Link: Ross Ipsa Loquitur Blog � My new Technolawyer column: SmallLaw. Ross Kodner's new column, SmallLaw, is tailor made for the readers of this blog. I rail against Biglaw enough that is should be a no brainer that I would gravitate to a sage like Ross talking about solo and small firm practice. He brings a wealth of experience to the task, and I look forward to reading the columns. You should also.
Link: Legal Blog Watch. It is nice that BigLaw has, until the recession, been able to buy pricey toilet paper for biglaw bathrooms. I have long known the pain of paying my own bar dues, and travel to Bar events. If I went somewhere on firm business, the money came out of the senior partner's pocket, not some corporate account that seemed divorced from the reality of fee billing and collection. However, how will biglaw denizens react when the firm no longer pays for the nice things? Will they defect to solo practice? Inquiring minds want to know.
Posse? 
This post raises the question of whether every lawyer needs a group of friends and confidantes, to discuss the day to day questions and stresses of law practice. No man is an island; or so the author tells us. In fact, solo practice in an Internet age makes connection with a "posse" easier than ever. Solos use email, LinkedIn, blog posts,and other methods to stay connected. No man is an island, but you don't have to leave the island if you have Internet access.
Big Law Layoffs When the clients start having trouble, they stop hiring big law lawyers for deals that don't happen. When big law partners see reduced income, they seek to reduce expenses. The staff and attorneys who don't have power and equity get laid off. In a solo practice, you may not be getting the work you used to; but, with low overhead, you can survive. And, nobody is going to lay you off.
Link: Lawyers Want More Time, Less Stress, Not More Money | ABA Journal - Law News Now. Let's face it. Lawyering is stressful. If you don't have anxiety, stress, or some sleepless nights, you aren't a lawyer. We face deadline pressure every day, and have to deal with people at the worst times of their lives. Modern law practice is a jumble of regulation, deadlines, and complex issues. So, it is not surprising that this survey found that a majority of lawyers would rather have more life balance and less stress, and that money was only a concern with 2% of them. Solo practice will certainly result in less money. But, will it create less stress? Maybe, maybe not. However, you will certainly have more control over your life, and you can create a work-life balance that suits you.
Link: Home Office Warrior � Bills to Simplify Home Office Tax Deduction. Thanks to Grant Griffiths for this heads up about bills traversing the legislative process to simplify the home office deduction. As solos who are tech savvy, we spend a lot of time working at home; most of us have an office or den or, as in my case, a converted garage, that serves as an office at home. Some of us actually practice law out of our home. In an Internet age, much client interaction is done over computers, and these bills will allow solos to deduct the proportionate expenses of the home office.
Link: lawjobs.com Career Center - Facing Big-Firm Rejection. A sure-fire way to ruin a personal relationship is to reject the other person's requests before they ask. Fear of rejection has caused many promising relationships to go sour before they really begin. We fear rejection, so we don't ask. In law practice, however, it is perhaps best to reject the big law firms before they reject you. Being rejected by big law is one of those unusual life experiences that really may have a silver lining. As a solo lawyer, you only face rejection from potential clients, and some judges. However, in those instances, you have a fighting chance. Why law student's are so enamored of the big law process is beyond me. Fancy offices, fancy salaries, fancy perks, and all the trimmings do not a happy person make. I'm not saying there aren't happy big law persons, so don't email me, big law persons. I'm just saying that law students may be ignoring the many pleasures of solo and small firm practice for the bright lights and the big city. Think about it.
Link: Ross Ipsa Loquitur Blog � Be There or Be Square - 3rd Annual National Solo & Small Firm Conference. If you are a solo, or just thinking about it, you need to be in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on October 3d and 4th. The ABA's General Practice and Solo Section will be having a summit for all of us who aren't in big law. Looks like fun, and a real education.
Link: lawjobs.com Career Center - Economy, Exits Hurt Buchanan Ingersoll.
Sorry to beat a dead or dying horse, but I am getting a little peeved at these stories about biglaw laying off employees in the dozens and hundreds. Of course, the Associates knew they were just employees, and that large law firms, like large corporations, are more interested in the bottom line than they are in the welfare of their employees, or so it would seem. How else to explain the quote from the CEO of this firm, who offered that his firm was still "ahead on a bottom line basis". Until the grunts who do the work in these big law firms see the light, and trade the bright lights and fancy cities for solo practice, they will continue to be pawns in the grand scheme to become the biggest and the best. I guess I won't be receiving any fat offers from a large law firm to come and work for them now. Oh well.
Link: Legal Blog Watch. I am so happy that Big Law partners are still getting their $25,000 a month draws. However, Associates and Of Counsels are not so lucky. They are being made part of the great unwashed unemployed as the economy worsens. Of course, as solos, we don't make a Million Dollars a year; but, when we get laid off, it is because we felt like going home early.
