How to start and build a law practice / Jay G Foonberg.
2004
KF325 .A95 06843
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Details
Author
Title
How to start and build a law practice / Jay G Foonberg.
Uniform Title
American Bar Association archive publications.
Published
Chicago : ABA Law Practice Management Section : American Bar Association Law Student Division, [2004]
Copyright
©2004
Call Number
KF325 .A95 06843
Edition
Platinum fifth edition.
ISBN
1590312473
9781590312476
9781590312476
Description
xxxiii, 663 pages : illustrations, forms ; 23 cm
System Control No.
(OCoLC)123906259
Note
Includes index.
Reproduction
Microfiche. Buffalo, N.Y. William S. Hein, 2006? 8 microfiches : negative. (Hein's ABA Archive Microfiche Collection).
Record Appears in
Sub-location
Cabinet 13-14
Table of Contents
Preface to the First and Second Editions
Preface to the Third Edition
Preface to the Millennium Fourth Edition
Acknowledgments
Part I
Getting Started
Why Has This Book Been Written?
3
Have Confidence--You Can Do It: An Historical Perspective
6
Should You Start Your Own Practice? (You Can Do It)
8
Should You Work on a Job "for Experience" before Starting Your Practice?
14
Being a Contract Lawyer to Get Experience and Money While Building Your Practice
16
Earning a Living between Graduation and Opening Your Practice
21
Should You Start with Another New Lawyer?
31
Practicing with Your Spouse
34
Should You Practice Another Business or Profession While Starting Your Law Practice?
35
Should You Specialize?
38
Naming Your Law Firm
40
Sole Practice v. Partnership v. Shared Office
42
The Written Business Plan
44
Managing Your Student Loan
48
Part II
Getting Located
Where Is the Best Place to Open Your Office? (From a Client-Getting Point of View)
55
Where Should You Locate Your Office for Your First Year or Two? (From a Cost Point of View)
59
Should You Trade "Space for Services"?
62
How Do You Get the Best Space Arrangement?
65
Practicing in a Law Suite
67
Practicing from Your Home
72
Part III
Getting Equipped
How Much Cash Do You Need to Start Your Practice?
81
How to Get a Rich Relative or Friend to Finance Your Start-up Costs by Offering Tax Advantages
84
Checklists of Needs for New Law Office
86
Office Supplies and Procedures
90
Personal Computers, Word Processing, and Office Technology
99
Should You Do Your Own Word Processing?
121
Should Your Office Furnishings Be Lavish?
123
Announcements, Stationery and Professional Cards, Christmas Cards, and "Mailing Lists"
125
Part IV
Getting Clients
How to Handle Friends and Relatives
135
How to Market Your Services
138
Cost-Effective Media Advertising
140
The Importance of Accepting and Promptly Returning Telephone Calls
147
Managing Written Communication
151
Can You Get Clients from Organizations?
161
Cold Calling to Get Clients
162
Insurance Claims Adjusters: A Source of Clients
164
Shmooze Your Vendors
166
How to Accept Personal Injury Cases
168
How to Communicate Settlement Offers to Clients
174
Can You Get Clients by Running for Political Office?
176
Getting Paid Work from Lawyer Referral Services
178
Getting Legal Fees and Work from the Government
180
Getting Legal Work and Fees from Other Lawyers
182
Minority Work and Money
185
How to Get More Legal Work from Existing Clients
188
How to Recognize and Handle Conflicts of Interest
191
How to Keep Clients
199
How to Lose Clients
201
Cases and Clients That Should Be Turned Down
202
The Prospective Client File
206
How to Say "No" to a Client or Case
208
Damage Control If You Are Fired
213
Part V
Setting Fees
The Fee and Representation Letter (The Engagement Letter)
219
Engagement Letters, Nonengagement Letters, and Disengagement Letters
225
Balancing the Public's Need for Legal Services and the New Lawyer's Need to Eat
230
How to Set Your Fees
232
Don't Quote Fees or Give Legal Advice over the Telephone to New Clients
239
Getting Money Up Front from New Clients
241
Cash Fees
243
Client Costs
244
The Importance of Cash Up Front for Survival (Also Known as "Foonberg's Rule")
246
Getting Paid by Client Credit Card
247
Financing Your Practice with Bank Credit Cards
249
How to Get Cash Up Front to Reduce Bad Debts and Increase Cash Flow and Avoid Going Under
256
How to Word Invoices That Clients Are Happy to Pay
258
The Importance of Monthly Billing
263
Final Billing on Completion of a Matter
265
How to Make Clients Happy to Pay Legal Fees by Selling Them Stationery
268
How to Make Money by Reading Advance Sheets and Technical Journals
271
Typical Client Costs
273
Can You or Should You Pay or Receive "Forwarding Fees" or Referral Fees?
274
"Bedside Manner" in Setting Fees
278
Alternate Dispute Resolution
280
When and How to Withdraw from a Nonpaying Matter
282
Part VI
Managing the Law Office
Management of the Law Office--General Comments
291
Organizing Your Day to Make More Money
292
Managing Telephone Communications
297
Organizing Your Desk to Make More Money
304
How to Keep Time Records to Make More Money and to Preserve Evidence of Work Done
307
Getting Ready for Your First Clients
312
Typical Court Forms
319
Sample Generic Checklists and Forms
325
Your First Court Appearances
332
How to Interview a Client
339
How to Conduct a Meeting
345
Preceptors and Internships
349
The MacCrate Report
352
Negotiating Skills
354
How to Maintain Bank Accounts
357
How to Maintain a Trust Account to Avoid Disbarment
361
Insurance Needs of the New Lawyer
366
Don't Forget Taxes and Licenses
374
Why You Need a Personnel Manual
376
Bookkeeping and Accounting Systems
380
The Office Cash Flow Survival Budget
384
Paper and Computer Document Management
387
Organizing Your Computer Files
392
Simple Hard-Copy Filing Systems for the New Lawyer
395
When and How to Close a File
400
Fondling the Files
404
How to Build a Good Form File
410
Library Needs and Costs
416
How to Buy Law Books (If You Buy Them at All)
429
Saving Money on Postage and Express Delivery Services
431
Squeezing Extra Hours into the Day to Make More Money
434
Timely Delivery of Work
440
Should You Use a Telephone Receptionist, Telephone Exchange, Mechanical Answering Device, Telephone Company Service, or Voice Mail?
442
Why You Should Use Investigators
444
Part VII
Ethics and Professional Responsibility
Professional Responsibility and Practice Management
447
Fifty-One Ways to Win or Avoid the Ethics War
450
What Are the Consequences of "Violating" the Canons of Professional Ethics, the Code of Professional Responsibility, or the Model Rules of Professional Conduct?
477
Ten Rules for Avoiding Disciplinary Complaints
480
Practicing Professional Responsibilities
483
A Short History of Our Ethics
485
The ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility and the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct
487
Ten Commandments of Good Trust Accounts
491
Part VIII
Resources and Advice
Where to Go for Help
499
Getting Free Management Help from Your Local Law Practice Management Advisor
502
The Importance of Continuing Education
507
The Wheel Has Been Invented
511
How to Manage and Collect Accounts Receivable
513
Where to Get Cost-Effective Help to Build and Expand Your Practice
520
Foonberg's Short Course in Good Client Relations
524
The Importance of Doing It Right
528
Checklist for Opening Your First Law Office
530
Part IX
The Foonberg Management Checklist
The Foonberg Management Checklist
543
What Every Law Office Should Have to Be a Functioning Law Office
544
Part X
Quality of Life
Quality of Life--Dealing with Difficult People
587
Quality of Life for the Lawyer Starting a Practice
589
Epilogue: Proof That This Book Works
593
Index
595
About the Author
607