Build A Solo Practice @ SPU

It’s a trend that began after the economic downturn of the late 1980s, as many laid-off professionals became consultants. Then it seemed temporary, though, tied to bad times. Evidence now suggests that this is our new economic condition. Today, in fact, 20% to 23% of U.S. workers are operating as consultants, freelancers, free agents, contractors or micropreneurs. Current projections see the number only rising in coming years.

There is a lot of discussion about unbundled legal services, the breaking down of a given legal process into ‘parts’. Each part can be delegated to a lawyer to handle and paid for by the client or the client can handle themselves based upon their desire and/or budget. A lawyer’s ability to offer unbundled services….

No one, especially not the profession as a whole, law schools or even lawyers themselves, wants to fully acknowledge there is a big pink (or rather very gray) elephant in the room. And this elephant is depression and the fact a significant percentage of attorneys suffer severe and debilitating depression. Especially the solo.

The word ‘goal’ is often overused and generally misunderstood. So, let’s define goals in the context of what you are trying to achieve, moving forward in your legal career, quite possibly building a solo practice.

What is a goal? It is a specific measurable event that is realistically attainable within a defined period of time.

Many lawyers see the unbundling process as minimizing the value of their services and taking their profits. Still others see it as hampering a lawyer’s ability to do a thorough job if they are only offering counsel for one or two segments of the process. But is this really true?

One thing my mother always told me, “The day a hand with a fist full of money comes through the telephone is the day you can stop meeting people in person to close a sale and just hang out on the phone.”

“Self-pity is easily the most destructive of the nonpharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.”
John W. Gardner

An increasing number of civil cases go forward without lawyers. Litigants who cannot afford a lawyer, and either do not qualify for legal aid or are unable to have a lawyer assigned to them because of dwindling budgets, are on their own — pro se.

The other night I was listening to talk radio and I heard something which was both dismaying yet exhilarating at the same time. Bear with me. The show was discussing how two great professions, the medical field and the legal field, were now closing in on the least desirable professions to pursue. But…..

We hear lots of verbiage out there about fixed fees, flat fees, alternative fees, value billing, value pricing, open pricing, call it what you will but there are few concrete examples of transitioning from the billable model and the lawyer’s fear that goes with. This is the story of one of my clients.