ABA Journal Legal Rebels, 2009. The ABA Journal profiled Susan as a Legal Rebel, calling her "Solos' Champion." Clio's Jack Newton nominated her, saying a resource like SPU had been "sorely lacking."
SINCE 2009
About Solo Practice University
Attorney Susan Cartier Liebel founded Solo Practice University in spring 2009 to teach lawyers what law school mostly didn't: how to hang a shingle and keep it hanging.
For 17 years, practicing lawyers taught other lawyers how it's done.
OUR MISSION
Solo Practice University is dedicated to the mission of helping solo lawyers and small firms thrive in an ever changing technological landscape.
Our content, courses, and community are all designed to give ambitious boutique firms the tools, mindset, and knowledge they need to meet and exceed their goals.
Founder, Solo Practice University
THE FOUNDER
How it started.
Susan opened her first practice right out of law school with two other new lawyers. Years later, she kept hearing the same frustration from new graduates: law school never taught them how to run a practice.
So she started teaching it herself, for eight years at Quinnipiac University School of Law. In 2007 she closed her office to coach solos full time and set out to take the course online.
Her first calls went to Ed Poll and Jay Foonberg. Both said yes, and that gave her the nerve to ask everyone else. With technologist Dave Carson, she built SPU in public. It opened in spring 2009, two months after big New York firms laid off waves of young associates, with more than 40 volunteer faculty. It passed 400 members in three months. That September, the ABA Journal named her a Legal Rebel.
- 2000
- Starts teaching solo practice at Quinnipiac
- 2004
- Connecticut Law Tribune "Young Leaders in the Law" award
- 2009
- Solo Practice University opens
SPU, year by year
- 2009 SPU opens. The ABA Journal names Susan a Legal Rebel.
- 2010 Unlimited CLE added through a partnership with Lawline.
- 2011 Bridges launches with New York Law School.
- 2012 SPU passes 1,000 members. Faculty start receiving stipends.
- 2015 The SPU blog enters the ABA Journal Blawg 100 Hall of Fame.
- 2016 SPU co-hosts a search marketing workshop for solos at Google's New York office.
- 2017 Annual enrollment, and with it free CLE, closes.
- 2026 AI Fluency and new community launched.
CLE at SPU, 2010 to 2017
From 2010 to 2017, annual enrollment included unlimited online CLE from partner providers Lawline and NACLE. The CLE came from those partners.
SPU doesn't offer CLE now.
What the profession said about it
- ABA Journal Blawg 100 Hall of Fame.
- Fastcase 50.
- Covered by Above the Law and Lawyers USA.
Who taught here
87 instructors and guest lecturers, most of them practicing lawyers. Among them:
On building a practice
- Jay FoonbergAuthor, How to Start and Build a Law Practice
- Carolyn ElefantMyShingle; author, Solo by Choice
- Ed PollLawBiz Management
- Jay ShepherdFixed-price employment firm, Boston
- Ronald J. BakerVeraSage Institute; author, Pricing on Purpose
On technology and the future of practice
- Richard GranatFounder, DirectLaw
- Stephanie KimbroAuthor, Virtual Law Practice
- Steven TepplerE-discovery and digital evidence
- Donna ChesteenSoftware engineer turned lawyer
- Conrad SaamFounder, Mockingbird
- Jared CorreiaRed Cave Law Firm Consulting
- David SchnurmanFounder, Lawline
- Jordan FurlongLegal industry analyst
Bios reflect the time they taught here.
What SPU built
- 1,259lessons
- 87courses
- 1,399blog posts
- 3,033reader comments
- 1,000+members by 2012
Who worked with SPU
Law schoolsNew York Law School, Chapman, UALR Bowen, Indiana McKinney, Lewis & Clark, Golden Gate
About the Bridges program →
Malpractice insurersALPS, Lawyers Mutual of North Carolina
Bars and legal organizationsABA GPSolo Division, Vermont Bar Association, Wyoming State Bar, Phi Delta Phi, Justice Entrepreneurs Project
CLE providersLawline, NACLE
Legal media and trainingAbove the Law, Legal Talk Network, Trebuchet Legal, Themis Bar Review
Legal technologyClio, MyCase, Smokeball, LawPay, Ruby
Past arrangements.
How this site works now
- Old posts stay dated.
- Sponsored content is labeled.
- Authors keep their names.
- Nothing here is legal advice.