Popular strings — SoloSez provides peer expertise for solos (and others)
How are lawyers who arrive for meetings and appointments on time and relaxed able to do it? How do people handle the same meeting when they suddenly have daycare drop-off duty added in to their time? And where can you turn to check your thinking on a case like nothing you’ve encountered before?
Whether it’s moral support —"Our children come first! People get sick" — or hints for the big pressure items —"When it comes to being on time for court, I figure out how long it should take to get there . . . and then double it" — or a need for additional expertise, SoloSez is there to assist. An online resource, SoloSez is intended to help solo and small firm practitioners share and obtain information on a wide array of personal and professional issues.
Hosted by the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division, the SoloSez electronic mail discussion list provides an instant community network. Subscription to SoloSez is free to all comers, but even non-subscribers can get a sneak preview of recent “hot” discussion items through the “popular threads” link, which shows a selection of the most popular “threads,” or topics, each month back to January 2005. The gamut of issues talked about covers the variety of challenges and questions faced in daily life, from managing one’s schedule to billing questions. “I’ve spoken to attorneys who bill by the quarter hour instead of by the tenth of the hour and have never had any backlash from clients. Pros and cons of each?” Dress codes and the suggestion of getting shirts with the firm’s logo on them. Technology issues, such as burning a CD and Mac-specific questions. Favorite books for summer reading, and the best lawyer novel of all time. Whether and how to accept credit cards. How to deal with a client’s prejudices.
Reading the popular threads, or searching through the complete archives, often entices “lurkers”— as those who choose to just read the email discussions and not participate are called — to go one step further and begin to post, offering their own tidbits of wisdom or asking about their pressing issue du jour. But first, as outlined online, “there is only one rule on how you participate: Before posting your first substantive message to the group, you must send a message introducing yourself . . . You must disclose your favorite drink and the names of any pets living in your home or office!” Back to top
© 2006 American Bar Association
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