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Bar News - September 7, 2001 Go Solo, But Stay Wired to Virtual Partners By: Bruce Dorner A free listserv for solos Editor’s note: The following article originally appeared on the Web site Law Technology News (www.lawtechnews.com) and is reprinted with permission. I’M A SOLO attorney in an 895-lawyer firm. The sun never sets on my firm’s partnership spanning the globe from Japan to Israel, Scotland and New Zealand, where partners call meetings at any hour of the day or night. I have partners who practice in every area from domestic relations, commercial real estate, bankruptcy, criminal law and international transactions. Every day is casual Friday; I could show up in my birthday suit and no one would even notice. I can withdraw from the firm at my pleasure and, no matter what I do, they can’t diminish my compensation. Am I hallucinating? No. What I have is the benefit of an online community of attorneys; a virtual law firm of like-minded practitioners who band together through the use of an electronic mailing list hosted by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners, called SOLOSEZ. As the Internet has matured, so have listservs that address specific types of practices and interests. Among the most active are MacLaw (www.maclaw.org), TechnoLawyer Community (www.technolawyer.com) and LAWTECH (mail to: listserv@mail.abanet.org). For small firm attorneys, the SOLOSEZ list can be invaluable. Any member of the list (or as I call us, partners in the firm) can post a message to the list asking for help, advice or assistance, or just to vent about a difficult situation. The message is immediately sent by e-mail to each partner in the firm, filling the partner’s e-mail inbox with rafts of messages for perusal, reply, filing away or deletion. Topics discussed range the full gamut of interests, from technology tools for the law office to personnel matters to political intrigue. Also reviewed are unique legal fact patterns that require the input of our learned members to help develop a plan to assist the client of the posting attorney. We also serve as a support structure for our members and provide encouragement and understanding when emotions peak and pressures mount, ranging from ethical connundra, vexatious opponents, mean judges and non-paying clients. Sometimes we learn that the judge simply doesn’t understand the brilliance of our argument or doesn’t understand the applicable law (said with tongue firmly planted in cheek). On those occasions our members offer virtual hugs or suggestions on how to frame the appeal. Referrals Our SOLOSEZ firm also acts as a referral service to our members. For example, if I need an attorney to handle a workers’ compensation matter in Oklahoma, I can contact Sheryn Bruehl. If I need assistance with a matter in Japan, I lean on Norm Solberg. If I have a management concern, I can rely upon Ed Poll in California. When I have a client in New York with a problem, I know that Christina Kallas is available. Environmental matters in Chicago go to the attention of Shell Bleiweiss. When speeding tickets are the topic of discussion, Norman Gregory Fernandez in California gets the nod – after all, he actually wrote the book on how to beat a speeding ticket! In short, within a few hours of posting a request to the list, it is quite common to have the names of several attorneys in any given area of the country who will offer help, advice or assistance for your client. One of the most recent developments of SOLOSEZ arose out of the never-ending search for the "perfect document" to handle a variety of legal matters. We all want the killer petition, pleading or memorandum. But the fastest way to alienate members of a listserv is to start loading it up with attachments. We found an alternative when one of our partners, Neal Kennedy, opened a storage facility on a Web site called idrive (www.idrive.com). For free, we immediately had a 50 MB storage vault to hold sample documents, forms and pleadings. Now our members post a request for sample documents in just about any area of law, and the responding attorneys simply send an e-mail stating the name of the document and in which folder they placed it at our Driveway storage facility. Social animal The SOLOSEZ family also has evolved into a social animal. We now have regional meetings developing in the metropolitan Virginia/D.C. area and in Dallas, Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere. The partners get together for lunch, a little social encounter and to discuss anything about their practice, family or concerns that might be of interest to the group. There are no officers and there are no dues or meeting requirements. It’s just an amazing opportunity to share, learn and participate in a fashion that lifts the veil of isolation that typically shrouds the solo practitioner. Wonder how expensive it is to join our firm? Believe it or not, it’s free! Join our firm by going to www.abanet.org/discussions/Slists.html, select SOLOSEZ from the list and click on the "subscribe" button. I look forward to welcoming you to the firm. However, I offer one caution: Be sure you know how to manage e-mail. List traffic may run from 75 to 150 messages per day. Choose the digest version, or set up rules or filters for your mailbox to sort the topics of interest and delete those that are not of personal interest. Bruce Dorner, a solo attorney in Londonderry, NH, started SOLOSEZ with Deb Owen, former staff director of the ABA Standing Committee on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners. He can be reached via e-mail at callmylawyer@attglobal.net.
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