Perry Marshall

No. 750

Pittsburgh Radio pioneer, Perry Marshall died tonight. He was best remembered for doing the overnight show on KDKA Radio. He had a great knack for conversation. No politics, no controversy — unless you considered notch babies’ Social Security benefits to be controversial. The” average age of Perry’s audience” was — according to Doug Hoerth, who sometimes filled-in for Perry — “deceased.”

If he and Andy Rooney are waiting together outside the pearly gates tonight, it would be a dialogue worth hearing. They’d talk about how easy dying was, how different from their expectations and then give tips about communicating with loved ones back on earth. Before long, they would everyone in line swapping jokes about various people arriving at the pearly gates.

PERRY MARSHALL: Here’s one — I guy comes to the pearly gates and St. Peter says, “Since you haven’t been to church in 50 years, you’re going to have to answer a question. Where was Jesus born?”

The man thought for a long time and finally said: “Philadelphia.”

St. Peter said that he was sorry, but that was not correct and he would have to go to the other place.”

But the man cried and sobbed and asked for another chance so that St Peter was moved to pitty and gave him another chance.

“Pittsburgh!” cried the man with great enthusiasm.

He was starting to leave, when the man turned back and said: “You are certainly not going to send me away for all eternity without knowing the answer.”

So, St Peter told him the answer — Bethlehem.

“I knew it!”, the man exclaimed. “I knew it was in Pennsylvania!”

CLT

Category: Pittsburgh

Vice President Talks to Students about (what else?) Student Loans

No. 749

Our junior colleagues at Third Chair: Pittsburgh brought to our attention last night that the Vice President went to Pitt yesterday and talked about student loans rather than the Jobs Bill. [See our out-of-date comments on the Jobs Bill speech, two posts below.]

I say “junior” to point out that student loans are a hot topic for younger lawyers, who frequently took on debt equivalent to a home mortgage in order to complete seven or more years of higher education.

Lets give the Vice President credit for flexibility here. Everybody knows that this was to be a political speech. The Jobs Bill is dead, always was, and the sole purpose of the Vice President campaigning for it is to energize the base — voters who will be needed if the Obama-Biden ticket is to carry Pennsylvania in 2012. So, like the able politician he is, the Vice President selected an alternate homily on a subject dear to the heart of his audience — student loan payment relief. It also had the benefit of being a good news message. Student loan payment caps and terms were being liberalized, to the benefit of the borrowers. [Get the details from Third Chair: Pittsburgh.] But of course, this was going to happen anyway, whether or not he spoke to the students at Pitt or anywhere else. As we stated at the top, this was a campaign speech, intended to energize the base.

However, for the rest of us who are not paying off student loans, it serves as a reminder that today’s graduates, especially those with advanced degrees, are starting their careers saddled with debt that would have seemed impossible not too many years ago. This may work itself out in times of prosperity, but not so well at a time when too many of our best educated workers are not working.

What to do? Rather than looking for ways to create incentives for existing employers to hire more people, why not create incentives for the unemployed to hire themselves? This is not without precedent. By going to graduate school, graduating seniors postponed repayment of their undergraduate loans. That made sense, and it still makes sense, since it created a more highly educated workforce. By postponing repayment a little longer (say, five years) for those who start their own business, we are putting that educated workforce to work. Yes, it will cost something. But so do the other incentive programs. The difference is, some of those new businesses will take root, grow and prosper. Jobs “created” by subsidies usually disappear after the subsidies end, that is, unless there is an independent demand for the goods or services produced by the worker.

But then again, those new entrepreneurs would eventually move to the suburbs and vote Republican. Oh well, sorry I mentioned it, Mr. Vice President.

CLT

Category: 2012

Solo by Choice: Doing Your Own Thing.

No. 748

This is the second in a series of reviews of Carolyn Elefant’s 2011-2012 edition of Solo by Choice. This is not a synopsis, but a commentary. If you want to know what Carolyn says on the subject — and if you are reading this post you probably should — you should read the book.

Chapter One lists seven compelling arguments for starting your own practice: Autonomy, Practical Experience; To Feel Like a Lawyer; Flexibility; To Own not Loan Your Talent; Opportunity to Innovate; Career Satisfaction. They are, to some degree, the same reasons why anyone might choose to work for self over another, but on steroids.

Law is a profession and, as such, it is practiced by individuals, even when they are associated in a group practice. It cannot be any other way. The relationship with a client is personal — one on one. When a lawyer delivers an argument in court, it is one lawyer speaking, not a law firm.

While the advantages of group practice can be easily observed, the disadvantages are more subtle. Sometimes the interests of the firm, as perceived by its management, are at cross-purposes with those of the client. And then there is the drumbeat of the constant pressure to bill. The firm has bills to pay, big ones. It has a payroll, a big one. Every cent must eventually be paid by clients of the firm. That reality can lead to more conflict.

Solo lawyers and small firms have bills, too. But they are smaller. This enables them to charge lower fees and to avoid running the meter when there is no benefit to the client, just to keep up cash flow. It also enables a solo or small firm to charge a flat fee when a larger firm cannot or will not take that risk.

Clients love flat fees, and why shouldn’t they? It gives them certainty. Anyone who has been a frequent client of law firms has had the experience of hourly charges piling up until they meet and exceed the value of the case. As an associate in a law firm, you may be powerless to keep this from happening and perhaps, losing the client. As the proprietor of a one-person law firm, you always have that choice. You have the right to make it your policy to never send a bill you wouldn’t pay if the roles were reversed. And if you do, your client will respect you.

In Solo by Choice, the experiences, comments and advice of numerous solos are included throughout the book and especially in a Companion Guide, sold separately, that explores practical spin off and how-to questions in depth. The Companion Guide is like a round table discussion by a panel lawyers and has the advantage of a rich and diverse input. They are identified by name and detailed biography, giving weight and meaning to their responses. Their responses to the question “Why Did You Decide to Solo?” cover all of the bases, including the negative ones.

Solo practice is not for everyone. For many it is a forced alternative, not the preferred one, driven by the lack of job opportunity. But at least it was available. (In many fields, working for yourself is not a practical opportunity.) The lawyers quoted in the Companion Guide who found their way into solo practice under less than ideal circumstances also found a way to make it work and even prosper. Read on and they will tell you how.

CLT

Bricks and Mortar

No. 747

Vice President Biden is coming to town tomorrow to push the administration’s Jobs Bill by appealing to our selfish side. He will tell Pittsburgh that its older schools can be rebuilt (that’s all of them), with lots of local workers doing the work. Last month the administration was talking about paying teachers from the same program.

Of course, the administration will never have to face the consequences of such a massive school building program. The bill is never going to get out of Congress in any form. Then, what’s the purpose? 2012, that’s what.

And of course, when these “jobs” are over (if they ever were to be) they’d be over. And the buildings, well, they’d be . . . new. Forget the fact that we have no shortage of school buildings in Pittsburgh and a large number of them are in excellent condition or only need rehabilitation, not replacement.

But who cares? It won’t ever happen. Meaningless. Except in the 2012 Campaign, of course.

CLT

Category: 2012
Tags: Biden > Jobs Bill > school construction

Becoming the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be.

No 746

Carolyn Elefant, the great champion of solo practice, has just released the 2011 – 2012 edition of Solo by Choice. First published in 2008, the 2011 – 2012 Edition, by this title, implicitly promises that this version improves upon the original. This is a demonstration of one of the pillars of the Elefant approach to the practice of law, continuous improvement. It also implies that there will be more and that they will be improvements upon the 2011 – 2012 Edition.

But, it is the subtitle that always strikes a chord in me, every time I see it: “How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be.”

The Law is a calling and those who answer the call customarily had ideas and feelings (yes, feelings) when they commenced this lifetime journey. From time to time, something happens that brings that remembrance rushing back. It is often accompanied by a feeling of being trapped. Why did I bring this endless work and stress down on my head? A colleague told me yesterday that 19 things had come to his attention that day that must be addressed immediately. We’ve all had days like that. But why do we do it?

Its a fair question that demands an honest answer. How do you stop doing whatever it is you do and become the Lawyer you always wanted to be? It is a personal question and a personal quest, a search for identity and goals.

In future installments of “Solo by Choice: The Review” in this blog we will get into all of that. But, please be advised that I do not claim any expertise beyond the experience we all have in practicing our profession.

CLT

Category: How to . . ., Personal Productivity, Practice of Law, Solo by Choice: The Review
Tags: Carolyn Elefant > solo practice of law

Not Funny or too Hot?

No. 745

The Nineteenth edition of the Night of the Singing Dead is now over. It is a musical revue with celebrities who departed this earth as its primary focus. Very funny. Even therapeutic. But wait — the most important death of the year did not merit a single fleeting mention.

It was Osama bin Laden.

CLT

This post was slightly revised to protect the guilty.

Category: Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

Trick or Treat!

No. 744

Poor Richard might comment:

“When cometh October snow, ferocious storms commence to blow.”

The snow has not reached this height in Pittsburgh. Yet. But I cannot remember a winter that started in October that went well.

CLT

Category: Pittsburgh

A World Without Lawyers.

No. 743

If you watch Terra Nova on Fox on Monday night, perhaps you heard the comment that the colony, founded in pre-historic earth with the benefit of a time warp, doesn’t have any lawyers. Science fiction, of course, but they don’t call it science fiction anymore, they call it science fantasy.

Is this lawyer-free world possible? And, if so, it it desirable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u9JAt6gFqM

Answer to both questions: “Of course not.”

CLT

Category: Practice of Law
Tags: Terra Nova

Third Chair is the Place to Look to Find Everything You Always Wanted to Know (but Were Afraid to Ask) About Free/Cheap Continuing Legal Education.

No. 742

We lawyers are required to complete 12 hours of continuing legal education every year, including at least one hour of ethics. Nobody thinks that lawyers should’t keep up to date, but for those of us who don’t have a law firm or employer picking up the tabs, the cost of fulfilling this requirement can be taxing at times.

However, there are free or very affordable courses out there and the good guys over at Third Chair: Pittsburgh are going out of their way to make sure their readers know about it. If you aren’t reading Third Chair, you are missing out on a lot of useful information. You can find the link to Third Chair any day in the blogroll that exists down the left hand column (keep scrolling) of the blog you are now reading.

You’ll find a lot of other interesting stuff in there, too.

CLT

Category: Blawging, Legal Education, Links

China Law Blog Ranks No. 1 in AVVO Rankings. [Well, for a day.]

No. 741

UPDATE: Above the law bounced back today ( October 26) and reassumed the top spot. China Law Blog is second. As I surmised, Above the Law wasn’t rated by Alexa. This was the case with a significant number of other blogs, too.

*******************************************************

China Law Blog has moved into the top slot on the AVVO Blog rankings. That spot has been held by Above the Law since the beginning of these rankings. Actually, Above the Law fell off the rankings completely, probably because, for some reason, the Alexa Ratings did not pick it up. This may be a more general glitch, since a substantial number of the most popular legal blogs recently fell to the bottom of the list.

China Law Blog contains a great deal of practical information for those seeking to do business in China and their lawyers. This blog has risen rapidly during the past year from somewhere in the pack. It is probably the only blog on the AVVO list that is read by a substantial number of readers in China. As a matter of fact, it has Alexa rank 39,304, which means that only 39,303 other sites of all kinds have attracted a larger audience around the world.

Althouse is holding steady at No. 2. This blog, which contains a lot more politics than law, is written by a University of Wisconsin Law Prof with a conservative political viewpoint, It also contains interesting material of general interest, including some excellent photography, and has a loyal cadre of readers who leave scores of comments.

Lawyerist is a favorite of PLBT. It contains posts on practical lawyering, mostly written by guests. They are short and direct to the point.

The Volokh Conspiracy is written by a group of law profs and always contains serious commentary on the leading cases of the day. These included cases coming up before the US Supreme Court and those that represent trends. Today Volohk reports the transcript of a taped conversation between Nixon and Attorney General Mitchell on the appointment of Rhenquist. It was not one of Nixon’s finest moments.

Legal Insurrection rounds out the current top five blawgs. It is also written by a law prof, but pitched to the general reader. Like Althouse, this blog has a decidedly conservative bent.

Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk currently ranks at a respectable 196 on a list of almost 500 blogs. That represents an Alexa ranking of 5,655,988.

Category: Blawging

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Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

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