Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners

Where Are All The Solo Practice Bloggers?

Often ignored, solo and small practices have need more independent voices trumpeting the life.

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Carolyn ElefantA couple of weeks back, my blogger-crush and fellow ATL Columnist Bob Ambrogi posed the question, “where have all the legal tech journalists gone?” As Bob observed, there’s no shortage of tech bloggers and columnists writing product posts, how-to articles and puff pieces on the latest and greatest technology. But what’s lacking in the techno-journalist arena from Bob’s perspective are writers with “a broader critical eye, looking not at the specific products and apps but at the companies behind them, the people behind those companies and the industry overall.”

After reading Bob’s critique of legal tech journalism, I realized that it applies with equal force to media coverage of the solo and small law firm space.

Now I know that you’re thinking, “Oh my — Carolyn is so desperate for content that she’s stooped to riffing off posts that are completely irrelevant.” Or, “Is she just plain clueless? Isn’t Above the Law, the site where she’s now blogging, host to at least five other bloggers on solo and small firm practice?” So hear me out.

Yes, it’s true that there are dozens of blogs and bloggers relentlessly churning out content for solo and small firm lawyers on practical topics like how to start a law firm in ten easy steps or tips for selecting a cloud-based law practice management platform or evaluating a legal malpractice insurance policy or marketing on the cheap. Some of the sites are operated by companies that provide products or services to solos – like Lawyerist, Solo Practice University, Law Firm Suites and even Westlaw, others by law practice management professionals like Oklahoma’s Jim Calloway, Oregon’s Beverly Michaelis and Massachusetts’ dynamic duo, Heidi Alexander and Jarred Correia and still others by independent lawyers who are marketing gurus on the side, like Lee Rosen or Jay Fleischman.

Don’t get me wrong — all of these sites are immensely valuable. They provide heaps of the sort of simple and practical advice from varied perspectives that simply wasn’t available back in the dark ages (circa 1993) when I launched my practice. Yet as useful as these sites are, they rarely explore big picture issues that impact solos — like the subtle way that the legal profession discriminates against solos and smalls, whether it’s through a solo tax on legal information products or mandatory pro bono requirements that disproportionately burden solos or misguided assumptions that a solo’s work isn’t worth as much as Biglaw’s or solos ought to bear the burden of access to justice because after all, they have nothing better to do. And what about all those stupid ethics rules like mandatory trust accounts and bonafide physical office requirements and advertising that impose added costs on running a law practice and make it impossible for solos and smalls to compete with non-lawyer providers like Legal Zoom.

Biglaw has a big pool of big picture thinkers like Bruce McEwan and Stephen Harper (Belly of the Beast), Jordan Furlong (who sometimes still throws us solos a deliciously eloquent bone) and of course, Richard Susskind who through their blogs, poke and prod at the big law business model and in doing so move the dial forward while still preserving the institution (for better or worse). Even academia has gotten in on the act — last count, four law schools — Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown and Indiana — have “centers for the legal profession” that focus on Biglaw and its problems. Meanwhile, what do solos get? Scholarship on how solos are incompetent and ought to be subject to even more regulation or Incubator programs that are long on skills training but short on scholarship on the changing future of solo practice and making it sustainable.

In mourning the loss of legal technology journalists, Bob Ambrogi worries that the lack of a critical eye on the tech industry makes it difficult for lawyers to comply with their ethical obligation to use due diligence in selecting a legal vendor. I fear much worse: without a cadre of independent bloggers to champion what it means to be solo and what it takes to make solo practice sustainable, we are at risk of losing the very soul and spark of the legal profession.

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Carolyn Elefant has been blogging about solo and small firm practice at MyShingle.comsince 2002 and operated her firm, the Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant PLLC, even longer than that. She’s also authored a bunch of books on topics like starting a law practice, social media, and 21st century lawyer representation agreements (affiliate links). If you’re really that interested in learning more about Carolyn, just Google her. The Internet never lies, right? You can contact Carolyn by email at [email protected]or follow her on Twitter at @carolynelefant.

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