(Pardon the unusual use of profanity in this post, if it bothers you. I can only offer this from my college chaplain, who’d just called “bullshit” on some machination by college administrators: “Sometimes, no other word will do.”)

You have to have read this by now.

If you haven’t, here’s the Twitter (less than 140 characters) version: PH associate gets fired, rips partners a collective new one via email, to prevent other fired associates from feeling low esteem.

See, the at-first-nameless ex-Paul Hastings associate intimated in her letter that the problem with the random layoffs wasn’t the fact of termination — it was the reason given:

Had you simply explained that the department is unable to sustain the number of associates in the office, I would have completely understood. Had you explained that the office had been directed to reduce the number of associates and I was chosen because of my high billable rate and low billable hours, I would have appreciated such directness, even though the consequences of blindly raising billable rates to an unsustainable degree is plainly predictable. What I do not understand is the attempt to blame the associate for not bringing in the business that should have been brought in by each of you and to hide your personal failures by attempting to tarnish my excellent performance record and looking to undermine my sense of self esteem.

There’s so much fabulousness and inspiration in this email, I hardly know where to begin.

The Problem With BigLaw

We could go on ad nauseam on the larger topic of billable hours and the evils thereof, but the real issue that the letter writer spots accurately is this: business has taken priority over humanity. To paraphrase Marley from A Christmas Carol: Humanity ought to be our business, especially for lawyers.

This is why I just couldn’t deal with a large law firm: too much gamesmanship, too much emphasis on revenue above all else.

As solos, we get to chart our own course. We decide what the bottom line really is, and how we will define success for our practices and for our lives. I like our way better.

Speaking Up Should Be Commended

I know a lot of folks might advise “don’t burn bridges.” My advice to my coaching clients is a bit different: Don’t burn bridges unnecessarily.

Sometimes, you have to speak up, is my point. When it gets this bad, this blatant, this pervasive, then brave people need to speak up and call the bad actors on their shit.

That person in this case was Shinyung Oh (her name revealed at the WSJ Law blog here). In that WSJ Law blog interview, it’s made pretty clear that the problem isn’t the firing (as it’s also made clear in the email itself) but the “how” of the firing, the symptom of a larger problem: the loss of humanity at many large businesses. It’s not just a BigLaw problem, though it does seem particularly pervasive there.

And many of the commenters to that interview seem to miss that point: that the problem isn’t one of entitlement or cause for termination but of values. Simply put: people put in charge of large firms, for better or (I vote) worse, do not believe as a whole they can afford to be human, with all that word implies (compassion, support, morality, emotional truth).

They make a decision that they know will be unpopular and what is the rallying cry of defense when they’re called out on it? “It’s just business!”

Yes. Yes, it is. Just — only — solely business. And nothing else.

So Ms. Oh gets our nod as Hero of the Month.

Topics: Solo Stories | 2 Comments »

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UPDATE: Ed. from Blawg Review sez this is the perfect chair. Hey, so does the manufacturer! Consensus is cool. (It does look comfy, no?)

“Sit up straight!”

Remember that old Mom-ism? Turns out dear old Mom (sorry Mom!) might have been wrong after all.

Research shows the ideal posture is not straight-back upright, which apparently causes low-back strain (actually, I could have told them that some time ago). Rather, you should recline at a 135 degree angle.

So consider this your permission slip to kick the feet up and lean back in your office chair. (You do have a reclining office chair, right? Go get one. These are nice. So I’m told.)

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Today marks the first in a new series — yay, you know me and series! They really appeal to my inner left-brained-person. (I’d normally describe myself as more creative than logical, but I admit to a geeky love of outliners and pencil sharpeners.)

This series is called “Inspired Solo Rules.” Over the course of — well, frankly, I haven’t decided how long — I’m going to count down the top 100 rules for being an Inspired Solo. It might be one a day, in which case we’ll wrap up just about the time the new TIS is ready to disrobe (ooh, naughty) and debut its made-over self to the world. Or it might be one a week, in which case we’ll be hitting number one about the time my kid hits puberty. Whatevs, as the kids would say.

Inspired Solo Rule #100: Ask for help when you need it

Following on that whole “we’re only human” meme from this post last week comes the pesky corollary of “we all need help on occasion from our brother & sister human beings.” I know: not a lot of fun to realize your own fallibility, is it?

So much is it “not fun” that most of us go to extreme lengths to avoid asking for that help, even when all those around us are thinking, “Are you CRAZY?! There’s NO WAY I would go it alone in that circumstance!” Don’t let us fool you, though: we’d TOTALLY do the same thing. It’s in our nature.

Solos in particular, being the “I can do it MYSELF” entrepreneurially-minded folks we tend to be, are prone to steadfastly and — OK, I’ll say it — sometimes foolishly clinging to the desperate belief that help is not needed.

But sometimes, we’re wrong. Sometimes, we need a helping hand. As solos, as business owners, as the CEOs of My Law Office, Inc., we are being derelict in our duties if we fail to recognize this and act upon it.

What Happened to Corvida When the Winds Blew Hard and Made That Funny Ice Cream Cone Shape

Case in point: Corvida blogs at SheGeeks, a wonderful tech blog. Today she shared with the world the story of her weekend, which involved fleeing from a tornado bearing down on her house — like, inches away in the backyard (not like I use the phrase meaning “a few counties over and maybe kinda sorta headed in this direction”).

Corvida turned to Twitter for assistance getting her family to safety. She got it. Other individuals and groups stepped forward to help even more folks in her neighborhood. Moral of the story: It’s there for you, but you gotta ask.

Why You’re Afraid of Asking For Help

You can’t fool Auntie Sheryl. I know why you’re afraid of it.

“But then they’ll know…” Know what? Know you’re human? Know sometimes bad stuff happens to you that you hadn’t seen coming and so didn’t prepare for? Newsflash, cookies: They already know.

“But what will they think of me?” They’ll think you’re human. They’ll think, “Wow, I’m so glad I can help. I wonder if s/he’ll be supergrateful and thank me on her blog.” (Hey, they’re human themselves.)

“OK, but doesn’t this make me look … I dunno … weak?” Yes. Yes it does. Weak = human. Weak for now, because you got beat up by the vicissitudes of fate. Would you think Samuel Peter to be a weak human if he loses a fight? There’s gotta be one loser in every match, right? (Do I get points for knowing about him, even if I had to look it up on Google?)

Wisdom from an Unexpected Source

I leave you with some wisdom from that most beloved and deeply revered — nay, that classic — the best law movie of all time: My Cousin Vinny:

Mona Lisa Vito: So what’s your problem?

Vinny Gambini: My problem is, I wanted to win my first case without any help from anybody.

Mona Lisa Vito: Well, I guess that plan’s moot.

Vinny Gambini: Yeah.

Mona Lisa Vito: You know, this could be a sign of things to come. You win all your cases, but with somebody else’s help, right? You win case after case, and then afterwards you have to go up to somebody and you have to say, “thank you.” [pause] Oh my God, what a f***ing nightmare!

Topics: Solos Generally, The Legal Community | 1 Comment »

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Solos in Colorado and Oregon can now take advantage of the marketing opportunity Avvo presents: the algorithm-driven lawyer rating site has expanded its presence into those states as of this week.

Some in the legal commentary blogosphere got mighty up in arms over Avvo when it debuted, with arguments that generally boiled down to “I didn’t ask for this!” The fear-based predictions have (mostly) been dismissed by now.

I’d encourage solos to take a less hysterical approach: think of Avvo as what it is — an opportunity. Nothing more, and nothing less.

Topics: Avvo, Inspired Marketing Choices | 2 Comments »

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Each weekend, I’m going to round up the best of other blogs and websites in various topics. This will be in addition to “7 Days of Inspiration.”

This week, the debut entry is about marketing.

• RainToday.com: “Two Rainmaking Traps Smart, hard-Working Professionals Fall Into“
• RainToday.com: “12 Ways to Keep Your Business Relationships Alive“
• RainToday.com: “LinkedIn 101: How to Unlock the Power of This New Online Tool“
• Online Marketing Blog: “Top 10 Reasons for Monitoring Brands in Social Media“
• The Big Wave Blog: “Got Mobile Advertising? Get a headstart in a marketing marathon“

Topics: Elsewhere in the Blogosphere, Inspired Marketing Choices | No Comments »

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Dave Navarro writes a bit about this in his post about not waiting for the goals to cross the finish line:

So the question here is this: Do you really need to take your goals to the finish line to get the results you want? This is an important question. When I started my business, I wanted to make a million dollars so that I could have all the time I wanted to spend with my wife and kids. So I poured myself into building a business, only to discover that years went by without me spending enough time with them, and it’s costing me in big ways, ways I can’t fix with the money I’m making now. And that sucks.

We all make errors in judgment from time to time. It’s part of the larger truism that there is no such thing as balance-as-a-static-state — that balance is always and forever a state of constant motion and adjustment. As long as that remains true (i.e., forever), we human beings will always be subject to retroactive hindsight-driven harsh judgments against our past decisions. Should we have spent more time with the kids? Should we have stopped whining about chores and just done ‘em? It sort of all depends on the outcome, doesn’t it?

So, what I’m wondering today is this: given that an error is always possible but not always foreseeable, that the optimal state of being is not static but constantly subject to tiny and large adjustments, and that I am, like so many of my law-practicing brothers and sisters, highly ambitious and goal-driven as well as desperately seeking a more peaceful and inspired existence — does it not also follow that goals are things to be set and worked towards but simultaneously forgotten?

In short: is it, after all, really the journey and not the destination that matters?

This also ties into another thought that’s been circling round my brain like that green slimy ghostie in Ghostbusters — remember the ballroom, where the slimer kept circling the chandelier? Like that. The thought is this: we’re too caught up in ticking things off some mega-list in search of a state of nothingness, where we really ought to spend our energies embracing the wild, juicy mess that is life.

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I’m veering off the law path with this one but I think there’s a story here for solo lawyers, too.

So, I paint. A little and not well, but I enjoy it a lot. I haven’t done it in awhile though, and my supplies were nonexistent. So I shopped around online for a new source. I found Madison Art.

I picked out some paper for my watercolors — my usual medium. But then I noticed these table easels, and I thought, “What an awesome idea — I could use these in the office on the other side of the desk, so I could catch the light.”

(For those of you who don’t know, I enjoy the very special gift of a huge home office that used to be a huge sitting room on the backside of my late mom’s house on the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway. It’s 90% window, which means I get awesome light, and one of the few undeveloped views of the banks on the opposite side of the water.)

Then I saw these sets that included table easels — particularly this one that included oil paints. And that brought back art lessons of my childhood, and I thought, “Ooh. Yes.” And I bought one, along with some turpenoid and a wooden palette.

I got a fairly prompt shipping notice (within 48 hours or so), and about five business days later, the package arrived. Unfortunately, when I opened the box, what I found was a palette and a watercolor table top easel set, not an oil one. No turpenoid, no paper.

Oopsie.

So, I emailed the store promptly and explained the situation. What I got back, almost immediately was “We’ll straighten it out, immediately.”

A few hours later, I got a new shipping notice in my email inbox, followed within 24 hours by another note from the store telling me that the missing items — the oil table top easel set, the turpenoid, and the paper — were on their way. And the watercolor set I’d been shipped by mistake?

“Keep it.”

OK, so obviously I’m a fan of Madison Art for life now. Even if I were to find a lower price on a needed supply somewhere else, I can state that right now I’d fully prefer to deal with Madison Art.

What was it that converted me from casual purchaser to fangirl? Was it just the “keep it”? I have to be honest, that’s part of it. It’s way cool to have more watercolors (though I don’t really need two table easels).

But it’s more than that. It’s the whole of how I was treated, and how they responded to the error. Promptly, with a real apology — which always consists of three parts:

1. Recognition of the wrong (”This is my error”)
2. The apology (”I’m sorry that happened”)
3. The fix (”Here’s what I’ve done to make it right”)

Look, everybody makes mistakes — even lawyers and great internet art stores. It’s how we deal with them — make them right, make the affected party whole again — that’s what people remember and judge us on, and rightly so.

And if you want to exercise your inner visual artist I know a great place to get supplies.

Topics: Psychology of Inspiration, Resources for the Inspired Solo | No Comments »

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Simplicity Is Elegance

I have to admit: I am in a “simplify and eliminate” mood today. I got rid of one time-suck earlier today; have “renegotiated” several commitments (in David Allen’s GTD parlance) in the past week; and am getting quite fond of that sense of liberation that follows. It feels like my lungs gained an additional 20% capacity at the same time as a large and heavy stone was lifted out of the metaphorical backpack we all carry — a deeper breath of fresher air and a much lighter load.

So I’m going to continue that process of simplification by taking myself out of the “Seven Days of Inspiration” equation, at least partially. I can’t take myself out completely because — well, someone has to choose the links. But I am going to continue what I started in the last 7 Days post: just the links, ma’am (and sir). No more thoughtful ruminations from me (though I am going to summarize the post in one phrase/sentence, to make sure folks can tell what the post is about in case the title’s not clear enough).

What that means: You take the links, or leave ‘em. You read ‘em, or not. You get something out of them, it’s yours and yours alone. No more leading questions, so to speak. I’m letting you, the jury, draw their own conclusions. (That metaphor got jumbled pretty quickly, didn’t it?)

So, without further ado, here are the seven links for this week. This week’s theme: productivity.

This Weeks’ Links: The Productive Solo

• Do You Make These 5 Mistakes When You Try to Take Action? — Positivity Blog — five ways you might be holding yourself back
• How to Be Excellent (Or, Principle vs. Technique) — Experience Designer — thoughts on a first flight lesson and approaching new subjects for best results
• How to Manage Your Time Effectively — Ian’s Messy Desk — five simple (though not always easy) steps to get a better handle on your schedule and tasks list
• Links on Remote Assistants — Productivity501 — Mark Shead asked his remote assistant to gather some helpful posts on remote assistants; this post is the result.
• Luminotes Is a Wiki Without the Markup Learning Curve — Lifehacker — discusses a new app (both standalone and web-based options apparently available) to set up a personal wiki for enhanced productivity (and, I suggest, learning new practice areas)
• Top 10 Contact Management Resources to Keep Your Business Organized — Internet Mogal — a rundown on five contact management apps (Outlook is not one of them)
• What to Do About That Big Project You’ve Been Putting Off — Web Worker Daily — step by step process and suggestions to power your way through that monster project you just can’t seem to get started on

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! We’ll be debuting some new features on TIS next week — do come back and check ‘em out. I’d love your input.

Topics: 7 Days Of Inspiration, Solos Generally, The Productive Practice | 1 Comment »

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I have to admit. I’m conflicted about Kindle, Amazon’s new(ish) digital book-reading gadget. It looks cool enough. But, two things are stopping me:

1. I remember the not-so-pleasant experience of reading digital books on Palm products. No, thanks.
2. I really love the feel of a book. An honest-to-goodness book, with paper and everything. Do I really want to give that up?

That said, some pretty cool people whose opinions I respect are turning to the Kindle, and liking it. Case in point (heck, case in chief, actually): Ernie the Attorney, who writes (mostly) positively about his Kindle here.

So, I’m going to get one for myself. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts. Have you used it? If so, what’s your experience? Let us all know in the comments.

If you’re interested in getting a Kindle for yourself, you could go to Amazon and just look on the main page, since Amazon’s pushing this product pretty hard. Or you could help me put my kid through college in ten years by using this affiliate link: Kindle

Your choice!

Ain’t America grand?

Topics: TechnoChic, The Productive Practice | 3 Comments »

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I’ve been inspired!

My one-week experience at Twitter has really broadened some horizons for me. New friends, both the followed and the following, have shared their thoughts, their creations, their likes and dislikes, and with each little tweet came another site to look at and get ideas from — even if it was the idea that “boy, that really doesn’t work at all, does it?”

So, I’ve been inspired to make some changes, and a few plans. (NB: be sure to read the very last paragraph of this post — I promise it’s worth your while to do so because I’m giving away a prize, and you have an opportunity to tell me what it should be!!)

The Changes

If you’re reading this on our site, you’ve probably already noticed most of this. But if you’re using RSS (good for you!), you might like a primer:

• Widgets: I’ve exchanged the hard-coded sidebars for widgets. One of the better developments in WordPress, in my opinion, widgets allow for easier manipulation of the sidebar real estate.
• About text: I’ve greatly expanded upon (and, I hope, improved upon) the former About text. I hope it’s also clarified what this site’s about — and hopefully we’ll have no more of that silly “this is a personal blog, right?” misunderstanding.
• Pages in the sidebar: I added the pages list, with its nested “child” pages also included, to make navigation easier. I have to be honest — I don’t really like the look of this, but it’s an improvement over the tabbed pages across the header, which make the nested pages invisible. Now, at least, it’s all out there for everyone to see. The aesthetics … well, that’s in the plans, below.
• Blogroll: I actually made this change a few weeks ago. I’ve tried to pick a handful of sites I think are beneficial to the solo practitioner. This will improve over the upcoming weeks.
• Tags: I took off the categories list and in its place added a tag cloud. I’m not sold on this one yet. We’ll give it a try and see how it goes.

A Few Plans

I’m going to keep mum on many details. These plans are big and the actor in me wants to keep the drama going for a while longer. (Also, a few I’m not sure are technically feasible yet.) But some broad strokes follow.

The big plan is a total site redesign. I’ve loved using this amazing theme that Cory Miller did for me last year, but given the plans, a redo was sort of necessary. Cory was the first designer I approached when I decided to go for it; unfortunately, Cory told me he and his company are more focused on website templates now, less on the WordPress blog theme market.

So, I’ve contacted another designer I’ve worked with in the past and whose work is, in a word, impeccable. I haven’t finalized anything yet with that designer so I’ll refrain from mentioning names, as well as details.

But I can say this: the result, if it goes as planned, will be a more readable, accessible, aesthetically dynamic, and content-stuffed site that will, I hope, become the destination of choice for solo lawyers on the web. I’m after no less than an explosion of the “Inspired Solo brand,” if you will, but in a way that answers the needs & wants of solo lawyers and those who are planning to become solos, while keeping the Inspired Solo philosophy intact.

When to expect all this goodness? Well, I estimate the redesign itself will take 3-4 weeks, more or less. As for the rest of the planned changes, the additional content will continue to be added in the interim; the new features (including video and podcasting) will probably debut informally prior to the redesign unveiling, more regularly afterwards.

You can also expect another TIS survey in the next week or so. I really want the input of practicing solo lawyers as well as those who are planning or thinking about solo practices of their own — it’s vital, in fact, to this site’s utility. Yes, I have my own plans and ambitions for TIS, but this site’s for you guys, after all. I want you to tell me what you want to see on these pages.

So to that end, I’m going to be giving away a pretty cool prize in a drawing, as a thank-you for taking the survey. I haven’t decided what that prize should be, and I’m even going to give you guys a chance to vote on that too: use the comments section to this post to tell me what I should give away in that survey! Touch iPod? Amazon gift certificate? Netflix subscription? Peet’s coffee sampler pack? Let me know! I don’t promise to use the most often suggested prize, but I do promise to consider all serious suggestions, and do what I can. (Trip to Paris is out. Sorry guys.)

Topics: Meta, Solos Generally | 4 Comments »

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About

Sheryl Sisk Schelin is the writer/blogger/lawyer/coach behind The Inspired Solo. She lives, practices, writes and blogs from her home on the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The Inspired Solo is for every law student and practicing attorney who dreams of a solo practice, wonders about hanging a shingle, or just wants to know more about what life as a solo practitioner is really like.

Much more than just a legal business blog, The Inspired Solo is about The Power of One and how you can tap into that power to create the law practice, and the life, of your dreams.

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