Randall Ryder sues abusive debt collectors who harass and abuse consumers, violate consumers’ rights, and invade consumers’ privacy under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDPCA). Randall is an active consumer advocate and frequently gives presentations on consumer rights. Randall graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he was an active student leader, a research assistant, and a student instructor for oral and written advocacy class. Randall now teaches two classes at the University of Minnesota Law School as an adjunct professor. Prior to law school, Randall lived in Los Angeles for four years, writing screenplays and working on commercials and music videos. Notably, he had the chance to work on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first campaign commercials (he's actually taller than him). Randall was also retained by a Beverly Hills law firm as an expert on Marvel Comics. Sadly, he was unable to meet Spiderman.
Last week I dispelled some prevalent myths about solo attorneys.
Here’s another myth worth examining: young lawyers should take every piece of advice and immediately act on it.
Seeking input from other attorneys is a good idea. But blindly following external advice is a terrible idea.
Sometimes the best advice is to ignore everyone else and do what you think needs to be done.
In law school, the best and the brightest get jobs at Big Law, P.A., or get a clerkship with the Supreme Court and then move onto a glorious job at Big Law, P.A.
Usually the only talk of solo attorneys is “well, you can always go solo if you can’t find anything else.”
The truth is, some attorneys actually want to go solo and start their own firm.
And surprise, surprise, we work pretty hard—but we actually can make a comfortable living.
The life of an attorney can be filled with WTF moments—many of which are avoidable.
The advent of social media (combined with a tough legal economy) has made some attorneys overzealous in their marketing attempts—resulting in chasing potential clients.
That can also lead to attorneys providing legal advice when they simply do not have enough information to render a professional opinion.
Rendering haphazard legal advice creates all sorts of problems—and none of them are of the good variety.
Young attorneys are frequently crippled by a lack of morale and inability to trust their gut to make decisions.
For me, the most frustrating aspect was bouncing an idea of another attorney, only to be told: “no, you have to do it this way.”
Wrong. There is more than one way to achieve your client’s goals, and your way is just as likely to lead to success.
Starting a solo practice is a difficult and rewarding experience.
Keeping your lights on for a year is a monumental achievement. The only thing harder is duplicating and expanding on your success in year two.
Here are five ways to keep your solo practice running strong.
New solo attorneys consistently have problems with two aspects of running a business: finances and marketing.
Finances are just numbers and can always be outsourced to an accountant.
Face to face meetings with other attorneys is the best way to build your professional network.
If you follow these four rules, you can do a dang good job.
Running a solo practice is more than just practicing law—you are also running a business.
Unlike most businesses, most solo attorneys do everything on their own: from IT support, to managing finances, and dealing with clients (customers).
That means when something goes wrong you have to deal with it and you have to fix it.
But if you plan for an emergency in advance, it will be much easier to overcome. Keep Reading ⇒
When opening a solo practice, attorneys usually make two big mistakes.
One, because they are new to running a business, they minimize expenses without considering the upside of certain “unnecessary” expenses.
Two, they are so desperate for clients that they take any client and any case that walks in the door.
But the hidden costs of problem client can easily negate their fee. The sooner you understand that concept, the better.
The financial aspects of running a law firm can be maddening. Most law schools provide no preparation for running a business.
As a default, many lawyers think the best way to run a business is to scrimp, scrounge, and save every possible penny to reduce overhead.
But there’s a big difference between spending smart and saving money just to save money.
As lawyers migrate toward the cloud and mobile offices they are ditching relics of the past.
Landlines and paper files are fading like Marty’s relatives in Back to the Future. Fax machines are quickly going the way of the dodo bird.
Just because you are tech-savvy, however, does not mean the rest of the world is. Having a fax number is relatively inexpensive and still has utility.
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