Career & Practice Guide: Solo & Small Firm Resources

Law graduates and junior associates face the tightest job market since the mid-1990s. But amid the gloom is a curious phenomenon: the percentage of those getting hired at small firms continues to rise at a significant rate. Why this is so -- and how it affects your job search -- is the subject of this comprehensive new law career guide, the newest and most comprehensive on the small firm market. No question about it, small-to-midsized law firms are the big legal employer, and Small Firms, Big Opportunity provides the practical steps to identify where jobs are, how to get hired, and how to succeed in the new legal economy. Whether you're a law student, new grad, or junior associate, this book is a must-have.

Practicing Law in Small-Town America, in three distinct and thorough parts, paints a picture of what small-town practice is like in its rich diversity, examines how local practitioners got to where they are, and details what an aspiring small-town lawyer needs to know and do in order to locate in--or relocate to--a small community. The book includes everything information on everything from Where to locate to what to do when you get there. The book also includes appendices on what's out there, a small-town due diligence checklist, best and worst places to relocate, additional information sources and a thorough bibliography, and an in-depth look at the history of one of the representative towns featured in the book, Canandaigua, New York.

Abraham Lincoln was a successful lawyer for 25 years prior to his political career. Although he never went to law school, he studied under an established lawyer as an apprentice until he obtained his certificate of good moral character. Lincoln's lack of schooling, however, was not an impediment. He had a great respect for the law, a keen client-centered business sense and a gift for storyteller. In short, he was a world-class solutionist who was a true believer in his clients and their causes. His simple approach to problem solving included a combination of diligence, organization, and attention to detail. Lincoln was a street-lawyer. One day he would represent a criminal defendant and the next he would represent a landowner or the Illinois Central railroad. He did it all and he did it small. Lincoln spent his entire legal career with only one law partner at a time. In recent years, it is indisputable that the practice of law has undergone dramatic changes. The most important and exciting change is the reemphasis of the solo practitioner. The rugged soul who would hang out a shingle against all odds is the real beneficiary of the revolution currently going on in the business of law. To be a lawyer is more about client service than ever before. If you learn to live by the very real truism of focusing on the work and the money will take care of itself, you will be a success in this most honorable profession. Abraham Lincoln called the practice of law "an honest calling." Indeed, it is.

Mike Dunn has been a practicing attorney for nearly 30 years. He was an associate professor and clinical director of the Access to Justice Clinic at Western Michigan University's Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where he currently is an adjunct professor of law teaching courses where he specializes in helping to launch new lawyers from page to practice. He is a co-host of the syndicated radio legal talk show: The Lawyer's Show based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He maintains a busy law practice and has tried cases in state and federal court in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. He has published several legal periodicals on the Lawyer as Entrepreneur and the Teaching of Law.

You finished Law School. Now what? This book will guide you through the transition from a law student who has passed the bar to a lawyer actually practicing law. This text will guide "armed and dangerous attorneys where to aim their weaponry and how to discharge it appropriately." This book started as a series of practice lessons on the author's blog for the recent law school graduate solo attorney—or more aptly named, the 4L.