Young Lawyers Division 2000-2001
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1999
Resources for the Solo and Small Firm Practitioner
By A. Matt Pesnell
If any of these sound like familiar problems, then tap into what the ABA has to offer to solo and small firm practitioners. Many of the offerings are free to all ABA members (and even to some nonmembers!). With a telephone, a fax machine, or a little maneuvering on the web you can get all kinds of information you probably never knew was there. Here is just a sampling of what the ABA has to offer solo and small firm practitioners.
- Are you a member of a small firm struggling to justify the cost of joining the ABA?
- Is your association frustrated by failed attempts to increase participation by solo and small firms?
- Do you need help building a practice from the ground up?
solosez@abanet.org
Other than an incomprehensible web address, Solosez (pronounced "sew-low-says") offers a free electronic mail forum for lawyers who practice alone or in a small firm setting. It's free to solo and small firm practitioners, and provides them the opportunity to pose questions, offer suggestions, or advice, and share information on everything from client fees to library resources and from bankruptcy law and whether to accept credit card payment for legal services. In this "chat room," participants determine which topics are discussed and decide for themselves where the unmoderated conversations lead.
Solosez participants can offer up a topic for discussion (known as a "thread") and other group members join in the conversation by posting their comments on that or related topics. Members can have all of the posted comments delivered to their e-mail addresses or they can receive a digested version.
Website:
http://www.abanet.org/discussions or Solosez@abanet.org
E-mail:
send e-mail to listserv@mail.abanet.org with a message reading: "subscribe solosez [your e-mail address]"
ABA SMALL FIRM RESOURCE CENTER CATALOGUE
The Small Firm Resource Center is a project of the Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners of the American Bar Association. The Small Firm Resource Center publishes a resource catalog for solo and small firm lawyers. This thirty-page catalog is free and offers books, video and audio tapes published by ABA organizations on various areas of the law, particularly those handled by solo and small firms. Among the hundreds of resources available are:
E-mail:
- Mediation Practice Guide
- A Handbook for Resolving Business Disputes.
- How to Build and Manage an Estates Practice
- 101 Practical Solutions for the Family Lawyer
- Building Your Firm With Associates
- How to Build and Manage an Employment Law Practice
- Handbooks for children, such as "My Parents Are Getting Divorced"
service@abanet.org
Telephone: 1-800/285-2221
Fax: 312/988-5568
Mail:
American Bar Association
Publication Orders
P.O. Box 10892
Chicago, Illinois 60610-0892
ABA SOLO BOOKSHELF
At its website, the ABA maintains the ABA Solo Bookshelf. It contains a selection of resource titles, including practical guides for the small firm lawyer and ways to simplify life as an attorney.
Website:
http://www.abanet.org/solo/home.html
THE ABA CONNECTION
Through monthly articles in the ABA Journal and an accompanying sixty-minute teleconference, the ABA provides continuing legal education to lawyers. It's free to ABA members. Nonmembers are charged a fee. The CLE series is designed to provide lawyers with the low cost continuing legal education they need to continue to provide quality legal services to their clients. Attendees of the teleconference receive immediate feedback on their questions during the final fifteen minutes of the program, and participants are provided feature articles as course materials.
If you miss a teleconference the first time around, members can listen to a prior month's conference on the Internet at no charge. Recent topics include Special Issues in Condominium Law and Current Issues in Tax Law.
Online registration:
http://www.abanet.org/cle/connection.html
Telephone Registration:
1-800/285-2221
HOW TO BUILD A PRACTICE
The Small Firm Resource Center offers an information packet on how to build a practice. It includes articles such as:The packet also includes excerpts from selected books:
- Starting Out Solo
- Are Your Fees Competitive?
- The Art of Getting Paid
E-mail:
- How to Start and Build a Law Practice
- Attorney and Law Firm Guide to the Business of Law
- Focusing on Profitability
abasolo@abanet.org.
Telephone:
312/988-6666
INFORMATION ON MARKETING YOUR PRACTICE
Information packs on how to market your small firm practice are available for $10 to ABA members ($20 for nonmembers). The packet includes articles and lists of resources available to assist solo practitioners in developing a client base in a small firm setting.
E-mail:
abasolo@abanet.org.
Telephone:
312/988-6666
PROMOTING SOLO AND SMALL FIRM PARTICIPATION
The ABA's Small Firm Resource Center provides to bar organizations a publication designed to increase solo and small firm participation. The publication's title, 50 Ways to Make Your Bar "Solo/Small Firm Friendly," aptly describes it. It contains suggestions and brainstorming topics to help your organization increase small firm involvement. Also, the publication identifies common misconceptions about small firms and can help your organization avoid common pitfalls.
Website:
http://www.abanet.org/solo/home.html.
E-mail:
Giacomia@staff.abanet.org.
Phone:
312/988-5461
Fax:
312/988-5462
More information can be obtained by contacting the Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners. The director of the committee is Alexa M. Giacomini, who can be reached at Giacomia@staff.abanet.org.
The Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners
750 North Lakeshore Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Phone: 312/988-5461
Fax: 312/988-5462
Web page: http://www.abanet.org/solo/home.html.
A. Matt Pesnell is an assistant editor of The Affiliate and practices law with Phelps Dunbar, L.L.P., in Jackson, Mississippi.
