Jay Foonberg


Jay Foonberg has successfully practiced business law, business litigation, estate and probate litigation, legal ethics and aviation law. He will teach two courses at Solo Practice University®.

The first course is entitled, “Client Relations 101: Teaching lawyers how to change their ways of doing things to improve client relations.” By doing so it will result in the elimination of avoidable ethics and malpractice complaints while simultaneously improving the success of the practice. This course is based upon his famous “Nine Steps To A Successful Practice”.

The second course is entitled, “Ethics and Professionalism 101: Covering both the basics and the new developments in the traditional ethics areas including Conflicts, Trust Accounts, Client Confidences, Internet and Media Advertising, Multi Client Representation, Fee Agreements, Permissible Fee Arrangements”. This course will serve as an excellent review of law school ethics updated to be current. The course will also cover professionalism, the differences between a profession and an occupation, and the differences between a profession and a business as well as lawyer to lawyer conduct, and how these differences affect Americas’ trust in lawyers and the legal system as evidenced by the increasing number of complaints against lawyers.

Jay has served in the ABA House of Delegates; he is on the Advisory Council for the ABA Commission on Evaluation of the Rules of Professional Conduct and he was a founder of the ABA Law Practice Management Section. His book, How To Start and Build a Law Practice (5th edition), is the book that is most frequently stolen from law libraries in the United States and it has earned more than $1 million for the ABA, and has been their best seller every year since 1977. Mr. Foonberg is the author of three other important books, all available from the ABA: How to Get and Keep Good Clients (3rd edition); Finding the Right Lawyer; and The ABA Guide to Lawyer Trust Accounts. A much sought after speaker, Jay has led seminars and taught client relations, malpractice prevention, ethics and client development in every one of the 50 states and as far afield as Europe, South America and Asia in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Jay earned his JD from UCLA Law School and has received the prestigious Harrison Tweed Award, CLE’s highest honor. He lives and practices in Beverly Hills, California.

Recognition of his skills has resulted in his being perhaps the only person ever honored for lifetime achievements with awards from four American Bar Association entities including the following:

  • Harrison Tweed award from the ABA-PLI Consortium on Continuing Legal Education for being the Most Outstanding CLE Educator in the United States.
  • Sam’s Smith Medal for a Lifetime Achievements by the Law Practice Managment Section of the ABA.
  • Don Riklis award for Lifetime Achievements by the General Practice Solo and Small Firm Division of the ABA.
  • Law Student Division of The ABA for Life Time Achievements.,
  • Lou Goldberg Award as the Most Outstanding Attorney-CPA in the United States by the American Association of Attorney-CPA’s.

Jay has also been decorated by the nations of Argentina and Brazil for his work in International Trade as well as having been accepted by The Knights of Malta for his work with hospitals throughout the world.

For more information about Jay, visit his website.

Mr. Foonberg has expressed optimism and enthusiasm in Solo Practice University™ as a platform, available anywhere in the world via the internet, to provide both basic and current information and ideas to help solos and small firm lawyers provide high quality legal services to their clients and to the community. He will also provide information on the resources available to solos and small firms through National and local bar organizations.


Syllabus – Ethics and Professionalism 101

This course will emphasize the many ethical problems faced daily by solos and small firm lawyers. We will concentrate on recognizing and resolving the ethical problems at an early stage before the lawyer has done a lot of work that will never get paid for and which could result in disciplinary charges. Trust Accounts, Permissible and non permissible Fee Agreements, Conflicts, Multi Client representation and email issues will be covered. The problems will be real life and the solutions will be real life.