Practice Blawg » Updates

Hanging Your Shingle?

Andrea Hable — Tue, 03 May 2011 21:46:25 +0000

Many lawyers and lawyers-to-be are considering hanging a shingle and starting a solo or small firm practice. Last week I was fortunate enough to participate in a panel discussion for an MSBA Solo and Small Firm Section CLE on Hanging Your Own Shingle, along with Susan Minsberg, Ryan Garry, Greg Luce from practicelaw, and Todd Scott from MLM. The turnout was great at 78 attendees. When asked who was considering or in the process of starting a practice, the vast majority raised their hands. Coinciding with this event, I’m pleased to announce practicelaw’s newest guide: Launching a Law Practice in Minnesota. I hope new solos will find it helpful and I welcome feedback.

Launching a Law Practice in Minnesota (PM-050) and all of practicelaw’s Practice Management guides are here (MSBA member login required to download)Now more than ever I think we’re seeing the variety of ways lawyers can start a practice. Especially as we all have different motivations and goals for our decisions, these goals inevitably drive our the kind of businesses we run. When I started my practice just over two years ago, I felt like a lot of the information out there assumed you wanted to start a traditional law office (something along these lines, but serious). Fortunately, after much deliberation, I found that starting a practice was actually relatively simple. There is a lot of information out there on marketing, law office technology, and the like. And, as many are figuring out, you really don’t have to spend a lot of money. More and more, lawyers are bucking the traditional firm model, which makes it cheaper and more flexible to practice law (though traditional certainly works for many people — there’s more than one right way to run a law firm).

But what I had the most trouble finding was Minnesota-specific information. Like, do I need to make a Professional Firms election under Minn. Stat. chapter 319B? Or, where can I keep my IOLTA? So when I started working at practicelaw I set out to write it all down. With some editing help from my colleagues at practicelaw, we now have a spiffy new guide.

Of course all this can do it tell you how to start a law practice. That truly is the easy part. Success will come from your ability to provide quality representation to your clients, market your practice, and run a business. But if you have the foundations set up well, you’ll be in a much better position to do the more important things.

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Happy Birthday practicelaw

Nancy Hupp — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:45:24 +0000

Too bad Joe Mauer and his mother are tied up with Kemps; they’re not available to plug practicelaw.org. I have calls into Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga but haven’t heard back and need to get this blog post published because today is practicelaw’s one year anniversary of the big redesign. So, in lieu of high powered celebrity endorsements, I will have to take matters into my own hands. Here goes:

Try practicelaw.

Why? Well it isn’t the cows, rather it is the fact that we have good, solid resources that make your practice more economical and efficient. Since its inception in 2001, practicelaw has grown steadily and substantially in use and content, and now includes more than 750 peer-reviewed or court-approved practice forms, dozens of checklists and practice aids, and more than 300 links to additional attorney-selected resources available on the internet. All free to MSBA members. (If you’re interested in a peek backwards, read our previous post discussing the Way Back Machine, an internet archive of old web sites.)

We knew we had good resources before, but after our redesign we have more of them, they are easier to find, and they are updated more quickly by staff attorneys and editors and your peers.

Take a look of what we’ve done over the course of the last year. If Marilyn Monroe could sing Happy Birthday to practicelaw, that would seal the deal.

The question isn’t really “Why use practicelaw?” rather, “Why not?” I know Justin and Lady Gaga would agree.

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Post tags: Developments, practicelaw, Updates

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Even More New Criminal Defense Forms

Andrea Hable — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:05:44 +0000

We rolled out the third set of of new criminal law forms on practicelaw, following the first and second sets in June and July. The new forms are courtesy of criminal defense practitioner Frederic Bruno, who has generously agreed to share his forms. Forms will be added in stages throughout the summer, and practicelaw’s existing criminal law forms may be revised or renamed to fit in with the new set. The end product will be a foundational set of criminal defense forms, adding significantly to our existing set of DWI forms.

The third set was a potpourri of forms, including a re-release of most of practicelaw’s existing DWI and forfeiture forms, plus new Certificates of Representation, Assignment of Bail, and a Jury Questionnaire.

Roughly, the final set will include:

14 intakes, affidavits of service, and letters
11 opening forms (petitions, complaints, bail)
7 guilty pleas and demands for speedy hearing
22 pre-trial motions, demands, and notices (generic, procedural, discovery & evidence)
10 juvenile pre-trial forms (and additional juvenile forms are included in other categories)
3 trial and post-trial (motions, sentencing)
9 closing and miscellaneous forms

And I have to give credit to practicelaw’s Leslie Matton-Flynn for helping me out with this project, and to attorneys Jason Kohlmeyer and Tom Gallagher for answering my questions on some of the finer points of criminal defense.

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Criminal Law, Developments, DWI, practicelaw, Updates

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More New Criminal Defense Forms

Andrea Hable — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:05:46 +0000

We’ve rolled out the second set of of new criminal law forms on practicelaw, following the first set last month. The new forms are courtesy of criminal defense practitioner Frederic Bruno, who has generously agreed to share his forms. Forms will be added in stages throughout the summer, and practicelaw’s existing criminal law forms may be revised or renamed to fit in with the new set. The end product will be a foundational set of criminal defense forms, adding significantly to our existing set of DWI forms.

Yesterday’s second release included 16 informal discovery forms, affidavits of service, post-trial motions, and some miscellaneous forms. Plus we revised and re-released three of practicelaw’s existing forms: Preliminary DWI Defense Checklist (CRIM-050); Stipulation of Dismissal (CRIM-620); and Letter to Prosecutor: Request for Materials (DWI).

Roughly, the final set will include:

14 intakes, affidavits of service, and letters
11 opening forms (petitions, complaints, bail)
7 guilty pleas and demands for speedy hearing
22 pre-trial motions, demands, and notices (generic, procedural, discovery & evidence)
10 juvenile pre-trial forms (and additional juvenile forms are included in other categories)
3 trial and post-trial (motions, sentencing)
9 closing and miscellaneous forms

And I have to give a huge thank-you to practicelaw’s Leslie Matton-Flynn for helping me out with this project, and to attorneys Jason Kohlmeyer and Tom Gallagher for answering my questions on some of the finer points of criminal defense.

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Criminal Law, Developments, DWI, practicelaw, Updates

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New Criminal Defense Forms

Andrea Hable — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:41:05 +0000

Last week we rolled out the first set of new criminal law forms on practicelaw. The new forms are courtesy of criminal defense practitioner Frederic Bruno, who has graciously agreed to share his forms. Forms will be added in stages throughout the summer, and practicelaw’s existing criminal law forms may be revised or renamed to fit in with the new set. The end product will be a foundational set of criminal defense forms, adding significantly to our existing set of DWI forms.

Last Friday’s first release included 21 pre-trial motions and discovery and evidence forms, plus a revision of practicelaw’s existing form for Notices of Defenses and Defense Witnesses (was CRIM-540, renumbered to CRIM-490). Roughly, the final set will include:

14 intakes, affidavits of service, and letters
11 opening forms (petitions, complaints, bail)
7 guilty pleas and demands for speedy hearing
22 pre-trial motions, demands, and notices (generic, procedural, discovery & evidence)
10 juvenile pre-trial forms (and additional juvenile forms are included in other categories)
3 trial and post-trial (motions, sentencing)
9 closing and miscellaneous forms

And I have to give a huge thank-you to practicelaw’s Leslie Matton-Flynn for helping me out with this project.

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Criminal Law, Developments, DWI, practicelaw, Updates

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