Hanging Your Shingle with a Shoestring Budget: 10 Tips for Starting a Solo Practice

Whether you have been thinking about going out on your own or were recently laid-off, you may be planning a start-up solo practice. The problem may be starting as a pauper on a shoestring budget. "When Abraham Lincoln was an attorney he was able to do it," so you could be saying to yourself, "why can't I?"

The truth of the matter, as with starting any business, is that undercapitalization is a serious disadvantage to overcome. It can mean a swift crash-and-burn for any enterprise that is starting out. And there is the competition to deal with.

Here are 10 tips for the pauper-start-up, solo practice on a small budget:

Can a Lawyer Be Hired as a Paralegal? Adaptation in the Evolving Legal Environment

An interesting question posed by JDs and attorneys who no longer wish to practice is, "Can a lawyer be hired as a paralegal?" Or put another way, "Can a lawyer find work as a paralegal?" There are a few factors that can give rise to these questions: (1) the poor economy and downsizing of firms that are hiring paralegals over attorneys, (2) attorneys who are retired or relocated outside the jurisdiction where they used to practice, (3) attorneys who simply no longer want to practice law. The obvious negative factors are the attorney is disbarred or suspended and/or perhaps has some serious disciplinary actions on his or her license. Somewhere in the middle is the factor where an attorney is chronically unemployed and cannot get hired.  Underscoring all of these is the troubling "question" of the future for the "legal environment" and its "food chain" from which practitioners are to survive. Such is so because the above questions are being asked more frequently now than before.

The Economics of Legal Education: Redirection and Reform in Law Schools, Colleges, and Universities

Introduction:

During orientation of the University of Colorado School of Law Class of 2004, some - and few - may recall then Dean Harold H. Bruff (1996 -2003) exclaiming how law students begin their legal career on the "first day" of the program. Following, Dean Bruff mentioned with various certitude regarding lawyers, especially young lawyers, their importance in society, namely and proudly the rank and file of the CU Law School alumni. Numbers were then presented extolling the numbers of such alumni sitting as judges on the Federal Bench or otherwise working in the prestigious firms around the nation earning six-figures.

Such may be reminiscent in the orientation speeches of many law schools throughout the country. The promises of prestige or wealth are, quite frankly, an attractive feature of going to law school and becoming a licensed attorney. There are other selling points such as the intellectual satisfaction and challenges, status in academia and in society, etc. The outlook following graduation for most in law schools was, and may yet still be, largely positive. However, the reality for many aspiring law graduates either taking the bar or having already passed is a hyper-competitive job market marked by a deficit of suitable employment or any at all.

Why Oprah Winfrey Would Have Made an Exceptional Lawyer

Well, here you have it: the final episodes of the Oprah Winfrey Show have me writing again - the irony is I rarely watch the show unless my wife is. Perhaps I am "under a rock" too much. It goes without mention that Oprah Winfrey has done much good for others. Her success is a tribute to using mass media for good causes mixed in with the necessary fanfare of showcasing celebrity interviews and other persons in the news so as to keep massive ratings for the network. In the end, Oprah is a business enterprise, not to mention a high-profile person as well. The biggest guest of her own last show was, well, Oprah. Who wouldn't want her as a guest on their show?

So as not to ingratiate her, nor do I mean to disrespect her body of accomplishments, here are a few reasons why Oprah would have made an exceptional lawyer. First of all, despite any pretences, she has undoubtedly changed the lives of many people and shows a true affection and genuine altruistic interest for other people. I'm convinced that this woman has cracked the code and found the secret to being both insanely prosperous and philanthropic, wealthy and successful, having effectively promoted a "business of empathy," an enterprise that ought to be imitated in most any profession or career.  Practicality has its limitations, of course. And most in the legal profession most likely desire to aid society more if they could.

Starting Over: A Zen Approach

As with much of life, change and chance come into play, often when least expected. Usually, however, we can anticipate life's comings and goings and therefore prepare for them. Sometimes we have to think and do on the fly.

For me, the dislocation from traditional notions of success in the form of working in the employ of the large firm practice and otherwise having to adapt to the trends in the market have admittedly led me along the path to solo practice and self employment. Recently, making the move to another state for the sake of economic and family stability - supporting my wife in her career and educational objectives to be more frank - thereby following the prosperity in hard economic times has molded the gamut surrounding said change and chance in my life. The necessary consequence has been ineluctable rediscovery, yet again, and coming to terms with my own principles and deliberations with respect to my career and business.

I advocate for a Zen Approach to the life and career of the solo attorney, and for practically anyone. By this I mean applying experiential learning and wisdom to attaining a solid core of enlightenment whether through Zen meditative techniques or through a series of mental exercises that not only create a consistent flow of positive thinking but also of positive energy and action. In part to attaining this end, it requires a certain level of rediscovery, introspection or "turning the eye inward." Self realization thus comes more from a dharmic practice and meditation than from intellectual reasoning.