April Showers bring May Flowers… that’s how the old saying goes. I truly believe this is a “blooming” time for solo practitioners because of all the changes in the economy.  There are jewels to be mined.   You just have to dig for the opportunities.  This past March Solo Practice University celebrated three years of helping solos go solo….and we have only just begun! These are very exciting times.  So, what has been going on at SPU?

Recent Classes

• Stephanie Kimbro shared some valuable information in her posts: Building the Branch of a Virtual Law Firm and Update on Ethics Rules Impacting Virtual Practice
• Jonathan Ginsberg shares great Practice Tips in his classroom – Winning Arguments When Your Client is Impaired by a Stroke and Mental Health Cases.
• David Schnurman commences Building Blocks for Successful Entrepreneurship with Lesson 1 – Are you an Entrepreneur?, Lesson 2 – Crafting your Vision and Lesson 3 – Building Your Brand.
• In the Labor Law classroom Michael Brown gave us Lesson 9 – Setting Up an Employee Rights Practice (Part 2) in his in-depth Employment Law course.
• Entertainment Law Update Podcast 29 can now be seen in the Entertainment Classroom from Gordon Firemark as well as Entertainment Law Update Podcast 30.
• Marc Garfinkle rolls out Class 5 Bail Hearing and Class 6 – Representing a Criminal Defendant in Court in the Criminal Law 101 Classroom
• Gene Goodsell introduced his International Sports Law Course with Class 1 – What Is International Sports Law and followed up with Class 2 – Gambling with Sports.
• The new class from Richard Maseles keeps providing great information in Real World Legal Research: New Chapter (Finally) Regulations.
• In the Everything Google classom with Martha Sperry, she engages us with Lesson 4 – Intro To Google Documents & The Documents Word Processor and Lesson 5- Google Spreadsheets and Presentations.  Google is free and simply awesome!
• Susan Cartier Liebel continues How to Hang A Shingle Right Out of Law School…or Shortly Thereafter with her Lesson 9 – Business Plans (Part 2).
• Chris Hill has shared two classes:  Class 25 – Wrap Up & Preview and Class 26 – Why You Should Help Make Legislative Sausage in his popular Construction Law course.
• Gerry Oginski’s latest in Creating Online Videos for Lawyers is his newest release 90% of Online Content Will Soon Be Video.
• Celeste H.G. Boyd returns to the Footloose and Fancy-Freelancing: Lawyering on your own terms Classroom with her latest her Lesson # 3 - Part 1 – Networking and Part 2 – Marketing.
• In the Unemployment Appeals classroom we have a  Lesson 6 – Fighting With Honor – UI Appeal Hearing Board Review – Tactics  & Style, Lesson 7 – Getting Paid for Your Work followed by Lesson 8 – Starting and Building a UI Appeals Practice by Bruce Godfrey
• Deborah Gonzalez continues her Social Media and the Law classroom with Lesson 4 – Employee Mishaps & Policies, Lesson 5 – Badvocacy, and Lesson 6 - Intellectual Property.
• Greg Yaghmai updates his Trial Techniques Classroom with his latest Lesson 14 – The Fit Lawyer and Lesson 15 – Closing Arguments
• In Introduction to Immigration Law Lessons 1, 2, and 3, Vonda Vandaveer delves into – Big Picture: Immigration, Non-Immigration, & Tourist Visas, Nonimmigrant Visas (Part II), and H-1B Temporary Work Visa.
• Allison Wood kicked off Legal Ethics with Lesson 1 – Managing the Attorney-Client Relationship.
• Brian Herrington discusses What’s Wrong With Walmart in his Class Actions course as well as The Proffer of Proof: This is How We Will Try The Case.
• What Are You Willing To Suck At? is the question Mark Merenda asks in Lesson 14 in his Smart Marketing Course
• Trippe Fried addresses an interesting approach in his Business Law Class – Employment Law & Military Strategy

New Faculty Announcements, Guest Bloggers & Guest Lectures

New Faculty:

• Anne-Marie Rábago joined SPU. Anne-Marie is a tax attorney in San Diego. She will teach the course, “Introduction to Taxes for the Solo/Small Firm Attorney” at Solo Practice University®. This is a course which we believe every solo practitioner should take!
• “Building Blocks for Successful Entrepreneurship” will be taught at Solo Practice University® by David Schnurman . David will share his passion for being an entrepreneur and the mindset solo practitioner’s require to succeed.
• Allison Wood has joined SPU. Allison partners with solos and firms to provide ethics counsel. She will teach “Legal Ethics” at SPU.

 Columnists & Guest Bloggers

• Annie Tunheim, a savvy solo, wrote about her newly transplanted life in Australia in A Solo (A)Broad – Three Months into My Journey.
• Suzanne Meehle’s column on flat fee billing, Are You On Your Client’s Side sparks a passionate debate. It also raises a lot of questions on exactly how she sets her fees. So she followed it up with Are You On Your Client’s Side (Part 2) and tells you how she does it.
• What Clients Want by Debra Bruce introduces while clients have many differences, there are a few things that almost all clients want, providing some tips on how to give them what they want.
• Robert W. Minto, Jr. writes passionately about Retirement and the Solo Practice – A Gold Mine for a Young Lawyer. Bob Minto discusses says lawyers should take advantage of the old adage “old lawyers never die they just lose their appeal.” But older lawyers are a new lawyer’s best friend.
• When Lawyer Meets iPad It’s Good Lawyering is the latest column by Rush Nigut. His column educates the solo on how to utilize the many capabilities of the iPad. More importantly is the unwritten implications, not using the latest technology can be the difference between winning and losing your case, keeping or losing clients.  What conclusions do you draw?
• Douglas Greenberg discusses how legal insurance referrals offer another source of revenue, a reliable albeit moderate one for the budding Solo in  Generating Business Through Legal Insurance Referral Programs
• ReZooming – The Tortoise and the Hare is Debra Vey Voda-Hamilton‘s lastest installment of “The Rezooming Attorney”. It is an interesting choice. A worthy read, whether you’re newly minted, ReZooming or already a savvy Solo.

If you are interested in becoming faculty or guest posting, or contributing as a monthly columnist, please e-mail susan (at) solopracticeuniversity.com.

Faculty News and Accomplishments

• Stephanie Kimbro is going to be speaking at Stanford Law School, sponsored by CodeX on May 2: She also just had her new book ‘ Limited Scope Legal Services’ released. You can check it out as it is located under SPU’s Co-Op. The book is “must reading” for solo practitioners who want to expand the reach of their legal services to serve an expanding latent market for legal services plus provide innovative and responsive legal services to existing clients
• Recently, Virginia Business Magazine announced its 2011 Legal Elite. The magazine received 1,483 completed ballots nominating nearly 3,900 lawyers. Of that number roughly 20 percent, made the cut for the Legal Elite. That being said, Christopher Hill was announced by his peers in Virginia as Legal Elite in the Construction category. Chris has been given this honor for the past 5 years!
• ReZooming columnist Deborah Vey Voda-Hamilton was featured in the Wall Street Journal discussing mediation of pet disputes, her ReZoomed practice area.  Congratulations to all!!

Best of the Season Blog Posts

• Should You Belly Up to the Bar (Associations)
• Take Your Best SWOT!
• Groupon for Legal Services: What Could Work and What to Watch Out For
• The Art of the Elevator Pitch
• The Best Damned Fee Agreement You Ever Wrote!
• Why New (And Not So New) Lawyers Should Be Brushing Up On Their Spanish
• Empowerment – Use it or Lose it
• How The Right Client Experience Can Create Clients For Life
• What Happens When You Have a Good Problem – You’re TOO Busy!
• Why You Need To Be Your Own Guinea Pig
• The Immutable Truth About Going Solo
• Building Your Solo Practice by Becoming a Resource Hub
• Do The Math: Nearly 50% of All Law Grads Will Not Get Jobs.
• Are You Ready for the Mobile Revolution?
• A Solo (A)Broad – Three Months into My Journey
• Are You On Your Client’s Side?
• When Your Great Reputation As A Lawyer Just Isn’t Enough
• ReZooming – The Tortoise and the Hare
• When Your Great Reputation As A Lawyer Just Isn’t Enough (Part 2)
• Generating Business Through Legal Insurance Referral Programs
• What does ‘Chopped’ Have to Do With Forms Companies & Solo Lawyers
• Should You Charge For An Initial Consult?
• When Lawyer Meets iPad It’s Good Lawyering
• What Clients Want
• Retirement and the Solo Practice – A Gold Mine for a Young Lawyer

SPU Keeps Growing

Our Bridges Program is expanding steadily! You will see more ‘public’ announcements soon as we grow our strategic partnerships with forward thinking law schools who recognize Solo Practice University® is an excellent resource for their law students and alumni who are or will be going solo.

Where’s Susan?

Susan just spoke at University of Georgia Law School in March having the opportunity to meet up with two faculty members, Jonathan Ginsberg and Deborah Gonzalez, as well as a group of passionate law students who discussed the challenges they face graduating into this economy.  The SPU Meetup was a blast.

If you’re going to be in Orlando May 18th attending the Barry University School of Law  ‘How to Hang A Shingle’ day long CLE, let me know so  you can connect.  She will be teaching her favorite topic, once again – How to Hang A Shingle!  And, of course, there will be an SPU Meetup that evening.  Details to follow.

Testimonials

“I’m so happy I joined! I can’t get enough of the lectures that I’ve listened to so far. The information has been so much more relevant to my immediate needs than anything I’ve learned at traditional CLEs or in law school. I’ve always wanted to work for myself. Thank you for showing me the way.” – Josh Kesselman.

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