Re: Meanwhile, for those of you who practice law.....

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I don't want to imply that you are telling lies or suggest
that you are not capable, but you're either one of the most
amazing lawyers in the world or you have a load of
malpractice claims waiting to surface.

Business law (i guess you mean corporate - tax issues
included), will & trusts, real estate, and bankruptcy are all
unique practice areas with their own twists and turns. one
ordinarily does not float so freely from one of these
practice areas to the other without a fair number of
mistakes. in fact, even seasoned practitioners in each of
these areas make many mistakes and often serious mistakes
with malpractice consequences. perhaps you have years of
practice experience, but you may have little in the areas
that you are trying to transition to. that still makes you a
beginner.

in the end, i really don't think you practice competently in
all of the different areas you skate through. maybe you do;
its possible. but you really should think twice about
offering this type of advice to struggling solos who will do
anything for a buck. they just might take you up on it. if
you are in fact competant in each of these areas, it must
dawn on you that there are complications that someone of less
skill than you could easily stumble over.

anyone reading this should take this for what it is - either
the pie in sky bragging of a fool who is too stupid to know
what type of malpractice claims await him or a lawyer who is
both quite skilled but also a bit of a sadistic twerp spewing
this nonsense to desperate people so that he can laugh while
they get themselves in over there heads. on the other hand,
if you're like many solos there is nothing much for a
malpractice plaintfiff to take from you - unless of course
they would like to have the sheriff come out and seize your
student loan notes. in that case, maybe this isn't so bad.

On 5/15/06, JF wrote:
> For better or for worse, I continue to occasionally write
> posts that may actually help those drowning solos actually
> build their practices. I have been practicing real estate
> law for a number of years, but the downturn in the real
> estate market has forced me to expand into other areas. I
> have had no problem obtaining new clients and new types of
> work, and I do this by fishing where the fish are. For
> example, in the past, I have suggested that solos hand
> out "Have You Made a Will?" brochures to their existing
> clients. A great way to get your client to come in for
> some estate planning. When the new bankruptcy law went
> into effect, many bankruptcy lawyers dropped that area of
> practice. I spent an afternoon on the phone calling these
> lawyers, telling them that I am practicing bankruptcy law,
> and now a number of them have used me as their referral
> attorney. I originally built my real estate practice by
> opening my office next door to a large, busy real estate
> broker office. The referrals came quickly and
> consistently. Again, fishing where the fish are. All this
> has been supplemented by bar lawyer referral programs.
>
> My newest marketing endeavor targets business entities,
> who (in my opinion) ultimately make the best clients. I
> had ignored business clients in the past (with the
> exception of real estate developers) largely because I did
> not believe there were many new businesses in my area, and
> existing businesses typically already have counsel. Then I
> checked the new business certificate filings in the city
> that I practice in and found that there are many new
> business filings every month. I have been active in the
> local Chamber of Commerce for over a year, and I am the
> only lawyer who gives them my time. So I simply called the
> Chamber director, who confirmed that, yes, a good amount
> of new business people call her for lawyer referrals, and
> from now on she will certainly give them my name (since
> I'm the only lawyer in town who bothers with them). I had
> my first client within a week. Granted, many of these new
> businesses will fail, but I will receive the start-up work
> and retain those that succeed.
>
> Virtually all solos know how to practice law. The hard
> part is obtaining clients, which seems to be the problem
> people have here. The work is out there; you just have to
> reach out and grab it. It's all about relationship
> building, making yourself visible in the community, and
> letting people know what you do.
>