Aspiring Solo (the bar exam and eventual-solo-practice blog)

Article on Getting that First Job

2011-03-29T07:28:00.001-04:00

Eight Tips on Getting Your First Job Out of Law School

Third Annual List of Legal Temp Agencies

2010-08-25T16:10:00.004-04:00

Third Annual List of Legal Temp Agencies, August 2010

Although I am a bit late with my compilation this year, I hope that you find that the wait was worthwhile! I came up with a total of 39 agencies serving the Washington DC area, down 3 from last year. Lest we blame the economy, keep in mind that 5 agencies that were included last year have either ceased operations in Washington, DC or if they are operating in DC their website does not indicate so -- by my examination of it, anyway -- and/or I have inquired with them about their operations in DC and received no reply.

Those agencies are:

Cambridge Professional Group
Elaine P. Dine
Law Firm Staff
Oxford Legal
Solomon Page

I added 4 new agencies. Those are:

Robert Lynn Group
Project Counsel
Midtown Group
Hardinger & Tanenholz

While others closed their doors, some agencies flourished, elaborated their websites, and a noticeable handful changed street addresses or added a new office location. I've tried to keep up with the new temp agencies, as they pop up and advertise on craig’s list or the posse list. As many of you know, I started my private solo practice last year and so I may have missed one or two. If I left any agencies out (or if any of the information is incorrect is any way) then please let me know. You can reach me through the Email Me! link that is located in the left-hand margin of this page.

I put what I thought was the best contact information for each agency, usually an email or fax, but more and more agencies are asking candidates to apply online (another change from previous years).

Other stuff--

This list is the property of the Aspiring Solo blog. Please do not reproduce it without the permission of the owner and without properly crediting the source. Nothing contained in this document, or anywhere else on my blog, constitute legal advice or establish an attorney-client relationship.

Ajilon Legal, merged with Special Counsel (see below).
Aldan Troy Group, 1634 I Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20006, Submit resume using online form.
Assigned Counsel, 6701 Democracy Blvd., Suite 300, Bethesda, MD, 20817, submit resume through online form or send to info@assignedcounsel.com
BCG Search, 1050 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20036, jobs@bcgsearch.com, permanent placements only.
Beacon Hills Group, 1120 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 461, Washington, DC, 20036., contact: washingtondc@beaconhillsg.com
Blackletter Discovery (BLD), 1025 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: dc@blackletterdiscovery.com
Clutch Legal, 910 17th Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: clutchinfo@clutchgroup.com
Compliance Inc., 1660 L Street, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC, 20036, apply online or call 703-276-9357.
Continuum Legal, 1651 Old Meadow Road, Suite 600, McLean, VA, 22102, contact: info@continuumlegal.com or fax (703) 734-8839.
De Novo Legal, 1420 K Street, 11th Floor, Washington, D.C., 20005, contact: dcresumes@denovolegal.com.
Firm Advice, 1020 16th Street, NW, Suite 605, Washington DC 20036. Contact: mlegg@firmadvice.com or jfeinman@firmadvice.com.
Global Diversity Consulting Group, 701 13th Street, N.W., Suite 950, Washington, DC, 20005. Contact: resumes@gdiversity.com.
Hardinger & Tanenholz, 1325 G Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC, 20005. Contact: employment@hardingerlaw.com.
Hire Counsel, 1720 I Street, NW, 9th floor, Washington, DC, 20006, DC@hirecounsel.com
Hudson Legal, 2001 K Street, NW, Suite 202, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: DClegalrecruiters@hudson.com
JuriStaff 1875 I Street, NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC, 20006, submit resume online or apply online.
Kelly Law 1825 K Street, NW, Suite 1010, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: 19W1@kellyservices.com
Law Resources, 1140 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 675 Washington, DC, 20036, apply@lawresources.com
Legal eStaffing, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 225, Washington, DC, 20036. Contact: Jeanette@legalstaffing.com.
Legal Placements, 1300 I Street, NW, Suite 750 West, Washington, DC, 20005, contact: apply online or dcoffice@legalplacements.com
Legal Source, 1625 Eye Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: info@legalsource.com
Leverage Legal , 8300 Greensboro Drive, Suite 800, Mclean, VA 22102, Contact: info@leveragelegal.com.
Lexolution, 1011 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 1001, Washington, DC, 20005, contact: infodc@lexolution.net
Lumen Legal, Contact: jobs@lumenlegal.com
Mergis Group (formerly Spherion), 1730 M Street, NW, Suite 401, Washington, DC, 20036. Contact: ChristineCessna@mergisgroup.com.
Midtown Group, 900 7th Street, NW, Suite 725, Washington, DC, 20001. Contact: Apply Online.
National Associates, Inc., 1130 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 530, Washington, D.C., 20036. Contact: Apply online or fax: (202) 296-7558.
Palmer Legal, 1211 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 302, Washington, DC, 20036. Fax: 202-464-1001 (download paperwork online).
Pat Taylor & Associates, 1101 17th Street, NW, Suite 707, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: susan@pattaylor.com.
Phase Legal, 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: info@phaselegal.com
Project Counsel, LLC, 1776 K Street, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC, 20006. Contact: resumes@projectcounsel.com.
Providus Group, 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC, 20036. Contact: dcresumes@providusgroup.com.
Proxy Personnel, 1100 H Street, NW, Suite 260, Washington, DC, 20005, Contact: apply online or Fax: 202-639-9630.
Robert Lynn Group, 412 Evarts Street, N.E., Suite 4, Washington, DC, 20017. Contact: recruiting@robertlynngroup.com.
Rhodes & Weinstock, LLC, 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC, 20006. Contact: info@r-wgroup.com.
Solon Legal Group, 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 760, Washington, DC, 20006. Contact: russ@solonlegal.com or Fax: 202-280-1485.
Special Counsel, 1920 L Street, NW, Suite 550, Washington, DC 20036, contact: dc@specialcounsel.com
Tower Legal Staffing, 1212 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 525, Washington, DC, 20005, contact ContactDC@Towerls.com
Update Legal, 1620 Eye Street, NW, Suite 703, Washington, DC, 20006, washdc@updatelegal.com

Aspiring Law Student Makes Public Plea

2010-05-07T06:52:00.003-04:00

Well now there you go. No complaining for those of you struggling through law school (or even the bar), considering some can't even get in! Or do I have that reversed, and this is a blessing in disquise for the would-be counselor?

Warn or fund her, as you wish:

http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/article/would-be_law_student_sets_up_paypal_account_asks_for_tuition_donations

Career Aptitude

2010-04-03T16:02:00.002-04:00

Click on the title of this Blog post for 50 Free Career Aptitude Tests

Start-up Costs Should Include Credit Card Charges and Taxes

2010-03-17T17:40:00.009-04:00

What are start-up costs?

When one thinks about start-up costs, the typical definition that comes to mind are those expenses before the business owner opens her doors and shortly thereafter. Start-up expenses are usually the cost of rent, office supplies, equipment, phone/ internet / fax, etc.

Well another start-up expense, so to speak, is the charges that we put on our credit cards, because some of us are operating mostly on credit at the beginning. You can pay just the minimum monthly payment, if you wish, but with monthly interest charges, you will find that this is the amount that you are basically paying off. So when I saw my latest credit card bill today, I made up my mind that when it's paid up, I am going to get rid of it.

An additional start-up cost is estimated quarterly income tax payments. If you are in business for yourself, the IRS would like for you to pay your taxes quarterly based on your estimated earnings for that year. Then divide by 4 (for the 4 quarters) and mail them in every few months. You do this for state and federal, I believe. If you fail to do this, then when you go to do your taxes the following year, you will be penalized several hundred dollars for this failure (estimated). If you are not earning enough money through your business to make these payments, then you might as well forgo them and just pay the penalty in the next tax season. However, this is more frustrating debt. By the following year, you will have to pay all of your taxes from your earnings from the previous year. If you think about all of the tax that is taken out of your paychecks (back when you were working for someone else) and add it all together, plus throw in a few extra hundred dollars penalty for not paying it throughout the previous year, you are going to owe a hefty amount and will likely have to work out a payment plan with the IRS. Then by the following year, when you are in your third year of practice but still paying taxes from the previous year, you are going to owe taxes again.

My point is that credit card debt and taxes should be included in your "planning" for your business when you sit down to determine your list of start-up expenses. It doesn't mean because you don't have all that money up front you shouldn't go in business for yourself. It is just something to keep in mind as you monitor and plan your budget, and it may be a factor, when you determine how many clients you need to earn X amount per month. You know what I mean because you have all done it ("if I get X number of clients, multiplied by my average legal fees Y, then that is $Z per month"). Just something to keep in mind.

DC Bar Addresses Document Review Work Again, But This Time The Concern Is Conflicts

2010-02-25T22:00:00.005-05:00

The DC Bar addressed potential restrictions on temp attorneys' mobility from firm to firm in Legal Ethics Opinion 352, which I think could have interesting implications for firms' rules on screening temp attorneys for conflicts.

The Rule concludes in a nutshell that temporary contract attorneys are "associated with" a law firm for purposes of ethics rule 1.10 depending on the facts of the situation (i.e. the nature of the temp's work, his/her exposure to confidences, etc). The Rule leaves leeway for firms to still make arguments to conflict out temp attorneys who once represented an adverse party but with another firm. The DC Bar thus had the opportunity to address the issue in an open-ended and non-committal way, perhaps as an attempt to make everyone happy. I don't think that document review really leaves much room to debate the "nature" of the work, but maybe there are some temp attorneys whose involvement goes above and beyond what most doc reviewers do on a day to day basis.

Temp agencies should like the rule because it gives them a greater pool of candidates to place. It would be interesting to see how this plays out -- especially among veteran temps who have a long list of potential conflicts to stand in the way between themselves and unemployment!

So We're a Bunch of Entrepreneurs...Really, It's Ok....

2010-02-05T11:41:00.002-05:00

Another Attorney Leaves the Law To Drive a Cupcake Truck

Fees, Oh Fees, Where Art Thou?

2010-02-01T17:54:00.006-05:00

So I got a phone call from a potential client today who wanted to know what I would charge for X, Y and Z, presuming that is indeed the work that her case would entail. I have no idea what her case would entail until I ask all the relevant questions and get all the relevant details. But this client is on the phone and she is waiting for a quote.

So I ask her to hold while I open my fee chart. Some lawyers may scoff at the idea of asking a client to wait while you pull out your fee chart, as though not having all of your fees memorized is something to scoff at. I think the opposite is true in the eyes of a potential client. The attorney appears more credible because he or she is not inventing a price out of his or her head. There is an actual list and it applies to everyone. This is what my firm charges for X and Y and Z. No games. We could debate this ad nauseum. Back to the story.

I quote my fee to the potential client and she thinks it is way too high. She asks if I could lower it, and remembering the sage advice that solo practitioners have imparted everywhere I looked (and read and listened to, etc), I said sorry, no, those are my fees. She informed me that she would call other lawyers to see what their fees were in comparison. I offered to send her some information in the mail for her to review, namely an intake form and cover letter, in case she chooses to retain me.

After we hang up, I panic. Were my fees, in fact, too high? As attorneys, we are not allowed to discuss legal fees because that could violate anti-trust laws. There is some discussion among attorneys here and there about such matters, but no pooling of such information is allowed, for fear of price-fixing allegations. I checked the websites of the few immigration attorneys who post their fees, but the nature of the work that the potential client requested from me prevented me from being able to decipher what those attorneys would charge in the same case. I called two immigration practitioners to get their take. One assured me that no, my fees were not too high and her fees were in fact higher. Another immigration lawyer told me my quote was too high and that as a new practitioner I should have charged less.

So I am left in the same position that I was in when I hung up the phone this afternoon. I pondered -- in this economy, maybe I should quote my fees but always allow for wiggle room, read the client's comfort level, and make an offer downward but with a floor below which I will not accept. Then when I am more experienced (which I hope also coincides with the economy improving) I can charge my full rate with no room for negotiation. Or maybe I was right today, and I should stand by my fees and only accept clients who can pay those fees. After all, I am willing to offer a payment plan.

So I caved, slightly. I sent the potential client an intake sheet and cover letter in which I explained that her answers to some of the questions in the intake sheet may change the quote of legal fees that I had given to her over the phone. This may not affect her choice of which attorney to hire or make her believe that my fees will suddenly appear in the range that she can afford, but I provided some wiggle room.

Two more caveats. First, I have found that when a new client retains me, the work involved in their case is always more than what I originally estimated (for a number of reasons). Second, we must value our work! It is no small matter to seek out and pay for attorney work-product. We are selling a professional service and our ability to spot important legal issues is extremely valuable. We are not negotiating the blue-light special at Kmart.

So that was my story about fees for the day. Happy soloing, until next time.

Law Graduates Seek Jobs Traditionally Sought By Law Students

2010-01-22T06:33:00.003-05:00

As the poor economy drags on, law graduates (and not just law students) are jumping on board the federal clerkship train. Read more here.

Solo Life: Month Two

2010-01-11T12:39:00.009-05:00

I made a list of business goals for 2010, and they largely consist of marketing goals. My colleagues warned me before I went solo that it all came down to "getting clients" -- everything else you can pretty much figure out. This is true, unless you are independently wealthy. It is also important to keep in mind that a retained client does not mean money in your solo pocket, at least not right away. You must pay yourself from the client escrow account as work is completed and the fee is earned. Check you local rules on this. In some cases, your fee may not be earned for weeks or even months. This is something to keep in mind when you write a retainer agreement for a client.

So in "getting clients" one cannot ignore the imperative to market one's practice. There are myriads of marketing suggestions out there, including everything from having a web presence and blog, to handing out flyers and business cards, to yellow page ads. The utility of each of these has been debated on solo practitioner listserves and forums. Personally, I retained two clients from flyers that I handed out in my building announcing my law firm.

Some lawyers who give advice on law firm marketing suggest that marketing to other lawyers is a way to generate business. If you establish your credibility with other attorneys, you may become the go-to person for referrals for your practice area (particularly if you have a unique practice area). I think this is a slower way to gain referrals than direct client advertising. It is more like planting your roots for eventual long-term gain. I advise solos do this if they have the time. It should not be at the top of your marketing list.

You want to be where clients can find you. You should find out where clients would look to find you. The first reaction to this may be "the yellow pages" but numerous lawyers have reported that this method yields a meager return. Each lawyer has a different take on this, but my advice for solos is to sharpen your knowledge as much as possible and find websites that allow potential clients to ask legal questions and attorney to volunteer answers. Do this as often as possible. Also as a side note, include your picture with your online listings. People do want to see an image of you, despite how politically incorrect that may be, and they will surely make a judgment of you on that basis. They will access your age and professional appearance. They may lean toward someone who they identify with. Not to state the obvious, but a photo of yourself that makes you look 35 or older is preferable to one where you appear to be in your 20s. It is a fact of life that many people pair age with wisdom and credibility. Subtle things can give you that look, such as your hair style or outfit. I leave such matters to each of you.

Another lesson learned this month involves ethics. Make sure to read your state's rules of professional conduct (RPC), including the comments. Please take this seriously. You may wish to highlight as you go along. I created a summary of the RPC and it is stapled and on my desk. Remember, you do not have a boss to ask if this or that is ok. I advise reading the RPC (or your summary of it) weekly to see if anything jumps out at you as pertaining to one of your current client files. Eventually, you will have absorbed the RPC well enough so that your issue-spotting for potential ethical issues becomes second nature. Why am I mentioning this? In my two months of practice, I have come across several issues that were directly related to a specific RPC. These rules represent real scenerios with clients and I was surprised how often they come up. I would not have known this prior to going solo and actually representing a client from beginning to end, including drafting the retainer agreement. The RPC, though they seem general at times, do not simply consist of "do the right thing" guidelines or unlikely scenerios for your tiny practice.

Well that's all for now and best of luck to you on your solo adventures as we begin a new decade....2010!

Aspiring Solo Twitters!

2009-12-28T10:14:00.002-05:00

Make sure to visit the Aspiring Solo on Twitter!

Lawyering is All A-Twitter!

2009-12-18T14:19:00.001-05:00

145 Lawyers and Legal Professionals to Follow on Twitter

Solo Life: Month One

2009-12-12T12:57:00.007-05:00

It is inevitable that new solo practitioners must learn from trial and error. This is because you never truly know how something works (or fails to work) until you do it. And one process may work for one attorney but not for another, because one attorney has resources the other doesn't, for example.

At first, I had rigid policies that I am finding have to become flexible. When you are just starting out, you may accept clients because you have no clients. A similar matter you will not accept later on, now that you know what kind of work is involved. Another issue I am encountering is entering into retainer agreements too quickly. While I have the client in my office, I want them to retain me, elsewise they might change their mind after they leave. My retainer agreements include the scope of my representation. As a new practitioner, I often need time to think about the best strategy to meet my client's immigration needs, which means I need anywhere from several hours to several days before I can present the client with his or her legal options. By this time, of course, they are long out of my office. The solution? I charge a consultation fee and tell them that I need time to review their documents and figure out the best plan of action for them, also that I will call them within X time frame. Yes I still run the risk of losing that client, but I got paid for analyzing their file.

Practice management never ends. A good calendaring system is essential. Immigration law is a practice area that is heavily deadline-driven. I have several tickler systems in place, but a central practice management tool would be best. And if a client chooses not to retain me, I urge them to seek other legal counsel right away, or I offer them information about low-cost legal services, since missing a deadline in an immigration matter could seriously effect someone's life.

This leads me to my next point. You should be up and running from day one, meaning, you should have a good practice management software system in place as well as an accounting system. It is hard to retroactively import case files and client information into new software. You will have to allot time to sit and do this, and you might be surprised how quickly your practice gets off the ground. I now have several retained clients and am meeting with another client later today. I am sitting in my office on Saturday as I write this.

A final point about the structure of my days. I spend the majority of my time, by far, researching immigration law. I purchased on credit a number of practitioner resources (books), some extremely helpful. I also actively participate in several list serves where immigration practitioners bounce legal problems off one another. I deal with other practice management issues (paying bills, managing finances, marketing) here and there as well. I would say 75% of my time is taken up with legal research (both general and client specific) and 25% devoted to practice management. I have found that now that my practice is up and running (and is now one-month old!) I am much less interested in the aspects of my law practice that do not involve actual lawyering.

I want my practice to be client-centered. Clients want someone to listen to them. To that end, I structure my fees in such a way so as not to bother clients by nickel and diming them. They retain me for one flat rate that encompasses my representation (as outlined in the retainer agreement), photocopies, faxes, emails, phone calls and postage. I think that they prefer this. So in going solo, not only do I enjoy being my own boss, I enjoy getting to know my clients. And I need to get to know them to get a picture of their lives and present their story as their lawyer. So, I am enjoying solo life and learning how to manage a solo practice everyday. My first month ends with gratitude and joy. Perfect for the upcoming holidays......

A National Bar Exam?

2009-11-24T08:50:00.005-05:00

Several states are moving closer to adopting a national bar exam, according to one article. The benefits for bar examinees are "increased job mobility" and leveling the playing field for underrepresented groups when it comes to bar admission. I wonder if increased job mobility means that there will no longer be state-specific bar licenses. In other words, if you are a licensed attorney in the United States, you can practice law in any state.

This would entail a huge overhaul of state ethics rules -- such nuanced differences between states would no longer exist. This could have the effect of bringing lawyers closer together as a unified force. We could collectively lobby for more fair ethics guidelines surrounding, for example, advertising rules, since there would, presumably, be only one set in which to focus our attention. Some of you may recall the ordeal of the Connecticut attorneys whose advertising structure put them in hot water with the Connecticut bar. Both sides of the dispute tried to argue and flesh out the fine line that sometimes occurs between advertising and seeking referrals (the latter being problematic where a referral is provided to a lawyer in exchange for something of value, in violation of rule 7.2 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, a rule also adopted in the State of Virginia and many other states). With a unified bar, our collective attention as lawyers could be on one set of ethics rules.

But there would be a downside in that state bar associations would lose the wind in their sails. They would not be responsible for drafting bar exams with all of its state specific material, often geared toward common litigation in that state (for example, Gas & Oil law in Texas or Mortgage law in Massachusetts). This wouldn't benefit new lawyers who will still, most likely, be practicing where they live and must respond to the needs of the majority of their clients. State bar associations would be left to offer networking or educational events. They would have to accomplish through mandatory CLEs what they could not accomplish through the bar exam. Although many states already have mandatory CLE requirements, those requirements could become more stringent and costly for lawyers.

The potential outcomes and ramifications of a national bar exam and unified bar are endless, with both pros and cons on either side. One thing is certain is that it would bring serious changes to the structure of state bar associations, bar dues, CLE requirements and ethics rules.

New Links of Interest to Readers

2009-11-21T17:51:00.004-05:00

I want to draw readers attention to several new links that I added to the left side bar of this blog under "Links of Interest." One is a law school outline depository (http://www.outlinesumo.com/), another is a website that appears to be geared toward paralegals who work in Immigration Law firms (http://www.paralegaljobdescription.net/), and another is a list of 100 Links of Interest for Law School students (http://www.onlinecollege.org/2009/09/29/100-best-lifehacks-for-law-students/).

I rely in part on my readers to let me know if something is wrong with my website, such as a broken link or mis-information. So feel free to drop me a line if a link is not what it claims to be or isn't working.

Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the websites!

Building My Practice: Update I

2009-11-15T08:13:00.005-05:00

Everything happens at once, it seems, when starting up a business because one thing dovetails into the next. Here are some of my administrative formation tales, including how I saved (or tried to save) money.

1) Formation Paperwork. I can't save money there. Haha. It was not too expensive, cost a couple hundred bucks. That has to be processed. I presume I will receive a certificate in the mail when it is completed.

2) Bank Accounts. The state of Virginia has detailed requirements on managing accounts, including exactly how to maintain the ledgers. They can be found in the Rules of Professional Conduct at the VA Bar website. I had to use a bank that was willing to promise several things, including where it will send any interest on my escrow account and the requirement to notify the Virginia bar in the event that a check is dishonored against my account. The young man who opened this account told me he had never done this before for a law firm and he was on and off the phone with the bank's legal department throughout our meeting with questions. It took him over two hours to set up my accounts.

3) I am counting down items to be able to (re)-order business cards. New address? Check. Phone Number? Check. Fax Number? Check. Website? Pending. Email address that contains the website in it? Pending. Speaking of fax numbers, I am using a toll-free number through myfax.com which costs about $10/month.

4) Office Furniture. I am almost there. I'm just sorely hurting for some lateral filing cabinets, upon which I plan to place an all-in-one printer that I bought from someone on Craigslist ($20). A neighbor helped me transport and assemble a bookcase, which I already have filled with books. The building is loaning to me a desk and chair, which turned out to be very nice! When you rent office space, always ask the building manager if they have furniture in storage.

5) Office Supplies. Last night I purchased from someone on Craigslist the following items: desk tray, yellow sticky pads, pens, stapler with extra box of staples, scotch tape dispenser, box of paper clips, 10 or so assorted sizes of binder clips, ruler, wastebasket, plastic floor pad for chair. Total cost = $17. To give you an idea of the value here, a brand new stapler cost between $10 and $20 and a plastic floor pad for your chair goes for $35-$80 at Staples. Otherwise, I still had office supplies remaining from a previous business I had. I also purchased a box of xerox paper for $25 -- it was $40 with a $15 rebate. I also purchased a desk calendar last night for $5.

6) Diplomas/Licenses. Another neighbor hung these up for me.

7) Books. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is having a sale on immigration publications while supplies last and until November 30, 2009. So I ordered the pertinent books which I believe I will need. My total was $450.

8) Name Plate for door. Pending.

I never thought I would say this but thank god for document review work. I am very concerned with finances right now. I will go under if I do not have income soon. I plan to ask my mother for a check for Christmas instead of gifts. I have a hard time focusing on generating clients when my office is still in disarray. It is certainly coming together, but I am not there yet. I will keep you posted.

The Big Announcement

2009-11-05T08:53:00.005-05:00

I decided to go solo.

For the past few weeks I have been working on pulling it altogether to make it happen. I have a lease and we are working out the details of the lease agreement. If all goes well with our negotiations, I expect to move in by early next week. I settled on a very clean but small office not far from my home. I was impressed with the clean rug, freshly painted walls and double windows. I did not expect that windows would be as important to me as they have turned out to be. Of course, most importantly, the rent is affordable. I did ask for a reduction -- asking doesn't hurt -- since the office is a mere 100 square feet. They were not amendable, but offered to loan to me some furniture for the office.

I have my formation paperwork, information from the bank on setting up my accounts, and the malpractice insurance lined up. It is interesting the way one thing follows another. You can't submit X paperwork until you are able to include in it Y information, but then Y sometimes requires X and so on. I find getting my papers together to start a solo practice sometimes have to go in a certain order.

In the meantime, I have had a couple of client consultations, which I find extremely interesting and worthwhile. I learn so much with each client. Of course, now at the beginning my learning curve is high. I do not pass on the cost of my learning curve to the client.

I am reading the Foonberg book, How to Start and Build a Law Practice, and I am close to finishing it! Wow, I didn't think that would happen. I also finally purchased Solo By Choice by Carolyn Elefant. I look forward to reading that. Also on my law practice management shelf is Flying Solo by Jeffrey Simmons. I am learning to reading these books quickly. I find that I am dividing them up into categories like Formation, Marketing, Ethics and so on, so I know where to go when. Chapters that I deem related to formation are the chapters that I will re-visit during my first few weeks of practice.

I have my practice materials tabbed and organized for easy reference. I know where to go to research legal questions. I feel confident in my ability to follow due diligence to help clients solve problems and recommend legal solutions.

Right now I am looking forward to moving into my office space. I have so many books, files and office supplies that I need to get out of my home! There are so many things to do, the list is very long. I need to set up a phone and get wired up to the internet, set up a website, etc. I find To Do lists immensely helpful at this time.

Top 5 Reason To Go Solo

2009-10-26T08:19:00.002-04:00

The following is a Guest Post from Sarah Russel of www.ratedcolleges.com.

The Top 5 Reasons to Go Solo

Embarking on the process to open a solo law firm can be a daunting and intimidating task, but it can prove to be quite a successful business endeavor.

Freedom
Freedom is often seen as the number one reason for any lawyer to open up a solo firm; most of the time, they have felt stifled in a fully staffed firm, or overlooked. There are a plethora of reasons as to why many lawyers choose to leave firms, all relating back to the freedom they will receive independently. There will no longer be set times and dates for client meetings or court appearances, but you will rather have the sole responsibility of setting appointments without relying on anyone else.

Independence
Independence goes hand in hand with freedom, although clients tend to appreciate independent firms more; this way, they do not have to deal with extensive lawyers and can get in and out fairly quickly. In a solo firm, you are your own boss, and every mistake you make, or any advancement you make, will come directly from you, instead of the top tier of a firm. This is a refreshing feeling, and aids towards allowing you to become a better practitioner of law.

Client Relationships
Building client relationships is a more difficult task upon opening a solo firm, but it becomes that much more rewarding. Beginning a solo practice means having a firm understanding of law and previous years of dedication to a practice. By this point, you may have already managed to build superior client relationships, and it is from these relationships that you will be referenced to new clients. Networking is a major part of any solo practice, and you will have to rely on your original clients for this building up of your firm. This will cause you to have more personal relationships than you may have had before, leading to content clients. You additionally have to ensure that your clients remain satisfied with your work, so that they will think of you in the future when a friend needs a good criminal defense lawyer, or divorce lawyer, whatever practice you may happen to get into.

Flexibility with practice of law
The instability of the economy has led to the decrease of the need of some fields of law and the increase of others. Because of the new flexibility with a solo practice, it becomes easier to change fields, depending on the current need, or even become a general practitioner. Most law firms will hire lawyers because of their specific fields, and regardless of the amount of work that comes in, you will not be allowed to change from the original field.

Building self-confidence
Self-confidence is one of the major tenets toward establishing yourself as an experienced lawyer, and the years of working in a solo practice help to further achieve this goal. Clients tend to recognize the amount of confidence a lawyer has, and they will typically not hire a lawyer who has little self-confidence; if you cannot display self-confidence, how well would you act in a courtroom?

Building and establishing yourself as a solo practitioner may seem impossible to some, but it can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the practice of law.

This post was contributed by Sarah Russel, who writes about the top rated colleges. She welcomes your feedback at SarahRussel1234 at gmail.com

Layoffs Hit Home

2009-09-25T20:09:00.002-04:00

Well, I got laid off.

I couldn't believe it. I wanted this job so much and it took me so long to find it. The boss told me that there was a budgeting error and they had to let me go. I was also given the option to stay for the next two weeks, and if business picks up then I can stay longer. The boss has a second office further out in Virginia and there may be the option for me to move -- yes, move -- out there and join that office....but not now.

So now I have a whopping three months of experience practicing employment-based immigration law. Anyone hiring? :-)

So I decided to stay and fight for my job and I took them up on their offer to stay for the next two weeks. The boss has told me that maybe things will pick up and new business will come in. He says that he has never had to let someone go due to lack of work.

I'm confident things will work out.

This is a minor setback in my journey. Well it is significant...ha ha...don't get me wrong! But I believe that I will get back on track soon....

So the moral of the story is...appreciate your jobs! Many people are unemployed or getting laid off! A job is a precious thing....

Guest Blog Post: Dressing for Success -- Experience from a Solo Practitioner

2009-09-05T10:17:00.002-04:00

Guest Blog Post from James C. Tai:

Sounds like something my mom used to tell me. I found this to be especially true in starting my law practice. For me, this goes well beyond the shirt on your back and the shoes on your feet. The image of your law practice is much more important than any designer ties that you might own. You can call me vein and insecure, but as a self-starter, it was very important to me to put my firm’s “best foot forward”. I didn’t want to immediately give away to others the fact that I was just a start-up and had limited funds. Set up this stuff when you are first starting out, because as your business grows you will have less and less time to work on these ascetics.

Especially when your starting capital is limited, it is important to look your best, without blowing your own margins. Here are some things you can do for free that can give your practice that “professional look”.

Letterheads- A letter will probably give an opposing attorney (or potential client) his/her first impression of you and your firm. A sloppy (or generic looking) letterhead may signify to the other side (or client) that you do sloppy work, or that your office has limited resources.

I really don’t remember how many hours I spent perfecting my letterhead. I played with the fonts, the spacing, and the information listed for days. I did this using nothing but MS Word. I was shooting for a clean professional look; I didn’t want it to look too stuffy, nor did I want it to have too much “razzle-dazzle”. Trial and error is really the only way. After I came up with a letterhead that I liked, I also created a fax cover sheet using the same theme. Consistency among documents that I was sending out was a very high priority for me.

Firm Logo- While most small firms and solo practitioners have very generic looking or no logos at all, I wanted to have something nice that I can use well into the future. With all the software and resources available on the internet for free, even I was able to come up with some decent logos. Also ask your artistic friends if they can help you. I got a tremendous amount of free help from a graphic design friend of mine.

Websites- A website can tell you so much about an attorney and a law firm. I have seen so many lawyer websites, and I can’t help but jump to conclusions about the lawyer or the firm. A cheap looking site may indicate that you don’t have any resources, or that you are familiar with modern technology. A website that is not functional says the same thing. However, I tend to give an attorney automatic credit for a slick looking site. Good professional looking website templates can be bought quite cheap online. All you have to make some minor modifications to these templates. Again, if you can’t do all it yourself, ask for a friend’s help.

Get your own domain name. Make sure your domain name is the same for the email that you use. This makes you look good and can be done for very little money. I was able to pay for an entire year of a domain name, webhosting and email service for about $60 dollars at godaddy.com.

Business Cards- This one seems pretty obvious. Remember that someone may keep your business card for years, and often times the card will be how someone remembers you. I wanted to stand out, while still looking professional. Make sure you don’t get the cheapest quality cards. I also don’t think that the “executive” cards are necessary. I follow the old adage that you should neither look like a pauper or like someone who does not need other people’s business. I went with the medium quality.

Remember to keep in mind who your target audience is with the cards. If the cards are targeted towards clients, a picture of yourself on it may be appropriate to help them remember your face, but maybe less appropriate if the cards are for other attorneys or professionals. Having different sets of business cards is a good way to cover your bases on this.

“Dress for the job you want, not the one you’ve got”.

James C. Tai, Esq is a principle with Hor & Tai, PLLC (www.hortai.com). James is a Florida attorney who recently opened his own firm. He specializes in small business representation, and real estate matters. He is the author of http://floridasmallbusinesslawyer.blogspot.com and http://floridalandlordtenantlawyer.blogspot.com. He can be reached at jtai@hortai.com.

Q & A: Is a DC License Required for Document Review?

2009-08-10T07:39:00.002-04:00

Below is a question that I received recently. I thought my readers would benefit. I will post occasionally some of the email that I receive if I think it is relevant to many of you.

QUESTION:

I found your list of legal temp agencies online and was hoping you could offer a little insight to someone completely new to this. Primarily, I'm wondering whether or not being licensed (or DC licensed) is a prerequisite for doing doc review and other such temp work in DC (?) I just graduated this year and am looking to make a move to DC, but am not licensed in DC or any other state yet so I'm wondering whether or not I'm going to be able to get into this doc review stuff. Sorry to bother, but I don't know anyone currently doing this in DC and I figured you might have some answers. Thanks!

ANSWER:

Yes. About 80% of the document review projects that are posted ask for either a) a bar license in any jurisdiction or b) a DC license in particular. I saw a project recently that was for "JDs" and a license was not required. You want to go to www.theposselist.com and click on the tab at the top "Subscribing to Our Job Lists". Read the information and subscribe to the lists that are relevant to you. This is the way to hear about contract attorney work. The DC area is one of the few places in the country that has a "hot" contract attorney market and you should take advantage of this. The pay rate has been floundering. It was $35/hour for a while, but I have seen much lower rates lately. This was not the case when I first started doing this back in 2004. The whole industry was different.

You ask a timely and pertinent question. Thanks for writing. Good luck to you.

100 Best Blogs for Law School Students

2009-08-03T18:06:00.001-04:00

I'm happy to say that the Aspiring Solo blog made the cut!

http://www.onlineschools.org/2009/08/02/100-best-blogs-for-law-school-students/

Among the Gainfully Employed

2009-07-15T12:00:00.002-04:00

I am still on my journey to become a solo practitioner one day.

In the meantime, I felt I needed a boost to reach my goal. So I began a search for full-time employment. I felt all the odds were stacked against me. I was long out of law school. I had spent the past 5 years doing document review. My skills were sparse.

My persistence paid off. I was offered an associate position last week, working with nonimmigrant visas. I am very, very happy about this progression. I start on Monday.

I will still post on here as often as my schedule permits, which is usually not too often anyway. Lol. I hope the Temp Agency List is proving helpful to my readers.

My solo timeline is now pushed down the line further. I see associates moving up quickly as they learn their practice area and their skills become marketable. This has always been my goal: develop an area of expertise from which I can sustain a career and livelihood. I always felt that would make my life easier. One doesn't want to drift from career to career without forming a basis of expertise. Since immigration law is federal, my skills will be widely transferable from a geographical perspective. Although I think it is a good idea to have the bar of the state in which one practices immigration law, as other related issues arise.

My career is finally moving along. The bottleneck has been cleared.

Aspiring Solo's Second Annual List of Legal Temp Agencies Serving the Washington DC area

2009-06-25T16:18:00.006-04:00

Second Annual List of Legal Temp Agencies, June 2009

It's that time of year again. I have compiled a list of legal temp agencies serving the Washington D.C. metro area. I came up with a total of 42.

If I left any out or if any of the information is incorrect is any way, then please let me know. You can reach me through the Email Me! link that is located in the left-hand margin of this page.

I eliminated a couple of agencies because they no longer exist and I added a couple of new ones. A new temporary placement agency pops up from time to time on the Posse List or Craig's List. I've tried to keep up. When I go to investigate, I sometimes discover the agency is not exactly a legal temporary placement agency. They just happened to have a client with a project of interest to the legal temp community.

I focused mostly on those agencies that offer temporary placements. I put the best contact information for each agency, which I felt was probably email or fax. If the agency did not provide that information, you will find a phone number or instructions to go to that agency's website to fill out an on-line form. Everyone does business different.

This list is the property of the Aspiring Solo blog. Please do not reproduce it without the permission of the owner and without properly crediting the source.

This List of Temp Agencies will also be converted into a Google Doc and a link can be found on the left-hand margin of this page.

Here is the list:

Ajilon Legal, also known as StaffWise, 1150 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 707, Washington, D.C. 20036, contact: washingtondc@ajilonlegal.com

Aldan Troy Group, 1634 I Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20006, Submit resume using online form.

Assigned Counsel, 6701 Democracy Blvd., Suite 300, Bethesda, MD, 20817, submit resume through online form or send to info@assignedcounsel.com

BCG Search, 1050 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20036, jobs@bcgsearch.com, permanent placements only.

Beacon Hills Group, 1120 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 461, Washington, DC, 20036., contact: washingtondc@beaconhillsg.com

Blackletter Discovery (BLD), 1025 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: dc@blackletterdiscovery.com

Cambridge Professional Group, 7475 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1150, Bethesda, MD, 20814, Contact: sstone@cambridgepg.com

Clutch Legal, 910 17th Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: clutchinfo@clutchgroup.com

Compliance Inc., 1660 L Street, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC, 20036, apply online or call 703-276-9357.
Continuum Legal, 1651 Old Meadow Road, McLean, VA, 22102, contact: info@continuumlegal.com or fax (703) 734-8839.

Delta Group, 1101 17th Street, NW, Suite 1006, Washington, DC, 20036, Contact: Fax: 202-659-5250 or fill out online form.

De Novo Legal, 1420 K Street, 11th Floor, Washington, D.C., 20005, contact: dcresumes@denovolegal.com or fill out online form.

Elaine P. Dine, 115 East 57th Street, New York, New York 10022. Now doing DC temporary attorney placements. Contact: info@thedinegroup.com.

Firm Advice, 1746 N Street, NW, Washington DC 20036. Contact: mlegg@firmadvice.com or recruiter@firmadvice.com.

Global Diversity Consulting Group, 444 North Capitol Street, N.W., Suite 841, Washington, DC, 20001. Contact: resumes@gdiversity.com.

Hands-On Legal, 1025 Connecticut Ave., NW, 10th Floor, Suite 1000, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: dwlawler@handsonlegal.com

Hire Counsel, 1725 I Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20006, DC@hirecounsel.com

Hudson Legal, 1111 19th Street, NW, Suite 620, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: DClegalrecruiters@hudson.com

JuriStaff 1875 I Street, NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC, 20006, submit resume online or fax: 877-751-9388.

Kelly Law 1825 K Street, NW, NW, Suite 1010, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: 19W1@kellyservices.com

Law Firm Staff, 1875 I Street, NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20006, contact: apply online or jobs@lawfirmstaff.com

Law Resources, 1140 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 675 Washington, DC, 20036, apply@lawresources.com

Legal eStaffing, 370 Maple Avenue West, Vienna, VA, 22180. Contact: Fax: (703) 319-1400.

Legal Placements, 1300 I Street, NW, Suite 750 West, Washington, DC, 20005, contact: apply online or dcoffice@legalplacements.com

Legal Source, 1625 Eye Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: info@legalsource.com

Leverage Legal , 8300 Greensboro Drive, Suite 800, Mclean, VA 22102, Apply Online

Lexolution, 1776 I Street, NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: infodc@lexolution.net

Lumen Legal, Contact: jobs@lumenlegal.com

Mergis Group (formerly Spherion), 1730 M Street, NW, Suite 401, Washington, DC, 20036. Contact: KatherineHatcher-Standley@mergisgroup.com.

National Associates, Inc., 1130 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 530, Washington, D.C., contact: fax: (202) 296-7558

Oxford Legal, 1875 Eye Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC, 20006. Contact: rks@oxfordlegal.com.

Palmer Legal, 1211 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 302, Washington, DC, Fax: 202-464-1001, individual contact info on website

Pat Taylor & Associates, 1101 17th Street, NW, Suite 707, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: susan@pattaylor.com.

Phase Legal, 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: info@phaselegal.com

Providus Group, 1130 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 710, Washington, DC, 20036. Contact: dcresumes@providusgroup.com.

Proxy Personnel, 1100 H Street, NW, Suite 260, Washington, DC, 20005, Contact: apply online or Fax: 202-639-9630.

Rhodes & Weinstock, LLC, 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC, 20006. Contact: info@r-wgroup.com.

Solon Legal Group, 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 760, Washington, DC, 20006. Contact: russ@solonlegal.com or Fax: 202-280-1485.

Solomon Page, 1200 G Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20005, Contact: site@solomonpage.com

Special Counsel, 1920 L Street, NW, Suite 550, Washington, DC 20036, contact: dc@specialcounsel.com

Tower Legal Staffing, 700 12th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20005, contact TowerDC@Towerls.com

Update Legal, 1150 17th Street, NW, Suite 302, Washington, DC, 20036, washdc@updatelegal.com

New Resource for Advice and Tips on Interviewing for a Legal Job

2009-05-29T08:50:00.004-04:00

I added a link to the left-hand margin of this blog, under Links of Interest: "The Ultimate Guide for Law Job Interviews: 100 Essential Tools and Resources." I thought Aspiring Solo blog readers would find this to be a useful resource. It seems quite comprehensive.

Guest Blog: Another Aspiring Solo Paves His Way

2009-05-13T20:18:00.003-04:00

On April 1 of this year, I hung out my own shingle here in Chicago. It's been a month and a half and I'm doing okay: I have clients, I'm paying all my bills, and things are essentially under control. Most solos I know have not had this experience. I would say that the reason my start has been so smooth is that I planned for it for over a year.

When I realized I wanted to go solo, I immediately created a googledoc (an online document where I can jot down anything at anytime). A year later when I was gearing up for going solo I reviewed that document and it was pages and pages long. Lots of the ideas weresilly and naive but some of them were really great and I had totally forgotten about them. I immediately implemented a lot of those ideas and found almost immediate success. I was so glad that I had writtendown everything that might help me.

So, I would say the second step after dreaming of going solo is to write those dreams down...to the last detail. It doesn't matter if they're silly or impractical, you'll sort all that stuff out later.

******
Russell Knight is a solo practitioner in Chicago. His two websites are www.rdklegal.com and http://www.abogadodechicago.com/.

My Thought on Document Review, Precisely

2009-05-07T20:45:00.004-04:00

Special Gift for Aspiring Solo blog readers from Jay Foonberg, author of How to Start and Build a Solo Practice

2009-04-26T16:16:00.005-04:00

I was delighted to receive an email recently from Jay Foonberg, whom some of you may know as the author of How to Start and Build A Law Practice (now in its Fifth edition). His book is considered the solo practioner's manual - a must-have for new solos. Mr. Foonberg is offering a special through the Aspiring Solo blog for those of you interested in purchasing individual chapters from his book.

First, you must send an email to his manager, Yolanda, at yolanda@foonberg.com and let her know that you wish to purchase chapters through the special offer at the Aspiring Solo blog. She will send you a special code, which you will use at the online checkout after you have selected which chapters you would like to purchase. You purchase the chapters at http://www.foonberglaw.com/. Just follow the instructions for purchase and it will all be self-explanatory.

I personally own the book, have read about half of it, and I can testify to you that it is chock full of useful information, ideas and inspiration.

Happy Reading!!!!

Lawyering and Activism: A Partnership

2009-04-11T12:25:00.003-04:00

I have been an advocate for bring activism into the law since my own activist days as an undergrad. In law school, I enjoyed attending meetings of the National Lawyers Guild. As a lawyer, I attend trainings for lawyers that teach advocacy for victimized or underrepresented persons.

So when I came across this article involving a law school student who took on a pro bono case involving a woman unfairly jailed for 29 years because she happened to be waiting in the get-away car while her husband and brother robbed a liquor store and killed the owner, I felt it pertinent to share the story with readers of this blog. I am also in favor of a client-centered approach to lawyering, and as struggling solo practioners, it would help us to pay attention to activist lawyers. From what better platform could a lawyer feel empowered to combine law, activism and client advocacy than as a solo practioner?

Adam Reich, the law student representing the woman, is quoted as saying that his work on this case has taught him "that advocacy must extend beyond the courtroom." To read more about Reich's creative lawyering, see the full article here.

Weighing Options

2009-04-08T20:42:00.004-04:00

I had the pleasure last week to hear Carolyn Elefant, creator of www.myshingle.com and author of Solo By Choice, speak at AU Law School. She made numerous helpful points on starting a practice, including the notion that one can start a solo practice and look for a job at the same time, and in fact the former can be an asset to the latter because it shows a self-starter, can-do attitude. Ms. Elefant was also inspirational. She assured us that we already have the skills to practice law and what we don't know can be learned. Moreover, it is less expensive to get started in solo practice than many think.

So recently, I hired a Life Coach. She seems to think I need to chose between focusing my attention on finding a job or focus my energy on going solo. I told her that I am torn on this. It would be wonderful to get a real job. The benefits are that I would be consistently practicing law everyday, I wouldn't have to go out and get clients, I'd have a steady paycheck, and I'd have others around me who can check my work.

"That's a lot of benefits," said my life coach.

"But I always wanted the freedom of going solo," I argued.

"Keep in mind," said my life coach. "This is not permanent. You said yourself you would only want to work for someone else for a year or two, with the goal of going solo. You don't have to give up your dream. This is temporary."

When you think about it, if I can do document review for 5 years than I should easily be able to work in my field for much less than that. Furthermore, with the economy being sluggish and jobs scarce, I could put a timeline on my job search. If I don't get a job by X date, I will re-focus my energy on solo practice. I have only 3-4 weeks left on my current document review project, and I told my Life Coach that I need her to hold me accountable to making the transition out of document review and on to the practice of law. We'll see how it works out.

Stay tuned readers for the Aspiring Solo's Second Annual List of Legal Temp Agencies serving the Washington DC metro area. I'll try to post this in the next week or two.

Guest Post: Virtual Paralegals

2009-03-16T19:42:00.001-04:00

Thinking of going Solo? Learn how to reduce overhead costs by 85%. The recession has affected every industry including legal. Law firms have been laying off attorneys in record numbers leaving lawyers scrabbling to find work. Some are working temporary positions, working as paralegals and others are considering going solo. Attorneys who consider going solo are hesitant due to the start up and overhead costs of starting a law firm.

These attorneys may want to consider hiring a virtual paralegal. A Virtual Paralegal is a paralegal who is independently contracted by a lawyer or law firm to provide paralegal support services on an as needed basis with such services being supplied with the use of technology such as the internet, e-mail, fax and remote access systems (to name a few).

Virtual paralegals reduce the cost of overhead for lawyers and small businesses as there is no need for: training, employee insurance, benefits, superannuation, workers compensation, taxation, sick leave, personal leave, holiday leave, maternity leave, parental leave, coffee breaks or any other cost which is incurred with employing staff full-time or part-time.

With engaging the services of a virtual paralegal, you only pay for the time it takes to complete a task or specified assignment. A virtual paralegal can offer a very affordable alternative to the standard onsite employee and result in increased billable hours for lawyers. Virtual Paralegals have their own equipment which includes their own computer, internet connection, fax, dedicated telephone lines, printers, software and hardware to undertake their clients’ assignments.

Using a virtual paralegal is an economical way to keep your legal budget under control. If you want to learn more about virtual paralegals or virtual assistants visit:

CD&C Virtual Outsource Paralegal, http://www.virtualoutsourceparalegal, The International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA), http://www.ivaa.org/ and Virtual Assistant Networking Association, http://www.vanetworking.com/.

Survey on Law Firms and Marketing

2009-03-06T20:57:00.003-05:00

I received an email requesting that I post a link to a survey about law firms and marketing on this blog. I took the survey myself. Here's the link:

http://rainmaker.questionpro.com/

Haven't Lost Hope

2009-02-10T19:29:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. I am alive and hanging in there. I haven't lost hope. I'm still doing document review in Washington D.C. to keep the bank account sustained (noticed how I didn't say flowing). I watched the inauguration on TV and stayed out of that crowd. My significant other has a busted ankle and I am the caretaker. I have a credit card bill that doesn't want to get paid off. Inbetween projects, I watch the Food Network addictively. I decided that the meaning of life is the Food Network, recipes and cooking. I attend AILA events to try and keep on top of immigration law. That's my life.

I admit I have been entertaining recently the prospect of obtaining a job in the field of immigration law. This is so I can actually practice the stuff everyday and get on top of the law. Then I can use this expertise to launch a solo practice. The problem is the economy and the recession and the fact that any jobs posted on Craig's List receive about 100+ replies. The chances of my getting called for an interview are slim, especially without experience or proficiency in Espanol. (Yes I have Rosetta Stone. But gaining proficiency in a new language takes time, ok?).

I started reading Eat, Love, Pray, a New York Times bestseller written by a woman who tossed a husband and the prospect of babies out the door when she realized that despite the fact that this is what she is supposed to want, she in fact did not want that life. She embarked on a journey to India, Italy and Indonesia. The writing is entertaining and I recommend it. I usually read non-fiction. This justifies the fact that I tend to read half of a book and then put it aside.

The Aspiring Solo is considering hiring a Life Coach, so she can, well, get her Life together. The way I see it, my career is a mess. I did not expect to be 33 and a temp, specifically, a 33-year old who had not yet gotten the chance to have a career and who is doing document review. The good news about document review is that we tend to get to know one another and sometimes keep in touch. Or we "meet up again" on subsequent projects. We are a community in and of ourselves. We learn of each other's marriages and births. Each of us has a story as to how we wound up on document review. Some of the stories make sense and lack shamefulness. Plus there are no office politics to get caught up in, thus many of us actually act like adults. We are the self-employed, to a certain extent, and have the potential to hold some clout. We are loyal to ourselves and welcome friendship from each other, something employers fear. We are ripe for unionization. If it weren't for apathy and outsourcing to India, we could be a serious group of contenders.

Next time I will have made progress and I will report on that. Until then I am happy sipping wine in front of my computer and staying on top of immigration law.

Guest Blogger James Tai

2008-12-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

From time to time, the Aspiring Solo blog will feature guest bloggers. Below is a post from James Tai, a solo practioner from Florida. I asked him to write about his trials and tribulations as a solo attorney and how he resolved them. I think it's important for us to share with one another the nuts and bolts of building a solo practice.

Doing It All

In my experience, the hardest part of going solo, is having to do everything myself (I am actually in a 2 attorney partnership, but we do not currently have any staff). In the past, I have worked for a number of firms ranging from medium in size to solos. Even in the solo firm that I worked for, there was at least a secretary. In past experiences, there was always staff available to do specific tasks (i.e. mailings, filing, making appointments, calendaring and other clerical work). Tasks such as billing, account, and other money related tasks were also delegated to other people.

Now, I am learning to do all these things myself. Although they do not seem too difficult at first, they can often be extremely frustrating. I think my worst pet peeve is having printing envelops. Every time I try to print one envelop, I waste 4, because I can not ever remember which way I’m suppose to put it in the printer. I often think that I spend more time fussing over the printer than I do actual legal work.

The other thing that takes way too much of my time is billing and accounting. While most attorneys complain about billing, it really hits home when you are going at it yourself. Having not only to enter your time, but to prepare invoices, can take up most of a day. Accounting for expenses and accounts receivable can be just as tedious and time consuming. This is compounded by the fact that good billing and accounting software is priced for “rich” lawyers.

Filing should be such a simple task, yet it is difficult. This revelation was an especially a surprise to me, since I spent an entire year working as a “file clerk” for a large firm. Having to keep the file up to date just seems like an endless task. While I have attempted to limit the amount of actual paper that I use, organizing the file in digital format presents its own challenges.

Although I look forward to the day when I will not have to perform all these tasks myself, I am glad that I am actually learning how to do all these things myself. This experience will definitely help me better manage and supervise my future staff. Surely, it will also make me appreciate them that much more.

James C. Tai, Esq.
jtai@hortai.com
Hor & Tai, PLLC
www.hortai.com

Profile
James is a Florida attorney who recently opened his own firm. He specializes in small business representation, and real estate matters. He is the author of http://floridasmallbusinesslawyer.blogspot.com and http://floridalandlordtenantlawyer.blogspot.com

The Makings of an Immigration Practice

2008-11-30T13:56:00.000-05:00

I have been making progress toward acheiving my goal of going solo.

There is a wealth of information out there, you just have to reach out and grab it. Once you decide you want to go solo, there are numerous resources at your fingertips on the internet, through books, bar events, etc. For example, the DC bar recently had a FREE event called Basic Skills for Solos that attracted a small but vibrant group. Each participant received a spiral bound book of information covering the major areas entailed in going solo: marketing, finance and budgeting, writing a business plan, etc. I have been working on a business plan for a long time so I was able to add to my plan from those materials.

Sometimes there is too much information out there. At some point an aspiring solo must take the plunge and reach a decision and then just do it. For example, there are numerous law firm accounting and case management software out there to chose from. So how to chose? I think I am decided on case management software -- INSZoom. That seems to be the most oft-referenced software by immigration solo practioners. As for accounting software, I am still not sure. I will look into QuickBooks.

Preparing to go solo is a tremendous amount of work from multi-angles. I am studying immgration law, period. I study it through books. I study it through some online resources. I study it through AILA events. I study it while conversing with immigration attorneys. I have pages of handwritten notes about all kinds of aspects of immigration law that I have picked up from a number of places. I started a document called Practice Tips to keep this type of information organized. I find that I am tabbing numerous books that I plan to use as references. I tab it so I am able to locate certain information more quickly. I cross - reference what my immgration textbook says about a certain type of visa with what another resource says about that visa. I find out what forms are involved. I check the CIS website, the State Department website, and the website of the consulate for the country involved. I ordered the Immigratice Practice Toolkit through AILA, which has yet to arrive. I ordered this on the advice of an immigration solo attorney with whom I met for coffee last week. I started to create forms for my practice -- a retainer agreement, a fee chart, and a confidentiality agreement.

Money is a concern. Preparing to become a solo is a race with the clock, or better, a race with one's bank account. It is simply a balancing act. If I cannot get my practice established and running before my funds run too low, then I will be forced to accept a temp gig. If I do this, my solo practice will go by the wayside. I have no answer other than to keep my eyes on the prize and stay disciplined. My career is in my hands. Sometimes I panic and I think I am just not ready to do this. I simply wish that I had a job offer doing immigration law as an associate or staff attorney in a law firm or non-profit. I do plan to volunteer whenever I can, but the income factor is just reality. The truth is that no one wants to train you while they are paying you. So if you have no experience and you do not speak Spanish on top of that, you are not much help.

There is a long road ahead. When you go solo, find other attorneys who are willing to enter mentoring agreements with you. This is where you have a fee-sharing agreement with a more experienced attorney and you share the fee in proportion to the work performed. You will find a more experienced attorney who is willing to do this if you ask around. Chose this person wisely, though, you want to team up with an attorney who you get along with and trust. Well this is where I am nowadays. I will try and post an update periodically. I want others to benefit from my journey, so I will let you know how I am preparing to go solo along the way.

Happy Holidays!

Virginia Bar Results

2008-10-19T20:24:00.000-04:00

I passed the Virginia Bar Exam. I think I am just now recovering from the shock. That was one of the hardest administrations of any bar I've ever taken. I walked out of the exam and forgot about it because I've never seen such a hard exam. The turn around time for the swearing in ceremony is very short. It is next week. I'm not sure how it affects my career plans since I want to practice immigration law. Now I will be able to help people with multiple legal issues. Wow, this was a surprise. My project is winding down, too. I want to go solo instead of stay on document review. The problem is that I did not save up enough money to accomplish that goal. I am still aspiring to go solo, though. I haven't lost sight of that dream.....

Document Review & My Update

2008-10-08T20:25:00.002-04:00

I will try not to complain about document review. I was going to write about how document review (code word for attorney temp work) is pure brain drain. But I think we already know this. Document review involves sifting through documents and looking for key words or issues that are responsive to a discovery request. It is relatively easy but very boring. We do not go to law school to do document review. Not at all. Since this is well known among lawyers, I wish to mention the benefits of document review.

Document review pays well. The current rate is probably around $35 per hour, give or take. The work is easy and stress free. The hours are flexible. There is free coffee. Occasionally, if you are out in a suburban law firm location, there could be free parking. Some projects provide meals and/or cab vouchers if one works beyond a certain hour. There is even some room for advancement. One could become a salaried staff attorney with benefits and rise to the level of reviewing the work of the contract attorneys or making final privilege calls. One could manage one's own document review project as, say, a senior staff attorney. This person would work closely with the partners to determine the project's discovery needs relating to the document review and serve as the point of contact with the temp agencies. This upper-level of the document review world falls under the heading of Litigation Support. Depending on your city and the size of the firm, these positions often pay well. But interesting or challenging they are not. Another benefit of document review: if you speak a language other than English, you may qualify for a foreign language document review and earn more per hour than just with an English document review project. Maybe $45 per hour or higher.

These are the benefits. If you want to hear the negatives, or for a "critical expose" of the document review world, visit Tom the Temp.

I am on a project that is slated to go a couple more months. This is why I have been posting sporadically. I'm also taking two classes -- an Immigration course and a Tax course. I'm still working on a solo practice plan but I am also open to accepting a job offer so I can get some experience. We'll see. One thing that I keep promising myself -- this time is no different -- is that I cannot continue to waste time on document review. Saving is tough though with family expenses.

Oh and I'm reading a book about having a mid-life crisis at 30. The book is aimed at women though the title does not indicate such. The premise is that women's major life choices coalesce around age 30 unlike for our foremothers. The author's tap into the feminist movement and the issues and concerns of previous generations and where that has left the Gen X and Gen Y movements. The authors argue that Having It All should be replaced with Having Enough. In other words, these authors are basically imploring women to calm the heck down. It will all happen in due time, really. And if it doesn't -- eh, so what.

Last, I'm experimenting with veganism. I'm doing this mostly for health reasons. It is really hard to eliminate all that stuff from your diet. I'll let you know how that goes. Stay well friends!

Practicing Attorney Survey

2008-09-13T17:39:00.000-04:00

If you have often felt a desire to help other up-and-coming attorneys, now is your chance! I created a Practicing Attorney Survey designed to gauge the perspective of associates and solo practioners who are engaged in the practice of law. If I receive enough responses, I will post the information here on my blog (sans any personal information).

You can find the link to the survey here or in the left-hand column of this blog. Feel free to forward the link to any attorneys who you think would be willing to support a good cause, namely, the professional development of new attorneys. Thanks for your participation!

Book Review: Rain Making 2nd Edition by Ford Harding

2008-09-05T22:56:00.004-04:00

Rain Making--2nd Edition, by Ford Harding, arrived on my desk at a perfect time. I am developing a business and marketing plan for my own practice. It is chock-full of useful revenue-raising marketing tips. As I read through each chapter, I became motivated and inspired to get out there and market my own practice.

Harding describes selling, a.k.a rainmaking, as integral to all professions. To truly succeed in business, one must sell and bring in new business. Law firms are one such environment where selling occurs. The author outlines selling techniques and strategies throughout the book and argues that they apply across professions. Variables include industry peculiarities, geography and individual strengths.

To the extent the book is useful for lawyers… much advice applies to medium/large sized firms or law firms whose clients are other businesses. The book is less useful for solos whose clients are regular citizen-consumers.

The author’s chapters on article publishing, networking and developing leads were especially useful to me. Harding describes how to make full use of your contacts and how to give back to others as a way of expanding your network. He further dissects several industries to illustrate who the key players are.

Rain Making emphasizes the importance of patience in developing a lead. Not only can it take 20-30 tries to get a foot in the door, it can take years to turn a lead into a customer. The author takes his readers through the gamut of dealing with secretaries, making presentations (individually or as a team), follow-ups, sizing up the possibilities operating in most sales situations, and time cycles that occur in various industries.

The chapter on cold calls was not what I expected. I was ready to dismiss this chapter. The term “cold call” conjures up images of telemarketing. Here, cold calls are more like industry-relevant office visits. Harding gleams these visits like a veteran, describing the do’s and don’ts of such visits. Rain Making describes how to hold a conference or seminar (including how to structure it to hold an audience’s attention). The author advises incorporating media relations into your marketing strategy. Legal techies might be disappointed with the chapter on the internet – it is a helpful but sparse discussion on SEO and SEM.

The author, Ford Harding, speaks with authority (the book cover points out that his books are required reading for certification with the Society for Marketing Professionals). Though this is a business type book best used as a reference guide (and I tabbed it throughout for such purpose), I learned a lot from reading it from beginning to end.

Rainmaking is hard work and intimidating. Many people shy away, even run, from the tasks entailed in selling one’s services. Harding walks his readers through the practical, logistical and psychological. He addresses the shyness factor and how to overcome it using reason and common sense. Introverts can do it, too, argues Harding.

Half the battle, I think, is standing strong in the face of defeat or the prospect of defeat. I personally found some of the suggestions intimidating, but only because I am at the beginning of my career. Those of you who have developed proficiency in a single area will benefit from this book. Also standing to benefit, argues Harding, are those who excelled at marketing in their careers. I had a number of instances where I showed promise as a future marketer while still a teenager. There was the door-to-door sales job I had at age 17. Then there was the time I ran for a student body representative seat in college and devised several clever marketing strategies for my campaign (and I won in a close election).

Rain Making is indeed for those who aspire to be principals in their firms – not mere employees. Thus the book speaks to those readers who possess an entrepreneurial mindset. For example, there is a chapter on writing project proposals for clients and another chapter on “turning down small work.” Aspiring solo practioners often measure their firm’s success this way. Associates rarely have these opportunities in law firms.

A question entered my mind as I was finishing up the book. Is marketing intuitive? So much of the articles and books pertaining to marketing are essentially common sense. Yet my reading of Rain Making was helpful and thought-provoking. Perhaps there is a 50/50 split between intuitive and non-intuitive marketing. I have no idea how this book stacks up against the work of the self-proclaimed law marketing gurus such as Ed Poll or Ben Glass, but as a novice marketer myself, I got a lot of useful tips out of it!

Keeping My Eyes on the Prize (in more ways than one)

2008-08-29T19:45:00.002-04:00

Thankfully many of us have a 3-day weekend ahead of us. Time to relax, finally!

I am in the planning stages of preparing for my solo practice. Gee I have been in those planning stages for a while, eh? I make checklists and timelines. There are many interesting resources out there for solos. As members of the DC Bar, we have access to a suprisingly large amount of resources on the DC Bar website for solo practioners. I also called their Law Practice Management office this week and spoke to a helpful staff person who sent me an additional number of resources. There are quite a few solo publications out there in addition to the major ones (i.e. Foonberg, Flying Solo, etc).

This means shaving down my list of reading. I cannot read everything. To a certain extent I must learn by doing. My first major step involves writing my business plan. I already started it. It will include a Marketing plan and a Technology plan. I intend also to have others read it and offer me their candid advice.

In other news, the announcement today about McCain choosing a woman vice-presidential running mate threw me for a curve. He is clearly trying to woo the female voters who were so upset that Hilary lost they vowed to vote for McCain. He is further playing up to "impulse voters" by allowing us to believe that we will get our female president after all in the event he dies while in office. Since he is in his early 70's and of questionable health, this is a viable image for him to conjure up in the minds of voters. Personally, I am not falling for it. I was already going to vote for Obama, except now with even greater conviction. Progressive voters can spot a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Getting Organized Part I

2008-08-24T07:41:00.003-04:00

I have been reading a lot and going through my things. I got rid of the old to make way for the new. I re-arranged furniture. I have a lot more room now. Working everyday has kept me motivated to get even more things done. I have been inundated with household chores and improvements, and it's been fun. I am not a packrat, but I play one on TV. I hate to throw things out that I believe I might find useful one day. I keep old issues of law-related magazines that sparked my interest for reasons I cannot sometimes explain. I just went with my gut and held onto them because I felt they would be important to me one day. This is true in life, wouldn't you say? If something grabs your attention and sustains your interest and this happens sometimes for reasons you cannot explain, then you should take stock in what that may mean for you. This is maybe especially true for aspiring lawyer solos. The law is not cookie-cutter and there are too many variables, and much more so for those of us just starting out. We must pay attention to our intuition as to what motivates and sparks our passion.

I found a number of projects that would be ideal for a law clerk. But I don't have a law clerk, so I'll have to do it myself. Oh well. What do solo practioners do with their law school notes and materials? Do you just chuck them in the trash or organize them to serve as something like a legal encyclopedia for future reference? Feel free to send me your thoughts on this.

My To Do list is a mile long. I better go start checking things off.

Curious Minds

2008-08-12T18:45:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in a while. I am back on my old document review project in downtown Washington, DC. It's going really well. The hours are reasonable and we get a lot of freedom. I am a member of the ABA's General Practice, Solo and Small Firm division and I recently started getting their publication again. I am surprising myself by how interested I am in the material. I am devouring each issue. The issue before last was devoted entirely to law firm technology. I read the magazine cover to cover. I thought it was especially helpful for busy solo or small practices and for attorneys who travel often, but the issue had something in it for everyone. There are articles on PDA's, security and backup (of which every attorney must be aware), laptops, software (including free online software). My favorite article covered the topic of information management, a topic for which I had been hoping to write an article. I think this is a huge issue for most people because many of us are bombarded with so much cyber-information. This includes emails, news aggregators through which we subscribe to our favorite websites and blogs, PDF files that we want to save, listservs, and so on. I for one am on information overload. You can read this issue of the magazine online.

The next issue is all about elder law, including articles that give an overview of Medicare and Medicaid, trusts and estates, and other issues that impact older adults. I am reading this voraciously as well.

I have not forgotten about my plans to establish a solo practice. This temporary project will last for another few months. In the meantime, I am working on all the back end research to start my practice and I plan to keep you updated as I make my way through the challenges and adventures on my way to self-employment in my chosen profession. I started a business plan and I have several solo practice books. Starting a new law practice does entail information overload because there are so many t's to cross and i's to dot. This includes everything from negotiating virtual law office space to devising a marketing plan to ensuring I have a support network in place when I need to bounce ideas off other attorneys.

I'll keep you posted.

Virginia Bar Breakdown

2008-07-31T07:56:00.001-04:00

Well, becoming a member of the Virginia bar was a nice thought.

The essay portion of the Virginia bar exam this week was one of the most difficult essay exams I have ever seen. I am already aware of an entire essay that I bombed and another essay for which I forgot to answer one of the four subparts. I just skipped it and went on to the next question. There went 2.5 points. As for the other essays, they were hard too. One or two was manageable.

When we got to the MBE the next day, I understood why. The MBE was one of the easiest ones I have seen in all my bar exam taking over the years. One half of it was medium level difficulty with lots of long property questions. The other half was just easy. I don't want to get too confident with that, since the MBE has always been my nemesis.

The way I have things calculated, I would have to get about a 160 scaled on the MBE to pass the Virginia bar exam. That is very unlikely.

Oh well, I gave it a shot. On to my next adventures in life. I hope the rest of you had good experiences with the exam! I'm going back to my temp gig on Monday.

Expectations about the Practice of Law

2008-07-23T13:25:00.001-04:00

Studying is going well, but I felt the urge to comment on what appears to me to be a quest on the part of some ex-lawyers to "out" current or aspiring attorneys as not really interested in the practice of law and lawyering.

I have heard all the arguments. There is a high defect rate. There are more than a few whispers about dissatisfaction in the legal profession. Many law graduates went to law school because of the prestige and not because they really wanted to be lawyers.

I went to law school knowing that I was not passionately in love with the law, but because I wanted to have a solid, profitable career for myself. I figured the need for lawyers is not going out of style anytime soon. I came to realize during and after law school that the practice of law is a trade, much like accounting or any other specialized field with its own language and concepts. So I went to law school to learn a trade. My expectations were not unrealistic when I entered law school. After law school I came to think about other careers in which I could have pursued an advanced degree that would have promised a comfortable income and solid career path. But the things that would have made me unhappy about those careers would make me unhappy about a legal career, so what's the difference? For example, long hours working for someone else and office politics. I always knew I wanted to be self-employed. Of course, I could have been self-employed in non-lawyer jobs too which for me would have been something related to Human Resources. But if I work with employment law matters, I will deal with human resource issues as part of my law practice, either in due course or as I intentionally incorporate them in. As for sustaining excitement or passion over a long period of time with ANY profession related to business (e.g. law, HR, etc), I had to pursue a solid income regardless. It was just too risky for me assume that I could build an income-sustaining career on, say, making crafts or karaoke or blogging, and certainly not a leap I would venture out on in my early 20's which is when many of us made the decision to go to law school. We all have hobbies that we find fun and interesting, but the question is whether they can support me. If not, they have to remain hobbies.

Sure, I had a bunch of disappointments in law school and beyond. My first law school graded on a C curve and that was exactly the grade that more than half the class received. I had law professors early on who did not care to monitor their students level of comprehension but instead went forward using legal terms with a first-year first-semester group of law students. Did they want to confuse us so that some would drop out? Who knows. They plunged into legal concepts without giving students a framework in which to understand how these concepts fit into the lawyer-client relationship. Some would argue that we get this perspective later on in, say, a Legal Writing course or clinical program, but to sustain the interest of any group of students one must give them relevant context in which students may envision themselves as engaged in the actual practice of law as lawyers. I am not suggesting that "thinking like a lawyer" take a pedagological backburner. When one emphathizes with the perspective (level of experience, etc) of one's students, then my message becomes clear. This framework that I am describing could have been incorporated easily into my legal education, upfront. Next, because of my grades, I knew certain job prospects were closed to me but I knew I wanted to be self-employed anyway. And last but not least, I had terrible problems with the bar exam.

But I am not going to leap from a frying pan into a fire. The profession of lawyering is just as interesting as any other business related profession. As for job scarcity as a factor in deciding whether to go to law school, that is not the reason why a number of ex-lawyers are encouraging current or aspiring lawyers to leave the profession. One should investigate all factors that impact their decision to pursue a certain type of education including: what you see yourself doing all day, whether you want to self-employed or not, job market for your geographic region, expected income, etc. Only the lucky few get careers as actors, motivational speakers, internet gurus or rock stars. The reality is that most of us cannot count on a living doing these things.

Stress Break

2008-07-22T13:03:00.001-04:00

This post is a riot. It is a perfect release from our collective pre- bar exam anxiety. Warning: contains foul language. But is really funny. Check it out.

Final Week

2008-07-21T18:13:00.000-04:00

How is everyone's studying coming along? I am really wiped out. I think I am good to go on the MBE, though I have another set of 100 MBE Questions I would like to do before the real thing next week. I have studied all of my essay subjects. The question is -- how much re-studying should I do? My thought was to cram about 5 subjects per day just to really make sure I have the material nailed in, coupled with re-reading or reviewing the practice essay answers for each subject. I will maybe limit myself to 1-1.25 hours per subject to do this. See how I do. Maybe spot quiz myself on the tougher areas of the law within each subject. I am tired and not really focusing too well. I am reviewing my mneumonics separately, as well as past Virginia short answer exams. Virginia released its Virginia updates today, which is a summary of recent Supreme Court decisions that relate to areas of the law that we need to know for the bar exam. This document can only serve to freak us out. It does not affect the law that is tested but we "may" see a fact pattern similar to one of these cases, regardless the holdings are not "outcome determinative" with respect to how we should expect to answer the question. In other words, psyche! Well good luck all....

Virtual Law Firms

2008-07-16T15:51:00.001-04:00

I had heard about virtual law firms a while back and have remained intrigued by the idea ever since. I envision a lawyer working from his or her remote location, wired up to the max. This person is equipped with a laptop and desktop (in which one can easy load all work from the latter to the former), security protection galore, a solid backup and archiving system, metadata removal software, reliable case management and billing software. The fax and the phone are close by. Virtual conferences are at one's disposal. Educational opportunities or CLE requirements are easily met thanks to webinars and teleseminars. Filing requirements can be met with e-filing, if one's jurisdiction offers this option. As for meetings with opposing counsel, who says you have to meet in person? Many state rules are probably silent on this matter. Discovery and pre-trial conferences can adjourn over the telephone.

One question looms. How does one meet with clients, and regardless, would any client contact short of an in-person meeting violate any ethical duties owed to a client? If not, how do clients feel about a lawyer with whom they only communicate virtually, perhaps even only virtually (is the initial meeting in person?). If so, what type of client or client matters would be amenable to this arrangement? These questions remain unanswered for me and probably for many of us. I imagine there must be some in-person contact, other than potential trial preparation.

Rainmaking must be interesting. Some potential clients won't like the concept of a virtual office because it might undermine their image of the attorney as competent or credible. This is because clients will not have the opportunity to interact with the attorney spontaneously in which the client may gauge the attorney's comfort level with the subject matter (often a sign of experience) and reactions that can only be conveyed by body language or, at the very least, inflection of voice. These are both impossible using an electronic medium (other than a telephone or second-life). As an example, imagine the difference between a virtual versus non-virtual new attorney who admits that the matter is new to him or her but assures the client that he or she is charged with the same level of client representation and competentcy as any attorney and thanks them for having the opportunity to represent the client. A client who hears this in person might react very differently than one who hears this through an email communication. So then maybe a virtual law firm is better suited for an experienced lawyer.

I think virtual law firms sound like a great idea, and one I would consider for myself, but I need more information. As the internet matures from its teenage years into early adulthood, we will hear more about virtual work spaces. This is only the beginning.

Good Flow

2008-07-11T14:36:00.001-04:00

My experiences with studying for the bar keep getting interesting.

I am getting to a point where I am breezing through some of my subjects, particularly some of the MBE subjects. I know this is potentially alarming. I really just know it, except for those handful of things that are tricky to memorize. You know what I'm talking about (i.e. the criminal defense of Arrest, etc etc.). So I am starting at the end of the subject and working my way back to the front. I am doing this because by the time I get to the end I am tired and not paying attention. It's working well.

I am trying to avoid burnout. I make sure to finish by a reasonable time. I'm going to do some more practice questions. Yesterday I did 50 practice MBE questions and I got 38 correct, which was fabulous, but I don't wanna jinx myself.

I'm thinking about the future and what's next for me. My birthday is in a few weeks. Another year older. I have wanted to go solo but now I am thinking I might try to work for someone else for a while. I have a number of things for which I want to save my money -- solo being one of them -- but buying my own property being another.

Complex decisions for another day. Now, bar study.....

Poll Results

2008-07-08T16:55:00.000-04:00

Thanks to those who participated in my poll which asked "How many hours per day do you study?"

There were 26 responses and here are the results:

2-3 hours: 12%
4-6 hours: 38%
7-9 hours: 38%
10-12 hours: 4%
13 or more: 8%

This means that most of you study a normal number of hours per day. While 4 might be kind of low, 8 or 9 is probably about right. Some of you cannot study more than 4 hours per day due to other commitments. I know there are a number of bar takers who can only take two weeks off from work to study -- usually the two weeks leading up to the exam. And many of you pass that way! Wow. I can barely imagine it, although I guess it is possible. After 10 hours of studying in one day, I'm not sure how much information is going in your brain. Taking into account breaks, more than 10 hours of studying basically means early morning hours until well after sunset. I'd be dazed at that point.

Hope the studying is going well otherwise.

Movie Review: Gonzo and Hunter Thompson

2008-07-06T00:26:00.003-04:00

Occasionally I digress to discuss other subjects on this blog.

Tonight I went to see the movie Gonzo, about the life of Hunter Thompson. The movie was a documentary. I wasn't sure what to expect when I sat down. For those of you who don't know him, Hunter Thompson was a prolific writer for Rolling Stone magazine. He was more of a product of luck and circumstance and gradually gained notoriety. Oh, and he was a hilarious writer. That helped. Watching the movie, though, I was not convinced that he was all that different from his contemporaries. He was so eccentric, the movie kept telling us from the beginning. But all I saw was a somber, dry young man. He was into things that many young men of his generation were fascinated by -- guns, motorcycles and drugs. His self-proclaimed "tripped-out" hallucinations were the inspiration for much of his writing. I am supposed to be impressed by that? He was a womanizer and a drunk, two things for which his wife eventually divorced him. But his contemporaries thought he was cool, because he said and did things that were fun and silly. He kept a child-like spirit in some ways, not giving in to boring suits and ties or what we now call political correctness. He just said it like it was because he had no investment in the life that went with holding it back. Everyone admires this quality, to a certain extent. And Hunter Thompson was cool, or at least he was amusing. I found throughout the movie that I had to keep him at a psychological distance, otherwise his story was just too depressing. The most interesting part of the movie came toward the end, when an executive of Rolling Stone magazine who had given Hunter assignments for years -- and who told unsurprising stories about his inability to meet deadlines or behavior cooperatively -- was so tearful that Hunter had passed away (suicide) that he requested to stop the interview.

And one more point, probably not a popular one. I am tired of watching movies about reverence for the 1960's. Yes, I am familiar with hippie culture, with what hippies looked like and with how they acted. The protests and the Vietnam Wars. I got it. How about a movie celebrating the 80's, 90's or 2000's -- a period during which I lived and could relate to. Gee, imagine that, something geared toward my generation! Yipee!

Anyway, thumbs up for the movie. It was inspiring, amusing, frustrating and sad all rolled up into one. Curious if others saw it and what you thought of it, or if you haven't, whether you plan to now. That's all, folks!

Aspiring Entrepreneur

2008-07-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

Winemaker.

Owner of a professional sports team.

Handbag Designer.

Model.

Clothing designer for diabled women.

A recent ABA Journal article "Of Passions & Practice" says associates are joining the ranks of entrepreneurs while practicing law. Note that is not instead of practicing law. I thought this was a perfect article for the Aspiring Solo blog because any lawyer who goes solo, either by choice or necessity, must pay attention to the business of starting a law firm. Some people are natural entrepreneurs, and solo practioners must be too. The risk is great -- but so are the rewards.

Do you have a dream? Come on, dig deep inside of yourself. Everyone has some sort of childhood dream, one for which many of us came to believe would not allow us to sustain a living. This article will make you think twice about that. It is possible!

While trying to pass the bar, I entertained numerous possible career choices. I was particularly drawn to career opportunities that were entrepreneurial, involved writing and interacting with people, and could be done part-time so that I could pursue other income streams. Diversity is the spice of life, n-est pas? ADD might be another factor to wanting to do 5 things at the same time.

Poll

2008-07-03T14:37:00.002-04:00

I added a poll to this blog a couple days ago (as you can see on your immediate left). I plan to keep it up until next Tuesday -- July 8, 2008. Then I will tally the results and post them. Thanks for participating!

Reminiscing

2008-07-01T21:46:00.001-04:00

I am labeling all of my old postings so that I can create relevant categories for readers of this blog. In doing this, I had the opportunity to re-read my old postings. I read my previous, despairing posts about being unable to conquer the MBE. In hindsight, it is very interesting to read those posts and to know that I actually needed medication! For those of you new to this blog, I am a multiple re-taker. I took the bar many times before I finally passed my first bar in July 2007. I didn't think I would ever pass! But I did finally pass. I had numerous tutors. I was tested for Attention Defecit Disorder (ADD) and was put on medication. The medication was Adderall, which rocks! Within two bar exams of going on the medication, I passed. I went on the medication December 2006 and then finally passed the July 2007 exam. With all my will power and individualism theories, I didn't want to think I needed a pill. Now I am working on a second bar.

To study this time around, I am using:
1) My Notecards. Bought them off someone who took the Virginia Barbri course and passed on her first try. They are great.
2) Barbri MBE questions. I gave up on PMBR questions. Too nuancy.
3) Barbri practice essay and model answer book.

I got very close to passing the Virginia bar this past February, and I finally passed the MBE. If you exceed a 133 on either portion, one is said to have "passed" that half even if you did not pass the whole bar exam. But if you didn't pass the whole bar exam, then one's having passed one portion does not matter and basically means nothing. It only matters in DC, which allows one to sit for one's next bar exam for only the half one did not pass on the previous try. Since I am taking the Virginia exam, who cares. Ha ha. But information for you, nonetheless.

Ok that's my update. Bedtime....Zzzzz

Numbers of Hours Spent Studying for the Bar Exam

2008-06-29T19:55:00.001-04:00

I was reading a debate on jdunderground.com about how many hours per day one should be studying. I agree that 12 hours per day is too much. There are only so many productive hours one can put in. The number "8" seems to make sense, if you're studying full time that is. If you put a nice little break in there, you should fair well on eight hours. Yes you will be tired, but you will have gotten something done. This time around I am studying about 6-8 hours per day, not including outlining essays or practice MBEs. I wait for a natural break in the middle of the afternoon, say after I finish studying a subject. I also play little time management games with myself to keep me on track timewise and force myself to concentrate.

I hope everyone is having fun studying....And just don't think about it that you are wasting your summer studying. Actually, forget I said anything. Just get back to your covenants running with the land.... :-)

Studying Along

2008-06-27T11:57:00.000-04:00

Well I am studying full-time now and it is going well. I study about 1.5 subjects per day and read practice essays. I think this might be where I lost points in February, especially with Virginia civil procedure. There are some concepts there where one truly must see how it is applied. I should finish round one of studying in about a week and a half. I decided to divide my study of Property into thirds. This is because it is extremely long and the subject for which I have the greatest number of notecards. So this morning I covered present estates and future interests and I think that I FINALLY understand future interests. It seems to me the key to understanding it lies in having a firm grasp of the difference between remainders and executory interests. It doesn't stop there of course because there are a number of types of remainders. So anyway, this is good news.

Otherwise, TGIF! I think I will try and get out tonight after I finish my studying for the day. Also feel free to leave comments. I know I have added this "comment approval" thing to my comments but it was to stave off the ridiculous posts. I can see that my usual number of visitors is about the same, so it must be the comment provision that has staved off comments.

Hope everyone's studying is going well.

Associates Are Doing It for Themselves

2008-06-26T14:14:00.000-04:00

Another recent ABA Article entitled, "These Associates Say It's Never to Early to Begin Rainmaking" highlites several associates who have made networking for new clients part of their everyday routine. New associates should keep in mind that there are ethical limitations on such practice, in particular with personal injury matters. In addition, I am not sure of the wisdom of keeping networking for new clients in mind throughout one's day, as does one associate in this article who has found new clients through her child's sporting events. It is more important for both new and seasoned associates to build down time into their day and do things that are completely non-law related. After all, life isn't all about business. And I wonder how much one can really be oneself, when one has the prospect of new business in mind. However I am sure these associates do have down time in their lives. The fabulous point of this article is that associates are doing some of the rainmaking, just when we thought we are at the bottom of the ladder. I imagine they are aspiring solos. One law firm offers associates 15% of any of the business that they bring in. That's pretty cool. I imagine smaller law firms would be willing to implement this type of policy. I think this is a great idea because it empowers associates to learn the business of the practice of law, which is essential if they ever become solo practioners and/or entrepreneurs.

ABA Article Encourages Early Client Development

2008-06-23T19:03:00.005-04:00

According to a recent ABA Journal article, it is never too early for associates to work on client development. The article suggests that associates need to work their way to the top --so to speak -- by public speaking, reading professional publications and joining bar associations. In other words, networking! What a great idea! This is what many of us internet junkies have already been doing. The article suggests that this is how associates will eventually bring business into their law firms. I imagine that such rain-making might be welcomed by small firms. Big law firms probably couldn't care less.

Although I am not the author, I wholly endorse the article and encourage other aspiring solos to follow its advice. This article is followed by a litany of comments, many of which were made by those who wince at the article's advice for associates to create the appearance of being available 24/7. Of course, many readers took such advice literally. My favorite comment was # 25!

Getting Organized

2008-06-19T22:00:00.001-04:00

I know that many of you are drowning in Barbri and PMBR. You cannot imagine how to acheive their study schedule. My concern is that you will get so overwhelmed that you will lose hope that you can manage the information and pass. One thing to keep in mind is that this law must be condensed, tightly, and then memorized. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to make notecards during Barbri lecture. Otherwise, you will take the outline home and try to condense it into an outline on your home computer. You will waste hours as a secretary for yourself, and when will you get around to memorization? This is my best advice to you to combat the stress over the plethora of information.

I will be disappearing soon. I will begin full-time bar study this Saturday. I will try and poke my head out now and then for some sunlight and breathing time. Good luck studying....

Hard Projects?

2008-06-16T21:56:00.002-04:00

How is everyone's studying coming along? I had another idea about document review. I notice that some projects are harder than others. I am on a project now that I think is fairly easy i.e. there are less coding categories than usual, what we are charged with finding is fairly straightforward, etc. I have been on projects that I just thought were hard, either because the subject matter was difficult or there were too many substantive issue codes. So not all document reviews are created equal.

I hope you like the changes I have made to this blog. There are more to come. They include:

* Twitter updates
* updates to the Annual List of Legal Temp Agencies serving the Washington, DC area (just updated today!)
* a Google Doc letter that you can find in the left side of this window pane. I will put the Annual List of Legal temp Agencies in a similar format, so it is easily accessible.
* an invitation to you, the reader, to email me or become a guest blogger
* a live chat with moi, available when I am logged into Google Talk

Enjoy! Keep studying. There are six weeks and counting until the July 2008 bar exam.

California Bar Exam is a Piece of Cake

2008-06-08T15:09:00.004-04:00

So a woman who sits next to me on my current document review project tells me that the California Bar Exam was a "piece of cake" compared to the Maryland bar exam. This is the first time I have ever heard anyone refer to the California Bar as a piece of cake. I mean, I have avoided considering even the possibility of moving to California because of that bar exam. And now I have someone telling me this.

She tells me that the Maryland bar has so much state specific law, that studying for it is very hard. California apparently does not have as much state specific law, with some exceptions, such as community property laws. The California bar is 3 days. The first day consists of 6 essays (I am having DC Bar flashbacks -- the DC Bar also has 6 essays). I always thought of the DC Bar as an "easier" bar for this reason. The second day is the MBE. The third day is two MPTs. In California, you have 3 hours to complete each MPT. When I heard this, I was surprised. In DC, we have 90 minutes for each MPT...

Based on this woman's description, the California bar does sound easier than I previously thought. Everything that I heard about the California bar exam up until this point was negative -- that is was so hard and that the pass rate is so low. The latter is based on statistics, so I cannot argue. So maybe the California bar exam is not so bad after all......

Planning for the Future

2008-05-31T11:36:00.001-04:00

I just updated the list of attorney temp agencies serving the D.C. area (below post). I have a total of 39 agencies. Please let me know if I am leaving any out! I am doing temp work myself right now, but I will be studying for the bar full-time later in June. It strikes me how every document review project is so different from the next. The people are always different, except on a rare occasion when I bump into someone from a previous project. But I always meet new people. Sometimes we are squished together like sardines, other projects there is a nice distance between the temps. Some projects involve close supervision by the staff attorneys, meaning they are sitting among us, clicking away. Other projects, there is only one or two staff attorneys to whom we would direct questions, and they are not in the room with us. Most projects also have temps sitting across from each other, so if you look over the corner of your computer there is a face. I much prefer projects where I am facing a divider or a wall. All projects treat breaks differently too, some require an hour and others only a half-hour.

So that is my take for now on document review and temp agencies. In other news, after this bar exam is over, I need to work on establishing my practice. This is something I cannot put off any longer. I am going to take some classes this Fall, including immigration law and Spanish classes. For those of you who forgot, I am taking the Virginia bar this summer. I already passed D.C. And I think if I don't get the Virginia bar this time around, I will not try again, for a couple of reasons. First, Virginia only allows five tries, and I don't want to use those up. Second, the practice of immigration law requires bar admission anywhere. This is because the immigration courts are separate, federal courts that are governed by federal law. The Virginia bar would be helpful in the event my clients have multiple legal issues, such as family law issues etc. Good luck to all studying for the July bar.

And in closing, a non-denominational prayer:

May there be a day when the Aspiring Solo no longer takes bar exams. Amen.

First Annual List of Legal Temp Agencies

2008-04-30T13:46:00.018-04:00

Below is the Aspiring Solo’s First Annual List of Legal Temp Agencies serving the Washington, D.C. area. This list is non-exhaustive. I did the best I could to locate as many as possible. This website is not responsible for the content on any of these sites nor can we vouch for the veracity of any of their claims with respect to the services that they provide or anything else. When researching contact information, my preference was to use a general email address (e.g. info at tempagency.com). My last choice was to use the name of a recruiter as part of the contact information because like all employees they will come and go from their jobs. I only used this information where the person identified is the proprietor, a long-standing recruiter, or there was just no other contact information. If there was no email that I determined in my sole discretion to be suitable to use as contact information, then I provided a fax number. I tried to always provide a website. One or two agencies simply had no contact information that I was able to locate. Many of them offered candidates the option to apply online.

I have been working on this list for some time. I heard whispers in the document review community as to just how many temp agencies exist in the Washington, D.C. area that place attorneys. My count as of today’s publication date is forty-one (41). If you are a temp agency and you would like your listing removed, just let me know. Also feel free to email me if any of these temp agencies offered to you, as an attorney contractor and temporary employee, services which exceeded your expectations. Please, no badmouthing of any agencies. Any postings that badmouth any agencies will be removed. You may contact me if any of them offered superior quality, and I will find a way to add that information to this list over time. Also, please contact me if any information is missing or inaccurate. My contact information is AspiringSolo at aol.com. I am only listing those temp agencies which place JDs and attorneys with DC law firms. I focused mainly on temporary staffing agencies. There may be one or two permanent agencies listed, but that is not the focus for this list.

Finally, this list is the property of aspiringsolo.blogspot.com. You may not reproduce this list without permission of the author unless you properly credit its source.

1) Ajilon Legal, also known as StaffWise, 1150 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 707, Washington, D.C. 20036, contact: washingtondc@ajilonlegal.com

2) Aldan Troy Group, 1634 I Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20006, Submit resume using online form.

3) Assigned Counsel, 6701 Democracy Blvd., Suite 300, Bethesda, MD, 20817, submit resume through online form or send to info@assignedcounsel.com

4) BCG Search, 1050 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20036, jobs@bcgsearch.com, permanent placements only, not sure if they place entry-level associates

5) Beacon Hills Group, 1120 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 461, Washington, DC, 20036., contact: washingtondc@beaconhillsg.com

6) Blackletter Discovery (BLD), 1025 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: dc@blackletterdiscovery.com

7) Cambridge Professional Group, 7475 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1150, Bethesda, MD, 20814, Contact: sstone@cambridgepg.com

8) Clutch Legal, 910 17th Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: clutchinfo@clutchgroup.com

9) Compliance Inc., 1660 L Street, NW, Suite 900, Washington, DC, 20036, apply online or call 703-276-9357.

10) Continuum Legal, 1651 Old Meadow Road, McLean, VA, 22102, contact: info@continuumlegal.com

11) Delta Group, 1101 17th Street, NW, Suite 1006, Washington, DC, 20036, Contact: Fax: 202-659-5250 or fill out online form.

12) De Novo Legal, 1420 K Street, 11th Floor, Washington, D.C., contact: dcresumes@denovolegal.com.

13) The Dine Group, 115 East 57th Street, New York, New York 10022, contact: info@thedinegroup.com.

14) Firm Advice, 1746 N Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: mlegg@firmadvice.com.

15) Global Diversity Consulting Group, 444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 841, Washington, D.C. 20001, contact: resumes@gdiversity.com.

16) Hands-On Legal, 1025 Connecticut Ave., NW, 10th Floor, Suite 1000, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: dwlawler@handsonlegal.com

17) Hire Counsel, 1725 I Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20006, DC@hirecounsel.com

18) Hudson Legal, 1111 19th Street, NW, Suite 620, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: DClegalrecruiters@hudson.com

19) JuriStaff 1875 I Street, NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC, 20006, submit resume online or fax: 877-751-9388.

20) Kelly Law 1825 K Street, NW, NW, Suite 1010, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: 19W1@kellyservices.com

21) Law Firm Staff, 1875 I Street, NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20006, contact: apply online or jobs@lawfirmstaff.com

22) Law Resources, 1140 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 675 Washington, DC, 20036, apply@lawresources.com

23) Legal Placements, 1300 I Street, NW, Suite 750 West, Washington, DC, 20005, contact: apply online or dcoffice@legalplacements.com

24) Legal Source, 1625 Eye Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: info@legalsource.com

25) Leverage Legal , 8300 Greensboro Drive, Suite 800, Mclean, VA 22102, Apply Online

26) Lexolution, 1776 I Street, NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: infodc@lexolution.net

27) Lumen Legal, Contact: jobs@lumenlegal.com

28) Mergis Group (formerally Spherion), 1730 M Street, NW, Suite 401, Washington, DC, 20036. Contact: KatherineHatcher-Standley@mergisgroup.com.

29) National Associates, Inc., 1130 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 530, Washington, D.C., contact: fax: (202) 296-7558

30) O & O Staffing, 1629 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC., 20006, contact: info@oandostaffing.com

31) Oxford Legal, 1875 Eye Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC, 20006. Contact: rks@oxfordlegal.com.

32) Palmer Legal, 1211 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 302, Washington, DC, Fax: 202-464-1001, individual contact info on website

33) Pat Taylor & Associates, 1101 17th Street, NW, Suite 707, Washington, DC, 20036, contact: susan@pattaylor.com.

34) Phase Legal, 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC, 20006, contact: info@phaselegal.com

35) Providus Group, 1130 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 710, Washington, DC, 20036. Contact: dcresumes@providusgroup.com.

36) Proxy Personnel, 1100 H Street, NW, Suite 260, Washington, DC, 20005, Contact: apply online or Fax: 202-639-9630.

37) Salon Legal

38) Solomon Page, 1200 G Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20005, Contact: site@solomonpage.com

39) Special Counsel, 1920 L Street, NW, Suite 550, Washington, DC 20036, contact: dc@specialcounsel.com

40) Tower Legal Staffing, 700 12th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20005, contact TowerDC@Towerls.com

41) Update Legal, 1150 17th Street, NW, Suite 302, Washington, DC, 20036, washdc@updatelegal.com

Becoming a Solo Practioner: New Book and Free Ebook

2008-04-30T08:01:00.006-04:00

I try to find the time to periodically check out Carolyn Elefant's blog, "My Shingle." Carolyn is a solo practioner in the D.C. area for whom I have done some work in the past. She also happens to be a terrific writer and just came out with a book titled Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be. Today she is giving away a FREE ebook on her blog. Not only do you get this neat ebook, but your name will be entered into a drawing to win her new Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Bebook. You must enter your name before May 15, 2008. Check it out!

Bar Results

2008-04-25T16:07:00.001-04:00

It's taken me awhile to post. I've been working on some upcoming blog posts, so hint hint, there are some good things yet to come. Basically there is bad news and good news. The bad news is that I didn't pass the Virginia bar. The good news is twofold: First, I missed passing by 3 points. Second, I passed the MBE. First time ever! So, I am told, I must retake the Virginia bar this summer, since I got so close. My problem is sustaining some employment so that I am able to do that. We'll see. More later.

Document Review Overview

2008-04-04T17:18:00.003-04:00

I did not realize when I first started to do attorney temp work (document review) that everyone is happy with the temp attorneys who crank out the greatest number of documents per day. It wasn't until my second project when I abruptly learned that you must code quickly even if the project managers have not given you a daily quota. Since then, I have only been on projects where the project leaders made it abundantly clear how many documents we should be coding per hour and per day. It's all about numbers. The key to document review success is numbers combined with accuracy. Although accuracy is debatable when one has to code as quickly as possible. If your project tells you that you have to code 500 documents per day, worry not. This is actually a number that is quite easy to achieve. So there you have it. The formula for document review success is speed plus accuracy. The pay is quite good for those of you new to it. Just try and get used to an iPod. You can download all kinds of podcasts for free at iTunes, in case you find music distracting. Otherwise you might start yapping or checking email or taking excessive breaks, which is a great way to get fired.

Which reminds me -- you will see people disappear on document review projects. They either talked too much, weren't producing, or something else. And sometimes it is a minor infraction. Always take your stuff with you at the end of each day in the event that you're cut. If there is anyone on your project who you know you would like to keep in touch with, exchange information early. Once you're cut, you do not go back to get your stuff or anything. The temp agency will retrieve anything you may have left behind. Just keep your head down and keep working. Draw and write poetry when you just can't stand it anymore, you probably won't get cut for that. But do NOT read the newspaper at your desk, even during breaks. Supervisors just don't like the look of that even though they know you're not on the clock. I know a guy who got canned for this, though he hadn't even signed in yet for the day. If it feels like something supervisors don't want to see you doing period, then pay attention to your gut and don't do it. Also, the walls sometimes have ears. Do not badmouth anyone. You might even find yourself canned the same day if you engage in this conversation, though it was in whispers and you either thought no one could hear or you were talking to someone you thought was your friend. And follow the rules. If they want you to sign out for one silly thing or another, just do it. I tell you this because it hurts to get cut, and people do indeed get "blackballed" from certain agencies. If the client cuts you for slow or inaccurate production, that agency will not use you again. In this case, just move on to another agency. There are dozens of them in the DC area.

All this aside, document review is actually an excellent gig and I recommend it. Yes it is boring work but you will make friends and the work is stress free. The pay is also very good. Each project is different. Some are lenient with breaks, some provide meals, and some allow you to work highly flexible hours. Well good luck all and happy clicking. Bar results are just a few weeks away!

Defection from Lawyering

2008-03-16T09:21:00.001-04:00

I am debating this issue back in forth in my mind this morning.

I asked another document reviewer sitting next to me why it is that he is debating whether or not he wants to really be a lawyer, as part of a larger conversation we had been having about why he left his former associate position practicing bankruptcy law. His description as to what turned him off to practicing law was somewhat unclear. It was not that the work was boring. The major reason was a lack of support and encouragement from his boss, but there was more. The law was too difficult and he never quite felt like he knew what he was doing. In addition, the clients were terrible and would make their legal situations even worse. I pressed further with him because while I understood how those things may have wanted him to switch jobs or even switch practice areas, I was still not clear as to why it caused him to question the practice of law itself. I don't think I got a clear answer.

I have been tossing this back and forth since then. I do research in my spare time within my chosen profession and in particular within the areas of employment, human resources and immigration law. While I am reading, I keep this co-worker's comments in mind. I share some of his anxieties. The law is difficult. What if you did research for a client and just did not come across a case that was integral to your case? I have had this happen to me as a law clerk. I research an issue on Westlaw or Lexus and I just do not find what i need to find. What if it was adverse to your client and your opposing counsel did not find it either, and the question is put upon you as to whether you violated the rules of professional conduct by failing to disclose controlling law? Perhaps the solution is that with frequent use and over time, my knowledge would be sharpened as to both the use of the research tool and the law itself. Regardless, such experiences cause very real anxiety. I am left with deflated confidence. At the minimum I think that the law is just too difficult to ever take the form of something that I am passionate about, and at the maxiumum I begin thinking that I am not smart enough.

As I am researching my legal areas of interest, including recent cases, my feelings shift and change shape. The facts of some cases can be fascinating. I must keep in mind that as attorneys we are dealing with people who have extremely complex lives. We can never entirely stick to legal theories because a client is a whole person with a variety of needs. The pride I imagine that I would have in showing compassion in addressing my client's needs brings back some flicker of hope and desire for pursuing my profession. Then my daydream drifts into court, meeting with judges and opposing counsel, and legal research. I imagine trying to climb a mountain with no top when it comes to feeling confident within my practice area. What would that confidence encompass? It would mean that I have mastered relevant case and statutory law for that area of the law, that I am on top of new developments to the law, that I am confident in holding myself out as engaged in the practice of a certain field of law. On one hand I understand this comes with time and secondly even the most seasoned attorneys are stumped because of novel and complex ways the law is applied.

I worry about balancing my concern with my job performance and whether or not I am meeting my employer's expectations with whether or not s/he is teaching me everything I need to know (including correcting any inaccurate assumptions). After all, what is the attorney's incentive in teaching me everything he or she knows? To create more competition? Perhaps there is something the supervising attorney or partner knows that would clarify these feelings of mystery and uncertainty that I and perhaps many other new attorneys feel, an uncertainty so strong that we are defecting from the profession like flies? If all I am good for is transactional (drafting, editing, paralegal-level work) or simple court appearances, perhaps I will get bored and this boss will have eliminated some competition. This is a judgment call for associates to make. We must ask ourselves: have I learned all there is to know? Are my feelings of uncertainty still reasonable at this point? How can I advance? What is the next level of complexity within my practice area? Of course all bosses are created different and some give associates the most complex work they have and thus immerse first-year associates in the full gamut that practice area has to offer.

Perhaps my co-worker is not a people person or lacked the patience an apprentice must have. Maybe another boss would have been more suitable for him. But the curiosity lies in his desire to leave the profession altogether. I can only imagine that he experienced a missing spark. So it is this spark that I keep in mind as I move throughout the aspects of my profession that I am currently experiencing: how to identify feelings of desire and passion and convey those feelings in an interview to a prospective employer (or at a networking event), reading legal updates in employment law and monitor my own reactions, understanding what turns me off and why (how much I should just deal with the boring parts of this and any profession), and finding my niche as a lawyer. Surely, there are numerous ways to be a lawyer, to practice law, and to serve clients.

Well those are my thoughts for the day (week, year). I would like to hear your impressions of this, too.

the post-mortem

2008-02-29T08:19:00.002-05:00

Relaxation at last. Just doing some errands and getting things done that I had to put off. The exam was an interesting experience. My biggest issue with that exam was time management. In practice, students are told how to best "tease out" a full-credit response. But between figuring out how to answer each sub-part of an essay, planning my answer, and then writing it using CIRAC, I was in a race with the clock 90% of the time. Forget about going back and re-reading your answer. I would say overall that the exam was hard, but it was not impossible. Some questions were easier then others. The bar examiners write the questions, in my opinion, so there are numerous possible ways to answer it and lots of potential wrong turns. The proctor told us that the graders of each essay have undergone "extensive training." I'm not sure if I should be scared. Extensive training may work to the benefit of examinees in that the graders are so familiar with the law within that subject area that they are able to assign points where we are marginally correct or relevant but off-topic, etc. Or they may be strict about exactly the rule of law they are looking for, and one's answer is either "wrong" or "right", period. I believe they will assign points for valid arguments made, even if we don't get the correct answer. I can think of one essay where I outright screwed up the one rule of law that they were looking for, but I wrote extensively about surrounding and relevant issues. My conclusion was wrong though.

Anyway, the Virginia essays are released immediately (to examinees, at least). They are posted on the George Mason website. We were tested on Virginia civil procedure, Federal Civil procedure, Personal Property (Gifts), Domestic relations, Torts (Negligence) combined with Agency, Wills, Trusts, Sales (warranties, damages, etc), and Secured Transactions. Results will be released on April 24.

My friends reminded me that I am still a lawyer, so if I don't pass the consequences are not as dire. It would be great to have a second bar. I am under the impression that most people in the DC area have more than one bar.

Well now I may have some work on the horizon beginning Monday, we'll see if that pans out. In my free time I need to conduct a full-time job search. Good luck to all on your bar results. Now is the time to completely forget about it until results are released.

Game Day is Upon Us

2008-02-25T08:17:00.000-05:00

Well it's here. I might still review some today (and tonight). I am reviewing some of the past exams, too. It seems that Virginia likes to test property (especially eminent domain) and criminal law / procedure, but maybe that's just me. I studied pretty hard for this exam and it will be a strange thing if I can't pass. I know people who study much less than I have and still pass. Good luck everyone!

Battling Fatigue

2008-02-21T22:20:00.002-05:00

I found a new way to study. For those of you who have been following my blog, I usually create a one-page "tree outline" of sorts when I am studying an essay subject. Well what I have been doing is racing through the tree outline reciting law outloud, to see how much I remember without looking at my notecards (the tree outline is a list of issues, the law is on the notecards). The list of issues triggers what I need to know. I do this for each column, and then I stop and review my notecards to see how accurate I was. Then I move on to the next column. I usually have no more then 3 or 4 columns, depending on the length of the subject. This makes studying move way faster. I'm zipping through some of the longer subjects this way.

I am very fatigued. I usually cannot study much beyond 1:30 or 2 lately. I sleep ok, but I am burnt out. I didn't get to as many MBEs as I would have liked, but I plan to do 100 mixed subject on Sunday. I am not sure yet to what extent I will study until the very last minute. I plan to re-study Virginia civil procedure on Sunday. Monday will be packing, errands and traveling. I kind of ran out of time, I would have liked to put more time into studying the black letter law of the MBE. So much time is spent on memorizing essay law because of the nature of essay writing.

Another thing. I think I might have to fill that new eyeglass prescription when this is over after all.

Blurred Vision

2008-02-10T19:29:00.000-05:00

I am studying everyday. I am still studying two essay subjects per day. I finish earlier with each re-study, but move on to MBE black letter law. Then on to practice MBEs or outlining essays. I printed out the VA essay exam from last July and went through the whole thing, outlining my answers, etc. That exam was HARD. They asked the most nuanced questions I have ever seen. I mean, an entire question on Third-Party entrustment? For those of you drawing a blank, this topic is covered at the very end of the Sales chapter. The first question on the exam inquires as to two ways the essay character could have acquired an easement and I could only think of one (then today I was studying Property and I thought adverse possession/tacking would be the other). Well anyway I won't go through every question, you can print it out yourself if so inclined. They are published on the George Mason website.

Bar exam is in about two weeks. I can't wait for this to be over. I am concerned that I am not able to study hard enough from now until then, or that two subjects per day is not the right way to retain all this information. Maybe I should study 3 per day? When I get to a subject that I have already studied twice, I am still struggling to recall some of the subject matter. I recall a lot of it, but I want to know this really, really well by exam day. I did practice Commercial paper essay questions from the yellow book and geeez those are hard. My outlined response sometimes looks nothing like the model answer.

I also thought it might be helpful to quiz myself on Virginia "vocab" since that alone is its own endeavor. Virginia law has a lot of its own language. I guess every state does. I have only been taking DC, other then Virginia, so what do I know.

I am thinking strategy in these last couple weeks. One of my next strategies is to read over the barbri handout containing general information on how to approach Virginia essays. I think it was Barbri's essay workshop. I think of my friends who passed the Virginia bar last July and after reading it recently I am reflecting on the standard I have to aim for here. One friend who studied very little passed on her first try, and her first try was July 2007. Geez, entrustment? Virginia is the super-nuance state, I guess. I reviewed February, 2007 and I did just the first essay which I think I did well on (civil procedure).

I think one really never finishes studying for the exam. Just one morning you wake up and it's exam day! Or you think you have studied everything, but because there is just so much of it, you know you probably forgot something (and you did) so you go back and study that first MBE subject again and lo and behold you forgot quite a bit, blah, blah. Well good luck all. I need to rest my eyes from studying all day and such. I just don't have much more steam after 8 or 9 productive hours.

3 weeks left

2008-02-04T21:15:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted in a while (due to studying). I am studying two essay subjects per day, in the morning. This is a re-study, meaning I am on my second round of studying the essay subjects. I expect to get in four rounds of studying essay subjects before the actual exam. I am rather impressed with myself about that. Naturally I expect each round to move quicker, because I am memorizing and re-memorizing as I go along. I haven't done many MBE questions. This is because I am still absorbing (MBE) black letter law. I am very familiar with the MBE and I know that practicing questions is extremely important to one's success. If you're a multiple retaker like me, you start to run out of questions. This is the problem. I will get to them soon though and dutifully let you all know my scores / range. I never improve. I get anywhere from 50%-70% at the high end. This is why, word to the wise, the practice questions are so important. They are about half black letter law and half legal reasoning skills.

As an aside, I am not sure if others are aware of this, but PMBR and Kaplan have merged. Their website is http://www.kaplanpmbr.com/. They published all new materials. Maybe I will buy their stuff one day, since I am just running out of questions that I haven't seen a million times.

I start my third round of studying on Wednesday. I can't wait. I can feel the burnout encroaching upon me but I am trying to ignore it. I get in a good 9 hours of study per day, but I want to really feel like I accomplished a lot in those 9 hours. Hope others are having oodles of fun like I am. Keep up the good fight. I'll pop back in about a week from now or so.

Bar Tip

2008-01-15T18:33:00.000-05:00

Studying is giving me a terribly sore neck and a twitching eye. I was told the other day that my twitching eye, most likely brought on by eye strain from studying, is because I am "getting older." Geesh. Methuselah and I used to date. I broke it off with him to date Rip Van W. Come on, that was funny. Anyway the studying is going well in terms of time management. I expect to finish my first round of studying for the essay subjects by the end of next week. I study essay subjects during the morning and early afternoon, take a break, and then study an MBE subject for a couple hours. I always wrap up by no later then 6 (new rule). This is so I can feel like a decent human being, take a good mental health break and spend time with my significant other. It elevates depression that comes from non-stop marathon studying.

The MBE is still the same for me: a beast with no mercy. No matter how much I study for it, my scores don't improve. Like many bar takers, I have accepted this fact. I roll my dice on the essays. I am studying Taxation today (and tomorrow). I bought study materials off a young woman who passed the Virginia bar on her first try. Her outline and notecards are phenomenal, approaching brillant. She is amazingly organized. She used 4 X 6 notecards and used a printer to run them through. She created them from her outline and kept the law super tight and succinct. She made healthy use of the return key, and also of bolding and italicizing words. I couldn't get that organized after multiple tries. Her system was to memorize the black letter law and not get caught up in every little nuance. But there is something else about her notecards. She has things set up differently then I do so that her order of analysis is very clear. I think I finally have a grasp on Commercial Law. She had some things missing from her notecards which I had to fill in (there are a lot more theories of liability then just Contract/Signature and Warranty/Transfer) but her organization is so superb that she made that easy for me to do. In DC, they indeed tested us on accomodation party liability.

So when I finish my first round of studying the essay subjects, I start on round 2 which really nails it for me. Who knows, maybe there will be a round 3. I feel good about time management. By the way, friends, this is really the way to go. When you have a bar exam ahead of you, buy the study materials off someone who already (recently) took that bar including their outlines and notecards. But ask to look at their notecards first. If they look like mine, don't buy them (on 3X5 cards, handwritten). But if they are on 4X6 cards and printed lengthwise, you're rolling. Do not waste a month or more as your own secretary. This is a huge waste of time. Buying someone else's self-created notecards is a GIANT time saver. If you are worried that they skipped over too much law, just follow along in the conviser mini-review if it will make you feel better.

Good luck all.

Study for only 2 weeks??

2007-12-30T12:52:00.000-05:00

I have a friend who passed the Virginia bar exam on her first try. She told me that she only studied for it full-time for the two weeks preceding the exam. She had studied for it part-time for a couple weeks before that. I am very envious of her ability to do this, not to mention in complete awe. I imagine she only studied the most highly tested areas. She also passed the MBE on this first try i.e. her score exceeded a 133, meaning she was able to waive into DC. One possibility is that she is just very good at exam-taking. This is a strength for her. But even still, to pass any bar exam, you have to know some black-letter law cold. Virginia has about 27 subjects. I cannot imagine how she studied the law of 27 subjects well enough to pass in a 2-3 week time frame, but the fact is that she was able to do it. Anyone else able to accomplish this feat? If so, I want to hear all about it! What was your schedule like? You would have to learn two subjects cold per day with no time to review, or 3 per day with a review at the end. If you learned two per day, you would still need to fit in practice essays and MBEs. If you forego the essays (you could just study the format the bar examiners are looking for) you would still need to practice some MBEs. You have to understand how they work, thier format, etc. Focusing in only on highly tested areas would clearly be to your benefit, as you would save time. Just the fact that this is possible for some people puts studying for the Virginia bar in a whole new light for me. I just made a study calendar for the next two months, and every day is accounted for. I mean come on, 27 subjects. I had always heard people talk about studying "smart" as more important then studying "hard."

A schedule for this I imagine might look like this: Memorize two subjects (7:30-3), break, study MBE subject (4-8), do 50 Questions (8:30-10). But there are problems with this schedule. First, there are not enough breaks to sustain fatigue and an eventual inability to concentrate. Second, I am not accounting for time spent organizing the law of the MBE so that it can be memorized (although this hurdle may be overcome if you have someone else's outline/notecards). I also have a hard time imagining studying two subjects in 7.5 hours (try and imagine if the two subjects were Wills and Civil Procedure). Although you could do one really long or tough subject alongside a less tough one for each day. Another key to this way of studying, I think, is using probabilities as a marker. What was tested on the last bar? What will likely be tested on this bar? What is due to be tested again? Within each subject, what areas are tested? Furthermore, there is something to be said for cramming and the adrenaline of trying to accomplish something so daunting within such a pressure-packed short time period.

I am currently studying VA Civil procedure and I think it is very long and detailed. I can barely imagine studying that one subject within one day. In fact, I scheduled about 4 days for myself to study that subject. This involves memorization and making a final one page tree outline so I can make sure I hit all the issues, and also studying practice essay questions for that subject. And that is based on the fact that I already have the notecards for that subject created! Each "day" for study purposes for essay subjects is about 7:30-2. Then I pick up on that subject the next morning, depending on the length of the subject. I take a break somewhere around 2, and then I hit an MBE subject, also for memorization purposes. Then I try and fit in 50 practice questions. Well good luck everyone........

Fabulous website!

2007-11-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

Attention law school students and bar takers!

I found a very cool website that teaches black letter law in clear, easy-to-understand language and includes hypos.

http://courses.lawstudysystems.com/

You get a free run through of the subject-by-subject tutorials if you look over on the right hand column. Also, law school students, these are the bar subjects! And what really matters now, as you enter your second or third year, is getting ready to pass that bar exam (on your first try, ideally).

I always felt that law school was one big self-study program. Here is your chance to get ahead of the game! And no, I do not have an interest in promoting this website.

Some of the material is free, some not. I just went into the Free Torts Advisor and the topics they have listed are all on the bar exam. Torts is tested as a Multistate subject (meaning a subject that is tested on the multiple choice portion of the bar exam) and the the multistate is part of EVERY bar exam in the country, except Louisiana and Washington state, I believe. The multistate is also called the "MBE."

The $30 fee for all of the material is probably worth it. If you decide to pay the $30, please let me know how the whole program looks.

Where have I been?

2007-11-02T12:51:00.000-04:00

I understand that many readers of this blog compare themselves to me. It goes something like this: "I hope I don't have to take this darn exam that many times!" Or: "I may be a repeater, but until I keep going like this chick, I'm not too much of a wash-up/ embarrassment, etc." Glad my misery could be of help to you. Just kidding. Seriously, if this blog provided value to you in the form of encouragement or study strategy, then I am happy to hear. So what is new with me? We are getting sworn in soon. I am actually unsure what's next for me in the immediate future. I will probably do document review for the next couple of months. I might take the February bar exam for Virginia. I have the materials and have been looking over them. I should also try to find an associate position doing employment law. I have the strike against me of a time gap on my resume between law school graduation and bar admittance. I would have to overcome that somehow. In the meantime, I have been volunteering in the legal department of a local organization that offers various services to immigrants. I also teach ESL classes at night. That's how I have been keeping busy. Maybe I can find a firm that does both employment law and immigration, that would be fabulous. And my long-term goal, of course, is to go solo. I temporarily lost and then found Mindy Farber's book, How to Start an Employment Law Practice. And I still have my Jay Foonberg book, considered a must for any soon-to-be solo practioner. It had been gathering dust, but no longer. As a side note, I notice that the ABA seems to have some kind of claim to law related books. It's website sells books that cannot be found elsewhere, such as the Farber book. This book is small and thin, around 150 pages, and sells for about $55!

Another point, lest I forget: I remember early on in law school when everyone was muttering about Big Law and on-campus recruiting. Another student told me that the big law firms base their hiring decisions on first-year grades. I was an average student so I knew then that I wouldn't be considered for that. I didn't drop out. And then came my ridiculous number of bar attempts. But I always knew that there would be some place for me in the legal profession. I just knew it. There are too many law firms out there and so many different types of people, issues of timing, ways to get experience etc. for things not to work out for me. There is more to life then grades, for example, compatible personalities with the hiring managers, or your skills matching their needs. So get the experience that will look good on your resume and someone will recognize it's value. I suppose the fact that I knew I wanted to be a solo was a help, too. So hang in there. Understanding what your passion is and where it fits into the practice of law is WAY more valuable then being a cookie-cutter big law slave. Oh and the money will come as time goes on and you acquire so many years of experience. Good luck.....

The Process

2007-10-11T16:48:00.000-04:00

The way that I passed was this:

I studied and prepared for the exam like I always do. The essay portion was easier then usual. DC implemented the MEE for the first time. DC only has six essays, and 3 of them were MBE subject questions. This was very manageable for me. I still did not pass the MBE. I have never passed the MBE. I scored in my usual range (usual as of late), close to 130. Passing in DC is a 133. So my essays obviously compensated for that, and I passed. For some of you who posted on my comments, my suggestion is to try and work with your state's formula and figure out how you can pass based on your strengths and weaknesses. I have been taking this exam for years. I am still not yet over the shock of actually passing. Also I am considering taking the Virginia bar. I came across an old Virginia bar exam handout that Barbri gave out that lists the scaled essay score an examinee would need to pass based on a given (scaled) MBE score. For my range of MBE score, I would need a very high essay score. Also I would have to take the MPRE over again. Virginia allows examinees to take it after passing the VA bar, as long as it is within two years of passing. I have to give it some thought. The burden is off my shoulders even if I don't pass it right away, because at least now I will be licensed somewhere. For those of you wondering what's next for me, I am working with a job offer that was extended to me before I got my results. I'll keep you posted how that pans out. As an "aspiring solo" I am seeking the best possible path to reach my goal.

Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-05T18:20:00.000-04:00

I PASSED THE DC BAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Symbol Formerly Known as the Aspiring Solo

2007-10-01T22:36:00.000-04:00

Haven't posted in a while. I have been running around getting all kinds of odds and ends done. I am still a waitress (would you like that on white, wheat or rye?) and I have become a junk re-saler. Yes that's the political correct phrase. Junk Resale. Junk Retail. Junk Boutique. Hey that would make a good name for a band, don't you think? Well, I had a job interview last week for a position in a small law firm as the go-to person. I call that a Business Manager. I hope I get this position. The price is right and so are the perks. It looks like a great opportunity. Plus I need to get back into the work world. No more Alice the Diner waitress. Bar results will come out next month. DC did not set a date as to when. All we know is that it is sometime in November. I hope it isn't the end of November, as in Thanksgiving. I would rather eat my turkey dinner sans the shadow of rejection. Oh for the optimists, I meant to say, "unless I pass" as an after-thought to the previous sentence. Oh by the way, in case any other fellow entrepreneurial minded people are reading this blog, I found this totally cool website, www.changingcourse.com. Check it out.

Number of hours per day spent studying

2007-08-27T09:24:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I was sifting through old publication that I either received through my ABA student subscription or that I picked up while on campus. They include the Student Lawyer, the Jungle, and some others. I found an article about preparing for the bar exam. One piece of advice was that you shouldn't study for the bar for more then 5-6 hours per day! Anything more then that will actually work against retention! I thought this was great news. All those days slaving away for 12 hours...However, if I were to only study for no more then 6 hours per day, I would start studying very early, say 4 months ahead of time. Any thoughts on this....?

Post-bar

2007-08-16T13:34:00.000-04:00

Haven't posted in a while. How is everyone keeping busy during this long wait until we get our results? I am still on post-bar vacation, but working here and there. DC announced it would release results from the July 2007 exam in November, which is a huge wait. California also releases its results in November and they have about 10,000 takers. DC has 200-300 at best. Like some of you, I plan to begin studying for February within the next month or so. This is always a debatable issue -- whether to study this far in advance. It is questionable because of one's ability to retain information this far in advance of an exam, and further discouraged by some because it would be a "waste" prior to the release of the exam results in the event you passed. I disagree with both theories, although they are tempting. One retains information best through repetition. Of course, an examinee's exam preparation strengthens in intensity as the date draws closer. As to the second point, studying to become a lawyer is never a waste as long as one intends to pursue that profession. The thrill of passing will quickly consume any regret for studying post-bar. Well good luck to all....

Very Interesting

2007-07-26T17:36:00.000-04:00

I felt good about the exam yesterday. I was very surprised to see that the MEE, as part of its new adventure in testing MBE subjects, decided to test three MBE subjects in the essays. This was particularly surprising since the DC bar exam only has six essays. Anyway, there was no commercial paper or secured transactions, or even federal jurisdiction, which was another big surprise. The other three subjects were Partnership, Family Law and Trusts. The Trusts question was HARD. I have seen the bar examiners do this in the past -- they save the hardest question for last. I bumbled through that one. The MBE-based essay subjects were Criminal Law, Contracts and Property. I honestly thought they were very manageable, though I sympathize with those of you who were not prepared for it. I imagine most of you were able to figure it out, since you had to study for the MBE anyway. Those of you who took the essay half only were probably in the toughest spot. Also, the MPTs were manageable. The MBE was not bad. I knew more law then ever before. It is a riot the way people think that each MBE is the hardest. I personally vouch for the July 2005 bar as the hardest MBE. A word to the wise -- the MBE is always hard. There are always 10-15 questions on it that you will simply stare at and have no idea what the answer is. If you studied hard then you can make an educated guess. Anyway, I felt that this exam was promising, that I may have very likely passed one half of it, and that I am on my way to passing. In DC, passing one half eases the study load for the next bar. If I actually passed, I will probably pass out. That is to say that I will be so extremely happy. And on top of all that, my birthday is tomorrow. :P

On. And on. And on.

2007-07-19T18:14:00.000-04:00

I am burned out, like I have never been before. I can barely concentrate. I have pretty much run out of time, because I started too late. This is not just about taking breaks. My only good study time lately is in the morning, up until the early afternoon. When I take a break for lunch etc and then return, it is all over. I am just not paying attention anymore. I like to know the law of the essays really, really well when I go in there. Normally I try to memorize a subject twice before a final quick review the day before the bar. Not this time. I am also trying to study "smart" and look at the broader picture. Part of the problem is that I am sitting trying to memorize essay law from notecards and outlines which is very boring. The way I have my study schedule organized though, I will be doing this through Saturday. Then Sunday I plan to do MBE questions all day. This is hell. I have no idea what I am going to retain this way. I just ran out of time. Period. Tomorrow is Trusts and Wills. Wills is the more likely tested, especially since it was not tested in February (but Trusts was). Well good luck bar takers....

Down for the count....

2007-07-14T13:39:00.000-04:00

Things are moving along. I am averaging 65% across all six MBE subjects. Next week is hardcore memorization. I got a jolt this week when I found out that DC is now including the MBE subjects among its testable subjects for the essay portion. This is per the National Conference of Bar Examiners. This is not too bad, since it gives me all the more reason to know them cold. And I'm off.....more later....

3 Weeks Left

2007-06-30T23:12:00.000-04:00

Ah, how to proceed in these next 3 weeks. I made myself a schedule just to calm my nerves. I have much less time to study this time around -- barely 6 weeks. I still work one day per week. The general consensus among bar takers seems to be that one day off per week is a good idea. I am averaging 67% correct among 5 multistate subjects, which is an improvement from February. I agree that Constitutional law is the easiest subject to master. The application of the concepts is just less complicated. I had a really hard time with character evidence and impeachment evidence even after I re-taught it to myself. Then I got to Contracts. I just have one word for that: bomb. Speaking of contracts, I notice that Barbri and PMBR are different when it comes to damage formulas. I will have to straighten that out next time (if there is one). The PMBR Contracts outline is 90 pages. Wow. I am pleased that my average percent correct has increased, but I wish it were higher. I am crunched for time. I am more concerned with the MBE then anything else. If I can pass the MBE and I only have to take the essays the next time, that will be a huge relief. The goal, of course, is to pass the exam period, but I am thinking strategically here. I am re-teaching myself Commercial Paper and Secured Transactions. I suspect one of them will be on July's bar, I doubt both will be tested as they were in February. That just blindsided many of us. I will be better prepared if that happens again. How are people studying for the MPT? Anyway, hope everyone's studies are going well.....

Still Hopeful

2007-06-11T13:36:00.000-04:00

Well I am taking each subject from scratch, starting with the MBE subjects. I think the Conviser Mini-Review is very good, and possibly better then the PMBR (red book) outlines. It is amazing the way I never really understood certain areas of the law but never bothered to correct my study materials. I had begun to realize that my outlines were a mess in February. They were just disorganized, not inaccurate, and probably not incomplete either. I re-learned defamation this week. It was amazing first how many notecards I had on the topic of defamation and secondly how many of them I needed to throw out because they were confusing or had too much information on them. They were unclear and just disorganized. So anyway, I start with the CMR and when I am done understanding an area of the law using that outline, I jump over to the PMBR red book and see what it has to offer on the same topic. Once my notecards are complete and in order, I create an outline of that area of the law and then commit it to memory. I did this with Constitutional law, and studied the outline until I felt confident that I had my bases covered and I then fully understood areas of the law which I previously had not. The CMR "mini" charts were extremely helpful. They helped me immediately clear up areas of the law which I never quite "had down" -- not just the "elements" which certainly I knew by now, but also the suggested approach and analysis of questions on that subject. Then I sat down and did practice questions in both the PMBR red book and Barbri, and my percentage correct skyrocketed. I am repeating this method, as described above, with each MBE subject and I am praying that I will have the same success as with Constitutional Law. The next subject that I started is Torts. Good luck to everyone studying.

Galvanizing the Legal Profession

2007-05-16T08:50:00.000-04:00

This morning I read an article about how unhappy young lawyers are: desperate and anxious, to name some bad traits. The comments were worse. Too many of us went to law school because we wanted to "land somewhere." We had no interest in the law. We were greedy -- we just wanted money and prestige.

I cannot comment on these things with respect to other JDs, of course each one of us has a different story to tell. I went to law school because I wanted the degree, regardless of what I did with it. I thought a J.D. was an entrance into professionalism, above and beyond an "administrator" or other assistant. I learned quickly that only a select few got the high salaries. I wanted a career, a solid career. I now know I could have gotten that other ways (for example, a degree in HR, a profession I realized I enjoyed just about the same time I got accepted to law school). Another motivator for my law degree was that my gut told me it was a ticket to independence. I decided I would go solo almost from my first year of law school. I believed, and still do, that the profession was lucrative enough that I could work when I needed to (provided I would have enough clients!). This has proven to be true in some ways. In DC, one could do document review for a while, and then take a couple months off. During this off-time, I could pursue other projects. I could either take a few clients or pursue some of my entrepreneurial ideas. It is this flexibility that I crave. I realize this game plan depends on careful financial planning.

So why do so many of us complain about our chosen profession as lawyers? Based on personal experience, I think it is important, before entering law school, to know exactly what lawyers do and then evaluate whether or not you would want to spend your days doing that. That is neither here nor there for the JD graduates. It's just too late. The law is a varied profession that calls on a variety of skills. Why not evaluate these skills and determine which interests you the most and/or which do you believe you would be good at? I was reflecting on this the other day. I think trial work is probably the most exciting. You have to be very prepared before you get in that courtroom. You need to know the rules of evidence very well. You have a client who is counting on you. You are responsible for exhibits and trial aids. You have to question your client or your opposing client on the witness stand. When to open up your client, by directly examining them, to cross-examination by the opposing counsel is a skillful choice a lawyer must make, while accepting the consequence that it may have been the wrong one. The more boring tasks involve all the paper-pushing: drafting motions, interrogatories, etc. and then responding to them. Another aspect of the legal profession involves meeting and interviewing clients. Listening to their stories. Trying to find the best solution for them, and hopefully one that will not involve litigation. Lawyers deal with fascinating fact scenerios, or at the very least, odd or shocking. It is only lawyers, and not non-lawyers, who know how to sift through which facts are legally relevant to support a legal argument. Lawyers know what must be proven and by what standard of proof. In addition, lawyers who go solo are businesspeople responsible for rainmaking, accounting and billing. You send out those bills with the satisfaction of knowing you are being paid for what you are billed out as.

Galvanizing the legal profession will require finding what fascinates us. And if what fascinates lies on the outside of the law, then your legal career can be your bread and butter and you can pursue your hobbies in your spare time. Millions of people have to do this. It's a reality of life. Why not read books written by early legal scholars? A belief forms an opinion. Legal theory is a phiosophy, and a philosophy is about what one believes. For those of us whose heart is in activism, why not organize a community who do not have a voice? You find out their needs and help understand their vision. It is possible to make the world a better place for them, and you can help. A lawyer can help draft a letter to a congressperson who doesn't know the drinking water isn't clean in a small rural community. Whether or not this is for you, why not read some of the early writing of Oliver Holmes, Richard Posner or Learned Hand? I think the book The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes in which he aims to give a broad overview of the common law (which we must know for the bar) provides this. He explains in his introduction some of the history of the philosophy of law, from a vengence based system to one of compensation. This is problematic, he writes, because it presumes intent and "even a dog can distinguish between being stumbled over and being kicked." Another book is The Nature of the Judicial Process by Ben Cardozo. If you cannot find your emotional and philosophical wheels turning as you read some of these books, nor in another location, then maybe you have yet to find your passion...

Career Counselor

2007-05-14T21:40:00.000-04:00

So I had a phone meeting this morning with a career counselor from my law school. He says that based on his years of experience, he feels that my problem is with exam taking technique and skills. He wants me to do less study of the black letter law and more practice questions. We talked about how I should approach employers if/when I pass the bar. He said that I cannot ignore a 700-pound gorilla in the room (lol). I should address the fact that I did not pass the bar and that "competing for my attention was my need to generate income" while trying to pass the bar exam. He thinks my best bet for employment is with smaller firms or as a solo. What a coincidence. I said I always wanted to go solo. So the decision is mine -- do I want to stop studying for the bar? Do I want to try and get a paralegal job? Or go for something else? He couldn't advise me unless I had those questions answered. Until then he could only offer advice for those paths, which one I chose is totally up to me. In the meantime, I am signed up for the July bar. I think I am making my studying more difficult and time-consuming. I just want to breeze over the material in terms of collecting black letter law -- I say this as a multiple repeater, not a first-time taker -- and then hit all the practice questions and essays. We shall see. I need time off.

One More Rant

2007-04-28T07:43:00.000-04:00

Why is it that DC will not release our raw scores from the MBE? I called to ask how I can find out this information and I was told that they do not release raw scores. Other states release this information, correct? I guess I could request this from the NCBE, but it may cost. I have a hunch though that the MBE scale is uniform nationally. Does anyone know if this is correct? If this is true, then I will just wait until California releases its results and posts the conversion chart online. My concern is that because the score was out of 190 and not 200, everyone somehow had a better score then they would have had. However, reason tells me their math must be roughly the same and the February 2007 bar wasn't some lucky shot for everyone who took it. NOTE: Registration for the DC Bar is May 3 (late deadline May 18 and costs an extra $200). The DC Bar has done this in the past. One time they had to re-set their own deadline because they released results too late. This is probably better though then giving bar takers a window of one week (or in this case, less) to register. That sends us scrambling.

Good News!

2007-04-26T18:35:00.000-04:00

I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I opened my DC Bar envelope today. I could tell from the size of the envelope that it had re-application materials. Not that I know what a "pass" envelope looks like, but I suspect it is business / letter size. I opened the envelope and examined my scores. I scored a 130.1 on the MBE, which is my highest ever by a long shot. After six tries, I hadn't scored even close to this. So this was a huge deal to me to suddenly make this level of improvement on the MBE, my nemesis. I did not pass the essays, and I knew I hadn't, because they were brutal. The problem with the DC scoring sheet is that it lists Question 1, Question 2 and so forth, without the corresponding DC essay subject! Does anyone know this? In particular, what was Question 6? Do the question numbers on the DC scoring sheet correspond literally with the order of the essays as they appeared to us on examine day? Other goods news: for one of the MPT's, I got 45 out of 45! Anyway, this has given me hope. See you all in July (well, some of you).

ADD and Neurofeedback

2007-04-23T08:43:00.000-04:00

I was reading this morning about neurofeedback with ADD patients. It involves placing the circular brain wave pads all over your head and then you are hooked up to the feedback machine. Neurofeedback is an offshoot of biofeedback, which measures other health issues.

Here is a quote that I found on the internet, which I thought offered useful insight into the use of neurofeedback on ADD patients. This may be helpful for bar takers with ADD:

"Neurotherapy is also called "EEG Biofeedback" and "Neurofeedback." It involves helping a person learn how to modify his or her brainwave activity to improve attention, reduce impulsivity, and to control hyperactive behaviors. It is a painless, non-invasive treatment approach that allows the individual to gain information about his or her brainwave activity and use that information to produce changes in brainwave activity. Available research indicates that individuals with ADD/ADHD have too little of certain types of brainwave activity in some areas of the brain and/or too much of certain other brainwave activity in comparison to those without the disorder. In Neurotherapy individuals are trained through the use of computerized biofeedback equipment to change their brainwave activity. Clinicians and researchers who have provided Neurotherapy training report that when brainwave activity is changed, or when the brain is trained to work in certain ways in the process of Neurotherapy, symptoms of ADD/ADHD are usually reduced. "

This information can be found at http://www.bio-medical.com/news_display.cfm?mode=EEG&newsid=35

Personal Injury Case Involving NCBE

2007-04-21T22:12:00.000-04:00

Well its official. I have actually injured my hand from all that writing on the bar exam in February. Not only did I injure my two writing fingers that clasp the pen, I have permanently injured them. I noticed that my middle finger, good for so much friendly-gesturing, was sensitive and tingling to the touch when I would try to use a pen after the bar. Most of us are familiar with that indentation on the side of the middle finger at the top. Mine was so sensitive I could barely write. That was not a huge deal. Then I discovered a painful lump in my thumb, beneath the actual thumb pad. I did some internet research and I concluded it might be a ganglion cyst. The doctor disagreed and ordered x-rays -- she said ganglion cysts are not located there. The x-ray revealed nothing but a healthy right hand. So, my doctor concluded, the lump is calloused tissue and I should just refrain from using it for a while. But, she added, it may never go away, but certainly it should heal and the pain will subside. Meanwhile, my customers at the Diner are sympathetic. One bought me an egronomically-correct pen which is really weird looking. It is shaped like a wishbone. Another told me he noticed I have a death grip on my pen. Memories came flooding back of my mother trying to get me to hold a pen correctly. She would exclaim exasperated, "That is not how you're supposed to hold a pen!" Ah it has caught up with me at last.

I am wondering when someone is going to post on jdunderground inquiring about the release of the DC bar results. It amazes me that no one has brought it up. I am not posting about it because I want someone else to. Which makes no sense. Anyway, next week is the last week in April so it has to come out next week. Unless they choose to wait until April 30, which is the following Monday. But be aware -- the bar examiners will do whatever they wish. If they said April and they were not able to finish up by April 30, then all us saps will have to wait until they are good and ready. They will issue no notice. Just suddenly the results will appear.

Well good luck everyone. I will try and post soon.

Return from Hiatus

2007-04-06T18:59:00.000-04:00

Hey all, sorry I haven't posted in so long. DC releases bar results this month. I do not know when. I just recall them saying it was sometime this month. I bought and re-finished a table to use to study on a regular basis. Everything is set up all nice on my first-floor. In other news, it sure was a shame to see JDJive disappear. That was a loss, but now maybe I can study without distractions. It took me forever to figure out where people went. It looks like everyone is over at www.jdunderground.com.

I'm still waiting tables but the weird part is that I actually enjoy it. The hours are great, very flexible. I have a uniform, free parking and free food. I even have some down time where I can read. Plus, no assholes. The owner thinks I'm great. We are like a little family actually, including the cooks and everyone. I have 3 days off per week on top of the other perks. I hate office jobs, and working in general, so this situation rocks. I think some of you who complain about your (lawyer) jobs would like this situation. I make enough money to pay the bills. I do not earn what I could be earning doing document review, but the monetary scarifice balances out with the other perks of my job. My financial philosophy is work part-time and lower your expenses. Now don't get me wrong, I have my name in with the legal temp agencies for document review work. I need the $$$ to pay off debt. But in DC, if you do not have your bar license, you are ineligible for about 80% of document review work that comes along. At least that is my experience.

I am finding out that human resource departments in law firms are lucrative, at least in DC they are. This is a possible transition for me, if I ever decide to give up the bar. Of course, it would still be an office job. I just feel kind of funny waiting tables for the rest of my life with my education. I am supposed to do something commensurate with my degree. Right?

Everyone enjoy their weekend. I will be posting on here soon.

DC Essays

2007-02-27T18:37:00.000-05:00

Essay subjects today were Commercial Paper, Trusts, Federal Jurisdiction, Family Law, Partnership and Secured Transactions. I do not recall the essay portion of the DC bar exam being this difficult. I seem to recall just one tough essay when I took it in 2004. Also the questions in 2004 seemed more specific, meaning the call of the question required a specific response. Today the questions were more open-ended. I was surprised to see both Commercial Paper and Secured Transactions on the bar. I thought the MPTs were not too hard. I have no idea if I passed this.

and as fatigue sets in...

2007-02-23T22:48:00.000-05:00

Exhausted. Re-studying essay law. Some practice MPTs. Memorizing 50 MBE notecards each day. Did 200 question MBE practice exam today. Got 122 correct. Can't wait for this to be finished. Over and out.

MPT in the morning?!

2007-02-13T22:35:00.000-05:00

I received my DC bar admission ticket today and I noticed the MPTs are in the morning on Day One. I could have sworn the first time I took the DC essays the MPT was in the afternoon. I don't know why they switched but I think this is a major bummer. With all that memorized essay law, I have to run the risk of forgetting some things by not being tested on it until the afternoon. This is not good because in a worst case scenerio the MPT could include things that throw me off. Bar day is also peak day and I don't want any intellectual distractors. I could be wrong with this perception. I hope I am.

Digging into Barbri Questions

2007-02-09T22:03:00.000-05:00

Two and a half weeks left. I am re-memorizing essay law. I will probably re-study Federal Jurisdiction tomorrow. Then I dig into the sample essays and model answers. I enjoy practicing the law that I memorized in this way. I think Commercial Paper is pretty hard. Secured Transactions is somewhat easier (if that's possible). As with all the essay subjects, some of the questions are just easier then others. Some are just plain hard and as I'm reading it I am thinking to myself, please don't ask us this one....
I started the Barbri multistate books. I think its called Drills and Released questions. I'm averaging 62% in all 6 subjects combined. I'll go in there and give it a shot. It's really important not to lose hope. If you do a set of questions and you score lower then usual, just carefully go through each and every one and write down the rule of law (if necessary, unless you missed it b/c of reading comprehension). I think the Barbri questions are harder then PMBR. There are some questions which even after reading the explanation, I concluded were too difficult for the average bar taker to figure out. It is difficult to reach a point where you know the essay law cold, but I find when I re-study it I put the material in order to tell a story about that subject. Then I verbally issue spot in my head an entire subject, so I have a mental "map" of the subject. When I get to an essay question on the subject, my brain goes to that map. I am trying to reach this level. It is just hell studying all day, every day. I feel guilty about doing anything else. I post on here after studying for like 12 hours. Well anyway, I am going to stick to Barbri from now on. It looks like they publish different questions every year, whereas PMBR hasn't changed its practice books in years. And I'm off...good luck studying....

Crossing Over into February

2007-02-03T22:07:00.000-05:00

February 1 has come and gone. We are all in with both feet now. I have now completed my first round of memorizing essay law. I start with my second round on Monday. I am averaging 61% correct on the MBE across all 6 subjects. This is an improvement from my average percentage correct last July. The practice multistate is actually getting fun for me. They are like little math or logic puzzles. But it has taken me numerous tries for enough law to seep in -- coupled with strategy assistance from a tutor -- for me to feel that I might be improving. I do not know what to tell a first-time taker. I didn't just "get it" with the MBE the first (or second) time around as so many others have. Even when I knew enough law, I was thrown by the distractors. I couldn't eliminate answer choices. I know the medication is helping me. I am finding out what I didn't know with the MBE. You have to know the black letter law of the MBE cold to pass it, but none of the bar prep programs advise this. You have to be able to go into the bar confident that you have left no stone unturned. This is not to be taken excruciatingly literally. If you have been adding to your outline from Day 1 -- PMBR law, Barbri law, tutor law, practice question explanation nuances, etc and you know that really well (and the black letter law cold) then this is no stone unturned. It is subjective, but its a feeling that you will have when you walk into the bar. You've got the bar down -- not vice versa. Self-confidence is another big issue. When you get an MBE question that throws an irrelevant exception to the law that you know into an answer choice, but you have gone in there knowing so much law that you know that exception is either irrelevant or inaccurate. The exception is not in your notes. It's probably not true. Don't get thrown by distractors. Another major type of MBE questions is the "least one wrong" variety. The correct answer is either worded terribly or makes no sense, but you know the other 3 are wrong. It is this knowing, this confidence, that makes room for success. Well good luck all, until we speak again...

Close to half-way

2007-01-29T21:36:00.000-05:00

Well, things are going smoothly. I am more then halfway through studying/memorizing essay law for the first time around. February 1st is this Thursday -- the first day of the month of the bar is always a marker point. People start to panic. I think the panic will be lessened by the fact that we still have the whole month of February before the exam which is on the last two days. My two week crunch and countdown begins on February 13. As for the MBE, I completed 100 Property questions and I got 63 correct. I wish that was higher but I think it is an overall improved score for me. My focus has been excellent. I studied for 7 hours straight today without a break. How is everyone's preparation with the MPT? Well back to studying...

Commercial Paper

2007-01-26T17:46:00.000-05:00

Anyone notice that the Commercial Paper outline handout for the Barbri essay lectures (DC) is totally incomplete? If you teach that outline to yourself and then read the sample essay questions and model answers in the yellow barbri book, you will find the outline is incomplete. The questions & answers talk about indorsor liability and accommodation parties, which are both not included in the handout. So anyway that made studying Commercial Paper much longer.
Tonight I am going to continue reading sample essay questions and model answers for Corporations. I don't think I will get much more then that done tonight. Before I take my next set of MBE questions, I like to read the outline. This time I am going to highlight those areas of each MBE subject that are guaranteed tested and that you have to know cold. You must know the elements of certain things. Like for Criminal Law, you have to know which crimes are specific intent and which are general intent, the definitions / elements of murder and and property crimes, and co-conspirator and accomplice liability. For Criminal Procedure, you should know automobile exception and how it differs from a stop incident to arrest. Also, the difference between Fifth and Sixth Amendment right to remain silent, right to an attorney etc. There are a number of highly tested areas that you should just commit to cold e.g. the numerous "tests" found in constitutional law. I could spend a long time studying Constitutional Law. I wish I knew it really well. Anyway, back to studying.

Bets on DC Essays for Feb 07

2007-01-23T22:20:00.000-05:00

I say they will test Wills, Federal Jurisdiction (two that are always tested), Corporations, Agency, Family Law, and either Commercial Paper or Secured Transactions. Trusts is rarely tested. I vote against Conflict of Laws, Partnerships, Sales, Trusts and the other one not tested between Commercial paper and Secured Transactions.

In other news, I am studying away. I had a great new tutor to help with the MBE. I am getting no less then 60% correct but I think I've heard this story before. I am eternally hopeful. For those of you with ADD, Adderall is a fantastic drug. It keeps me attentive and alert all day. I don't get sleepy mid-afternoon which enables me to study longer. Well, tomorrow it's back to Wills, which is just a mammoth subject. I am trying to digest it all. Then I will do that other-mammoth-but-guaranteed-to-be-tested subject: Federal Jurisdiction. Then its all downhill with the essay subjects. I saved the easiest and/or shortest for last. The two weeks before the bar exam is where the real tough work takes place. This is where you nail it all in. I just need to to improve (or at least maintain) my MBE performance and work on a couple of MPTs. Showtime will be here before we know it. Good luck studying all.