Small Firms Big Lawyers

In his final Small Firms, Big Lawyers post, columnist Jay Shepherd reminders readers that clients don't like to see their lawyers palling around with the other side's lawyers. They hate the other side; they want you to hate the other side's lawyers. Here are a couple of reasons why you should be civil with opposing counsel....

Recently, small firm columnist Jay Shepherd talked to a fourth-year-associate friend who'd been working at a new small firm for several months. When Shepherd asked him how it was going, his friend said "great" in a way that suggested anything but. A partner was making his friend's life a living hell. What made this partner so horrible? It wasn't so much that the partner was horrible. It was that he was merely a "supervising partner"....

Many litigators have a bias against settlement. It's understandable. There's no glamor in settling cases. There is a machismo (irrespective of gender) that goes along with trying cases. And it's ridiculous. Are you a "real" lawyer if you settle cases?

Losing power after Hurricane Irene got small firm columnist Jay Shepherd thinking about just how much he relies on electricity and computers and iPads and iPhones, and also how much that reliance has increased since he started law school. And over the years, he came to appreciate just how much technology has allowed small firms to compete with their Biglaw colleagues. What are the five biggest ways that technology has empowered small firms?

My overlords here at ATL thought it would be fun to run a poll about whether there should be one space or two after a period. As if these things are decided by popularity, rather than by rules. This is strange, really, because just about all of you reading this are lawyers or studying to […]

How can you go about "marketing" and "networking" as an associate? There were no courses on these arcane arts in law school. Should you make a beeline to the nearest networking event? Small firm columnist Jay Shepherd makes the case for why you shouldn't....

When a small employer loses a member of the team, it's a big deal. People will remember how you leave a place almost as much as they'll remember how you worked there. Jay Shepherd has some advice on how to quit your small firm job carefully....

In this day and age, it's not enough just to come up with a good law firm name. You also need to come up with a good law firm domain name. Small firm columnist Jay Shepherd has some tips on how to choose the right one....

Are your Millennial associates busy IM'ing, Facebooking, and streaming music while at work? Small firm columnist Jay Shepherd has some advice on what you should do....

If you're working on ways to better market your law firm, small firm columnist Jay Shepherd thinks that you should strive to be more like Apple than Toshiba. Read on to find out why....

Lawyers at small law firms need to think carefully about what to name their firms. Here are some considerations to keep in mind, from small-firm columnist Jay Shepherd.

Twenty years ago this September, I started law school not knowing anyone there. More importantly, no one there knew me. Now, mind you, this was at Boston College Law School, where such things aren’t really emphasized. I mean, it’s not like at that school across the Charles, where people like the Winklevii both wear and […]

July is turning into a cushy month for me in ATL Land (not a real place; more of a state of mind). The first Monday of the month was the Fourth, meaning a much-appreciated day off for my colleagues and me. Then there’s this post today, which is nearly half done and I haven’t even […]

Being a lawyer is like being a member of an elite club, but sounding like a lawyer is sometimes the same as sounding like a "tool." Small firm columnist Jay Shepherd has come up with 20 lawyerisms that do nothing to advance the message lawyers are trying to send, and do, in fact, make lawyers sound like complete tools in their writing.

The other day, Staci wrote about dress codes at some of the large firms. Specifically, Quinn Emanuel made some noise by putting out a minimalist dress code, requiring only shoes “because our insurance company requires them!” (Yes, it’s their exclamation point.) This was in stark contrast to other Biglaw dress codes, like the paternalistic one […]

So Lat calls me up all excited about some Biglaw Midsummer Bonus or something, which I totally ignore, and also about some hysterical dicta that Judge Kozinski wrote, which I also ignore (although it probably was pretty funny), and then he starts asking me about my law career. Which, you know, ended. And he points […]

As you probably know, the Boston Bruins won their first Stanley Cup since the Nixon Administration. I’m no kind of hockey fan, but as a Boston sports fan, I took a passing interest in it. Which is to say that I watched Game 7 on Wednesday. Mine was a short ride on the bandwagon. (I […]

What did you do yesterday? I’m assuming you went to work. Did you put in a full day? Great. Let’s assume you got started around 9:00, took about an hour for lunch, and signed off at 7:00. Maybe for you that’s a light day, or maybe that’s a long day. Doesn’t matter. So that means […]

I’m under the impression that many of our readers are looking for a new job, or at least thinking about it. Some of you are still in law school and haven’t lined something up yet. Others have been laid off by a firm and are trying to find a replacement gig. Still others are unhappy […]

There’s not much I can add to this Weinergate thing that hasn’t already been covered on these pages and everywhere else. Congressman Anthony Weiner has said that he’s not going to resign over the scandal that he tweeted various body parts to women other than his wife. I believe that he will have to resign, […]