Solo Practice

Starting a Legal Research Firm

Posted on September 27, 2008
A few months ago I read an article about a legal research firm.  At the time, I had heard of law professors providing legal research and writing services to attorneys to supplement their income, but I had never heard of an actual firm dedicated solely to legal research...

KASPER Non-Disclosure Provisions of KRS 218A.202(6) Unconstitutional

Posted on June 20, 2008
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services petitioned for writs of prohibition and mandamus directing the Jefferson Circuit Court to vacate an order requiring the Cabinet to disclose KASPER records in violation of KRS 218A.202(6). The Kentucky Court of Appeals denied the Cabinet's petition, holding that the statute violated the separation of powers and was thus unconstitutional, but determined that the trial court must amend its order to add an additional procedural step...

June 19, 2008 Roundup

Posted on June 19, 2008
Bloggers criticize AP's effort to create news quoting guidelines Slaw.ca notes a Wisconsin Law Journal article about judges deciding cases on authority not cited by the parties Kristen K. Robbins-Tiscione explains what federal judges really think about the way lawyers write Carolyn Elefant introduces Lawagora, a marketplace of events for lawyers U...

Fen-Phen Lawyer Says $170 Million Fee Would Have Been ?Legally Justified?

Posted on June 18, 2008
Attorney William Gallion testified in Covington, Kentucky yesterday that he and his co-defendants “were like an insurance company where the hurricane didn?t strike, so we got to keep the premium.”  In fact, Gallion calculated that he and his co-defendants would have been “legally justified” in taking as much as $170 million of the $200 [...

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Joinder of Wrongful Death and Survival Actions: Distribution of Settlement Proceeds

Posted on June 18, 2008
The Court of Appeals briefly addressed the argument that, where a settlement is reached in an action joining a survival claim with a nonviable wrongful death claim, settlement proceeds should be distributed according to KRS 411.130 (governing wrongful death claims) since KRS 411...

Comparative Fault and Statutes of Limitations (HB 643)

Posted on June 18, 2008
Create a new section of KRS Chapter 411 to allow a plaintiff in a civil action in which comparative fault becomes an issue, the suit was initiated against the original defendant within the statute of limitations, the original defendant alleges that a third party caused or contributed to the plaintiff's injury, and the plaintiff would be barred by a statute of limitations from bringing a claim against that third party, to either amend the complaint pursuant to Rule 15 of the Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure or institute a separate action alleging the third party's fault; establish that the new cause of action is not barred by any statute of limitations.

Welcome to GarrettWorley.com

Posted on June 08, 2008
Welcome to GarrettWorley.com, R. Garrett Worley III’s blog on Kentucky law and legal news. This site is still under construction and it will be a little while before it has regularly updated content.

Chase College of Law Professor Testifies in Fen-Phen Trial

Posted on June 05, 2008
Salmon P. Chase College of Law professor Edward Brewer III testified in federal court in Covington, Kentucky Tuesday and Wednesday in the ongoing Fen-Phen Trial.  Brewer testified that attorneys Shirley Cunningham, Jr., Melbourne Mills and William Gallion violated the Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure and Kentucky Rules of Ethics by failing to notify their clients [...

Louisville-Based Humana Named Defendant in Class Action

Posted on June 05, 2008
According to CNNMoney.com, Humana reported this week that it has been named a defendant in a class action.  The class, comprising participants and beneficiaries of the Humana Retirement and Savings Plan and the Humana Puerto Rico Plan, filed suit in U...

Feature Test Post #3

Posted on June 01, 2008

Feature Test Post #2

Posted on June 01, 2008

$200 Million Fen-Phen Settlement Not Intended to Cover Future Claims

Posted on May 23, 2008
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that lawyers Jack Vardaman and Elaine Madonick, who represented American Home Products in the Kentucky fen-phen class action, testified today that the $200 million settlement of that case was not intended to cover future claims against the manufacturer...

Features Test Post #1

Posted on May 23, 2008
This is features test post #1.

Where is Garrett Worley?

Posted on March 23, 2008
I’ve taken a break from blogging for a while and want to assure my readers (all six or seven of you) that I am well.  As most of you know, I’m in law school right now and…well, enough said, right?  Luckily, I had the opportunity to go down to the mountains and do some hiking [...

Lagging Economy Will Hurt Associate Salaries

Posted on March 04, 2008
Zack Needles, writing for the Legal Intelligencer, warns that the uncertain economy may hurt associate salaries in 2008. For associates at firms that base the size of year-end bonuses and annual pay raises largely on the amount of billable hours each attorney logs, lukewarm business this year could translate into an equally tepid payoff [...

Legal Technology Radio Announces e-Discovery Podcast Series

Posted on March 04, 2008
A press release on PRWeb announced today that National Legal Media, LLC will offer an e-discovery podcast series to be released on the first business day of every month.  The first podcast, FRCP 37(e) Safe Harbor: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Firm and Your Clients, was released yesterday and is available [...

Legal Offshoring on the Decline?

Posted on March 03, 2008
The India Business Blog mentioned a recent Forbes article on the decline of Indian outsourcing this morning. Apparently wages are rising in India, making it a less attractive destination for outsourcing. I’m not sure if this applies to legal offshoring as well, but it’s something to think about.

Free British and Irish Secondary Legal Materials

Posted on March 03, 2008
Slaw.ca reports that the British and Irish Legal Information Institute has now added a collection of secondary materials to its website, including books and journals.  The collection is available for free here.

Why Does Big Law Undervalue Blogs?

Posted on March 03, 2008
Ron Friedmann of Prism Legal notes that some Big Law bloggers are creating successful blawgs without the support of their firms.  Even while the most widely read blawgs are generating tens of thousands of page views a month, Big Law has not recognized blawgging as a lead generation technique.

P2P File-Sharing Programs a Security Risk

Posted on March 03, 2008
David Canton of eLegal warns that popular P2P file-sharing programs like Limewire pose a serious security risk.  While the media has focused on using P2P software to unlawfully download copyrighted material, Canton notes that an inherent security threat lurks in the background: namely, that P2P programs are configured to allow others to access the files [...

Law Firm Wikis

Posted on March 02, 2008
Doug Cornelius of KM Space talked with Lee Rosen of Rosen Law Firm about how law firms use wikis.  A wiki allows users to easily create, maintain and update web pages or pages on an intranet.  So far, Rosen Law Firm’s wiki has about 3,000 to 4,000 pages of content.

Jabra Introduces the BT8040 Bluetooth Headset

Posted on March 02, 2008
Jabra has introduced the BT8040, a new Bluetooth headset that is poised to “blow other Bluetooth headsets out of the water.”  The BT8040 supports A2DP for wireless music streaming, allows users to connect to two Bluetooth devices simultaneously and provides acoustic shock protection.

JD Supra Allows Lawyers to Share Legal Documents

Posted on March 02, 2008
Canadian law librarian Connie Crosby mentioned a useful site on her blog the other day.  JD Supra is an online community of sorts where lawyers can share filings, decisions, forms, articles and other legal documents.  User profiles make the site a networking opportunity as well.

Evidence Rule 502 Passed by Senate, Moves to House

Posted on March 02, 2008
The U.S. Senate unanimously approved proposed Evidence Rule 502 unamended.  The proposed rule deals with the waiver of attorney-client privilege and work product protection.  Sharon D. Nelson, writing on the electronic evidence blog Ride the Lightning, notes that there is no serious opposition to the rule in the House of Representatives.

Computers Vulnerable to Breach in Sleep Mode

Posted on March 01, 2008
Reid Trautz of the American Immigration Lawyers Association posted on the ABA Tech Show’s blog yesterday that computers left in “hibernation” or “sleep” mode are extremely vulnerable to confidentiality breaches.  Scary.

Federal Court to Make Information Available on Hand-Held Devices

Posted on March 01, 2008
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois will be the first federal court to provide information on hand-held devices.  Law.com reports that the court’s website is being upgraded and hand-held access should begin in April.

New Lawyer Ratings Paradigm Creates Challenges for Law Firms

Posted on March 01, 2008
Law.com reports that “[c]ompanies such as Avvo.com now give clients, as well as lawyers, the power to publish opinions about lawyers easily, instantly and without cost, in a medium that reaches a global audience.”  This has not gone without criticism...

Open Source Software Ready for the Business World?

Posted on March 01, 2008
Open source software has played a major role in the advancement of technology in recent years.  In fact, GarrettWorley.com uses the open source blogging platform Wordpress.  The fact that open source doesn’t have companies standing behind them (at least in the traditional sense) has led many to question whether open source products like Linux are [...

Google Offers Website Creation Tool

Posted on March 01, 2008
Internet powerhouse Google has been creating and acquiring Web 2.0 assets for some time.  Now Google is offering a powerful, easy-to-use website creation tool that will enable anyone to create a website to share material with colleagues or classmates.

EU Data Protection Rules Online

Posted on March 01, 2008
Legal Technology Insider reports that e-discovery and litigation support specialist Trilantic has posted the data protection rules for each EU member country.  Find out more here.

Microsoft Cuts Price of Vista

Posted on March 01, 2008
Microsoft is slashing the price on new boxes of Vista by 20 to 48%.  FutureLawyer asks if this is too little, too late and recommends waiting for Microsoft to get it right before upgrading to Vista.

Interview with PSS Systems President & CEO Deidre Paknad

Posted on February 20, 2008
PSS Systems makes Atlas, a powerful piece of EDD software. The following is an interview I recently conducted by e-mail with PSS Systems President and CEO Deidre Paknad. 1. How does PSS Systems’ Atlas software differ from other EDD software? Does Atlas provide its users with greater efficiency than competing software? One of the [...

Plain Communication

Posted on February 19, 2008
Sometimes legalese is necessary. For example, a lawyer may want to incorporate language used in case law or statutes. More often than not, however, lawyers go too far and write documents that are virtually unintelligible. I’ve been reading Steven D...

Free Research Tools

Posted on February 15, 2008
Legal research on the internet has virtually replaced trips to the law library (or the costs of starting a law library at your firm), but it’s still costly. Above the Law posted links to a few free legal research sites that might come in handy...

50 Ways to Finish Tasks Faster

Posted on February 15, 2008
Lifehack.org has a great list of 50 tricks to get things done faster, better and more easily. My favorite: structured procrastination.

YouTube for Lawyers

Posted on February 15, 2008
Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites featured a post on Martindale-Hubbell’s latest offering: law firm videos. Sounds great, but there’s a catch. Ambrogi notes: It appears from the announcement that law firms opting for videos must use Martindale’s “video solutions” provider, a company by the name of TurnHere Inc...

How Not to Blawg

Posted on February 13, 2008
Kevin O’Keefe of Real Lawyers Have Blogs analyzed Winston & Strawn’s Maritime Environmental Crimes “blog” and determined that it was not, in fact, a blog. O’Keefe notes that Winston & Strawn’s effort is essentially nothing more than periodically updated static pages with no comments, RSS feed or other standard blog components...

Keep Marketing in Down Markets

Posted on February 13, 2008
Bruce Alan of Marketing Catalyst argues that in a down market the best strategy is to bolster your marketing.  Most firms will cut their marketing budgets during a recession or an economic downturn and this gives you the opportunity to stand out and attract more clients.

5 Rainmaking Skills

Posted on February 13, 2008
Julie Fleming-Brown of Life at the Bar says rainmakers are made, not born.  She then lists the five skills lawyers learn to become rainmakers.

Israel a Destination for Legal Outsourcing

Posted on February 13, 2008
Legal Process Outsourcing reports that Israel may develop into a lucrative destination for legal offshoring.  While there are geopolitical stability and other problems, LPO notes that at least one American company, PowerLegal, has successfully outsourced discovery and document review to Israel.

Small Firms in a Global Market

Posted on February 12, 2008
I recently wrote a post on opportunities for solos and small firms in China. Paramjit Mahli of Sun Communications Group notes that while emerging technologies have made it easier to develop a global client base, there are certain skills that lawyers must possess to be effective in the global marketplace.

Stay in Contact the Easy Way

Posted on February 11, 2008
A couple days ago, I discussed how using snail mail provides a competitive advantage. I just came across another low-tech, cost-effective method to keep in contact with clients from Allison Shields of Legal Ease. Shields suggests you write clients a short note to stay in touch...

An Example of Going Viral

Posted on February 10, 2008
Just after writing a post on Patrick Lamb’s contemplation of viral marketing and law firms, I came across an interesting example of something going viral.   Dane Carlson writes a business opportunities blog…not the same as legal services, but not exactly the iPhone either...

How to Prepare to Pitch a Prospective Client

Posted on February 10, 2008
Larry Bodine provides the highlights of Stacy West Clark’s Law.com article on preparing for a pitch meeting with a prospective client. If you don’t have time to check out the full article, this is a nice overview of some useful information.

Viral Marketing for Law Firms?

Posted on February 10, 2008
Patrick Lamb wonders why no legal websites have gone viral. Why is it that lawyers, who are supposed to be skilled communicators, have failed to make presentations as compelling as Steve Jobs’ introduction of the iPhone?   At first blush, the answer is simple...

Unethical to Bill by the Hour

Posted on February 10, 2008
Consultant and author Alan Weiss of ContrarianConsulting.com says billing by the hour is unethical because it places our interests at odds with those of the client. Weiss argues that clients should be charged based on outcomes rather than time:   “Our time isn?t valuable...

Fear Keeps Lawyers from Using Home Offices

Posted on February 10, 2008
Chuck Newton contends that fear keeps many lawyers from moving their offices home. While practicing from a home office may have been significantly more difficult in former years, technology has made this a very feasible proposition.   Newton argues that paying for an office outside the home is not in attorneys’ financial best interest...

Pump Up Your Word of Mouth by Focusing on the Last Interaction

Posted on February 10, 2008
Michelle Golden of Golden Practices says if you want to get great word of mouth for your firm, you need to focus on your last interaction with clients. Commenting on Seth Godin’s post on the last interaction, she notes: The last interaction, in my experience, is responsible for virtually all of the word of mouth [...

Competitive Analysis of Other Blawgs

Posted on February 09, 2008
DIYBlawgs recently featured a post on how to do a competitive analysis of another blawg.  It’s a pretty straightforward process and requires no technical expertise.  You might want to try it out to see where you stand in the legal blogosphere. If you don’t stack up against the competition as much as you would like, check [...

Passionate About Marketing

Posted on February 09, 2008
Peter Darling revealed General Patton’s marketing secret yesterday: “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.”  Darling discusses a post written by Pamela Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation where Slim urges entrepreneurs to find marketing techniques that they enjoy performing and are passionate about...

Snail Mail Provides a Competitive Advantage

Posted on February 09, 2008
With all this talk of marketing legal services online, it’s easy to forget about other avenues of communication.  David Ward of AttorneyMarketing.com argues that direct mail can give lawyers a competitive advantage.  Ward notes that physical mailboxes are emptier than they’ve been in years because so much marketing has moved online or to other media...

China?s New Laws Create Opportunities for International Lawyers

Posted on February 08, 2008
New Chinese laws have created opportunities for international lawyers focusing on China. Dan Harris of the China Law Blog noted five new laws that will significantly change how business is conducted in China. Here’s a list of the legal areas discussed: 1...

Software as a Service Makes Virtual Law Offices Easier to Start

Posted on February 08, 2008
The application of emerging technology to the legal profession offers more opportunities than ever before.  I’ve become fascinated with the concept of virtual law offices and have written posts on the topic here and here.  Susan Cartier Liebel recently posted a guest blog on Build a Solo Practice, LLC written by virtual solo Stephanie Kimbro...

No Need to Fear E-Discovery, Litigation Support Software

Posted on February 05, 2008
Legal technology is advancing with lightning speed and is changing the way law is practiced. Although legal technology such as e-discovery and litigation support software can make practicing law easier when properly used, it is often the source of frustration...

Staying Committed to Your Marketing Plan

Posted on February 03, 2008
Marketing can be a frustrating, even depressing, endeavor. In a world of instant global communication, it seems reasonable enough that even the slightest marketing effort would bring instant results. Although technology has changed the way we communicate with prospective clients, it has not altered fundamental marketing truths...

Your Clients Don?t Care About You

Posted on February 01, 2008
This may come as a surprise, but your clients don’t care about you. Go to any respectable law firm’s website and you’ll find an extensive “About Our Firm” page and maybe even an “Our History” page. Why wouldn’t clients want to know about your firm’s accomplishments and storied past? After all, a firm’s experience [...

Marketing Begins with Your ?Product? - PART FOUR: Pricing Analysis

Posted on February 01, 2008
We’ve discussed identifying problems, providing solutions and packaging legal services in the first three parts of this series. In Part Four, I’ll discuss pricing analysis and how this affects inbound marketing. When it comes to pricing, there are two techniques that are imprecise, but widespread...

Midsize Firms Grew in 2007 - Were there better options?

Posted on January 29, 2008
Law.com reports that midsize firms in Pennsylvania saw significant increases in revenue, staffing and clientele. Much of this growth can be attributed to those firms raising their rates. Managing partner Kevin McKeegan also pointed to increasingly ambitious asking prices as a major source of new income...

Do You Have a Legal Podcast?

Posted on January 29, 2008
I am currently compiling a list of law-related audio and video podcasts to feature on GarrettWorley.com.  If you have one that you’d like to submit, or know of one, please let me know by commenting on this post. Thanks, Garrett

Tech Use Among Lawyers Increasing

Posted on January 27, 2008
Competition and a desire to stay in sync with corporate clients has led many firms to embrace technology.

Disovery Mining Nominated for Legalese Legal Technology Innovation Award

Posted on January 27, 2008
Marketwire.com reports that San Fransisco-based company Discovery Mining has been named a finalist for the Legalese Legal Technology Innovation Award.

Today?s Technology to Build Your Business

Posted on January 27, 2008
A two-part post on SeattlePi.com discusses how to use today's technology to build your business.

Marketing Begins with Your ?Product? - PART THREE: Packaging Legal Services

Posted on January 26, 2008
In the first two parts of this series, we discussed identifying problems and providing solutions. The third part of this series focuses on packaging legal services. Packaging is all about how clients access the legal services you provide. Traditionally, a client would find your phone number in the yellow pages and call your office...

Marketing Begins with Your ?Product? - PART TWO: Provide the Solution

Posted on January 24, 2008
In the first part of this series, we discussed identifying problems as a starting point for building a marketing plan. Part Two of this series focuses on using those problems to design and market tailor-made solutions for your clients. Too often, the public views lawyers as emergency surgeons, hired to fix an overwhelming problem after things [...

Social Networking Sites Boost Business

Posted on January 24, 2008
Networking has always been an important means of building and maintaining a legal practice. With online social networking sites, this is easier than ever before. The Canadian Bar Association reports that: “Social networking sites bring the kind of interaction that lawyers and other professionals enjoy in live business, industry, professional, civic, religious, charitable and [...

Syncing Software for the Mobile Lawyer

Posted on January 24, 2008
Laptops and wifi make it possible to work anywhere. There’s always the issue of syncing up your laptop files with the files on the office computer, though. One option is to put the files on an extranet. If you don’t want to go that route, there are several simple and inexpensive products [...

Marketing Begins with Your ?Product? - PART ONE: Identify a Problem

Posted on January 22, 2008
Ask most lawyes about marketing and they’ll talk about advertising, building client relationships, community outreach, word of mouth and other methods of promotion. But these are really just the final steps of the process. Any good marketing strategy should begin with defining your product–the unique legal services you offer to clients...

Virtual Firms Make House Calls

Posted on January 20, 2008
The overhead of maintaining a fully staffed office has always been a significant barrier to attorneys contemplating solo practice. In other fields, businesspeople have had great success with home offices, but home offices have not often been viewed as conducive to the practice of law...

Building an Extranet

Posted on January 20, 2008
Making a productive use of downtime has always been a challenge. Laptops, wireless internet and the Blackberry (to name a few) have improved the situation a bit, but if you’re unable to access important files while you’re away from the office, your hands are tied...

Information Overload

Posted on January 20, 2008
Not surprisingly, information overload is one of the biggest problems faced by a solo or small firm practitioner. From e-mails and phone calls to research and files, the sheer volume of information that passes across an attorney’s desk each day is astounding...

How Bryan Cave Uses Business Intelligence Tools to Provide Alternative Methods of Billing

Posted on January 10, 2008
Bryan Cave is a truly global law firm with 15 offices worldwide and a staff of over 800 lawyers.  At first glance, it would seem that such a large firm’s business practices would be irrelevant to solo and small firm practitioners.  After all, the small firm cannot even begin to compete with the financial resources [...

Using Google Apps for E-Mail and Scheduling

Posted on January 08, 2008
Even a small firm will have to address the issue of scheduling at some point. This becomes even more necessary when you’re collaborating with outside attorneys on a matter. While there are a number of program options for e-mail and scheduling management, Charles Smith at Law...

Value Pricing: Just Do It

Posted on January 06, 2008
There have been a few posts on this blog about value pricing and its place in an innovative law firm. Value pricing dispenses with billable hours and instead charges clients based on (surprise) the subjective value of the work performed. Apparently, the mere thought of moving from a billable hours system to a [...

Should I Start My Own Practice?

Posted on January 05, 2008
Many lawyers dream of starting their own practices, but the realities of launching a business can be intimidating.  While there are a number of excellent resources available concerning solo startups (including MyShingle.com), the Rainmaker has posted a suggested reading list that has proven to be very helpful in my own experience...

If You?re Thinking About Blogging?

Posted on January 05, 2008
In my last post, I mentioned that content is the most important feature of a website. Content is what drives traffic and content is what holds a reader’s attention long enough for them to consider retaining your services. The Greatest American Lawyer has added a couple of great posts on the topic recently [...

Draw Clients to Your Website

Posted on January 05, 2008
Law firms of all sizes have realized the importance of maintaining a web presence.  Luckily, creating a professional-looking site is more affordable than ever.  Do-it-yourself types can create a great site for virtually nothing.  But in the long run, the most important thing is traffic...

Solos and Small Firms Need PR Too

Posted on October 30, 2007
I noted in an earlier post, Tapping Into India’s Legal Market, that Paramjit Mahli would be a guest blogger on Susan Cartier Liebel’s Build A Solo Practice, LLC for a three-part series.  The second part of that series focuses on how solos and small firms can benefit from good public relations...

E-Discovery Offers Opportunities to Gain Corporate Clients

Posted on October 29, 2007
Corporate legal departments have often sought outside counsel for litigation support. With the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the growth of electronic discovery, corporations are seeking contract attorneys earlier than ever before. While corporations are trying to increase the size of their legal departments, a lack of candidates with the specific [...

Supreme Court of Kentucky?s First Webcast

Posted on October 25, 2007
I noted in an earlier post that the Supreme Court of Kentucky would begin live webcasts of oral arguments this week. I didn’t get a chance to watch the live webcast yesterday, but Kentucky Law Review reports that it was a success. (Read KLR’s post on SCOKY’s first live webcast here...

The Ultimate Digital Law Firm

Posted on October 24, 2007
Traverse Legal, based in Traverse City, Michigan, is one of the most innovative firms I’ve come across so far.  Enrico Schaefer, the firm’s founding attorney, uses alternative billing and technology to gain efficiencies that can be passed on to his clients...