I’ve been thinking a lot about blogging and the arch question: “is it a giant waste of time and thought?” What is more, “should I feel compelled to share my nonsense and should you, dear reader, be compelled to read it?” I’ll deal with the former, you consider the latter.
I started a small law firm, practiced for about 5 months and abruptly wrapped up the practice, took and passed the bar exam, and I am now waiting for admission by motion into the Minnesota bar. Which brings up yet another question: “where do I fit in in terms of legal blogging?” I’ve actually practiced by myself for a short period of time and had some success. (To be fair, most of the money I made was from clients at my old firm – but, they were my clients and they wanted me). Now, I’m licensed in Indiana and admitted (but not yet licensed in North Dakota). I just submitted my Minnesota application for admission by motion. The Minnesota Board of Law Examiners sent me a very official letter telling me I had to wait four months for a investigation to take place before they would make a decision. This amounts to my third “investigation” in four years for bar admission purposes. Yep, my record is still clean. No disciplinary violations, and yet, another investigation. I’ll say this, I haven’t had a speeding ticket in seven years. I’ve been a good boy.
So this is where I think I fit in: I’m a legal blogger, blogging about the things it takes to do before you start a law firm. That’s right, this blog should more properly be titled: “before you start a law firm.” I apologize for the narrowness of my scope. Read at your own risk.
As I promised before and will get to later, I have updated my Minnesota attorney website. I am also in the process of creating a second website but I can’t unleash its awesome power because it is practice and location specific (think: Minnesota). On the website front, I did it myself and it hurt me. I like my website. My wife likes it. My son looked at it briefly (I think). But, in the end, I’ll sign off with this: why didn’t I just buck up and pay somebody to design my website for me? I have spent long hours on it. Too many hours. To think, my time used to be worth $150.00 an hour.
I think I have an answer to the last question. I spent too much time building my website because that is what I do. I do things myself. I can’t let anybody do things for me if I think I can figure it out. It’s a curse and a blessing, really.
So, it’s a metaphor or a symbol then: I developed my own website, figured out how to optimize it for speed, and added (and revised over and over again) because I’m a DYI’er (do-it-yourselfer). I’m blogging about “before” starting a law firm because I can’t be any other way. That is where I fit in.