We’re back in the office after attending Minnesota CLE‘s Strategic Solutions for Solo and Small Firms conference, more simply known as “SoloSmall.”  We connected with old friends, made some new ones, enjoyed the scenery of Lake Superior and Canal Park, and learned a lot from conference presenters. We started our day back in the office “debriefing” the experience. Here are our thoughts:

Andrea Hable: Great Resources, Awesome Support

My takeaway points from the conference:

• Don’t fear free.  Plenary speaker Carolyn Elefant of MyShingle walked us through the stages of grief over increasingly-available free and low-cost legal services, and how we should think of what we can give away with our services to make them more valuable.
• Look outside the legal profession for marketing ideas.  Plenary speaker Matt Homann pulled ideas from Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Apple, and Google.
• Make checklists and flowcharts so you can work more efficiently and easily delegate.  Carolyn Elefant talked about the principle from The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, about how the medical profession can significantly cut down on mistakes by creating simple checklists.
• Dwindling Work. There are a lot of new lawyers in solo and small firm practice, and more lawyers aren’t planning for retirement.  Check back later at Small Firm Success for the 2010 economic survey results.

My final note, from the perspective of a new attorney and solo, I was encouraged (and almost overwhelmed)  by the support of many of my more senior peers at the conference. Through the grapevine, I heard that at least two of the sessions stressed the importance of mentorship to new attorneys, especially as many are struggling in the current economy and under the weight of student loans. This message was definitely heard by the conference attendees, because at least four attorneys — from people I just met at lunch to colleagues I’ve known for a few years — directly talked to me about finding support networks and being comfortable asking for help when needed.  Many others expressed concern over more recent graduates, asking about what my friends are doing and if they are okay.  I was truly moved by the genuineness of the offers to help and wishes for success.

Gregory Luce: Distress Under the Surface

Two things struck me throughout the conference, both of which raise significant opportunities and challenges for the future.

• Youth and New Solos. I was struck by the number of new and young lawyers attending the conference who are now trying to make a go of a solo practice. And, by young, I mean really young, as in “exactly how old are you?” (a question I overheard at least a couple of times). It’s a good sign that we are engaging new attorneys and getting them involved, but it also likely reflects the reality that  many new graduates are finding that solo practice is the only option after graduation, at least if they want to practice law.
• Underlying Distress. I could not shake an underlying sense of distress in the profession among solos, particularly in worrying about how to maintain sufficient business after a severe economic downturn. The annual survey that LaVern Prichard, Todd Scott and Mike Ford presented bore that out, showing many more attorneys than in prior years wanting or needing more legal work.  On top of that, retirement has been postponed for many attorneys, a significant change from prior years, and more attorneys are working fewer hours on legal matters and presumably more hours on non-legal matters to supplement incomes.

What does this mean? It means new solo attorneys straight out of law school are scrambling for work while more experienced attorneys are doing the same. Who knows who the winner will be in that scramble, but I don’t think it will be the new solos. It means that, as work dries up (or never comes), new attorneys with significant student loan debt may become ever more desperate. Those who stick it out because there’s nowhere else to turn may cut corners, take any case that comes their way, grind out a solo practice existence at a steep price to sanity — and possibly a steep price to the profession if ethical issues are pushed aside in order to eke out a living. Already, I’m hearing anecdotally of an increased number of ethical and liability claims made against new attorneys, historically a demographic that often sees very few claims at all.

This is a serious issue for the profession, one that raises the need for mentoring, for outreach, and potentially for an honest discussion about what the profession owes, if anything, to new but underemployed (or unemployed) law school graduates fresh out of metro area law schools.

Whoa. What’s all this have to do with the SoloSmall Conference? I dunno, I just seem drawn to read tea leaves. While many of the programs I attended were thought-provoking and interesting, particularly those by Barron Henley, I cannot shake the feeling of deep distress under the surface of most attorneys. Solo and small firm attorneys want to learn more, to connect, and ultimately to find more business. The SoloSmall Conference is a great place to do two of those, but I’m not sure there is enough business around these days to meet that basic third need: the fundamental need for work. I’m searching for  ideas on how the bar may be able to address the distress before it grows into something larger and more pressing. I have my own ideas, but what ideas do other folks have? Pipe in.

Nancy Hupp: Horses and Frog and Toad

Andrea and Greg expressed some of my sentiments, but I have a few more to add, mostly related to solo small attorneys and their thoughts on MSBA services, such as practicelaw.org:

• Awareness (yours). I started the day by checking email at the hotel. One of my emails summarized a recent survey asking MSBA members about their awareness of MSBA programs. The survey results indicated a much greater awareness of MSBA services by solo and small firm attorneys than by their big firm (over 50+ lawyer) colleagues. Interesting.
• Innovative Practice Resources. Later one of the presenters quoted Henry Ford, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” The presenter indicated that if you wanted to know what your clients wanted, you should be checking with those to whom clients talk. I’ve been mulling this over.  practicelaw frequently asks (and responds in kind) “What do you want on the site?” I have no intention of tracking down your hairdressers, but I do think it might be instructive to reframe our question to you. Instead of “What do you want on the site?” maybe we should ask “What keeps you up at night?” We might stumble on some new, different, and innovative ways to help you in your practice.
• practicelaw Advisory Group. Along the same lines, I think my instinct from an earlier post to form a practicelaw advisory group is a good one. As one of the presenters advised, “Gather your  best clients…” This group could brainstorm on what keeps attorneys up at night and how we might assist in a better night’s sleep.
• Lists. Being a list maker, Carolyn Elefant’s presentation was very affirming, and also caused me to have a warm and fuzzy flashback to one of my favorite Frog and Toad stories. (Note: We are not all reading Proust.) In that particular story Toad loses his list and then can’t get out of bed because he doesn’t know what to do without being able to consult his list. Frog suggested he get up and look for his list but Toad can’t because he knows looking for his list was not on his list. Been there.
• Awareness (mine). Last but not least, to insure my stellar reputation remains intact, for those of you who saw me stopped by a Minnesota state trooper on I-35W after the conference, in the words of Richard Nixon, “I am not a crook.” Except I am really not a crook; you see, I was sent on my merry way, wise that I needed to get some rest but otherwise ticket-free.