By now, you’ve probably seen the iconic photo of the 19 black women  who ran for judgeships in Harris County, Texas and won.  Yet what isn’t apparent from the photo but is particularly noteworthy is that a full dozen of these women are solo or small law firm owners: *(See endnote) As I see it, it’s no coincidence that these new judges hail from a predominantly solo and small firm background.  In the legal profession, black women…

As regular readers know, I complain about stupid ethics rules. Almost all. the. time. Years ago, I actually took steps to influence the rules. I wrote letters and gave webinars to explain ethics initiatives. But no one listened and I ran out of steam so I turned my attention back to my law practice which was paying the bills. But now that there at least appears to be a groundswell of support for changing…

On MyShingle, we celebrate the solo and small firm practitioner, and those at the forefront of innovation in the legal field. Our newest project, 41 Legal Practice Areas That Didn’t Exist 15 Years Ago highlights unconventional and upcoming niche practices from Cannabis Law to Tiny House Regulation.  We’re excited to present the second part of our project–spotlights on solo and small firm practitioners who’ve embraced these legal practice areas and made them all their own.…

For decades, the imaginary Christmastime world of Santa and elves and the North Pole settles into a real-time home in the acclaimed Macy’s Department Store’s annual Holiday Window Display.  But in true 21-st century fashion, this year, Macy’s will play IRL host to another type of ethereal universe that exists only online:  Facebook. According to Engadget , Facebook will bring 100 digital-native brands and small businesses that found success on Facebook and Instagram to…

Author: Thomson Reuters Long before entering a courtroom, you can improve your chances of winning by positively predisposing a judge to you and your case. Achieve this by: 1. Submitting a clear, well-written, well-researched brief. This is critical, considering that your brief sets the stage for your case.A strong brief is always established on the soundest precedent. Therefore, you must ensure every citation that supports your case is valid. Experienced lawyers realize that requires researching…

One of the most interesting statistics to come out of Clio’s 2018 Legal Trends Report concerns the amount of time that lawyers spend managing their trust accounts. According to Clio’s report, lawyers spend around an hour day on the byzantine task to trust account management.  And although the Clio number seems high on its face, even if we half it for the sake of argument, (i.e., 2 hours/week rather than 5 hrs/week), at a billable…

The Problem With Networking Advice When you started your firm, chances are that you were told to network using a system like this one: Step 1: Attend bar association events or CLEs and introduce yourself to colleagues and collect a business card or contact information. Step 2:  Follow up with your new contacts by giving them a call to invite them for lunch and coffee to learn more about [fill in the blank].  If said…