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Solo Practice

Solo In Chicago

Empowering the Second City's entrepreneurial legal community.
By Peter Olson

Post Frequency: 2.2/day

Last Entry: March 13, 2009 at 12:21:00

Increased Order of Protection Remedies

Posted on August 21, 2008
Here's an overview regarding the new Cindy Bischof Law that allows courts to order GPS tracking for people accused of violating protection orders who are let out on bail and determined to be at high risk for violence. It also allows judges to put a convicted violator on a GPS ankle bracelet...

The "Interesting" Reasons Why Clients Choose Attorneys

Posted on August 18, 2008
I witnessed an interesting/sad/eye-opening example of attorney selection last week at Daley that unfortunately probably speaks to the stupid reasons why client's choose lawyers and I suppose should emphasize the importance of client education as part of your marketing...

Thick Skin and Attorney Withdrawal

Posted on August 07, 2008
I think the fact of withdrawing from a case is one of the ways that attorney's are too non-businesslike. Name a service provider that you use that wouldn't stop service if their bill went unpaid for more than 2-3 months. And yet I see lawyers staying in cases way too long...

I Always Miss All the Fun

Posted on August 07, 2008
Saw this little nugget today and heard about it on Chicago Public Radio:Cook County Circuit Clerk's office evacuated at Daley Center after bomb threat.I was at Daley until about 11:50am so I must have just missed the dramatics. The piece isn't too specific but it must have been room 802...

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Non-Engagement Letter

Posted on July 30, 2008
I just found myself doing one of these so I thought I'd post what we use to communicate with non-clients the fact that we're not representing them. You do not want to unwittingly create an attorney-client relationship when you don't actually want to represent someone...

Report on Conditions at Cook County Jail

Posted on July 25, 2008
If you need some interesting reading of a public policy nature to read over the weekend why not try out the Justice Department's review of the Cook County Jail...here's the full report, the U.S. Attorney's press release, and the Chicago Tribune's treatment of the report's release...

Tell a Story about Yourself...

Posted on July 25, 2008
A good advice piece regarding developing your "elevator speech."Here's a simple three step model to describing yourself:Meaningful minute. Civiello advises clients preparing lengthy presentations to start by distilling their messages into 60 seconds. Her basic formula goes like this: "Say who you are, what you do, and why you do it better...

I'd Like to Stop Beating Up on the Cook County Sheriff, BUT...

Posted on July 23, 2008
The facts are hard to ignore.I had an incarcerated client with a court date set for yesterday. And after waiting for some time in the courtroom, one of the Sheriff's deputies explains to me that my client wasn't going to be brought in yesterday...or more simply, the Cook County Sheriff forgot to bring my client to court! We've posted about difficulty with the Sheriff previously here and here regarding service of process and previous difficulty with the jail...

Follow the Path of the Summons/Affidavit Return...

Posted on July 16, 2008
It sounds like some sort of kids game doesn't it? Unfortunately this "game" can be a pain in the @$%$#@ when the Cook County Sheriff's proof of service affidavit doesn't find its way to the court file like it's supposed to. This was a new one for me earlier this week...

Free Conference Call Software

Posted on July 08, 2008
Here's another free Web-based service I recently discovered: Rondee.com. They offer free, Web-based conference calls for up to 100 participants. This is a great service for the home office lawyer who doesn't have an extensive and expensive telephone system...

The Pace of Justice at 32 W. Randolph

Posted on July 08, 2008
I had a pretrial conference over in courtroom 1403 over at 32 W. Randolph today with Judge Reynolds. She's a nice edition to the team over there...it's a very difficult court call.By way of a little background, the court at 32 W. Randolph deals with parentage cases...

Free Invoicing Software from Intuit

Posted on July 08, 2008
There's nothing more important than getting clients to pay your bills. I recently experimented with Billing Manager from Intuit, a free, online invoicing software from the makers of QuickBooks. It's probably not a full accounting solution for your firm, but for a start-up not ready to make a big investment I like what it offers...

Do Judges Earn Royalties from the Law Bulletin??

Posted on July 08, 2008
I say that mostly in jest but I was handling a name change case today at Daley. There were several other name change cases in the courtroom along with my case and many of them were pro se. A name change case requires publication in a county-wide newspaper for three weeks...

Get Inside Their Heads not Their Hearts

Posted on June 30, 2008
I saw this little nugget in a recent edition of The Economist. It was a study by Adam Galinsky over at Northwestern that looked at two related approaches often used in negotiations: perspective-taking and empathy. Although the terms are often used interchangeably they're actually different...

Lawyer E-mail Addresses

Posted on June 27, 2008
I'm bothered when lawyers or law firms do not include e-mail contact information on their letterheads or anywhere where I can find it. It's not efficient.For example, today I needed a property inspection report from another attorney so instead of shooting him a quick e-mail and getting it returned to me...

Sorry, We Ignored the Court's Order

Posted on June 09, 2008
The Cook County Sheriff that is...I mean they don't come right out and say it but sit around a courtroom sometime and observe. I often do. A couple recent tales from the 30th Floor (Daley Center that is).First, I was in court the Wednesday after Memorial Day weekend...

Oops, I Forgot to Blog

Posted on June 09, 2008
Well, not really but I saw that posting here and I liked the title.No you just have a few long weekend commitments out of town, the law practice starts to really heat-up, and then there's this new writing gig and the blogging lags. I have a weekly commitment over a Technolawyer Newswire...

Don't Send Your Secretary or Paralegal To Court

Posted on June 03, 2008
I was sitting in court at Daley yesterday waiting for my case to be called and I observed a young woman step up on a case who was not a lawyer which she readily admitted. After some questioning the judge angrily demanded that her firm get a lawyer over here immediately...

Don't Be Too Judge Reliant

Posted on May 22, 2008
I'm making a little confession here about a stupid thing I did recently to save you a future hassle.I over-relied on a particular judge's idiosyncrasies to the detriment of what I wanted done. Nothing major or particularly fatal longer-term but I had a less than perfectly productive court date...

That Bothers Me!

Posted on May 22, 2008
Well lets see here, there are golf driving ranges that charge more for hitting off grass than off mats; loud music played in public places; and, people who have more than one hand on the table while eating. Yep, those three things bother me!But keeping it in lawyerland here, how 'bout judges that hold-up their courtrooms for 5-10 minutes per case by drafting court orders for pro se litigants...

When Possible, Do the Work Pre-Court...it Saves Everyone

Posted on May 22, 2008
Why do so many lawyers have this affinity for doing everything at the last minute? Even when it's not at all necessary and often hurtful.Let me explain, earlier this week I had a status hearing on a domestic relations case. A temporary visitation schedule had run out and we hadn't quite come to a final case settlement...

Looking for Work on Facebook

Posted on May 10, 2008
A nice overview about how various professionals are building business and getting jobs on Facebook.

Another LegalMatch Comment

Posted on May 10, 2008
Don't mean to pile on poor old LegalMatch. I've written about our firms experience with them in the past. But I did see another comment pop-up about another firms experience with them so I thought I'd post it:LegalMatch is a nightmare. Sure, you eventually earn more than you pay, but not without significant pain...

3 Years + $150k = Commencement with Jerry Springer

Posted on May 09, 2008
Check him out a week from today over at 357 East Chicago Avenue (NU Law School). He'll head straight over from NBC Tower and naked cousins fighting about incest to the austere Northwestern Law School who's graduates include current Associate Justice John Paul Stevens.

Lawyer Civility

Posted on May 07, 2008
I must admit that I kind of chuckle when I constantly read about various bar leaders and supreme court judges constantly harping on the subject of lawyer civility. Not because I don't think it's a legitimate concern for bar leaders to have, but it often seems like it's something these folks who are a long way from the front lines of our court systems like to talk about without actually experiencing the day-to-day grind of say traffic or domestic relations court on a regular basis...

At Least You Got What You Needed Mr. Connected Lawyer!

Posted on May 07, 2008
There's another rant over at The Connected Lawyer about antiquated court filing systems in various Illinois counties. I feel his pain and have written about the issue in this space previously. This was my experience this morning...So I've been appointed by the court to represent a Respondent in some post-decree (post-divorce) litigation...

Emergency Motion Strategy

Posted on May 04, 2008
Do you ever file these? Frankly I think a lot like Orders of Protection there's a tendency for them to be abused, but, when done right they can give you a big tactical advantage. By definition, an Emergency Motion is a motion that's presented in court without the normal requisite 5 business days notice...

Name Change, Change

Posted on May 04, 2008
So as you can tell I had a little fun at the old courthouse Friday. Among my pleasures was filing a new Name Change case. I'd just had one of these finished up in February so I thought I knew the procedures so you can imagine my surprise when I went to file the new case in the Chancery Division and was told, Name Change cases are now within the County Division...

28 N. Clark "No Fee" Filing Box GONE!

Posted on May 04, 2008
Probably not the end of the world but just don't be like me on Friday running a bit late to court over at 32 W. Randolph and wanting to avoid having to get through security and wait for an elevator over at Daley, I scooted up to the second floor at 28 N...

Parking Costs in Fee Petition

Posted on April 30, 2008
So in domestic relations contempt of court land we're often filing Fee Petitions or having them filed against us. They're actually quite informative, you really get to see what other lawyers are billing clients and they help you know the market for attorneys fees...

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