerks, fed crd are better). Just e-mail.kalvano wrote:Not at the state level. I'm not even sure most judges here know they have a website.tedalbany wrote:Don't most Judges' websites list their preferences?kalvano wrote:NotMyRealName09 wrote: If you hang your own shingle, do not fear actually calling the court's own clerk and asking what the judge expects.
Pretty much every clerk I've ever met would love you forever if you did this, solo or not. Unless the judge's preferences are well known, it's so much easier on them.
But if it does, no big deal. If it doesn't, then call and ask. I've yet to meet a clerk that will be yell at you for trying to make their life easier.
Judges now they have websites, don't be silly.
The reason to contact the CRD is to get the "local" local rules.
- kalvano
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Re: Hanging your own shingles?
You've not practiced in Texas, have you? It's easier to get a clerk on the phone than it is to get an email response, and half the judges think the Internet is a terrorist conspiracy.
Seriously? What are you waiting for?
Now there's a charge.
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