February 7, 2012

Some Beach, Somewhere – The Romance of Freelance

Posted by Bruce under Book Review, Ramblings | Tags: , , , , , |
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Some Beach

Now, this is a desk chair

If you try to make something just to fit your uninformed view of some hypothetical market, you will fail. If you make something special and powerful and honest and true, you will succeed. — Hugh Macleod

I have this recurring midwinter fantasy of buying a snowmobile, putting it on a trailer and heading off in a southerly direction until someone asks me “what in tarnation is wrong with that jet-ski?” The short days, cold nights, monochromatic landscapes, and mountainous piles of snow of the prairie winter are no doubt to blame for these visions of salt water, warm beaches, and a law practice run from beneath the shade of palm tree. Generally, reality (that pesky need to earn an income) quickly steps in to bring me back to the normal world and awaiting Persephone’s return, but this winter, fortune has allowed me to indulge in the dream just a bit longer (seems Demeter has gotten some help with those anger issues) by providing me with a copy of Kimberly Alderman’s new book: The Freelance Lawyering Manual.

The Freelance Lawyering Manual is the fruit of Kimberly’s career as a nomadic lawyer working from the wilds of Alaska to the beaches of the Caribbean and is the first manual to cover this revolutionary type of law practice. Freelance lawyering is not contract lawyering – Freelancers are seldom found in the dark, dank cellars of big law scouring over documents printed in that ubiquitous legal font “tiny, illegible”. These are not the hourly wage earning worker bees of the big law hive. Freelancers work from their own offices on a variety of matters billing their attorney-clients directly. They are independent lawyers running a solo practice complete with all the perks, benefits, overhead, and worries that come with running a business. (more…)

 

January 30, 2012

The Rural Track

Posted by Bruce under Ramblings, Rural Practice, Small Town Life | Tags: , , , , , |
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On The Fastrack 1/26/12

From "On the Fastrack" by Bill Holbrook (c) 2012 King Features Syndicate, Inc. World rights reserve, www.onthefastrack.com

While the rural lawyer is expected to be something of a generalist, there is some wiggle-room in that definition – folks don’t expect a lawyer to do everything. On the other hand, the rural lawyer who refuses to work outside a particular speciality is in for some lean times. The trick is to find that balancing point between doing the stuff that interests you and doing enough of the stuff that small town clients need so that bills get paid, you get fed and your conscience lets you sleep at night.

I arrived at that balancing point by doing transactional work and ADR – there is something about the degree of conflict in litigated matters that just does not sit well with my belief system. Frankly, when I made the decision not to litigate, I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t get clients – after all rural clients are a fairly conservative and traditional bunch and ADR might come across as a wee bit too much like tie-dye and love beads to them – but rural clients “get” ADR; though many were surprised to find out that it could be applied to areas other than union contract negotiations (many thanks TV news).

The thing I noticed most was that it became a lot easier to market my practice when what I did aligned with who I was. It was not just that the ol’ elevator speech sounded a bit more natural, the experience from first phone call to last meeting flowed better. Sure there are some clients that choose to go with the “full lawyer experience” and that’s OK – what’s right for me is not right for them. I do notice that the ones that do go with an ADR solution tend be surprised by the results – I often hear the phrase “our friends told us that their _____ was horrible, this isn’t all that stressful, are we doing something wrong?” It’s always nice to have to confirm that disputes can be settled with a minimum of conflict and that if they are getting the results they want, then they are doing everything right (personal validation, vindication and a paycheck all rolled into one).

My thanks go out to Bill Holbrook, the creator of “On The Fastrack“, for allowing me to use an image from his January 26th, 2012 strip and for reminding me that I’ve got that job.

 

January 1, 2012

Happy Law

Posted by Bruce under Holistic Law, Practice Matters, Ramblings, Rural Practice | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important. – Bertrand Russell

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years. – Bertrand Russell

The other day I was participating in a webinar (that godsend to rural lawyers everywhere) and was struck by a comment made by a member of the live audience. He prefaced his question to the speaker by mentioning that he was in the process of transitioning his practice from family law litigation to, as he put it, the “happy law” of estate planning. While I found both the question and response that followed to be unremarkable, the phrase “happy law” stuck with me.

For those unfamiliar with family law litigation, it is an emotion-laden, stress-filled morass characterized by petty bickering, pointless arguments, and infighting and political maneuvering worthy of the US Congress – and that’s just what it’s like for the lawyers. So, it is easy to see why a lawyer would describe a transition to an area of law where there are courteous and willing clients as happy law – the hours are regular, the clients want to reach the same goals, there are no more 4 AM complaint calls; in general the work/life balance thing gets better (the work-life balance also gets better if one transitions to a rural practice, but that’s a whole ‘nother post). (more…)

 

December 23, 2011

Solstice in the Office

Posted by Bruce under Marketing The Practice, Ramblings | Tags: , , |
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Horses in a snowy wood

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. -- Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Out here on the frozen prairie, things slow down around the winter solstice – people seem to have better things to do than bring their problems to an attorney (those are saved for the new year). On the plus side, this brief respite provides time for reflection and planning, though the unseasonably hospitable weather is making the task a bit more difficult – it is far easier to haul out and review business and marketing plans when there are heaps of snow and frigid temperatures lurking outside the climate controlled confines of the office.

While taking stock of where you’ve been is useful – how else can you figure out what worked and what didn’t – the real point of the exercise is not figure out where you want to go from here and how you are going to get there. There is something about long nights and few interruptions to make thinking about marketing quite attractive. And thinking is the first step toward cheap effective marketing.

Wishing you happy holidays and a profitable 2012

 

December 15, 2011

Help Wanted

Posted by Bruce under Ramblings, Rural Practice | Tags: , , , , |
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‘Twas a week when the muse had walked out the door when to my wondering Google search should appear not a human interest story on Fred Cozad (my apologies Mr. Moore). It seems that Mr. Cozad  of Martin, South Dakota is, at age 85, beginning to contemplate retirement – an event worthy of mention in a local paper perhaps, but not something one would be reading about in the Republic of Columbus, Indiana (a fair piece from South Dakota) or hearing about on Minnesota Public Radio. What is of note is that Mr. Cozad is the last lawyer standing in Martin and when he closes shop, the 1000 or so people living there are looking at a 150 mile commute for legal representation.

The recurring theme for this blog is that the rural lawyer is a vanishing species – a bad thing if you happen to live in a small town and need a lawyer, a good thing if you’re an attorney looking for a job. Now, being the only attorney for the next 150 miles can be a good thing – selling your services is going to be a wee bit easier. (more…)

 

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