Solo Practice University® » Announcements

SPU Classes in November, December, January …and Much More

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:30:03 +0000

I can hardly believe it’s already February. What a great start to 2012 it’s been. Besides the fact the weather has been unseasonably warm in New England, we are pleased to say our SPU faculty members continue to produce outstanding classes:

Recent Classes

Stephanie Kimbro shared some valuable information in her post: Update on Ethics Rules Impacting Virtual Practice.
Daniel Gershburg made available his newest classes: Marketing a Bankruptcy Practice and Procedure and Practice Advice.
Jonathan Ginsberg shares a couple of great Practice Tips in his classroom – Using Social Security’s Forms to Prepare Your Direct Examination.
Fraudulent Financial Reporting by Roman Matatov is another classes in his course.
Michael Brown has Lesson 7 – Case Feasibility of an Employee Rights Matter and Lesson 8 – Setting Up an Employee Rights Practice in his in-depth Employment Law course.
Entertainment Law Update Podcast 25 can now be seen in the Entertainment Classroom from Gordon Firemark.
Marc Garfinkle rolls out Criminal Law 101 with Class 1 – Developing a Criminal Clientele, Class 2 – The Initial Client Interview and Class 3 – Jailhouse Visits.
Gene Goodsell kicks off International Sports Law with Class 1 – What Is International Sports Law?
Richard Maseles keeps providing great information in Real World Legal Research: Face the Rule, and New Chapter (Finally) Case Law.
If you’ve wanted to learn how Google can help our practice check out Lesson 1 – Introduction to Google and Lesson 2 – Everything Gmail which is now available with Martha Sperry
Susan Cartier Liebel continues How to Hang A Shingle Right Out of Law School…or Shortly Thereafter with her Lesson 8 – Business Plans (Part 1)
Chris Hill has shared Classes 23, 24 and 25, Use Your Solo Status to Your Advantage, The Necessity of Written Change Orders and A Wrap Up and Preview in his popular Construction Law course.
Gerry Oginski’s latest in Creating Online Videos for Lawyers. Also find out about The Most Powerful Testimonial Formula Ever.
Lesson 4 – Getting Started with WordPress, Lesson 5 – Maintaining Your WordPress Site, and Lesson 6 – Customizing Your WordPress Site by David Carson
Celeste H.G. Boyd returns with here latest Lesson # 2 – The Ethics of Freelancing.
Rochelle Richardson gives us Lesson 2 – Establishing Service Connection for PTSD and Other Psychological Disabilities and Lesson 3 – Navigating the VA Claims Process in the Introduction to Veterans Law classroom.
In the Unemployment Appeals classroom – Lesson 3, Unemployment Procedure from Claim to Judicial Review, Lesson 4 – Disqualifications for Misconduct , and Lesson 5 – Voluntary Quit and “Able and Available” by Bruce Godfrey
Want to understand Social Media and the Law? Deborah Gonzalez kicks off her Social Media and the Law classroom with Lesson 1 – Overview of Social Media & the Law, Lesson 2 – E-Professionalism, and Lesson 3 – Privacy and Ethics
Greg Yaghami updates his classroom Trial Techniques with Lesson 14 – The Fit Lawyer.
In Landlord Tenant Law Lesson 10 Kira Founteneau delves into The Proper Care and Feeding of Tenants

New Faculty Announcements, Guest Bloggers & Guest Lectures

Martha Sperry Joined SPU and will teach Everything Google – Using Free & Cheap Tools To Ease Your Workload And Budget
Gene Goodsell will teach on the very hot topic of International Sports Law.
Douglas Greenberg joined SPU as a columnist discussing his experiences going solo. There are already eight columns filled with great info.
Rush Nigut has joined as our new columnist discussing Business Law & Tech. Learn about the best advice he ever received as a lawyer in his inaugural column.
Rania Combs, Annie Tunheim, Roy Ginsburg, and Micheal Whelan provided excellent guest blog posts ranging from their adventures as savvy solos to lessons on networking.
Jared Correia gave a phenomenal guest lecture answering new solos frequently asked questions. It’s a must listen if you are new to practice (and not so new!)
Omar Ha-Redeye , also a Savvy Solo, gave a riveting guest lecture on GIS – Geographic Information Services. Seriously, you need to listen to this area of law which affects all of us!

If you are interested in becoming faculty or guest posting, please e-mail susan@solopracticeuniversity.com

Faculty News and Accomplishments

First, we want to congratulate Stephanie Kimbro, as she celebrates her 7th year of practicing law virtually. She lives what she teaches. Very Impressive Stephanie!
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!
Then back in December, Toby Bloomberg who teaches Social Media at SPU, was awarded the “Social Media Leader” award by the Atlanta Women in Social Media. Wonderful news, Toby!
One of our founding sponsors, Clio, announced a $6 million Series B financing for its cloud-based legal services package. The company principals Jack Newton and Rian Gauvreau made the announcement at the opening of the ALM LegalTech conference and trade show. These funds will enable Clio to implement their vision of moving many more solos into the cloud with their excellent practice management services.
Solo Practice University was featured on Forbes.com in an article called ‘Occupy Solo Practice University‘. Check it out. I also had an opportunity to contribute to Forbes.com in an article touting the virtues of virtual practice and women who have used this technology to their advantage in Women Lawyers Without Borders Rock Legal Practice.

Best of the Season Blog Posts

SPU Keeps Growing

Our Bridges Program is expanding steadily! Chapman University and UALR Bowen School of Law have just recently brought our program to their current students and alumni. 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?

If you’re going to be in Athens, Georgia on March 3rd participating in the WIPI (7th Annual Working In the Public Interest Conference) sponsored by the University of Georgia Law School, let me know. I will be moderating a panel on, you guessed it, going solo.

Or, if you are 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 we can connect. I will be teaching on my favorite topic, once again.

Law Without Walls

I have also been very privileged to be invited to participate as an Entrepreneur Mentor in the Law Without Walls Program created by the incredible team of Michele DeStefano and Michael Bossone out of the University of Miami School of Law.

LawWithoutWalls is a part-virtual, collaborative academic model, created by Michele DeStefano and Michael Bossone at the University of Miami School of Law, that brings together students, faculty, practitioners, business professionals, and entrepreneurs from around the country and the world to innovate legal education and practice. It is motivated by a desire to help those engaged in the education and practice of law to realize the impact our changing world is having upon our shared legal enterprise and to embrace that change to create a resonant, efficient, and sustainable future. Our goal is to jointly develop creative solutions to real problems in the way law is taught and practiced.

You can learn more about the program here as well as see who the ‘players’ are. It’s innovative legal education at its finest.

SPU Classes Can Now Be Enjoyed on Your iPad and iPhone!

Ready to Enroll?

Don’t need CLE? Want a monthly tuition less than your cell phone bill? Check out our new Solo For Life 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

Meet Us in Boston Tonight – November 30th!

Susan Cartier Liebel — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:48:13 +0000

I know this was a little late. However, I will be presenting at the FirmFuture conference tomorrow at the Boston Copley Marriott. And tonight there is an SPU meetup at the Lennox Hotel from 6 – 8 if you happen to be in the Boston area and free. Also in attendance will be faculty members Jay Shepherd and Martha Sperry, as well as Ed Wiest, Gabriel Cheong and others. Please stop by and say hello if you can. We’d love to meet you!

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

SPU Classes in August, September, October…and Much More!

Susan Cartier Liebel — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:30:20 +0000

The summer flew by and we barely had a fall before we got walloped with the Great Snow Storm of October, 2011! Hopefully you have power back on so you can read about all the great happenings at SPU!

Recent Classes

Stephanie Kimbro shared a Podcast: Updates in Virtual Law Practice, as well as new classes on How to Create a Virtual Law Practice and Online Branded Networks – Compete or Collaborate?
Lessons 3 and 4 of Bankruptcy Law by Daniel Gershburg are available: Bankruptcy Law and Exemptions Post January, 2011
Jonathan Ginsberg shares a couple of great Practice Tips in his classroom – Using VA Records in a Social Security Disability Claim, How Do Work Attempts Impact Your Client’s Social Security Disability Application?
Catch up on Principles of Financial Forensics with Lesson 3 and Lesson 4 – Financial Analysis, Parts 1 and 2 by Roman Matatov
D. Todd Smith discusses Preparing to Cut the Umbilical Cord
In the Labor Law classroom Michael Brown has Lesson 5 – Caller Intake and Lesson 6 – Case Evaluation
Entertainment Law Update Podcast 23 and 24 can now be obtained in the Entertainment Classroom. And don’t miss Monkeying Around with Copyright Law all from Gordon Firemark.
Marc Garfinkle kicks of Criminal Law 101 with The Criminal Practice.
Ed Poll has Tips for Increased Revenue, Preference is Perishable and Collecting Your Fee Begins At the Intake
New classes from Richard Maseles in Real World Legal Research: Economics of Legal Research; Where do you look when you (think you have) run out of places to look? and Statutes.
Keep improving your Storytelling Skills with Organize the Story and Dramatize the Story – Delivery Elements from Diane F. Wyzga
Lots of ground was covered in the How to Hang a Shingle classroom from Susan Cartier Liebel including Lesson 5 – Location (Part 3), Lesson 6 – Don’t Write A Mission Statement. Be On A Mission! and Lesson 7 – To Partner or Not to Partner. That Is the Question!
In Child Custody Start to Finish with Lesson 8 Katherine Frye delves into Post Trial Work.
Chris Hill has shared Classes 21 and 22, Miller Act Claim Increases and Mechanic’s Lien Practicalities
To learn How to Maximize the Chance Your Video is Watched catch Gerry Oginski‘s latest in Creating Online Videos for Lawyers. Also find out How to Use a Watch Ad for Your Video Marketing.
Continue learning the basics behind the scenes of your blog with Lesson 2 – Basic HTML by David Carson; Lesson 3 – Styling HTML with CSS
So You Wanna Be a Freelancer? asks Celeste H.G. Boyd in the premiere of Footloose and Fancy Freelancing.
Rochelle Richardson gives us the very first class, Overview of Veterans Law, in the Introduction to Veterans Law classroom.
Another Lesson 1, this time in the Unemployment Appeals classroom – 2011 Unemployment Overview for Solos and Lesson 2 – The Law of UI Benefits, Eligibility and Disqualifications by Bruce Godfrey
Trippe Fried discusses Employer/Employee Relations in Business Law

New Faculty Announcements and Guest Bloggers

Bruce Godfrey joined SPU is presenting a class entitled Unemployment Appeals, Law, Practice and Procedure
Celeste Boyd will teach on the very hot topic of Freelance Lawyering.
Another red hot practice area – Introduction to Veteran’s Law – will be taught by new faculty member Rochelle Richardson.
It just keeps getting hotter! Want to understand Social Media and the Law? Learn with Deborah Gonzalez our newest faculty member.
Erin McClarty guest posted about the value of pro bono work in building your law practice.

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

Faculty News and Accomplishments

Daniel Gershburg is proud to participate in a great initiative teaching financial literacy to kids.
Marc Garfinkle shared with us recently that the Colorado Bar Association has agreed to publish their own version of his book, ”Solo Contendere: How to Go Directly from Law School into the Practice of Law Without Getting a Job.” Missouri and Ohio already publish special versions. On February 22-26, 2012, Marc will watch the Iditerod as the guest of the Alaska Bar while doing two programs in Anchorage. Busy guy!!
If you are a great adventure enthusiast, Deborah Gonzalez will be leading an amazing Legal Leadership Bootcamp to Antarctica in December of 2012. If you are interested, let Susan know: susan (at) solopracticeuniversity.com
Gordon Firemark shares a great video to help aspiring producers: Learn how to produce plays and musicals without going crazy
Susan Cartier Liebel participated in a discussion at LOMAP about Global Economics & Your Law Practice. Susan will also be speaking at the Firm Future Conference on December 1, 2011. If you’re in town, join her!

Best of the Season Blog Posts

SPU Keeps Growing

Our Bridges Program is expanding steadily! You will see more ‘public’ announcements soon about 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.

SPU Classes Can Now Be Viewed on Your iPad and iPhone!

Ready to Enroll?

Check out our Tuition Prices, pick your plan and get started!

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Think Like A Lawyer. Speak Like a Fish.

Lurie Daniel-Favors — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:30:10 +0000

“Think like a lawyer.” This phrase is pounded into our heads during three years of legal education like no other. In fact, so much emphasis is based on acquiring this skill set, that we spend the first few months of law school seemingly learning a new language. When we observe classmates suffer through formulating their responses in exactly the right way, we learn that just being right is not enough. You have to be right and you have to be able to phrase the right response in a lawyerly way. Otherwise, you might end up on the receiving end of a probing Civil Procedure professor’s seemingly unending list of questions on something like the Erie doctrine.

When we enter the profession, this phrase, “think like a lawyer” is repeated ad nauseum by colleagues and co-workers. We spend so much time learning to think like a lawyer that it is easy to forget that lawyers do not think like other people. In fact, lawyers tend to think in ways that non-lawyers may find confusing – if not down right obnoxious. What’s worse is when our highly lawyerly thoughts take over our voice and come out in the way that we speak.

I have yet to find anyone who actually likes to listen to “lawyer speak.” But if you spend all of your early years in the profession learning to think and talk like a lawyer – it can be very easy to lose your own voice.

You know what voice I’m talking about. It’s the voice your clients use when they call and ask for advice. It’s the voice your friends and family members may use when they pick your brain for legal tidbits. It’s very likely the same voice that you used before you bought wholesale into the “think like a lawyer, speak like a lawyer” mandate.

The challenge with learning to think and speak like a lawyer is that it can alienate you from the very people you want to serve.

I learned this first hand when it came to designing my website. My first website was a “think like a lawyers” dream. It was full of legalease, accolades and footnotes that I thought would make me more appealing to my audience. And if my audience were judges for a moot court competition – then I would have had no problems whatsoever.

But that was not my audience. My audience was full of working class people who needed to talk to someone who was able to speak in a voice to which they could relate. My audience did not have time to check my cross references and confirm the accuracy of my citations. They needed answers in plain English.

I knew this intuitively, but when it came to my website – I was pulled in two directions. On the one hand I wanted to attract clients. But on the other hand, I was concerned with how other lawyers would see me if my website did not use legalease. In a profession that is highly image driven, I was concerned with what other lawyers would think if I did not demonstrate my “think like a lawyer” skills on my website.

Classic rookie mistake.

When we spend our formative years in the profession surrounded by other attorneys in the making, we want to seem…well…lawyerly. For people who are caught up in thinking like a lawyer, using legalease is a surefire way to pull off the “I’m a lawyer” presentation.

We don’t often realize that there is a subtle hierarchy at play when we learn to “think” like a lawyer. We tend to place a higher value on that skill than on our ability to translate those thoughts into a communication style that works for our clients. Typically when I speak with other lawyers about this issue, they think I am advocating for “dumbing down” the conversation. They miss the point.

Thinking like a lawyer is important. But speaking like a human is key to your ability to attract and keep the type of clients that you want. Instead, focus on the words your clients use to describe their issues. Take note of the phrases and lexicon so that you can begin incorporating them into your own voice. When clients (or prospective clients) call with a question – write down the way they phrased it so that you can use similar phrases in the future.

When you write a blog article – remember who you are writing for and include those phrases and terminology in your article. Try to describe legal concepts in a way that might infuriate your Civ Pro professor – but that would make your parents proud.

I recently heard the phrase that in order to get good clients then you have to “fish where the fish are.” That may be true – but the end of the day – if your clients speak fish, then being where they are is just the first step. Growing and keeping a successful practice will also require that you to learn to speak fish.

Written by Lurie Daniel-Favors

Faculty Announcement – Bruce Godfrey

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:30:29 +0000

Bruce Godfrey will teach the course “Unemployment Appeals – Law, Practice and Procedure” at Solo Practice University®.

Bruce Godfrey practices in unemployment benefits litigation, wage and hour claims and traffic and criminal defense throughout Maryland’s metropolitan core. His practice has become recognized as one of the leading unemployment litigation firms in Maryland through its innovative online marketing and informational outreach techniques. Bruce has been practicing law in Maryland since December 1994.

His practice has adopted a “human-centered law practice” mission that governs the firm’s areas of concentration, client selection policies and office practices while using current technology to stay even with, and advance ahead of, larger opponents with greater financial means than his individual worker clients.

Bruce is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law and of Princeton University. He lives and practices in Owings Mills, Maryland and is the father of two boys, Sam and Noah. Bruce is a die-hard Ravens fan and remembers the Orioles of his youth with wistful fondness.

You can follow Bruce’s blog here.

Syllabus

Unemployment Appeals – Law, Practice and Procedure

Basic Overview of Unemployment Law Environment
Eligibility and Disqualifications
UI Procedure
Gross Misconduct
Voluntary Quit
Hearing and Appellate Tactics
Getting Paid – Ethically
Starting a UI Practice
Optimizing a UI Practice
State by State Comparative View
UI: The Big Picture for the Solo Attorney

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

SPU Classes Can Now Be Viewed on Your iPad and iPhone

Susan Cartier Liebel — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:30:50 +0000

Enjoy SPU Classes on your iPad and iPhone.

The vast majority of video and audio lessons at Solo Practice University® are now available to students using iPhones and iPads.

Two weeks ago, we quietly rolled out a new video player that detects the playback capabilities of each student and serves the most appropriate video player based on those capabilities. That means if you’re using a device or browser that doesn’t support Adobe® Flash®, including the iPhone or iPad, the video will instead be served up using an HTML5 player and controls.

Even if you’re not using an iPhone or iPad, you should notice faster video load times and enhanced playback when skipping ahead in the video player timeline.

While there are still a few older video and audio files that are in the process of being converted to the new format, we expect to have those last few files converted within the next couple weeks.

If you’re not already enrolled at Solo Practice University® and want to take this new technology for a test drive, you can preview the new video playback using the sample videos on our about page.

What’s next? We’re working on a new and improved interface that focuses on simplicity, fast loading, and device responsiveness. Stay tuned!

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

SPU Classes in May, June, July…and Much More!

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:30:05 +0000

These past three months have been very exciting at Solo Practice University! We have introduced many more classes and new courses as well as helping more lawyers and law students discover how beneficial having an online community like SPU can be for the growth of their solo practices.

We are also expanding by leaps and bounds. Look for new faculty coming soon as we continue to add to add to our impressive roster of faculty and educational offerings. So let’s get to it!

Recent Classes

Lesson 5 in Introduction to Billing and Accounting was about Getting Paid by Caren Schwartz
Richard Maseles delivered three wonderful classes in Real World Legal Research: A surprisingly useful primary law source (that you may already have), Terms and Connectors Ninja Search Tricks and Secondary Resources
New material is available in Jay Foonberg’s Ethics and Professionalism 101, Trust Accounts
The Law Biz Management classroom continues to provide informative and current material, including: Managing Client Expectations, The Times, They are a Changin’ series, and the two-part Why Marketing Matters for Lawyers, thanks to faculty member Ed Poll
Jonathan Ginsberg‘s Creating a Social Security and Disability Practice class features two new classes: Congress Increasing Scrutiny of SSDI and SSI Awards as well as Reopening Prior Applications
Unvarnished: the 21st Century Entertainment Solo was the topic of Gordon Firemark’s most recent Entertainment Law class. Gordon also shared Podcast Episode 22 – Violent Games, (anti) Slapps and Other Painless Fun
Katherine Frye discusses Preparing the Case for Trial (Part 2) in Lesson 7 of Child Custody Start to Finish
The inaugural lesson of Bankruptcy Law was an Introduction by Daniel Gershburg. Daniel also gave us lesson 2, Bankruptcy Law.
Kira Fonteneau shared Lesson 8 – Getting Ready for Court in the Landlord and Tenant Law classroom.
In Virtual Law Practice Stephanie Kimbro discusses Social Media and the Virtual Law Office. Stephanie also provides a detailed Checklist for the Virtual Law Office Website.
Brian Herrington discusses AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion: The Death Of (Many) Consumer Class Actions in Class Action Law. Brian also reviews Wal-Mart v. Dukes with The Hits Keep Coming
In Construction Practice 101 Chris Hill has lessons 19 and 20: Contracts and Fraud and You Can Do It!
Students are sure to find Jay Foonberg’s latest class in Ethics and Professionalism to be helpful: Managing Your Trust Account To Avoid Disbarment
Greg Yaghmai provided Lesson 13 of Trial Techniques on the topic of Evidence
Richard Granat reveals The Truth About Offering “Unbundled Legal Services” Online
Lesson 9 of Business Law is about Intellectual Property by Trippe Fried
Solo Practice University Founder Susan Cartier Liebel’s class, How to Hang a Shingle Right Out of Law School kicked off with four initial lessons, Ready. S.E.T. Go! – Discovering Your S.E.T. Point, Mindset and Motivations for the Solo Practitioner,Where Do You Locate Your Practice? and Location (Part 2)
Michael Brown delivers Lesson 3, Overview of Employee Rights Law Practice, in Employee Rights Law and Lesson 4, Intake Form for an Employee Rights Practice
Legal Storytelling Basics and Structure, (Parts 1 and 2) is the topic of Lessons 4 and 5 from Diane F. Wyzga in Storytelling Skills

Faculty News and Accomplishments

Congratulations to SPU Faculty, Kira Fonteneau, who just had her first child, Sydney Elise Fraser
Chris Hill says Thank You to Virginia Super Lawyers after they nominated and elected him to the Virginia Super Lawyers Rising Stars for 2011.
Trippe Fried shared the news that InHouse Legal recently opened a New York office.
Stephanie Kimbro presented on the topic of ethics and tech at AL State Bar’s Annual Meeting
D. Todd Smith has multiple reasons to celebrate recently – his firm reached a benchmark anniversary and he was elected chair of the Austin Bar Appellate Section.
Susan Cartier Liebel and faculty member, Katherine Frye were featured with 99 other women lawyers in the new ABA publication The Road To Independence

Guest Lectures

New Columnist and Faculty Announcements

New Columnist Debra Vey Voda-Hamilton joined SPU with her column ReZooming – advice and inspiration on starting up your career after a sabbatical
Lurie Daniel Favors is another addition to our stellar line up of columnists. She will be providing information on how to build a community-based practice
Bankruptcy and real estate attorney Daniel Gershburg joined the faculty and will be teaching Bankruptcy Law
David Carson, technical director extraordinaire at SPU will be teaching HTML, WordPress and More.

Best of the Season Blog Posts

Student Blog Highlights

What’s Happening at Solo Practice University

Solo Practice University got a mention in mainstream media with the highly circulated MSNBC piece ‘Law School Grads Going Solo and Loving It!’ The article highlighted there are those coming out of law school and making it instead of just doom and gloom for all graduates.

SPU’s first New York Law School students have enrolled through the Bridges Program and we are in talks with a significant number of other law schools about helping their students and new graduates learn how to go solo through the Bridges program. If you are interested in learning more about the Bridges Program, please contact us here.

Ready to Enroll? Check out our Tuition Prices, pick your plan and get started!

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Faculty Announcement – David Carson

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:58:10 +0000

David Carson is a website developer. He will teach a course called “HTML, WordPress and More” at Solo Practice University®.

David builds and maintains websites for a select group of individuals and organizations. He has been using WordPress, and other free or open-source software, to help find simple solutions to complex issues for more than five years.

As the technical director here at Solo Practice University® since its inception, David selected, implemented and currently maintains a highly customized installation of WordPress and BuddyPress that allows students to attend online courses and interact with other students and faculty. The Solo Practice University® website is proudly featured in the WordPress Showcase and BuddyPress Showcase.

David lives and works from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. When away from the computer, he spends his time kiteboarding or surfing with friends. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Tufts University (2001) and law degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law (2006).

Syllabus – HTML, WordPress and More

In this course, you’ll learn the basics of HTML along with more advanced techniques for installing, optimizing and maintaining a WordPress installation. The course will be most helpful to lawyers or law students with some experience using either HTML or WordPress, but everyone (from beginner to expert) should find the course helpful.

Introduction to Links and Anchors

Anatomy of a link
How to properly share a link
Tracking link activity
Shortened links – good and bad

Basic HTML

Headings
Paragraphs
Lists
Others

Styling HTML with CSS

Separate content from style
What is CSS?
Stylesheets
Browsers and Progressive Enhancement

Getting Started with WordPress

Hosting
Installation
Configuration
Themes

Maintaining Your WordPress Site

Backups
Security
Performance issues
Upgrading WordPress

Customizing Your WordPress Site

Choosing a theme
Customizing a theme
Adding plugins
Best Practices

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Faculty Announcement – Daniel Gershburg

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 09 May 2011 11:30:57 +0000

Daniel Gershburg is a bankruptcy and real estate lawyer practicing in New York. He will teach a course about bankruptcy law at Solo Practice University®.

Daniel Gershburg took a different road when graduating from law school. While he was a member of the Law Review and the Harlan Scholars program, Mr. Gershburg passed up the opportunity to work at large law firms and instead decided to establish his own practice, with the hope of changing the way solo and small firm practice attorneys are viewed. His practice deals specifically with Bankruptcy and Real Estate Law. Mr. Gershburg has spoken to classes at New York Law School, has been published in New York State Bar Association newsletters, serves on the New York State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Executive Committee and is a desired CLE presenter. He frequently speaks at community functions in his Brooklyn neighborhood educating members of the community about Bankruptcy as well as financial advocacy. He is also the newest blogger at Patch.com (AOL HuffingtonPost) on Park Slope legal affairs. Mr. Gershburg also spends a considerable amount of pro bono time volunteering at the Brooklyn Bar Assocation Volunteer Lawyers Project, assisting low income individuals to file for Bankruptcy.

You can connect with Daniel on Twitter and subscribe to his blog.

Syllabus

View the full syllabus (PDF) or read the summary below.

Introduction:

Who I am
How’d I get here
What can you learn from this course
What this course for?
How I teach.

Bankruptcy Practice for the New Solo.

Why now more than ever is a great time.
Advantages
Software and programs involved
Cost
Marketing
What you’ll need
Pro Bono

Before the Marketing, The Law:

Means Test (The Simple Version)
Assets
Liabilities
Schedule I/J (Income vs. Expenses)
Statement of Financial Affairs
Transfers of Property
Exemptions
- Federal
- NY State
The Do’s and Don’t’s
The Trustee Package
- Tabs

The Initial Client Interview

The questions to ask
The questions that aren’t asked but should be asked
How to know when to ask further questions and about what
The common questions the client will ask
The answers
The Advice to give about credit cards and credit scores
How to be as thorough as possible
The Deposit
The Retainer
The follow up guarantees
The Credit Counseling Course

The Meeting of the Creditors

What to send to the Trustee prior
How to Send it
What to Expect
Prepping the Client
What to bring to the meeting
Dressing (yes, Im serious)
Presentation is everything
The 21 Questions to Prepare for
What happens when its over

The Crucial Next Steps-Keeping the Client Happy

Unsolicited updates.
How long will the process take to finish
Credit Score counseling
Building up credit again
Value Added services

Finding the Clients-Not Marketing

Using Video Blogs
Using FB/Twitter (but not in the usual way)
Skype
Authenticity
Pro Bono work
Why “Marketing” doesn’t work
Legal Directories
Blogging
Networking (without name tags)

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Recent Classes, News and What’s New at SPU!

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 02 May 2011 15:17:51 +0000

It has been a long cold winter, but we are now beginning the May month of flowers – one of my favorite times of year because it’s all about new growth.

We decided to combine out last three months of new growth at SPU in one blog post highlighting February, March, and April classes as well as new programs. If you missed anything, here’s the recap! (And at the end of this post, find out what’s coming up!)

Recent Classes

The last classes of I’ve Been Grieved. Now What? by Elizabeth Granoff were Professionalism in the Legal Community and Character and Fitness

Ed Poll in LawBiz Management gave us Lawyer Advertising, Write Downs and Write Offs, Governance of the Bar and Ethical Considerations in Collecting Your Fee, No, It’s Not the Same: Pricing vs. Billing, Part 1, No, It’s Not the Same: Pricing vs. Billing, Part 2. He also discussed The Best Laid Plans: Why Every Law Firm Needs Them.

Lessons 2 and 3 and 4 of Introduction to Billing and Accounting from Caren Schwartz were posted: Billing Basics, Parts 1 and 2 and Choosing and Using Software.

Another Lesson 2, this time Special Topics in Witness Preparation from Understanding and Working with Juries in the 21st Century by Doug Keene, Ph.D.

Greg Yaghmai shared Lesson 12 – Evidence in his Trial Techniques Class. (Greg is from Alabama so we share our thoughts with him and his family in the aftermath of the tornados)

Stephanie Kimbro posted great information about Using a Virtual Law Office to Unbundle Legal Services , including a Video Intro to Unbundling Legal Services in Virtual Law Practice. Stephanie also shared Networking Exercises #1 and #2. Stephanie’s April topic was The Many Structures of Online Delivery.

If you want to stay up to date on Business Law then don’t miss the Update to Lesson 1 – Entity Formation courtesy of Trippe Fried

Katherine Frye discusses Getting To Settlement in Lesson 6 of Child Custody: Start to finish…is there an end??

Class 17 of Construction Practice 101 details More on Mediation from Chris Hill, and Class 18 covers Three Pronged Marketing.

Richard Maseles provided Real World Legal Research, v. 2.0, the extended cut and Canned research- finding what someone’s already done (2.0) in Real World Legal Research. Richard also provided two great sets of resources: Free Resources (Parts 1 and 2) – Case Law, Statutes, Regs. Court Rules and Free-ish resources– Casemaker, Fastcite, Versuslaw. April gave us Richard’s class Comparative Law- Ever Use It, For Real? (With Interior Easter Egg) (2.0).

In Class Action Law Brian Herrington shares A Sample Brief In Support Of Class Certification along with a class on Putting The Class Action Fairness Act To Work For You.

Diane F. Wyzga started her class on Storytelling Skills to Bring Out the Truth, Not Just the Facts with Lesson 1 – Introduction to Storytelling. Diane also shared lesson 2 this spring, Story Structure.

Session 17 of Creating A Social Security Disability Practice focuses on Winning Strategy #1 – Bathroom Breaks, courtesy of Jonathan Ginsberg. Jonathan discussed Arguing for a Closed Period of Disability in his April lecture.

Something Minor: Kids in Showbiz was Gordon Firemark’s latest topic in Entertainment Law. He also shared an Entertainment Law Update Boop Boop Be Doo!

Kira Fonteneau gives us Lesson 7 of Landlord Tenant Law, Getting Ready for Court. (Another Alabaman who is in our thoughts after the tornados.)

New blood reinvigorates the Trusts and Estates classroom as Victor Medina provides a new guest lecture – What’s New in Trusts and Estates.

Gerry Oginski provided Using Video to Build a Relationship Online in his Creating Online Video for Attorneys classroom.

In the new Employee Rights Classroom, Michael Brown gave an Overview of Employee Rights Law Practice.

Faculty Accomplishments

SPU Faculty member Carolyn Elefant deserves a round of applause this month! Carolyn will have a bar journal piece law review article published this spring discussing electric utilities & social media.

Jay Shepherd is now a columnist for Above The Law

Guest Lectures

Our “What’s New” series of free audio guest lectures continued in February, March and April with lectures from Gerry Oginski discussing Video for Attorneys, James Reed on the topic of What’s New in Personal Injury, Trippe Fried discussing Business Law, Steph Kimbro on Virtual Law Practice, Gordon Firemark on Entertainment Law, Victor Medina with Macs in the Law Office.

Jordan Furlong provided an intriguing two part teleseminar update on the Future of the Legal Profession (part 1, part 2). He is also providing five scholarships to SPU. You definitely want to check it out!

Amanda Ellis provided a wonderful guest lecture on the topic of Getting Hired Using Social Networking. This is a must listen for law students and new grads because there is more than you know to using social media effectively.

Another great guest lecture came from Toby Bloomberg, Social Media and Networking for Businesses.

April also showcased a guest lecture on Using the D.A.F.T. System to Organize Work Flow from Andrea Cannavina.

New Faculty Announcements

We are announcing new faculty on an ongoing basis and are currently working with many potential new faculty. Here is a list of new faculty announced these past few months:

In early March Diane Wyzga was announced as a new faculty member who will teach Storytelling Skills to Bring Out the Truth, Not Just the Facts and in late March it was announced that Michael Brown will be joining the faculty to teach a class on Employee Rights Law. April brought with it the announcement that I, Susan Cartier Liebel will also be teaching a class at SPU, How to Hang a Shingle Right Out of Law School..or Shortly Thereafter.

Best of the Season Blog Posts

Our roster of Columnists is awesome and we will be adding more soon. Check out the posts which created the biggest buzz:

Life as a One-Man Band

Should a Solo Buy Law Practice Management Software

What Role Does Your Spouse or Partner Play in the Success of Your Solo Practice?

Solo as a Side Dish

10 Things I Hate About Being a Solo Practitioner

How I am Looking for a Professional Service Provider in 2011

The Future of (Legal) Education

Choosing Law Practice Management Software

What They Don’t (and Can’t) Teach You in Law School

Consultations: Free or Fee

Budgeting as a Solo: What You REALLY Need

Should I Go To Law School and What Do Solos Earn?

Student highlights:

Graduating this month, Jack Whittington discusses How to Make Your Law Clerkships Work for Your Job Search

Lurie Daniel Favors – taking her message to the air waves

Rachel Rodgers and her husband are featured on Entrepeneur.com

Also, Rachel is is now a contributing author to YES

Scott Vaughn Walsh – Wrapping Up Law School

Michael West – Last Class Until Graduation

What’s Happening at Solo Practice University®

Solo Practice University® introduced the new and exciting Bridges program. Our inaugural partner is New York Law School. We will also be announcing several other law schools within the coming months who recognize the tremendous value Solo Practice University® brings to its students and alumni. If you’d like your law school to participate,(whether you are a current student or an alumni) please provide your deans, career counselors, and alumni directors the link to the Bridges program and ask them to get in contact with us!

In February, we not only enhanced our website look and functionally, we added unlimited online CLE to our quarterly enrollment option. What a great way to get the most bang for your educational/CLE dollars – Solo Practice University® and free online CLE through our strategic partner, Lawline.com

This Friday we are announcing a new monthly columnist.

D. Todd Smith shares a free guest lecture on May 3rd – ’What’s New’ in Appellate Practice

May 10th hear from author Hollee Temple on her new book ‘Good Enough is the New Perfect’. This is a book for all professional women who are mothers (and the partners who love them!) discussing why good enough is not about settling but about…well, you’ll just have to find out by listening

Jay Foonberg is back at SPU with a new lecture on Trust Accounting and Avoiding Grievances. He’s joining us May 20th and you won’t want to miss it! (SPU Students only.)

Ron Baker weighs in on ‘What’s New’ in Value Pricing and the Firm of the Future with a special free guest lecture.

New Solo Practice University® Sponsors

Along with our stalwarts we now have brought in Total Attorneys. Check them out because our students get a sweetheart of a deal.

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If you’re not subscribed to the Solo Practice University® newsletter, now is the time to jump on board. You can do so here. Also, make sure to ‘like’ our SPU Facebook page where you’ll find great discussions, news and more…all about going solo.

And, of course, we’d love to have you join us on the inside where students are learning and networking, building and growing their solo practices.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel