Solo Practice

Goodbye/Hello

Posted on March 13, 2009
This wasn't quite the celebratory transition I had in mind but life events have simply made it necessary so here goes...2-3 months ago now I finally got around to moving this blog's content to its own Website using Wordpress. That's what all the blog consultants out there say to get your own site so people like Google can't just shut you down (i...

In Civil-Contempt Cases, Jail Time Can Stretch On for Years

Posted on February 10, 2009
Ah, my favorite legal topic covered over in the WSJ?civil contempt. If you get into court much and thus need to deal with entering orders and inevitably enforcing orders ya better know your 4 types of contempt and how to get them and how to defend them.

Do Ya Need a New Calendar?

Posted on February 10, 2009
One would think that this wouldn?t be too big of an issue for us well-educated legal professionals but for the record in the first 35 days of 2009 I?ve been party to 3 separate cases where opposing attorneys have failed to appear. I?m not sure that I?ve ever had that happen a single time in the past and now three times in just over a month...

So Here's What Happened...

Posted on February 07, 2009
And I think it's an instructive tale for you small firm practitioners out there: I took a long vacation (10 days) to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and I've (and this blog has too) paid the price since my return. I have no complaints and I don't think the Firm's suffered in the least, I just haven't had a lot of extra blog time...

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What's in a Name...and More

Posted on December 20, 2008
A nice review in the a href="http://www.isba.org/ibj/"Bar Journal's/a monthly a href="http://www.isba.org/ibj/2008/12/644_loss_prevention.html"Loss Prevention column/a. Some key points for sole practitioners:br /br /pbWhat's your name?/b/p p style="font-style: italic;"Me - a name I call myself...

Goal-Setting with a Purpose

Posted on December 20, 2008
I must say my focus has been on really finishing '08 out strong as I hurry to close-up shop before heading out of town on Christmas Eve but I saw this over at Consumerism Commentary...a href="http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2008/12/19/9-tips-for-choosing-and-achieving-a-purpose-in-life/"9 Tips for Choosing and Achieving a Purpose in Life/a...

Long-Term Care Consumer Information

Posted on December 20, 2008
Saw this a href="http://www.isba.org/publications/barnews/2008/11/capitol.html"little nugget recently/a:br /br /span style="font-style: italic;" class="body-bold"Elder care. /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Public Act 95-823 requires long- term care facilities to complete annual ?Consumer Choice Information Reports? and make them available to the public, including posting them on the internet and giving them to prospective residents and their families...

Recession = ?Force Majeure???

Posted on December 20, 2008
I don?t think I?ve dealt with a force majeure issue since first year Contracts but I am always on the lookout for some old fashion creative lawyering. And I found some reported recently regarding the a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/business/05norris...

The Governor and I

Posted on December 10, 2008
Did I ever mention that I used to work at a law firm that had also previously employed our fair Governor Blagojevich? In lieu of the current state of affairs I thought a brief mention might be appropriate. Yep, it was actually the last place I worked prior to starting my current practice...

Big Firm "Bill Padding"

Posted on December 10, 2008
Over the last several months we've had a case against a fairly large Chicago firm regarding a dissolution of marriage and it has been fairly eye-opening and borderline laughable to view first-hand the techniques they use to run up legal fees against their client (unnecessarily I would say)...

Don?t Be Afraid to Get Paid!

Posted on December 04, 2008
That?s the title of a great piece from a recent ISBA Illinois Bar Journal article. It looks like it?s accessible without a password so that?s a nice policy change by ISBA. Seriously, it might be the best and most relevant article I?ve ever read in a legal publication! It includes great advice from legal consultant Ellen Freedman about the most critical issue for legal services business owners: getting your customers to pay you...

Draconian Cuts but Some Nice New Copiers at 32 W. Randolph

Posted on December 04, 2008
Well, from the way Todd Stroger's talking 1/4 of Cook County's employees might get cut if the Cook County Board doesn't agree to his proposal to borrow some $700 million. But, I did see some nice new copy machines up on the 14th Floor at 32 W. Randolph outside the parentage courtrooms...

The Six Habits of Highly Respectful Physicians, er ah, Attorneys

Posted on December 04, 2008
Saw this in the Times regarding so-called "etiquette based medicine." The author recommended six steps for physicians to use at an initial patient meeting...I think the steps could be helpful for an initial attorney-client meeting:? Ask permission to enter the room; wait for an answer...

Warning Signs of Law Firm Failure

Posted on November 28, 2008
Here?s the full article and the 3 shared characteristics shared by failing firms: Below average financial performances that included excessive leverage, significant deferred obligations, low productivity and poor realization was one main category.Internal dynamics involving leadership problems, incompatible goals among partners, differences in compensation philosophies and a lack of succession planning was the second common theme...

Cinderella ?pull-ups? and Painted Toe-Nails (on a 3-year old)

Posted on November 28, 2008
Question, are we really going to hear about the next 20 years of child custody battles of Brian Urlacher? I hope not. I?d guess it will slow down once ?ole Brian retires from the Bears. If you?re looking for the issue in the case, the question is, are Cinderalla pull-ups and painted toenails a ?serious endangerment? to the child (750 ILCS 5/607)? I think not...

Pricing in a Recession

Posted on November 28, 2008
Well, I'm not running for office right now so I don't mind using the "R" word or bagel as Josh Lyman used to call it on The West Wing. We're trying to deal with the real issues facing legal professionals here at SIC and reality suggests we're nearing a recession...

Book Review: The Servant

Posted on November 22, 2008
By James C. Hunter Reviewed by Peter R. Olson In ?The Servant? James Hunter uses the biblical concept of servant hood as exemplified by Jesus Christ to teach ethical business leadership principals based on the premise of serving others. ?The Servant? takes readers on a fictional journey to a Michigan monastery where six people of varying backgrounds end up together in a leadership seminar taught by former Fortune 500 executive Leonard Hoffman n/k/a Brother Simeon (fictional)...

It Would be Nice to have the Court File

Posted on November 22, 2008
I'm going to try NOT to talk about the low-tech, paper court filing system in Cook County...at least for most of this post because it's actually a slightly different issue I want to raise. The issue that bothers me is within the Cook County Domestic Relations Division (I think this is division-wide although nearly all of my domestic practice these days is at Daley so this my be a Daley specific issue) when your case is court, your case file is not actually brought to the courtroom...

Profile: Jeffrey Steinback

Posted on November 19, 2008
If you didn't see this, take a read of the nice profile from November's Chicago Lawyer. He's a sole practitioner with a very niche practice...For Steinback ? a veteran criminal defense attorney who is considered one of Chicago?s leading experts on federal sentencing guidelines, as well as a master plea bargainer whose practice focuses largely on resolving white-collar criminal matters short of trial ? it is the whole person, rather than a mere description contained within the four corners of an indictment, that is at the heart of his work...

3 Posts in 1...What a Deal!

Posted on November 19, 2008
Watch me seamlessly interweave three separate topics into one post:Supreme Court Rule 711 Abuse;The Importance of Being Detail-Oriented; and,Sloppy, Hand-written, Last-Minute changes to a final Judgment. The above are mostly all tied to the same incident with one exception...

Dick Cheney and Opposing Counsel

Posted on November 11, 2008
Leaving his politics aside, I have great admiration for the Vice-President as a political infighter. If you've read any of the books that have come out regarding the Bush administration or there are a couple Cheney biographies as well (I'd personally recommend either of these here or here), the power Cheney's office yielded was quite impressive...

Don't Hide Assets in Real Estate!

Posted on November 11, 2008
Namely because real estate is the most public of assets so it won't be hidden long! If you're in family law at all you're going to have cases in a dissolution of marriage setting or child support collection setting where a litigant wants to hide her/his assets...

Getting your Fees in Divorce Proceedings

Posted on November 11, 2008
Mary Umberger included this snippet in a recent column which is informing...Thinking about a divorce? These days, the real estate market may be a third party in an already-sticky situation.Some family-law attorneys say the condition of the housing market is causing them to rethink the way they get paid for their counsel in divorce cases...

How Many Billables do You Bring?

Posted on November 08, 2008
That's the subject written about here at Law.com. The above or some question regarding your "book of business" is a question you must be able to answer for several reasons.Not to be blasphemous since right now I'm a passionate sole practitioner but the reality is that there's a great chance that one day I won't be and really shouldn't be...

Obama the Olympian

Posted on November 07, 2008
We try not to be too partisan here at SIC, but there's one thing we're surely in favor of and that's sports! So if Obama's win gives Chicago 2016 a nudge I can't complain. More people and time on the international stage is bound to help us Chicago, entrepreneurs/lawyers, right? And I know one lawyer who's got $20k in attorney fees in a house down there near the proposed Olympic Village that could use a little marketing nudge.

Client Meetings for the Home Office Lawyer

Posted on November 05, 2008
Two wonderfully enlightening posts recently on the above from two of my favorite blogs: MyShingle and Chuck Newton. Carolyn deals with the nitty gritty of using "virtual" offices (like Regus) for client meetings while Chuck provides an expansive tome that deals with where to meet and much more...

My 'Motion of the Month'

Posted on October 31, 2008
This month it's been the old Motion to Vacate pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/2-1203, generally due to improper notice on the part of the moving party. These aren't quite as juicy as the 2-301 motions where you can wipe out maintenance awards, $500k in back child support, and even wed those who were seemingly previously divorced, but they're a nice tool too...

No Jury Demand, Please

Posted on October 30, 2008
If you've got the Plaintiff that is, or at least according to this DOJ Study covered over at Law.com...Plaintiffs won in 56 percent of all general civil trial cases. Judges ruled in their favor in 68 percent of the cases, while juries favored the plaintiffs 54 percent of the time...

Urlacher, Dent, Briggs...

Posted on October 30, 2008
Not just a list of Chicago athletes but rather potential clients...market to those Chicago sports teams to build your domestic relations practice. Here's another...bit player Jason Caffey from a few of the Bulls dynasty teams.

Sheriff's Office Gambling

Posted on October 30, 2008
I'm as big a critic of the performance of the Cook County Sheriff's Office as anybody, but is a office football pool something really worth of the I-Team's attention? I think half the businesses in Chicago would be guilty of this transgression.

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