Solo Practice University® » Susan Cartier Liebel

Using QR Codes In Your Practice

Susan Cartier Liebel — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:30:30 +0000

QR codes are all the rage. More than 20 million mobile phone users used QR codes in the last quarter of 2011. And mobile user searches on the internet have been growing exponentially.

QR Code is Quick Response Code – a bar code which can bring you to a designated internet location or QR Codes can be programmed to send a text message, call a phone number, send an email, or simply uncover a special text message providing coupons or sending you a treasure hunt.

You see them popping up everywhere you go. Often times it's used incorrectly and so people have gotten a bad taste in their mouth when they've taken the time to snap on it with their smart phone app which is required to read these QR codes. Often times it is simply a link to a company's website or contact information which you could have looked up anyway or asked Siri. This is what annoys people the most because if they've taken the time to read your QR code it should do more than just guide them to your website.

Airlines have used them successfully to expedite boarding and it also eliminates paper. Hospitals are using them to help expedite patient care. Smart companies have created contests and special offers, scavenger hunts and a host of interactive experiences for their customers. The question is, how can lawyers take advantage of QR codes in their practice?

Here are just a few suggestions but the list is only as limited as your imagination and the Rules of Professional Conduct:

1. Put them on the back of your business card directing them to a special page on your website offering a free consultation or a link to a special welcome video only accessible through the QR code.

2. Put QR codes on your written and web-based marekting materials, a printable e-guide, all directing them to special page offering a free consultation or a discount on legal services or a free dowloadable e-book.

3. Provide your contact information which a client can input right into their smartphone so if they lose your business card you're information is not lost.

4. Provide directions to your office and validation for parking if needed.

5. Maybe it is a link to a quick tutorial video on what to do if you're stopped by a police officer for DUI and a quick link to your contact information but placed on bar napkins at your favorite community hangouts.

6. Maybe it is a link to what to do if someone violates a protective order and a quick link to your contact information

7. Maybe you creative an interactive book like Attorney Gerry Oginski who wrote the book, The Secrets of Lawyer Video Marketing. This book has numerous QR codes to scan while reading each chapter and each QR code brings the user to a video where he discusses the relevant topic in the chapter. It's truly an interactive book!

Here's a quick tutorial on how to use QR codes and here is a site where you can create your own QR code for free. (There are several sites offering free QR codes.) They are so simple to create. The hardest part is making it worthwhile for someone to scan it. Be sure to scan our QR code in this post for a special offer. (QR codes work beautifully on your website when you can use your smartphone to scan it on the desktop monitor or tablet. It's a little harder to read a QR code online from your smart phone!)

Have you started using QR codes in any of your marketing? If so, please share how you have used it.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Should Lawyers Be Interested in Pinterest?

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:23:13 +0000

I know. Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, now Pinterest. Can you handle yet another distraction? Well, when you first heard about blogging it was just for people journaling about their everyday problems…until it wasn't. When you first heard about Facebook you thought it was just for your teenagers….until it wasn't. When you first heard about YouTube you thought it was just a bizarre place where Spielberg wannabees posted pointless videos nobody wanted to see….until it wasn't. When Twitter came on the scene you thought it was just about people tweeting what they had for lunch….until it wasn't. Now Pinterest is becoming the rage and you're thinking it is just one more time suck which you have little or no interest in. I felt the same way…until now.

I will certainly not be the first person to write about about how lawyers can use Pinterest. But even in these past few months more compelling information on this Silicon-based company is surfacing explaining why you may want to pay attention even if you are not ready to get involved.

What is Pinterest? 'Vision boarding' is an old concept. It is also called a Treasure Map or a Visual Explorer or Creativity Collage. Typically it is a poster board on which you paste or collage images that you’ve torn out from various magazines. (I remember doing one in college!). Pinterest has taken vision boarding and brought it into the social media space. A Pinterest user’s interests are now accessible to the world in a truly visually gorgeous format. Users collect photos which link to products and services they love, creating their own pinboards (or visual boards). They also follow the pinboards of other people whom they find interesting. But I find even this description very limiting as I'll explain later. Pinterest has the potential for so much more.

As someone just tweeted to me the other day:

How can an attorney use it (Pinterest) effectively? It's difficult when Pinterest is such a visual medium and the law is not.

What I was so happy about with this question was is it wasn't the automatic response, 'what a waste of time!' At least many have now learned their lesson to not dismiss a new platform out of hand but instead ask the question, ' how can I use it effectively if I choose to use it?'

So, why should Pinterest even be on your radar? Pinterest has been one of the fastest-growing social networks to ever hit the web and is now the number-three most popular social network in the U.S. and seems to be dominated by women. It comes up right after Facebook and Twitter, both of which are already known globally and have millions of users. LinkedIn is ranked fourth. Over 80% of 'pins' on Pinterest are repins (think retweets) which shows you how viral content on Pinterest can be. It is also rumored to have surpassed Google+ in terms of referrals. (For those who are dismissing Google+ and calling it a wasteland, do so at your professional peril. There is more to Google+ than meets the eye and there is renewed interest in the platform these past months.) But more importantly, the three founders of Pinterest (really unknown entrpeneurs up until this point) have managed to secure financial backing from Silicon Valley to the tune of $37.5 million in venture capital. Money usually talks…and very loudly. Here is a great infographic on how Pinterest may be a game-changer. And now it's going 'pinternational'.

So, how can lawyers take advantage of Pinterest? I don't think you should jump right in at all. I do think it needs to be on your radar and you should be thinking about if you choose to use it, how can you make the best use of this very user-friendly platform to continue your ongoing online marketing efforts. However, at the very least I would certainly recommend you create an account with your name/business name as you should on all sites of this nature.

Here are a few pointers for using Pinterest:

Repurpose your best online content. The time-conscious smart lawyer will recognize there's no reason to reinvent the wheel. Repurpose your best online content and pin it up on Pinterest. Take advantage of Google analytics or, if your're a blogger, find your posts which have generated the most comments or retweets on Twitter or have been shared on other sites. Then pin it. You've now repurposed content and presented it to a whole new world of potential clients or referrers of clients. The key: this is a visual board. If you have to take some time to add an appropriate image to a current blog post, do so.
Be laster-targeted. Remember your key words. When you create and name boards use profession-related keywords. When you start pinning appropriate content to each board you can write a brief description of what you are posting to highlight the content. This description should also contain those relevant key words. The more you are laser-targeted the easier it will be for your audience to locate and share your information.
Share profession-related content. The same as Twitter and Facebook, share the content of others because, as you already know, in order to be perceived as an expert (and just plain generous, too), you need to show you have the pulse on what is happening in the world, not just your world, and share it with your Pinterest followers. You can have unlimited boards which is what allows you to be so focused within each board. This requires you to truly stay organized, compartmentalize, and share.
Share your interests: There is no harm in creating a board dedicated to an interest or hobby, too. If you're a runner or love movies you should share this. The rules for Pinterest are no different than any other platform. I love to tweet on a variety of topics relating to entrepreurship, demographics, economics, and health. I'm doing so on Pinterest, too, and will probably add more boards as I get the hang of it.
Follow other Pinners and repin their content. It's visual Twitter. The same rules apply. Pinterest has two critical elements to it: visual bookmarking and social networking. While you are busy pinning your favorites, don't forget how important it is to also engage others. One way, and it will take a while, is to find others whose pins you enjoy and showcase them on your site in a dedicated board, very similar to retweeting another's great tweet, or adding them to a 'list' you've created on Twitter of people you follow like 'solo lawyer gurus', 'tech lawyers', 'employment lawyers'. You get the point.
Don't start pinning until you know why you're on Pinterest. This is just good advice for any platform. Know why you are spending time creating a space on Pinterest just as you do with Twitter and Facebook and YouTube. Social Media Examiner also presents a list of the many ways Pinterest can benefit a business. You just need to figure out if and when you are going to spend time here. You can start by checking out Solo Practice University's nascent presence on Pinterest.
Make it easy for others to post to Pinterest. Even if you haven't yet developed a presence on Pinterest, if you have a Facebook, Twitter, Google+ share button on your website already, add a 'Pin It' button so others can pin your content if they want to!
A little caution should be used. We all know Pinterest was highlighted recently because of copyright concerns. However, it appears Pinterest is addressing the issues as users are apparently creating more good than harm for companies as pinners drive traffic to their sites, and I suspect this will be less and less of a concern going forward.

As a company, we care deeply about creating value for content creators. We’re spending a great deal of time reaching out to content creators to understand their needs and concerns. So far, we’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback and have created both tools for publishers who want to make it easier to pin their content (the “Pin It” button for publisher sites) as well as tools for those who would prefer that their material isn’t pinned (an opt-out code that content owners add to their site that prevents content from being shared on Pinterest).

Our goal at Pinterest is to help people discover the things they love. Driving traffic to original content sources is fundamental to that goal.”

I'm no social media guru and I don't play one on the internet. However, now that I've done some homework, I find there is a lot of potential here. The numbers are playing out, Pinterest is fun and easy to populate if you've already have a body of work on the internet, and we are nation addicted to social media. As solo practitioners, time is precious yet there is a great need to be a part of the environment where potential clients and referrers of clients congregate. It's why 20% of your time is, or should be, devoted to marketing, socializing, networking. I recommend exploring Pinterest at some point in the not too distant future. Figure out how you want to use it because in my opinion the field is wide open on this one. If you're already on Pinterest, let me know so I can follow your boards and showcase what you are doing on ours! If you want to follow SPU on Pinterest you can do so here.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Guest Lecture with Jared Correia – Tech for New (and Not So New) Lawyers

Susan Cartier Liebel — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:30:52 +0000

Jared receives countless questions from new solo lawyers and solos who have been in practice for decades but need advice on law practice management. We like to ask Jared what it is on lawyers' minds and (no) surprise…it's technology, cloud securiy, google, and law practice management software. However, you might be very surprised by what Jared has to say. I was. Join us as we discuss these important and timely topics.
If you are a new lawyer in Massachusetts or a paying member of the Massachusetts bar, be sure to connect with Jared. LOMAP's services are free for those who qualify.

The audio is about 45 minutes. Listen or download directly below.
Guest Lecture with Jared Correia

Jared D. Correia, Esq., is Law Practice Management Advisor at MassLOMAP (Massachusetts Law Office Management Practice). Prior to joining LOMAP, he was the Publications Attorney for the Massachusetts Bar Association (“MBA”). He was the first Publications Attorney for the MBA, and established the continuing legal education publication protocols and standards. In addition to overseeing the MBA’s CLE Publications, he also managed the MBA’s version of Casemaker, an online legal research product provided free of charge to MBA members. Prior to joining the MBA, Mr. Correia was a private practice attorney, working in the areas of general practice and disability law, in small firms on the Southcoast, North of Boston and just outside of Boston. Mr. Correia’s general practice encompassed a diverse range of legal subjects, including the handling of administrative hearings, personal injury law, family law, tax law and property law matters. Mr. Correia is active in raising funds for cancer research and has founded a charitable organization to benefit autistic children. He is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and Saint Anselm College, where he was a captain of the Saint Anselm College Debate Team that finished second nationally in 2000.

Connect with Jared on Twitter . You can also follow LOMAP on Facebook, visit the website or read the blog.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

What Are You Doing To Help Your Business In This Troubled Economy?

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:30:30 +0000

John Jantsch wrote a terrific piece a few years ago called "7 Time-Tested Ways to Dig Out From a Recession". My position, however, is a little different. You should be doing these things ALL THE TIME.

While you can read all seven ideas on John's great site, I'm going to highlight numbers three, six and seven because I know the first two are the hardest for me and the last should be done religiously:

3) Get out from behind the computer – Building personal relationships is always in style. It’s very tempting to sit and write blog posts and participate on social networking sites, and while these aren’t always bad things – sometimes you need to go out and shake some hands. Make it a point to go to several industry conferences every year. Join an industry or chamber type group and go to events where you can make connections with prospects and partners. Join a referral group such as (fill in the blank) and participate. Go visit your customers and ask for referrals.

It is very easy to get comfortable communicating solely on the internet. It's fast, fun and you are not locked into a schedule. However, if you are reading my blog or any blog on a regular basis, subscribe to RSS, sync your e-mail with your IPhone, the fact is you are in the distinct minority of all your potential clients. Most people are simply not as up-to-speed technologically and by the time they figure out what you already do effectively, you will have moved on to something even more advanced.

And while we socialize with like-minded professionals on the internet, the fact is there is a huge gap between us and the many potential clients and referrers of potential clients out there who could use your services. Get out, mingle, physically meet others, professionally socialize even if it is just a few select times a year.

6) Repackage your products and services with offers to act- This goes along with differentiating really, but sometimes you’ve got to give that tired old dog a new look. Find simple ways to relaunch yourself, your people, your products, your services, your packaging, to give yourself a new start in your market. You don’t need to start from scratch, look for innovative ways to repackage, reprice, redeliver, re-guarantee and re-communicate about what you do. Make them an offer they can’t refuse, make it so bold they must rehear you.

This is so true. Give your blog a face lift, create some excitement about a change in your services or products. Promote if you are switching over to a Virtual Law Office or offering unbundled legal services or revamping your pricing from billable hour to value pracing. Try to attract your market in a novel and exciting way. It will not only invigorate your potential client base, it will also invigorate you. Practicing in the same rut only gets you deeper into the ground. When you eventually try to step out you will feel like a neanderthal and overwhelmed at the changes you will now first have to make.

7) Fix the marketing gaps – In every way, shape, and form that your business comes into contact with your prospects and customers it is performing a marketing function – good or bad. You must look at all of your customer touchpoints and turn them into positive, brand-building opportunities. Tear down the lead generations touches, sales touches, service touches, delivery touches, follow-up touches, transaction touches, and billing touches and make sure that every single one of them is a performing a killer marketing function for your business.

Every word you write, every syllable you utter, every piece of paper with your name on it is a touch point with your brand and a business opportunity. You just have to realize it. Once you do you will see all the unconscious marketing opportunities you have available to you and will understand the phrase "you are on 24/7."

Time to take inventory of all your touchpoints with clients and fellow attorneys including your use of social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube. You will be amazed how many marketing opportunities you may very well be missing or using incorrently which, when used correctly, can help fill the client pipeline…especially when times are tough.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

NY’s New Lawyer Mandatory Pro Bono is Indentured Servitude

Susan Cartier Liebel — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:28:00 +0000

New York just passed mandatory pro bono hours for all new lawyers before they can be admitted to practice law. This is indentured servitude, not pro bono.

Beginning next year, the 10,000 or so prospective lawyers who pass the New York State Bar exam every year will be required to perform 50 hours of pro bono legal services before they are approved to practice law.

New York judicial system is quite proud of itself for creating this new mandatory requirement feeling it will give new law grads a chance to try out their skills while relieving the state of expanding programs which will actually hire lawyers to provide legal services to the indigent.

The Legal Aid Society, the nation’s largest provider of free legal services, turns away eight of every nine people seeking help with civil legal matters, said Steven Banks, the New York group’s attorney in chief. Since the economic downturn began in 2008, Mr. Banks said, requests for assistance have jumped 40 percent for health care issues, 54 percent for unemployment insurance and work-related problems, 16 percent for domestic violence and “a stunning 800 percent” for foreclosures.

How brilliant. How oppressive. How typical. Add another obstacle to new lawyers before they can earn money with their degree and while they are drowning in debt instead of funding legal aid.

But his (Judge Lippman) latest measure may prove more controversial, some of his admirers said, because it wades into a fierce debate among lawyers over whether mandatory pro bono service is the right solution — and because it could hit the pocketbooks of young lawyers at a time when they are struggling to find jobs. Judge Lippman and the court administrative board have the power to do so because, unlike in many other states, the New York court system, and not the bar association, sets the requirements.

Cloaking it in a shroud of benefit to all appeases those who are so far removed from the reality of today's new lawyer struggles it's crazy!! And it relieves law schools of their obligations, once again, to produce lawyers who can actually practice law. It creates this unacceptable purgatory between law school and a real job. I won't even begin to try and lay out the scenarios which could impact a new lawyer from performing those fifty hours between bar exam and finding out results. And it definitely does not fit the description of pro bono. It is classic indentured servitude.

This is a slippery slope as I've written about before. And what's worse, New York hopes this will be revolutionary and other states will jump on board.

Lawyer's Services Should Be Theirs To Give Away…Not the ABA's

Connecticut Law Tribune – June 8, 2007

(This column comes on the heels of the recent Second Circuit Decision regarding pro bono fees, as a I promised.)

It's been a year since I read an Illinois Supreme Court ruling regarding mandatory pro bono reporting and I'm still feeling claustrophobic as the legal universe we are permitted to function in gets smaller and smaller.

That state's new rule, celebrating it's one year anniversary this month, requires lawyers to "annually report their pro-bono activities, including hours worked and any money contributed to pro-bono efforts." The rationale behind the rule is that, by having to report what they do (or don't do) by way of pro bono work or financial gifts to recognized legal aid organizations, lawyers will somehow be shamed into actually doing some, or do more than they're already doing.

It doesn't take a genius to see where this is really going. Although structured as simply a confidential reporting program for the purpose of accruing an aggregate total of pro bono hours, lawyers who fail to report their numbers to Illinois authorities face possible suspension of their law licenses. With this framework in place, if actual pro bono hours do not increase in a voluntary fashion, is it really a stretch to see pro bono work being mandated in order to continue practicing in the state of Illinois? (Note: Illinois is home to the American Bar Association.)

Who will have the hardest time meeting these requirements? Not large law firms that use their pro bono efforts as a tool for self-promotion. How much does it really cost them, anyway? At most large firms, it's low-level associates who do the majority of the firm's pro bono work. The firms write it off as a loss. At their worst, they take on high-profile cases in an effort to gain incalculable publicity. Mandatory pro bono wouldn't hurt large law firms. Rather, they will profit on many levels.

Solos, however, will be the ones injured. They will look ungenerous and self-serving, as they single-handedly face the everyday struggles to stay in business.

As the pro bono numbers generated by solos, the largest body of lawyers out there, fail to increase appreciably, what will be the next logical step? Forcing them to take on a minimum number of pro bono hours or face suspension? It is certainly plausible.

And as word is spread to the general public regarding an attorney's obligation to do pro bono work, is it unreasonable to believe that lower-income clients will demand lawyers represent them for free or at sharply reduced rates?

Yes, mandatory pro bono would be a great image enhancement for the legal profession, particularly large firms. But for solos, it would be a daily migraine.

Shouldn't Illinois officials be looking to catalog aggregate results rather than aggregate hours if the stated goal of this self-aggrandizing exercise is to actually help indigent clients? If painters took two days instead of two weeks to paint your house, wouldn't you applaud their speed and efficiency? We should be measuring effectiveness through results, not inefficiency through racked up hours.

And, of course, we can't let Illinois get all the glory for being so benevolent when giving away our services. All the states will want to jump on board for fear of looking mercenary and uncaring. They, too, will want to crack the whip and give away our time and money.

As a lawyer, I believe the role of the judiciary and national and state bar associations should be to provide a de minimus framework of what we can't do in order to avoid risking our law licenses. Outside of that, they should be a source of professional support and information.

It is not their job to legislate or mandate how I should aspire to be a better person or lawyer. Nor should they tell me that I must give away my services.

But that is where they are heading. Please don't order me to tithe to the Church of the American Bar Association. I still believe in freedom of professionalism. •

This 'solution' has been approached in many different ways by many different groups. It was inevitable someone would find a politically palatable solution taking it out of the hands of the ABA and putting it in the hands of the judiciary. The tanking economy gave the perfect opportunity to implement this scheme and it has now found its supporters. Shame on them.

What do you think about this 'mandatory pro bono'.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

SPU Classes in February, March, April …and Much More

Susan Cartier Liebel — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:30:46 +0000

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

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.

Ready to Enroll?

Don't need CLE? Want a monthly tuition less than your cell phone bill? Check out our new monthly program. Stay just for the classes you need…or as long as you like. Tuition is never more than $45 per month after the first month. Check out our Tuition Prices, pick your plan and get started!

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

The ‘Multi-Generational Living’ Lawyer. What?

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:30:17 +0000

Quite often we ask ourselves how we can create a niche, how to be different, how to truly carve out a unique subset of a practice area to call our own and then get known for that area. I always like to follow demographic changes and economic changes to see what can be done. Well, a recent article and an article from 2010 discussing how the changing economy has seen an upswing in multiple generations residing together got me to thinking about this unique twist on The Family Lawyer.

According to this Pew Research Center report, Boomerang adults are most responsible for the rapid increase in multi-generational households. In 1980, 11 percent of young adults (between the ages of 24 to 35) returned home to live with their parents. By 2008, 20 percent of young adults returned home. Interestingly, this age group is the only one in which men make up the greater share. Among the elderly, the reverse is true: Women are a larger portion of those in multi-generational homes. Overall among the elderly, the same percentage as young adults (20 percent) enjoy a multi-generational home, up from 17 percent in the 1980s.

The number of so-called multi-generational households — where adults are living with their elderly parents or grown children — has jumped since the Great Recession forced Americans to rethink living on their own. Demographic experts say it's poised to rise further as baby boomers age, so-called "boomerang kids" walloped by the weak job market stay home longer, and ethnic groups such as Asians and Hispanics, who are more likely to live with extended family, continue to grow.

There are zoning issues. Then there are potential shared ownership issues, estate issues, liability issues, landlord/tenant issues if a family member is a renter, tax issues, privacy issues, roommate issues all under the emotional umbrella of 'family'.

The reality is, this segment of the market will be growing due to the economy. It is also a 'preventive' practice area meaning potential problems should be discussed and necessary documents should be created before the families make decisions on living arrangements and doing so blindly and out of love or obligation.

For example: an aging mother moves in with one of her children, spouse, and grandchildren. An apartment is built for the mother. Who pays for the zoning variance? Who pays for construction? Who pays for ongoing tax liability for increased taxes due to the in-law apartment? Who pays for access ramps for the mother's wheel chair? Who pays for utilities if they run off the same zones? Who get's tax credits? Does the mother's childcare duties for her grandchildren have a value and offset costs down the road? What happens if the mother dies leaving an unfunded increased tax liability on the home which the child (home owner) can't afford to pay? Does the value of the addition become an automatic benefit to the child (home owner) in exchange for rent unpaid on the apartment? Can the apartment be willed to another child giving them an unplanned for interest in the home when it is sold or an automatic right to use against the homeowner's wishes? Or does the value of the apartment get deducted from the child (home owner's) share of the mother's estate? You see where this is going. This is an area ripe with possibilities for preventive and holistic law as well as, unfortunately, litigation.

What about rental agreements between parents (home owners) and adult children and their spouses who live in the parents' home with their little children? Let's take it a step farther and talk about aging sibling's who both have children who decide to live together and pool their resources?

Not only is this area rich with possibilities but it also has many tangential (and feeder) practice areas: trusts and estates, real estate, landlord/tenant, bankrtupcy, zoning and mediation.

Just gets you to thinking, doesn't it?

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Retirement and the Solo Practice – A Gold Mine for a Young Lawyer

Susan Cartier Liebel — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:30:31 +0000

This post was written by Bob Minto and has been reprinted with permission. Link to original article.

Robert W. Minto, Jr. has served as President and CEO and Director of ALPS Corporation since 1987. He also serves as President and CEO of Attorneys Liability Protection Society, Inc., A Risk Retention Group; Peak Investment Management Ltd; ALPS Risk & Insurance Services Inc.; and Foundation Services Corporation, all subsidiaries of ALPS Corporation. Mr. Minto also serves as President and CEO of Lawyers Reinsurance Company (Vermont). Mr. Minto received his B.A. degree in Business Administration from the University of Washington in 1969 and his J.D. from the University Of Montana School Of Law in 1973. He served as an Associate (1973-1977), a Principal (1978-1991) and Of Counsel (1991-2000) with the law firm of Worden Thane & Haines in Missoula, Montana. Mr. Minto has been a member of the State Bar of Montana and the American Bar Association since 1973. He serves on the State Bar of Montana Lawyers Fund for Client Protection; the State Bar of Montana Law Practice Management Committee; and the Montana Justice Foundation. He also serves on the Board of Governors of Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).

Last week I turned sixty-five and realized that I am not far off being eligible for Social Security and Medicare. The problem is I don't feel old enough to be eligible for either, and I have no desire to retire. Sixty-five used to be the milestone that people kept in mind as the date when they got the gold watch and started drawing their retirement from their employers defined benefit pension. Very few of those exist anymore and most of them have been turned over to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) as part of a corporate chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Now for many of us it's just another birthday with no meaning greater than any other. This thought string got me thinking about lawyers and retirement generally.

The world has changed a lot over the past forty years, and the legal profession is no exception. When I joined my first firm I didn't buy in, I just made a commitment to participate in the buy-out of senior partners when they retired. It was neat, clean and easy. I didn't get hit coming in when I didn't have a lot of money and had a young family to care for. I had some years to get my practice better established and my financial situation a bit better situated before the first senior partner retired. It worked well and the buy-out represented little more than his share of the receivables as of the retirement date and it actually worked out that paid monthly over a period of years, I came out net ahead as the receivables covered the early payments. In talking with firms today, they have different mentalities (varied) which include buy-in, no buy-in, no plan, and a whole bunch more options that I don't understand. Today, firms seem to be more worried about lawyers leaving early and who owns the clients and how do we deal with defections. These are indeed different times. Retirements in mid- to large firms generally go pretty smoothly, with little or no buy-out, but a well-funded 401(k) plan to make the golden years comfortable.

As the old saying goes "old lawyers never die they just lose their appeal." I am beginning to think "die" should be replaced with "retire," at least as far as for those in solo practice or small firms of 1, 2 and 3 person(s). Where economics remain tough and available, retirement plans consist of IRAs and not 401(k) plans. Sure you can incorporate a solo practice and set one up, but if you do you have to fund for employees and the headaches become much more difficult with safe harbor rules and the like. Besides, if you fully fund it every year you will be taking it out of your own pocket and somehow that seems harder to do than when you take it out of the firm's collective pocket.

So how do solos and small firms manage the transition? I find that mostly they ignore it until they have to deal with it and then it usually means breaking things up. The lifelong practice of bringing younger lawyers into a practice so you could turn over clients seems to be waning as fewer and fewer young lawyers want to take on solo practices and many of them have so much debt going in that they can't support themselves and make the debt payments. I know of several cases of small town practices just closing because the lawyer at age 75-80 decided he or she needed to give it up. They can't even give their practice away.

Today you just don't find good mentoring going on in many firms. The partners don't have time to spend (waste) teaching a new lawyer all the things about practice that they don't teach in law school. In a small practice with a retiring attorney you have a gold mine, a virtual mother lode if you will. They aren't trying to build a practice, their economic needs will be considerably smaller and they will want a place to come to the office and have coffee for a number of years so they will be around when you have questions or need help or even to fill in so that you can take a vacation.

I can go on for hours about the benefit of taking over an existing practice, in a city or a small town, but I think you get the picture. It's about getting started on the right foot, learning the ropes from a pro and not having to take everything that comes in the door to survive.

Why do I care about transitioning practices rather than closing them? I have a lot of reasons, but mostly it's about continuity for clients, and finding a way for older lawyers to slow down and still remain useful in their own eyes (big one here) and able to make a huge contribution to the future of the profession. I know a lawyer right now in his eighties that still comes to the office (all alone) every day that outsources his clerical work and handles non-court matters for his clients. He enjoys the clients, but he wasn't a good planner and still needs the money to supplement his social security and Medicare. His practice (I know it very well) could easily produce enough to support a young lawyer and a secretary if he didn't refer the court matters out of the office and he could probably work less and have just about the same income if he had a younger lawyer helping him with the office administrative stuff. In addition I can't think of a better mentor for a young lawyer than this particular gentleman.

My point of this particular ramble I am not really sure, but I guess I want to bring focus to an ever growing issue. \

Being a Baby Boomer, I have an army of brothers and sisters at the bar that will be facing practice transition in the next ten years and I see it as an opportunity for law schools and law students to make a difference. The law schools could start focusing on pairing graduating students with these opportunities rather than settling to post them on an employment board in the student lounge. They can develop mentoring guidelines and suggestions that give order to the transition and give a little thought to how they might assist older lawyers frame or posture their practices to make them more attractive to a young lawyer in the coming years. The local and State Bars might look at what they can do to help make the generational connections work better and promote the advantages of small firm practice.

I don't know where the practice is heading; I wish I did, but I can tell you it will change. The signs from the large firms indicate a struggle to make the economics work, and the signs from the small firms indicate insufficient structure to make them attractive to new lawyers. We probably should have been thinking about this a few years ago, but we didn't so now we get to crunch and try to catch up with solutions.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Faculty Announcement – Anne-Marie Rábago

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:30:06 +0000

Anne-Marie Rábago 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®.

Born in Ohio and raised just outside Washington, DC in Lanham, Maryland. Ms. Rabago returned to Ohio to attend Ohio University; where she graduated Cum Laude and was a member of Golden Key International Honour Society and Lambda Pi Eta Communication Honor Society. In addition, she was honored to be named an Ohio University Outstanding Senior Leader.

Prior to her legal career, she worked in nonprofit fundraising for the San Diego Repertory Theatre and as a human resources professional for Capital One Financial Services.

Almost ten years after completing her undergraduate studies, she enrolled at California Western School of Law. While attending California Western, she was invited to compete as a member of the trial team and the American Bar Association's National Appellate Advocacy Competition team. She was selected as an Honors Instructor for legal research and writing courses, received the Dean's Merit Scholarship, and was named a Distinguished Advocate for her First Place finish in the First Year Appellate Competition.

After completing her Juris Doctor, she attended Northwestern University School of Law; where she received a Master of Laws in Taxation, and won First Place in the LL.M. Division of the American Bar Association's Law Student Tax Challenge.

Upon graduation, she worked for the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse Cooper in the area of International Tax Services. Ms. Rabago advised multinational clients in a variety of industries on complicated domestic and international tax matters. Rábago Law is the realization of her aspirations – to partner with individual taxpayers and small business owners to understand their unique circumstances, simplify their obligations, ease their tax concerns, and help them build strong financial futures. Ms. Rabago is licensed to practice in the states of California and Texas.

Ms. Rabago stays active in the San Diego legal community as a volunteer attorney with the Legal Aid Society's Low Income Taxpayer Clinic and a member of the San Diego County Bar Association. She is the Vice President of Philanthropy for the Chi Omega Alumnae Group of San Diego. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the East Village Association Business Improvement District. In her spare time, she can generally be found enjoying the sights and sounds of San Diego's East Village. where she is an avid craft beer enthusiast and enjoys traveling abroad with her husband.

Syllabus

Introduction to Taxes for the Solo/Small Firm Attorney

Course Objective

At the end of this course, students will have the resources and knowledge needed to operate a tax efficient and compliant law practice. The course will cover key tax considerations in starting, running, and growing a solo or small firm law practice.

Class 1: Choice of Entity
The session explores business structure options and develops an understanding of tax filing, compliance, and payments effected by choice of entity, including discussion of the following:

Solo practitioners
Small firm principals
Employer identification number (EIN)
Income tax
Payroll tax
Required tax filings
Limiting liability – professional vs. general vs. personal
State and state bar limitations and compliance

Class 2: Tax Deductions
Students will learn the difference between personal expenses, business expenses, and capital expenses and how to identify valid business deductions, including a discussion of the following:

Vehicle expenses
Travel expenses
Meals and Entertainment
Gift Expenses
Library Expenses
Business Use of Your Home

Class 3: Books, Records, Reporting
Students develop an understanding of how to comply with tax filing and reporting requirements, as well as recordkeeping and substantiation documentation, including a discussion of the following:

Bank accounts
Cash payments
1099 Reporting
Documenting deductible business expenses
Depreciation schedules
Paying taxes
Record retention

Class 4: Attorney Audits
Students will learn what to expect in an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audit of their law practice, including a discussion of the following:

Risk of audit
IRS Notices
Types of audits
Information Document Request
Attorney-client privilege
Report of Income Tax Examination Changes
Audit appeal rights

Class 5: Circular 230 and Professional Responsibility
The session covers Treasury Circular 230, its implications for tax practitioners and all attorneys, including a discussion of the following:

What is Circular 230?
Do I need a disclosure at the bottom of my emails?
What is the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR)?
Am I under the jurisdiction of the IRS OPR?
Overlap between Circular 230, the Internal Revenue Code, Rules of Professional Responsibility
Common tax crimes

Class 6: Crossover Areas of Law
Students will learn about some of the most common tax issues present in various areas of law practice, including a discussion of the following:

Business
Bankruptcy
Employment/Labor
Estate Planning
Family
Immigration
Personal injury
Real Estate

Class 7: Growing your law practice
In this final session, students will discover tax considerations and implications of managing the growth of their law practice, including a discussion of the following:

Worker classification
Payroll and withholding
Trust fund recovery penalties
Choosing the right professionals
Planning for retirement
Insurance considerations

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Should You Charge For An Initial Consult?

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:30:51 +0000

This is a very common question a new lawyer asks. The thought process goes something like this:

1. I want to get the (any) client in the door.

2. Everyone else gives a free initial consultation, I think?.

3. I'm too afraid to charge for a consultation because the potential client won't come in.

4. But my time is money.

5. So, how much should I charge?

6. No, I shouldn't charge for the consultation.

The dilemma is obvious. You want to get the potential client in the door but you also don't want to give your time away.

In my opinion, it all turns on where you are in the growth curve of your overall professional life and legal career. Notice, I said, "legal career" not growth curve of your solo practice.

These are my opinions based upon my experience and others but they present a smorgasbord of options from which you can choose. Or please debate or add to the list.

As a new solo your goal is to get as many potential clients in the door as possible so you can practice your client interviewing skills as well as actually having the opportunity to have clients hire you. Initially, you will not generally have many clients (unless you are a seasoned lawyer with hip-pocket business and are going solo). The real value and benefit in this approach when you first open your doors is not so much the exchange of dollars for time, but the opportunity to get clients into your office. Period.

You want as many chances as possible to practice these interviewing skills, polish your dialogue and get comfortable with discussing fees and collecting fees/retainers. You also want to develop your radar for the unwanted clients, those clients who will drain your time, resources and your very soul. You are also giving yourself an opportunity to canvas clients to find out how they heard about you, what they have heard about you and more importantly, are the clients who are coming to you the type of clients you want to service. This is the marketing aspect of the interviewing process which you need to perfect.

As a practicing solo developing your areas of concentration, depending upon the areas of law you are practicing, you may want to charge a consultation fee because;

1) as your knowledge grows, (or in your previous life you have twenty years of other professional experience) your 30 or 60 minutes with a client can be worth more than an inexperienced lawyer's three hours. You impart more experiential value.

2) Sometimes potential clients are consulting with you to eliminate you as the lawyer for the opposing party because your reputation precedes you. If you get eliminated without collecting money for your time it can be costly not to bill for the consultation. (For example, if you only represent men in the dissolution process, would you ever want to meet with a woman if they are just trying to conflict you out? Why take $250 and be bumped out of a $15,000 retainer?)

If you are now at a stage in your life where you are skilled in screening clients on the telephone and you have other options with your time, including billing out on another matter or a day at the beach with your child, you are at the stage where you can establish a real calculable 'value' for your time and should consider charging for that initial consultation.

If you are at this point, you should consider using a different marketing tool. Charge for your time with a catch. If you are hired, the fee collected for the consultation is used against the intial retainer or flat fee. Some will charge one hour at their normal hourly rate regardless of the actual length of the consultation so the client doesn't feel rushed. Others will charge hour for hour. Again, it is a personal choice. Potential clients now feel more invested in you with this leveraging tactic against the retainer.

Experienced solos with major reputations in their practice areas (except in contingency areas) generally will charge a fixed consultation fee for the consultation. The consultation fee is never leveraged against the retainer. These lawyers know the value of their knowledge and time and, most often, so does the client. These lawyers are not worried that another lawyer is doing free consultations.

Fees for initial consultations, in my opinion, turn on experience, marketing strategy, and the norm for the practice area. If you have a unique take on this common quandry, please share .

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

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Retirement and the Solo Practice – A Gold Mine for a Young Lawyer

This post was written by Bob Minto and has been reprinted with permission. Link to original article.

Faculty Announcement – Anne-Marie Rábago

Anne-Marie Rábago 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®.

Syllabus

Introduction to Taxes for the Solo/Small Firm Attorney

Should You Charge For An Initial Consult?

The audio is about 45 minutes. Listen or download directly below.
Guest Lecture with Jared Correia