Practice Management

Jennifer Laviano, a solo practice lawyer in Sherman, Connecticut, has published a blog site with the help of G2WebMedia.Com, which is a company run by preeminent law blog expert Grant Griffiths and his son Clay Griffiths.

The blog is unique in this respect.  It is not overly broad.  It is narrow in its scope.  As a practice blog it does not pretend to be too much.  Its audience is targeted.  It represents a niche area of law.  It represents a niche that Jennifer Laviano now controls on the web in the Sherman, Connecticut area.

The niche?

That of special education lawyer.

Here is how she describes what she does:  "Ms. Laviano has dedicated her law practice entirely to the representation of children and adolescents with disabilities whose families are in disagreement with their public school districts. Her representation of children with special needs encompasses the full spectrum of  advocacy under the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), from attendance at IEP Team meetings and Mediation, to zealous and experienced litigation in Due Process Hearings and Federal Court".

Do not get me wrong?  Ms. Laviano did not invent this niche.  She is not the first one to limit her practice to this niche.  If you surf the Net you will undoubtedly see a number of websites about special education and lawyers.  Some are even represent more of a niche, such as AboutAutismLaw.Com.

Why this blog is important, in my opinion, is because Ms. Laviano limits her practice to representing special education issues.  She simple does not strike out to blog about a limited part of her overall practice.  This is her practice.

More often what you see when Googling are lawyers, law firms and organizations that dedicate themselves to education law generally.  The problem (if you should define it as a problem) is that this represents not a niche, but a practice area -- and a rather large and complicated practice area.  What this blog and the others like it, and Ms. Laviano and the others like her, do is carve out from the broader practice area one smaller group of skill sets, as well as a smaller and more identifiable market, that will better serve them in the practice of law, and better serve their clients in that special education law is their concentration and their joy.

And, as far as this blog is concerned, here is something that I like.  Ms. Laviano has started a series of posts to help other neophytes, other fledglings, other rookies, other novice, or other newcomers start a special education practice.  You can read these posts by clicking here -- Part I, Part II and Part III.  The point being, it is a good niche, a respectable niche, and one that can really help those in need, and Ms. Laviano is not trying to keep it a secret or keep it to herself.  She is blogging about it as she goes along.  Keep your eye on her blog for more of these posts.