Category: how to start a law firm

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Starting a Law Firm | Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Roadmap

I wanted any readers out there who are either (1) contemplating or (2) starting a law firm that Minnesota Lawyers Mutual (MLM) now has a blog and roadmap for lawyers who are looking to go out on their own.

This helpful tidbit of information was reported by Andrea Hable at the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) Practice Blawg.  The MSBA – like any state bar association – is a wonderful resource for solo and small firm lawyers.  Furthermore, I belong to the Indiana State Bar Association (where I am also licensed) and I can say that the MSBA provides much more in terms of its membership bang-for-the-buck.  The amount of materials, forms, etc have exceeded my expectations.  Also, the membership fees are very reasonable for new bar admitees.

The Minnesota Lawyers Mutual blog is also well done and covers a lot of good ground.  Check it out.  Topics include important things like:

  • Ethics
  • Trust accounting
  • Law Office technology
  • Billing clients
  • Collecting fees

The blog is new and it appears to be directed more towards signing up new lawyers for MLM’s malpractice insurance, but it is helpful nonetheless.

I attended a CLE last fall put on by the Minnesota Solo and Small Firm section.  MLM was there handing out goodies and the like.  For those who don’t know, MLM appears to be the big-boy when it comes to attorney malpractice insurance in the state of Minnesota.  MLM does a good job marketing themselves and their materials have substance.  I don’t have a problem doing business with an organization who sells a good product and who tries to help with quality materials.

If you haven’t gone to starting and building a law practice CLE in Minnesota (or any state for that matter) I highly recommend you do so.  The presenters and materials are excellent  and the networking possibilities are even better.

Have a great weekend!

 

-This post was written by Joseph M. Flanders, an Apple Valley, MN attorney.

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Learning How to Practice Law Again

Confession:  I had a bit of a breakdown this weekend when I realized how much work I have to do before I can open-up-shop and start practicing law again.   Calling it overwhelming would be an understatement.  Luckily, I have the greatest person I have ever met to listen to me in my dark moments:  my wife.

After discussing a myriad of concerns with her about how impossible it was to get everything done, I realized that my main concern right now is competency.  I’m a licensed attorney in Indiana, but I am hoping to be admitted to the Minnesota Bar in the relatively near future.  Until I am licensed in Minnesota, I have been doing the whatever due diligence work I can to get ready.  In other words, I need to train myself all over again.  Furthermore,  I cannot begin taking on cases in Minnesota unless I can competently handle the issue.  As I’ve discussed, my main practice area is and has been family law.  I’ve done a smattering of other legal work, but I feel the most comfortable saying I know what I am doing in family law.

However, I practiced for nearly four years in Indiana.  Indiana has different laws and different rules.  Indiana has different courts.  Indiana has different forms, filing fees, deadlines, etc, etc.  I could go on.

It is true that laws are very similar in many states.  However, I know from practicing law that the bar exam and law school doesn’t teach you how to be a competent practicing attorney.  I thought I was getting good at my job in Indiana, but Minnesota has different forms, rules, law, procedures, courts, etc.  It is scary.

In light of this, I have come to the conclusion that I have two options: (1) join a law firm, get Minnesota-centric experience, build a network, and then open a law practice, or (2) go to the law library and read, read, read, gain competency in the details, and then start a law firm.

At this point, I am going with option 2.  After I teach myself, I will talk to as many local attorneys as I can and, possibly, do a unpaid internship of sorts.  Also, as I stated in my previous post, I’m looking into trying to find a family law mentor of some kind.

Luckily, I have a couple of friends who practice family law close by.  I plan to pump them for as much information as I can.  Also, I remembered today that divorce pleadings are typically matters of public record.  I simply need to go to a courthouse and find a completed dissolution of marriage file and review the pleadings – preferably a case handled by a good, experienced lawyer.  I used this trick often in Indiana.  When in doubt, go look at the quality work of those that have gone before you.

Learning the law over again is not fun.  It is especially not fun when you have already learned one jurisdiction’s law.  But, it is necessary.

After practicing law for a little while I know that I have my client’s lives in my hands.  I cannot fail to meet the burden of that trust.  I cannot be incompetent.  If, after trying to teach myself the finer points of Minnesota practice, I don’t feel I am competent to handle family law work, I’m not going to start a law firm.  End of story.

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Book Review: “Solo By Choice, 2011-2012 Edition”, by Carolyn Elefant

I like it.  I recommend it.  Go get yourself a copy.

I have talked about Ms. Carolyn Elefant a lot here and it is for good reason.  She writes well, she is honest, talented, and (as far as I can tell) she has been down the path that so many solo attorneys face:  she has actually started and maintained a successful law practice.  She is kind of my hero.

Not only has she done all that, but she has written a book about it and has now issued an update:  “Solo By Choice, 2011-2012 Edition“.

As readers of this blog should already know, Ms. Elefant published her first book “Solo By Choice” in 2007.  I don’t know what her sales are, but I bought the first edition and loved it.  I have purchased several other “start your own law practice guides”; including the laudable J. Foonberg’s “How to Start and Build a Law Practice“.  However, in my opinion, Ms. Elefant’s book is the best book on the market about being a solo attorney and building your own law practice.

But, you may ask, if the book was published in 2007, why is there a need for a new edition?  I’m not sure and can only guess at more book sales, but it’s no leap to say that this edition is better than the previous one.

The new version contains more meat and new sections which reflect the change in the solo-attorney-legal-market in the last few years.  If you haven’t noticed, there has been a shift in a thing called the world-economy.  This has had a considerable effect on many professions – including the practice of law.  Ms. Elefant is keenly aware of this and blogs about it at MyShingle.com.

The new edition reflects these changes.  In recent years, there has been an “explosion” of new solo lawyers.  The reason appears to be the economy and the continual rise of the digital age.  I, and this blog, fit squarely in this purview.

So What’s New?

For starters, the new version (without the companion piece) clocks in at 304 pages while the previous version had about 300 pages.  However, what is taken out is mainly in the companion guide (134 pages) and what is put back in is better.

Notably, the companian piece titled, “The Companion Guide, 34 Questions that could Transform Your Legal Career”, is wonderful.  Even if she hadn’t changed a thing, I would buy the book just for the add-on.

Much has been discussed about how solo attorneys often face personal and professional isolation.  Let’s face it:  solo = alone.  The Companion Guide is like your new cadre of lawyer best-friends.  It’s other solos out there talking about real issues about the practice of law.

Topics range from:  In the Beginning, A Day in the Life, The Business of Solo’ing, Reflections, and Expanded Profiles.  I have to say, reading this companion piece makes me excited to be a lawyer again.  That feeling is worth the price of purchase by itself.

To be fair, much of the companion piece is a little obvious.  There is a lot of talk about what not to do, what I like, and how I shouldn’t have spent so much on overhead at first.  Etc. However, the simplicity rings true.  When you whittle things to the nub, the truth often comes out – simple or not.  I like that so many of the attorneys in the companion piece echo each other.  It’s obvious that they are happy and enjoying what they are doing.  Isn’t that what ‘solo by choice’ is all about?

As far the new edition itself goes, Ms. Elefant has updated many sections to reflect the changes of running a law practice and marketing it.  She has beefed up the “Dealing with Clients” chapter a bit.  I appreciated that because I am a young attorney who sometimes needs to think about competence more than marketing.

She has also made some changes to the marketing section of the book.  In particular, a new chapter is entitled “Marketing in an Age of Changing Technology.”  This chapter includes some re-hash from the previous edition, but most of it is new.  I particularly appreciated the topics of ‘website optimization’, ‘smart-phone apps.’, ‘SEO’, and other pertinent digital-media marketing.

If you follow her blog, you will also see new and better discussion of video and teleconference marketing.  Some of the discussion isn’t so good for people like me who run a family law practice, but it’s all there and should be read.

What I particularly enjoyed about the new content can be summarized by her new “Argument #6.  Opportunity to Innovate” in Chapter 1, titled “The Case for Solo Practice”. Much of the discussion revolves around the changes in technology which make the practice of law better.   Things like cloud-computing, teleconferencing, webinars, and host of technological advancements that make a solo practice better get their due.

Furthermore, I appreciated her citation to a ABA Technology Report, which provides that “nearly half of solo and small firm lawyer lack even rudimentary online presence.”  That is not surprising, and maybe even good for new solos who can leverage new technology better than their competition.  Reading this new content isn’t a game-changer, it’s a refresher on why you wanted to be solo in the first place.

In sum, I’ll quote Ms. Elefant from her new companion guide:

[Y]ou can take comfort in this:  the dozen of solos cited in the Companion Guide once stood at the same precipice where you are now and none of them too the leap without regret.

Well said, Carolyn, well said.

 

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If You Want to Do It, Just Do It

I’ve been wanting to post for several days now and I just can’t seem to get one out.  I’m too busy working on my website, which I plan to talk about in detail because I made a bunch of mistakes that somebody can learn from.  Anyway, I’m posting now.

When I think about starting a law firm – and I think about it all day, every day – a comment by Steve Pennaz keeps coming back to me.  Who is Steve Pennaz?  Clearly you don’t fish.  Pennaz is the head of the North American Fishing Club.  That is not important.  What is important is a comment he made in a recent fishing show about his early salad days when he was a little guy and the world was a big, big place.

I wanted to share his comment.  I’m paraphrasing, but here goes:  during the show, Pennaz was asked about getting started in the fishing business.  He talked about how he wanted to be a fishing guru and head-honcho of the fishing industry soon after college or something.

To that end, he shared that, while he was still college, he went to a fishing seminar at which Babe Winkelman was the keynote speaker.  (Oh, you don’t know who Babe Winkelman is either?).  Pennaz shared that he went up to Babe Winkelman and asked:  “How did you start your own fishing show?”  To which, Winkelman replied:  “What do you mean ‘how’, I just did it.”

Whether or not you like fishing or embroidery, the message in that statement is clear.  If you want to do something, just do it and don’t look back.  That’s my new moto:  “I just did it.”

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John Maynard Keynes and Spending to Start a Law Firm

Author John Cassidy, in the October 10, 2011 issue of the New Yorker magazine (which happens to be the annual “money” issue), wrote a though-provoking article on John Maynard Keynes and his economic philosophy as it relates to the current world-wide financial recession.  Much of the article, titled “The Demand Doctor“, posits (as far as I can tell) that Keynes was right in his argument that government spending creates demand and thereby boosts the economy out of recession.

As I’ve posted, I’m worried about how to start a law firm in this economy and the uncertain risks of being an entrepreneur.  I remember learning about Mr. Keynes as an undergraduate, but my level of knowledge is foggy at best.  I have noticed, however, that his name and ideas show up in my intellectual reading pursuits in an eerily frequent fashion.

This makes me wonder:  Is Keynes simply a easy target for writers and economic neophytes?  Or, is he truly a revolutionary though-leader whose theories should be continuously revisited?  These are question I do have easy answers to. Perhaps more important is what can Mr. Keynes and his economic philosophy can teach me about being an astute capitalist who aims to start a law firm in an economy that is at a historic low.

Keynes argues that the government must spend and possibly cut taxes so that people like you and me will, in turn, spend.  The spending then boosts the economy, creates jobs, encourages lending, etc, etc.  Mr. Cassidy, quoting author Sylvia Nasar, summarizes the Keynsian position well:

What made the General Theory so radical was Keynes’s proof that it was possible for a free market economy to settle into states in which workers and machines remained idle for prolonged periods of time . . .  The only way to revive business confidence and get the private sector spending again was by cutting taxes and letting business and individuals keep more of their income so they could spend it.  Or, better yet, having the government spend more money directly , since that would guarantee that 100 percent of it would be spent rather than saved.  If the private sector couldn’t or wouldn’t spend, the government would have to do it.  For Keynes, the government had to be prepared to act as the spender of last resort, just as the central bank acted as the lender of last resort.

Keynes argued that (at a basic level) a large entity (the government) needs to spend in order to help the national economy grow – or at least not stagnate.  I find this basic premise interesting because my first instinct is to cut my spending and save, save, save when things start getting rough financially.  Apparently, as the author writes, former President Harry Truman had a similar reaction to Keynes’s ideas, stating that:

“Nobody can ever convince me that Government can spend a dollar that it’s not got,” he told Leon Keyserling, a Keynsian economist who chaired his Council of Economic Advisers.  “I’m just a country boy.”

In many ways, I echo President Truman’s sentiment.  I’m also somewhat of a country boy.  How can I justify spending more of my family’s hard earned money on investing in an entrepreneurial venture like starting a law firm?  Would it not be wiser to simply look for and obtain a job doing some form of legal work and thereby garner a steady salary?  Clearly, if the only goal is to make money and provide for my family, then starting a law firm is not a wise decision in the short-term.

The New Yorker piece also discusses the myriad of objections that Mr. Keynes’s ideas have received since he first published his seminal work “The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money” in 1936.  Many of the objection boil down to a fundamental disagreement that government cannot spend dollars when the government does not have dollars to spend.

With this understanding firmly in my mind about Keynes’s thought on stimulating a national economy, I believe that I can make a connection with starting and building a law firm.  In my mind, this sort of thought process is a akin to return-on-investment (ROI).  I have noticed that many law firm guru’s and other lawyers marketing blogs have discussed the importance of ROI.  I am not going to try to discuss the minutia of ROI as it relates to specific instances of law firm marketing.  My point here is only to share the excellent article by Mr. Cassidy in the New Yorker and to posit that starting a law firm (or any business for that matter) is akin to using Keynsian economic philosophy to stimulate the economy.

I also realize that starting a law firm is more individualistic  – it benefits me and my family but not the national or world as a whole.  Perhaps my leanings should be more socialist and less capitalist.  I don’t think so.  In addition to his academic career, he was also a privileged capitalist.  Mr. Cassidy quotes Keynes:

If I am going to pursue sectional interest at all, I shall pursue my own . . . [t]he Class war will find me on the side of the educated bourgeoisie.

I identify with Keynes’s sentiment.  Starting a law firm and being  capitalist in a down economy is not necessarily a bad idea or a strictly individualistic endevour.  The world needs spending and it needs entrepreneurs right now.  Whether or not you agree with Keynses’s economic philosophy, it is hard to argue with that fact.

I don’t mean to say that the journey will be easy or frought with risk.  It is and it will be.  Failure is also a reality.  But, I also believe in the maxim that nothing ventured is nothing gained.  As Mr. Cassidy concludes in his article:

It calls not merely for the management of risk but for something politically and intellectually far more demanding:  the acknowledgement of uncertainty.

 

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Can Bad SEO Advice Support a Negligence Lawsuit?

Check out this post by Eric Goldman on his Technology & Marketing Law Blog about how bad SEO advice could support a negligence claim as seen in D’Agostino v. Appliances Buy Phone, Inc..  (As an aside, I found this article at Associates Mind – another blog that appears to be way better than this one and which makes me jealous).

According to the complaint, a small home appliances business and Google were sued by the business’s web developer.  As Mr. Goldman points out, the more interesting aspect of the complaint is the counter claim.  In the counter claim, the small business seeks damages for the web developer building a second business website that appears to have had duplicate content with the original website.  If you didn’t know, Google doesn’t like duplicate content.

Mr. Goldman does a great job explaining the nature of the counter claim:

On the negligence claim, Sigman argued that D’Agostino claimed to be an SEO expert but negligently triggered a duplicate content penalty. Finally, Sigman claimed that D’Agostino breached their contract by “jeopardizing defendant’s website, violating Google policies, and causing the interruption of defendant’s enterprise.”

I’ve been putting a lot of time and effort into my law firm website and to blogging.  There is a lot of information out there about “white hat” versues “black hat” search-engine-optimization.  As I concluded in a prior post, SEO is mostly bull shit in the respect that you don’t need a guru.  What you should do is focus on a niche and write authoritatively with good content.  Simple.

Anyway, as Mr. Goldman points out, there may actually be negative ramifications for asserting that you are some sort of SEO guru and trying to sell your wares to the next gullible buyer.  I can’t tell you how many SEO gurus have either tried to comment on this blog or sent me random, un-asked-for emails:  trying to sell me their SEO secrets to big, big money.

As I posted earlier, there is no trick to garnering tons of hits on a blog and free money.  It takes work, good writing, interesting topics, and time.  Furthermore, it would help to be like Lawyerist, Above the Law, or many other legal related blogs out there that have what appears to be an army of writers.  I’m not saying this is a bad thing – a lot of good content gets posted that way.  However, it is certainly hard for a small-fish like me to make headway when they are writing so much and so well.

In any case, this case shows why SEO gurus should be denied access to your wallet as you try to get your law firm marketing together and think about how to start a law firm.  There is simply no substitute for good work and good content.

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Jump-Starting a Solo Law Practice

Carolyn Elfefant over at MyShingle.com has a post this morning titled “Crowdsourcing Advice for a Struggling Solo.”  She has included a letter asking for advice from a struggling solo lawyer in an east coast city.  The letter brings up issues that all solo attorneys struggle with.

Ms. Elefant asked readers to try and answer the attorney’s question, so I’m doing so here. To that end, here is the sanitized version of the struggling-solo-attorney’s letter as posted on MyShingle:

I am a solo with a practice in a large East Coast city. I handle real estate transactions, bankruptcy, divorce and general litigation. I started my solo practice three years ago, following several years of employment at a smaller firm. Initially, I was able to sustain a practice through referrals – although even then it was a struggle. But lately, I find that people don’t want to pay for legal services. I do an initial consult, but then the potential client will haggle over the price. In addition, the referrals come in spurts and I would like to find a way to produce a steady revenue stream.

I am updating the firm resume, adding a Facebook page, joining Linked In and I have started sending email updates to colleagues. But I would like ideas to jump start my practice – to start bringing in work right away while developing a reliable stream of revenue for the future.

To try and answer the questions, I’m going to strip the letter down to its most basic level:

Good things for a Solo Attorney:

  • The attorney indicates that he/she has been a solo for three years;
  • The person has some kind of referral base, although dwindling;
  • This person apparently has office space and necessaries like a receptionist, billing software, etc.

Bad things for a Solo Attorney:

  • Dwindling referral base;
  • Lack of steady revenue stream;
  • Potential clients haggling over price.

As Ms. Elefant states, there isn’t a lot to go on in the attorney’s letter, but the things I listed above are something all solo attorneys struggle with.  I know I have.

So, to try and help:  the attorney does have some things going for his/her law practice.  The attorney has the ability to be successful with the institutional tools he/she has set up.  These are all good things.

The rest of the issues seem to be related to marketing and client interviews strategies. Let’s start with the client interview.  The attorney is concerned about clients coming in for a consult and haggling about price.  This happens to me all the time.  That is what walk-in clients do.

If the attorney wants to continue to have a general practice dealing with every-day people, my suggestion to solve this problem is work on your selling skills.  I don’t mean sugar-coating the law or telling the potential client that they have a case when they don’t.  However, being overly nice to the client and making them understand how valuable your services will be to them is rule-number-one.  I don’t have a lot of problems closing and I think it is because I am overly nice, I explain the law in an easy to understand way, and I make the client knows that they and their legal problems are really important to me.

After that, I have found that having a credit card system usually helps ease the burden of a large retainer.  We aren’t told if this attorney utilizes credit card payments.  To me, credit cards are a must for a general practice attorney who is seeing people walking in the door.

Another client interview retention technique I use is the call back.  It works in one of two ways:  (1) I tell them to think about what they want to do with their loved one and I’ll wait or (2) I tell them that somebody from my office (usually me) will follow up with them in a couple days to see if they are still interested.  I don’t change my price, but I do explain the credit-card-system and I do take this additional opportunity to explain to them why I can be of service to them.  Basically, the client really wants to know that they are going to get something of value from us over-priced lawyers.

The second issue I see is the steady-revenue-stream conundrum.  Ah, the gold mine of solo attorneys.

My big suggestion for this is to find a practice area that caters towards steady-revenue. Once you choose one, you market towards it.  One idea is collection work.  Collection work allows you to be in court often and meeting with debtors on a constant basis.  It’s nickel-and-dime stuff, but it is work.  Also, if you have a large collection practice, you will begin to get good referrals from banks, businesses and other entities that are in need of fee collection – or, perhaps, better legal work.  Once this practice gets off the ground, you have instant steady revenue.  I’m not saying it is easy, but it is an option.

Another steady revenue option is getting on a public defender, indigent-person, court-appointed-appeals contract.  These are all steady revenue sources and they are usually available to struggling solos.  I try to get in good with my local judges, do a good job, and then let them know I am looking for work.  They usually want to help and they steer me business because I do a good job (I think) and they like me (I know).

Another idea is getting on a pre-paid legal referral network.  These networks can be dicey and you should check with your bar-association to see if they are legal, but they do work.  The pre-paid legal referral sources will always call you if you do a good job.  Try to get friendly with the support staff and they will really like you – thus referring steady business to you.

Finally, work your butt off networking at corporate/business functions and get yourself a great manufacturing type client.  These businesses always have need for a labor law lawyer.  The employees constantly have problems and/or the business always needs contract related advice.  This one is tough, but it can be a gold-mine, steady-revenue source.

I am not trying to say these options are easy.  They are not.  I have struggled with doing every one of them.  To me, law firm marketing means hustle.  However, what has helped me with the hustle is:  focus, being a nice guy, working really hard, and having a plan.

That is my two-cents.  I hope it is helpful to the struggling attorney.  If anybody wants to post here on their ideas on how to start a law firm and maintain it, please feel free to comment.

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Starting a Law Firm | Interview with Solo Attorney, Carl Taylor III

When I posted recently about start-up law firm press releases and Somerville, New Jersey Divorce Attorney, Carl Taylor III, I didn’t expect Mr. Taylor to actually notice and respond to the post.  I probably should have.

After some friendly back-and-forth exchange, we determined that an interview was the best way to go.

I haven’t done an interview on this blog before so this is somewhat of an experiment.  If anybody out there would like to do an interview at Solo in Minneapolis, I operate on a first-come first-served basis.

One of the discussion points was that we are both passionate about starting a law firm.  I have talked a lot on here about networking and getting your law firm name out there in whatever way you can.  Having an online discussion with a peer is one way to do this.  It may not bring work in right away, but networking gets your name out there, it allows you to create a dialogue, and it gives you an online friend who may be able to lend a helping hand in the future – all good for starting a law firm.

Without further adieu, I hope you enjoy my first interview with Mr. Taylor:

(1) What Got You Interested in Being a Lawyer?

In a way I always wanted to be a lawyer.   I was simply drawn to the profession, even as a child.  My best friend growing up jokes that when we were 10 he would say he wanted to be a professional baseball player when he grew up, but I said I wanted to be a lawyer.  But the goal of being a lawyer really became solidified when I was a little bit older.  My background is very “blue collar”, and my parents always worked so hard.  They had an unfortunate situation arise during that period in time, and they weren’t legally savvy enough to have it properly taken care off.  I always felt like they were taken advantage of by their attorney and the system in general.  So for me, it also became a goal of being an honest attorney, who would try and level the playing field for people in difficult situations.  And to a large extent that is what I’ve done as an attorney.

(2) What’s Your Favorite Part of the Job?

As not only an attorney, but a business owner, I like that every part of my day I am building something all my own.  I also like when I help someone in need, or help a client obtain their desired goals.  I pride myself on only taking cases where I feel secure that I will be able to effectively work towards the clients goals.

(3) What Advice Would You Give to Solo Family Law Attorneys?

I’m a solo Somerville NJ family law attorney.  As I have just started my solo practice, some of my advice would be as follows:

  • Expect the costs and expenses to start and run a firm to be higher than expected.
  • Have sufficient money set aside for the first few months/years when times are tight.
  • Take action, sitting around is not going to attract clients to your new firm.

For family law attorneys in particular, I would recommend trying to stay as level-headed as possible.  Few areas of law are more emotional than family law.  That’s why it’s best to try and be level-headed, to keep the case progressing toward an amicable resolution in the best interests of your client and any children from the relationship.  This is not always easy to do, but really important.

 

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Starting a Law Firm | Online Guide to Starting a Law Practice

I’ve said this in the past and I will say it again, MyShingle.com and Carolyn Elefant are the original purveyors of this starting a law firm blogging show.  I’m just an apprentice really.

What is more, MyShingle has revamped and has unveiled the more user friendly Online Guide to Starting a Law Practice.  You should check it out.  Seriously.  Now, I hope you come here for every day law practice start-up advice; however, Ms. Elefant’s effort is superb and must be mentioned on my blog.  Enjoy!

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Starting a Law Firm | Law School Start-Up Incubators

Law schools around the country have apparently woken up to the fact that many young attorneys are going out on there own and starting a law firm.  Perhaps its the economy. Perhaps the schools are listening and finally offering practice advice instead of dogmatic case law training.  What ever the reason, I say it’s a good thing.

Karen Sloan at the National Law Journal reported law schools across the country are now starting law firm start-up incubators.  In the article, Sloan discusses how a young attorney, Yogi Patel, has joined the City University of New York’s (CUNY) program that encourages providing low-cost legal service to the underserved communities.  CUNY offers lawyers a support staff, low rent office space for up to two years, and a network of solo practitioner mentors while lawyers start their own law firms.

According to Sloan, CUNY is not alone in having a law firm start-up incubator.  There are many other schools across the country who have or are starting these programs.  Although, interestingly, it appears the larger, more prestigious schools like Harvard are not interested in spending money on these types of programs.   For smaller schools, the impetus behind the move appears to be the economy.  The National Law Journal Article has this interesting quote from Dana Morris, assistant dean for career development at Maryland Law:

“Looking down the line at the economy, we knew we would have more students looking at going solo, and we were looking for ways to creatively meet that need . . . We absolutely did this in response to the economy.”

It is no secret that the economy is forcing a lot of lawyers to look toward starting their own law practice.  From my view, there has been a veritable explosion of law firm start-up related blogs and websites in the last three years (yes, I’m one of them).  This is probably much different from what Carolyn Elefant at MyShingle.com experienced when she started her much-read blog.  In the article, Ms. Elefant has some interesting perspective on the issue.  I, for one, am glad that law schools are finally taking notice and it is great that law schools may be changing their ways.

I do, however, wonder about the “serving underprivileged communities” aspect of the law school programs.  Does this mean that the students are operating as quasi-legal-aid-providers?  If so, these programs are not doing a whole lot that is new or different.  Most law schools have a clinic program where second and third year law students learn how to practice law while a faculty member (mentor) oversees their efforts.  To my knowledge, the law school clinics often serve those who could not otherwise afford an attorney.

Law school clinics and serving those that cannot afford legal services is great.  Society needs it.  I wonder, though, if these students are really getting a good idea of what law practice is like.  Working as an associate attorney at a busy, general practice law firm is much different than working for a legal aid clinic.  Dealing with clients who can afford your services is much different than working for those who cannot.  The issues that lawyers at private law firms work on are often very different from legal aid clinic services.  I have done work for both the borderline poverty level client and for the very rich client.  I can tell you, the issues are very different.

Ms. Sloan’s article didn’t discuss whether these students are eventually allowed to broaden their practice scope.  I imagine that there is some kind of contractual tie-in, where the lawyers agree to serve the low-income community for a number of years.  I have no problem with that.  However, I fear that these lawyers may get stuck in practice areas and serving only a segment of society.  If that is what they want to do, great, more power to them.

There are many ways to start a law firm.  If you can get your current or former law school to sponsor you and pay for stuff, you should jump on that deal right now.