State Bar Annual Meeting: Next Week! Grand Rapids!

It's annual, it's big, it's the annual State Bar Meeting, and Solo and Small Firm Institute.

There is still time to register, go  to the state bar website. More information at SBM blog.

Thinking about working as a free-lance attorney? Get your agreement in writing.

Get it in writing (when you can) is the gist of this article from the Lawyerist.

From the article:

The question of whether the work of a freelance attorney requires a written agreement seems obvious at first glance — “get it in writing” is the golden rule, after all. In practice it is not always that simple. There may be situations, depending on the client, project, or timetable, where getting a written freelance work agreement is not possible or necessary.

Yours truly worked for a law firm on the other side of the state after taking the Bar exam & before getting licensed and starting my own firm. It was a great way to get exposed to a "real life" practice and away from Bar exam questions. But we didn't have any agreement in writing for what we were doing, which I regret.

I really enjoyed doing freelance work. It was mostly legal research and some drafting of pleadings. I had a bit of experience, but I didn't have as much risk as the attorney who was taking in the work. On the downside, it was very come and go. When I got a new bit of work, it was red hot, and I'd work over the weekend to get it done. But once it was done I might go for three weeks without any new work.

Taxes and Solo Law practice: Yes, you have to pay.

In case you didn’t already know this, I’ve got some bad news: small business owners have to withhold and pay their own taxes. Solo attorneys are considered self-employed, which means you need to pay estimated taxes throughout the year, or take a penalty and write a big check at the end of the year (disclaimer: I am not an accountant or a tax attorney).

article here. From the Lawyerist- a good series of articles on the business aspect of running a solo or small practice.

Attorney -Client relationship advice: What is the client after?

A nice article here about why lawyers and their clients have a hard time seeing eye to eye: 

A lawyer is often apt to think of the law as the drill — how to use it, apply it, and make it work in any particular situation. But a client does not really care about the law, they care about the solution to their problem …

Social media and marketing your law practice: mistakes lawyers make

From the article: 

People don’t have Facebook accounts just so you can show up and brag about yourself any more than they go to an ice cream social with their family hoping that you will come up and talk about your business, and leave a card. That should be common sense, but many lawyers seem to think the Internet was invented for marketing purposes, and go around littering the information superhighway with their billboards . . .

From the lawyerist, which provides advice & insight to law firms & solo practitioners. 

How to start a freelance law practice

from The Lawyerist blog:

As the legal profession evolves to meet the changing demands of the marketplace, freelance attorneys have a new angle on the practice of law, and their numbers have been growing in the largest U.S. legal markets over the past several years. Freelance attorneys enjoy much greater flexibility and control over their law practices than most solo practitioners. And because freelance attorneys are independent contractors hired by other attorneys to handle legal work on a contract project basis, setting up a freelance practice is fairly straightforward.

Article here. 

Side note: I know a few attorneys who are freelancers. I did freelance work for a short while before I set up my own place. To me, the advantage of starting a firm was in having a dedicated space for work. I still got work done while freelancing with no "actual" office, but my level of distractability was higher. I personally need a space where I can close the door when I need to concentrate, and that the closed door will be respected. For the freelance attorneys I know, they like the fact that their low overhead means they can say "no" to work they'd prefer not to do. I have less freedom that way, since I have expenses to meet that are attached to having an office.

Why not start your own law firm?

This is for those people who've passed the bar, but don't know what to do next, or feel they must do something. Article here.