Originally published on July 20, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.
If you hung out a shingle at a leisurely pace with cash reserves, strong credit, a book of business, and no regrets, dust off a copy of How to Start and Build a Law Practice by Jay Foonberg. The rest of you might want to keep reading, however. This installment of SmallLaw addresses the swelling ranks of the newly unemployed (law firm layoffs) and involuntarily self-employed (178 law schools, 40,000 graduates) who thanks to this year of breathtaking economic free-fall have decided to go solo.
Top 10 Solo Traps to Avoid …
As you read through the list below, keep these common traps in mind, as they represent the most palpable and often the most fatal blows to would-be sole practitioners:
10. Isolation, insecurity, fear.
9. High-maintenance clients.
8. Unrelenting competition.
7. Technology whiplash.
6. Employee nightmares.
5. Nowhere to turn for advice.
4. Underestimating costs (software and services).
3. Ethical quagmires.
2. Notoriously uneven cash-flow.
1. Deadbeat clients.
The Envelope Please …
By and large I've organized these tools based on cost, coverage, and effectiveness. I encourage you to try as many as you can and share your experience with your fellow solos. So let's get started.
Web Sites
The .com revolution ended over 10 years ago, so why is Web site development and hosting still a mystery? Explore free and low cost Web site resources before you agree to pay (and pay, and pay, and pay) for a site.
My Recommendations: Avvo, Justia, Template Monster.
Social Networks
When it comes to reaching prospects and other lawyers on social networks, I've lectured, written, and given presentations until I was blue in the face and worked up a whopping case of carpel-tunnel. So I guess one more mentioning won't hurt.
My Recommendations: Avvo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, JD Supra.
Blogs
Blogs developed from outlets for pure self-expression into "premium" services run by "legal blogging experts" (whatever that means). Frankly, I'm not convinced, so I split my vote between free and paid services. You be the judge.
My Recommendations: Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, LexBlog, Justia.
Software as a Service
Today you can manage complex recordkeeping, file management, billing, calendaring, task management, communications, and a dozen other vital functions on your iPhone. Ten years ago they said it would never happen, but we proved them wrong! Thanks, Google.
My Recommendations: Google Apps, Basecamp, Zoho, Clio, Rocket Matter, OpenOffice. (Bonus: Microsoft Office 2010 online next year).
Custom SaaS
In a perfect world you would only use tools suited to your practice. But the world isn't perfect. Luckily, customizable SaaS enables you to add, subtract, and modulate applications so that you don't have to pay for features you never use (Are you reading this Microsoft?).
My Recommendations: Google Apps, Basecamp, Advologix/Salesforce.com, Zimbra.
Research
Remember when the price of gas went down last summer? Remember when the cost of legal research subscriptions went down? Me neither. Even the Saudis get it so how come it costs more to review a Supreme Court decision today than it did 10 years ago?
My Recommendations: My Findlaw, Lexbe, LII (Cornell), Fastcase.
Communications
From email to instant messaging, conference calls to faxing, message management to call routing, the telecommunications market has proven to be almost as stubborn as the legal market when it comes to change. But change it has, and there are now more choices than ever.
My Recommendations: eFax, Google Voice, Free Conference Call, GoToMeeting.
Prospecting
Lawyer marketing often offends older lawyers used to a more genteel approach. Of course they didn't have to compete with 30,000 other unemployed graduates. Since you do, check out these sites designed to help you get a jump on the competition.
My Recommendations: LawFiles, Avvo, LegalMatch, Twitter (yes, Twitter).
Billing
Sure it takes money to make money. But why so much? Since the days of Red Gorilla (bonus if you remember that .com darling), Web-based billing has been the fevered dream of a madman. Or at least it was until a surge of do-it-yourself timers and time-keeping services hit the market.
My Recommendations: Tempo, Clio, Rocket Matter, Bill4Time, TimeSolv, Chrometa, MonetaSuite, Proximiti. (The last three are experimental but worth trying.)
Document Backup and Sharing
Making files ubiquitous has proven to be harder than it sounds. Limitations on bandwidth, file-size, extensions, and a variety of other factors have conspired to keep file sharing clumsy and uninspired. Luckily, you have options.
My Recommendations: Dropbox, Google Docs, Docstoc, JD Supra, Microsoft Live Office. (Bonus: Office 2010 will have a free online component.)
Collaboration
"Collaboration" sites let you display information like a Web host, share and exchange documents like Google Docs, and interact with one another like a social network. So why give them a separate category? Because most of the time these sites represent a useful compilation of features perfect for everything from ad hoc bar association groups to teams of lawyers working on a case with national scope.
My Recommendations: Basecamp, Clio Client-Connect, Groupsite, Google Sites.
Online Chat
With the aid of the ubiquitous instant messaging client, you'll never need to yell out the office door at your associates again. But you will anyway. Just saying.
My Recommendations: Google Talk, MSN, AIM.
Onward and Upward …
If I've left anything out I apologize, but I feel confident that this list should stand you in good stead, at least for now. If you have suggestions of your own please let me (and everyone else) know.
Written by Mazyar M. Hedayat of M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.
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