tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post6999127006572946505..comments2024-03-27T20:23:56.493-06:00Comments on Outside the Law School Scam: The Madness of Solo PracticeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-58013874054732270222016-07-29T19:21:57.459-06:002016-07-29T19:21:57.459-06:00Let me just take some time to sugest a things... i...Let me just take some time to sugest a things... individuals whom are equre to suceed, will do what is required of them rather then doing their best.. Its stange that would say that and it appears vague to many individuals.. however understanderble to the majerity. We're all awear that law is satuated with lawers and that many solos fail.. however failurw is a result of their own action. Solo practice requires a few factor for the explicit purpose of becoming sucessful at it. Those are; 1 comitment<br /> 2 disipline<br /> 3 hope<br /> 4 patience. <br />Over all of these factors i would say God is dominat over all and followed by hard work. Solo practice is viewed as a business on most occations and clients are considered as customers.. in other words we need client to bigin with not a fancy office or money just clients. How do we get clients? Most law school graduates abondon their class mates completly and they block out other individual so in other word that lack comunivation. Its never about you its always about others. Meet and interact with other individauls besides your parents and other family member i'm 100% sure that would land you at least three referal in the first four mounth of interaction. Hint, know whom to become aquainted with. Take into consideration salary, occupation and reputation. Once you cinsider the above then you proceed, in addition to this i most conclude that sucess becomes undainiably real when you enbrase the actual procesa instead of siting and waiting for some one to read your blog or read the sign that has your initials on it get up go out and interact.. forget about the money that will come. Let me explain. Money is a by product that is rewarded to those who are comited, disiplined, patient hard working and over all God fearing. Some of us give up too easily not sticking around long enough to see good results.Civil lawernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-14620029751625549802015-05-22T16:47:33.669-06:002015-05-22T16:47:33.669-06:00cont'd...
Last year was my first full year ap...cont'd...<br /><br />Last year was my first full year applying these principles and my gross increased by $40k and my net by $50,000 (yes, I did this and cut $10k in expenses at the same time). Through four months, I'm on track to grow by another $60k this year. But the best part is my clients love me. They actually care about me and my family, and they know I care about them and theirs. As another commenter mentioned above, relationships are not fungible, and good relationships are the key to success. That goes for every small business, not just law practice.<br /><br />Just don't let yourself feel like you're entitled to a job or a living (any living, much less a good one). That's the real problem here. If you expect to make it without a ridiculous amount of hard work and sacrifice, you may as well quit now and go do document review. If you don't like that prospect, stop making excuses and get to work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-57984298164821208162015-05-22T16:47:12.990-06:002015-05-22T16:47:12.990-06:00I started my solo practice mid-2011 after being un...I started my solo practice mid-2011 after being unemployed for a year out of law school. The first two years sucked, but in hind-sight it's very clear that it was my own fault. I did very little to promote myself, and the little I did do I did wrong.<br /><br />It's also nonsense that you need to borrow $150k to hang a shingle. I started with $1,500, no second income from a spouse, $150k +/- in debt, and very limited connections. The one advantage I did have was being able to move back in at home, which was certainly helpful. <br /><br />However, that luxury really turned out to be more of a crutch that prevented me from working as hard as I should have to get new clients in the beginning. The biggest piece of advice I would give myself four years ago is one that is often repeated and nearly always ignored: get out there and build relationships. I would say I should have spent 90% of my day every single day reaching out to everyone I could, meeting other attorneys, CPAs, financial advisors, bankers, business owners--you name it. I should have been in a BNI group. I should have joined the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, etc. and gone to all of the meetings. The list goes on. And most importantly, I would tell myself that having coffee with someone one time is nothing. You have to build relationships, which takes a serious time investment with each person you want in your network. People send work to people they know well enough to risk their reputation on a referral. You don't get that from having coffee one time.<br /><br />Time and work are the keys. There is no substitute. You have to go out and meet people. The only time you should be physically present in your office is if you are actively working on a client matter. I guarantee most of the band-wagoners in these comments did what I did for two years, which is sit in an office all day wishing someone would come in the door, wishing the phone would ring.<br /><br />In my first two years I also believed the lie espoused by this article that there is nothing you can do to differentiate yourself from the rest. In fact, it goes deeper than that. I believed that I was supposed to imitate the rest. The reason most law firms seem to be the same is because they're all copying each other in some weird attempt to be (or appear) "lawyerly". <br /><br />News flash: the public hates just about everything about the typical, lawyerly law firm experience. Want to see your solo practice grow? Here's a freebie: never let a phone call go unreturned at the end of the day. I can't remember a time I referred a client to another attorney and didn't end up getting complaints that they get zero personal attention, only ever speak to a paralegal, and that their phone calls are not returned promptly (or at all). That's just one illustration of the broader issue, which is customer service. Focus on customer service to the same extent that you focus on the legal aspects of your clients' cases. Do more for your clients than they expect. Do more for them than the other attorneys do. Believe me, there are plenty of people out there who had terrible experiences with law firms, and if you start giving great experiences, word gets around very quickly. To carry the illustration from the article forward, forget burgers and build a Chik-fil-a. Better food, way better service, and, by the way, the customers are willing to pay more for it. Your drive-thru will have a long line, but your clients will still get their food faster than at the burger joints.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-37972274307517948442015-01-29T00:10:06.658-07:002015-01-29T00:10:06.658-07:00A list of pathetic complaints, stop reading the ne...A list of pathetic complaints, stop reading the negative and make your own opportunity. These commenters take too much time complaining about misery instead of making opportunity...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-11802599805836026142014-11-30T23:04:58.111-07:002014-11-30T23:04:58.111-07:00I agree 100% with the last commenter. I am in my f...I agree 100% with the last commenter. I am in my first year of solo practice right out of law school. I have no problem getting clients. The key is selling yourself and answering or returning calls. I grossed well over 30k in my first three months of practice. In fact I couldn't imagine working any other way. I am already to the point that I can pick and choose which cases to take on. If you hustle and are a good salesman you can make it. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-91637986947153096122014-11-12T18:31:52.223-07:002014-11-12T18:31:52.223-07:00The problem with the author's analogy is that ...The problem with the author's analogy is that law practice isn't burgers - lawyers are not all providing the same service. They may be doing the same things and drafting similar documents, but what they are really providing is counseling. The heart of law practice are your relationship with the person who is your client. In virtually any solo practice, 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. You keep getting repeat business from those people because they trust you. Often you are as much their shrink as their legal representative. These relationships are not fungible. These relationships, and how you handle them, become your personal brand. <br /><br />I am not suggesting that solo practice is easy. It's not. Such relationships also can take years to build, and kids fresh out of law school are unlikely to have any of them. So they still have it tough. But it can absolutely be done. The first thing you have to have, though, is the belief that you can make it. If you go into it thinking the whole thing is a scam and the system is against you, you're willing yourself to fail from the outset.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-29810158958020850912014-10-05T17:26:09.348-06:002014-10-05T17:26:09.348-06:00How is this? If the bottom rate is 200/hr, and it ...How is this? If the bottom rate is 200/hr, and it takes several hours for a case...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-39373294657132049082014-09-13T17:42:00.238-06:002014-09-13T17:42:00.238-06:00I went to an average law school and graduated in 1...I went to an average law school and graduated in 1991. I opened up my own firm. It was the best thing I ever did, and I make a great living. It is not easy. However, you really learn the law while practicing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-75962602764848434122014-07-15T20:58:11.668-06:002014-07-15T20:58:11.668-06:00Late to the party, but I ran across this and have ...Late to the party, but I ran across this and have to say something. By and large, the notion that the solo practice model is falling to pieces is correct. The trick to making any money at all is to keep those expenses as low as possible. I have started a solo practice again, but I'm not fool enough to leave my full time job and have worked out a deal where I can keep doing that and see a few clients on the side. I've got a big office with no one but me in it, no overhead and the financial backing to handle around 10 cases a month. And all of this is in the town where I grew up and where I know a lot of people.<br /><br />That is an extremely unique (and fortunate) situation and I know it. I do know that people looking at starting a solo practice and paying a ton of overhead to get going have a tough row to hoe. Good luck to them, but at 45-years-old, I don't have the patience to try such a thing. I tried that in my 20s and learned something in a hurry -- I made out OK, but put in around 60 to 70 hours a week, took every junk case that came through the door to keep the lights on and hated every minute of it. Working 7 days a week for people who resent paying you means your quality of life sucks. I shut that mess down 15 years ago and there is no way in hell I would go back to that, particularly since I do suspect things are a lot worse than they used to be.<br /><br />Why do we see young lawyers attempt to get out of law school and conquer the world with their oh-so-essential solo practice? The answer is simple. Just try to tell a know-it-all lawyer anything and you will learn in a hurry that he or she won't listen. They have to learn from experience. What is sad is that law schools have managed to portray a legal career as a glamorous one (it isn't) and that is exactly what law students want to hear.<br /><br />By the way, one of the lawyers I know personally who makes a great living? The dean of students at my old alma mater. Go figure...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-2903456989595561512014-05-10T12:53:42.857-06:002014-05-10T12:53:42.857-06:00So what do you suggest for a rural solo practition...So what do you suggest for a rural solo practitioner who has been practicing for 38 years, who is wanting to cut back now and retire within the next few years? My husband was one of very few to start his own practice in 1976 when most graduates' path was to be hired by law firms. He has built a successful solo practice in a small town which is the county seat. He is now able to pick and choose what type of cases he wants to handle having given up criminal, divorce, custody and other "gut-wrenching" cases over the years as his practice grew. He is constantly referring business that he neither has the time or interest in handling to other attorneys - with no referral fee wanted or expected. He is not in a position to pay anyone a handsome starting salary....nor is he seeking a partner. But he could mentor and provide a new attorney with an small stand-alone office adjacent to his, refer clients which would be the new attorney's clients, bring him/her in to help on cases for which he needs additional manpower....and if things worked out between the two, gradually transition out of his practice into retirement as the new solo transitioned in. I would think he is not unique - wouldn't there be quite a number baby boomer solo attorneys in the same position?<br /><br />It seems as if now, as in 1976, there aren't many law graduates willing to consider moving to rural areas. All we need is one - I keep thinking there must be someone to whom small town solo practice would appeal....but have no idea how to begin the search. My husband thinks even thinking about this possibility is a pipe dream. Maybe it is. But I hate to see 38 years of work building a practice fade away. Unfortunately, none of our three children wanted to become lawyers after seeing how hard their dad worked. Though one did marry a lawyer who works for a huge law firm in London, UK.<br /><br />I googled "law school grad wanting to start solo practice" to get ideas...which is how I found this website. Reading through this thread, it all sounds so bleak. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-41075858839733008462014-05-05T13:17:17.017-06:002014-05-05T13:17:17.017-06:00The small or solo law practice business-model no l...The small or solo law practice business-model no longer works. The bar associations, courts, and do-gooders have dismantled the practice of law which once thrived and was very lucrative for those who worked hard. No days, there simply isn't any business out there any longer for the solo practitioner to make more than a merely adequate living. Bar associations have allowed the majority of real estate work to be done by non-lawyers at the title companies. All but the most contentious divorces are now done for free by court "facilitators" at the courthouse. Unlike the old days, probates are non-money makers with most paying less than $2,500. Criminal law has been taken over by government public defenders. Personal injuries are becoming a specialty that only those lawyers with deep pockets can afford to fund. The practice of law is more and more becoming the province of large firms, government lawyers, and legal service types. The days of the small town lawyers are coming to an end. Law school graduates who do not end up in big firm, end up becoming lowly prosecutors, public defenders, or legal service lawyers. From there, they immediately seek to get on the dole as a judge or hearing examiner of some sort. This, of course, has not stopped the law school scam, which continues pumping out more lawyers than the economy can possible absorb. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-2050839784449271942013-07-04T21:48:26.943-06:002013-07-04T21:48:26.943-06:00saw it around March. it was great. the sudden demi...saw it around March. it was great. the sudden demise of ITLSS and that video cemented my decision not to attend LS. then the mass layoffs at LSs, the sporadic layoffs at Weil, etc, all pointed in the same direction.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-10551111048037558762013-07-04T16:12:38.550-06:002013-07-04T16:12:38.550-06:00Here's the original ATL article:
http://above...Here's the original ATL article:<br /><br />http://abovethelaw.com/2009/07/400000-in-student-debt-character-fitness-fail/#disqus_thread<br /><br />This guy wasn't completely blameless here, but look at all the fees Sallie Mae hit him with when he was possibly unable to pay for legitimate reasons. Then they sold his debt to private collection agencies who added their own fees. <br /><br />Most governments treat higher education funding as a public good. The US government seems to treat it as an excuse to run a loan shark racket.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-48425092450729381822013-07-04T14:08:22.407-06:002013-07-04T14:08:22.407-06:00mmm... naked Campos. Where do I sign up?mmm... naked Campos. Where do I sign up?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-20619998668819686162013-07-04T13:34:58.689-06:002013-07-04T13:34:58.689-06:00Hey folks, law is all about "making money&quo...Hey folks, law is all about "making money". That's why people become lawyers. If you had no interest in making money, why the heck did you even consider going to law school? Some of you have no idea how much "professors" make as expert witnesses in Court. An economist with a PHD can make hundreds of thousands a year on such a side job and still teach his students the required six hours a week required for the Job. A doctor willing to sell his soul to an insurance company and testify against injured tort victims can make over a million a year, and still keep his job teaching medical students how to be good, ethical doctors. Anybody who holds it against Campos for making a few bucks is a Loser, an anti-capitalist and quite frankly likely a failure because they resent somebodies while they are nobodies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-36029402473225952382013-07-04T12:46:06.565-06:002013-07-04T12:46:06.565-06:00I'd pay money to see that, 8:40. Sounds messy...I'd pay money to see that, 8:40. Sounds messy though. You might want to provide a towel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-59093354872080851752013-07-04T11:56:13.864-06:002013-07-04T11:56:13.864-06:00Mr. Infinity is a "yes man" and a carbon...Mr. Infinity is a "yes man" and a carbon copy of the Dickens character Uriah Heep.<br /><br />Always with the self proclaimed false humility and cruel by nature.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-8332047138237329662013-07-04T09:40:24.976-06:002013-07-04T09:40:24.976-06:00It sounds like 425 needs to get laid - by Campos h...It sounds like 425 needs to get laid - by Campos himself. He's got some Campos issues, that much is clear. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-50542767815910344822013-07-04T08:42:14.107-06:002013-07-04T08:42:14.107-06:00No, it can not be suspended due to student loan de...No, it can not be suspended due to student loan debt. I think the C&F may have learned a lesson due to not letting that poor soul pass. First of all, a legal degree costs many $200K + to acquire. For the C&F to say that you can not be licensed because your parents were not rich enough to pay your way is just plain dumb.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-40772959046795012262013-07-04T08:39:41.919-06:002013-07-04T08:39:41.919-06:00I am sorry, but I find myself agreeing 100% with 4...I am sorry, but I find myself agreeing 100% with 4:25. He should be teaching and preparing for classes, not writing books that do nothing to help his students, his PAYING students get ready to practice law.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-70490627526124115342013-07-04T08:01:19.014-06:002013-07-04T08:01:19.014-06:00Law schools are just the tip of the iceberg. Look ...Law schools are just the tip of the iceberg. Look at film schools for example. Law schools are mostly a scam, but film schools are 100% scam. I get the impression that within the film industry these degrees are just a complete joke (of course the poor rubes getting these degrees don't realize until after they graduate). <br /><br />But the government will loan anyone who can get into these schools tens of thousands of dollars practically without question. The student loan system is now mostly a giant scam, and its the government running the whole thing. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-58223391104485463182013-07-04T07:44:06.357-06:002013-07-04T07:44:06.357-06:00So Campos invested a huge amount of time and effor...So Campos invested a huge amount of time and effort running that blog, writing other articles, doing interviews, all the while risking damage to his professional reputation...all to "line his pockets" with e-book sales revenue that likely amounts to less than 10% of his current law prof compensation? Man, he's practically a Bond villain! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-74055291977129527132013-07-04T07:39:40.072-06:002013-07-04T07:39:40.072-06:00@425,
So Campos was TRYING TO MAKE MONEY FOR HIM...@425, <br /><br />So Campos was TRYING TO MAKE MONEY FOR HIMSELF?!?!<br /><br />EEEEEEEEEK!!!!<br /><br />You on the other hand want to force the taxpayers to eat your big-ass debt - um, because it's good for them, somehow? Now THAT's selfishness. <br /><br />And while we're on the subject, now that you have apparently been welcomed back after being banned, why don't you tell us all what you have been doing with that $500K or so that you've earned by "painting houses" for the last 12 years? <br /><br />Why don't you use THAT money to pay off your loans, you thief? Or have you been sitting on your butt all this time and only pretending to work?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-25428713957825011252013-07-04T07:32:25.480-06:002013-07-04T07:32:25.480-06:004:25 is a dope. It's "sans", not &q...4:25 is a dope. It's "sans", not "sin". Sounds like a post from you-know-who that slipped through the cracks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3660083024919144793.post-79516176473016822412013-07-04T06:39:59.897-06:002013-07-04T06:39:59.897-06:00Infinity really has missed the point big time, but...Infinity really has missed the point big time, but his schtick is spinning everything positively, no matter what the truth. It's his way of coping with his impending failure as a new attorney.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com