You asked, We Answered: Common Questions about Small Law Firm Life

We chatted recently with the fairy godmother of solo and small law firms, Carolyn Elefant, on our ongoing Fishbowl LIVE series about the reality of small law firm life and answered some questions from solo and small law firm attorneys.

Since we don’t believe in gatekeeping helpful information, here are your questions answered by Carolyn herself.

Q: If you are trying to expand into a new practice area, how do you get up to speed to a level that you feel comfortable?

When I was starting out, there weren’t a lot of options for learning about new areas besides resources provided by bar associations and legal aid groups. At that time, the public defender’s office had this amazing free three-day program on criminal defense. I filled out three binders of information from that program, and that became my Bible for representing people in court.

During the housing crisis, the state of Maryland offered a two-day foreclosure defense seminar to get people to sign up and take pro bono cases. I find that many of those types of organizations do offer programs on nuts and bolts of areas of law like immigration, bankruptcy, or nonprofit work. All you have to do is take the courses, and then in exchange, maybe do a pro bono case. The benefit of those programs is the people who teach the courses are so helpful. They will mentor you. They will give you all kinds of checklists and templates.

Another way to quickly get up to speed that I think is more useful than taking a CLE is taking a class that’s geared towards a non-lawyer. For example, if you want to learn about legal issues related to an online business, I would take a class taught by a lawyer geared towards online business owners. It’ll highlight the areas that you need to pay attention to. As an attorney, you can then go and track them down. I find that those resources geared towards lay people, including courses at community colleges or books like the Nolo publications, are helpful and very affordable.

There’s a number of attorneys who offer courses on everything you need to know about their practice areas. They teach you about the area of law, but they can also be very expensive.

Q: What should people be on the lookout for when interviewing at a small law firm?

If you’re interviewing with a small firm, I would ask questions like:

• Who else has worked here before?
• What are the expectations for attorneys?
• How do they handle cases?
• What kind of technology do they use?
• What kind of role would the firm be looking for you to play if you were to come on board?
• What kind of experience would you get?
• What type of support would you be given if you wanted to begin to market for clients?

Q: I recently left Big Law to join a solo practitioner who is growing his firm. It’s fantastic, but one of the drawbacks is a lack of examples/ templates. Do you have suggestions on where to find some good examples?

One resource that I’ve used with a lot of success is CaseText. They have a database of briefs, and they’re bringing more on each year.

If you have a federal court practice, there’s always Pacer. It’s very hit or miss.

I know in state court practice, it’s a little bit harder. There’s a company called Trellis that has been aggregating motions in different state courts.

Other than that, asking colleagues or a group like an affinity bar association is a good place to start. For example, an immigration bar association may have some templates or can reach out to members to get them.

Q: Any tips for referral fee arrangements for solo and small firms?

I was reading just recently that affiliate marketing is going gangbusters. I am a huge advocate of all referral fees. I don’t know why lawyers think that it’s dirty or don’t expect it. If a firm is referring a case to you, they deserve to be compensated because the reason they found that client was because of the marketing and the goodwill that they’ve built, and that doesn’t come for free.

Let people know that you pay referral fees and when you do pay do it in a very personalized way. I know there’s one personal injury attorney who meets with other women law firm owners to try to generate business for her firm and when she pays a referral fee she delivers the checks personally along with a gift. Those firms are going to continue to refer her business and will probably tell their friends to refer her business too.

Do check your jurisdiction’s rules regarding referral fees. In virtually all jurisdictions where referral fees are being paid, they have to be disclosed to, and consented to by, the client. You are going to need to have a provision in your engagement agreement with the client saying, “I understand that this case was referred to by attorney x and that the fees will be shared, but the overall fee will be reasonable.” I have a whole bunch of clauses on myshingle.com and your bar association probably does as well.

Also, you want to make sure that you have a form agreement that you can use with the referring firm or the firm that you’re referring to so that you have a signed agreement in place that the referral fees will be paid at the end of the case. If you plan for it with agreements ready to go, it will increase your chances of getting people to refer you cases and getting paid for those referrals. I’ve got some resources on my myshingle.com to help with this.

Have additional questions? Send them our way to ashley@hyperdraft.ai

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