Part I: Getting Started

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1 Contents Preface to the First and Second Editions xi Preface to the Third Edition xiii Preface to the Millennium Fourth Edition xv Preface to the Platinum Fifth Edition xix Acknowledgments xxiii Part I: Getting Started Why Has This Book Been Written? The History of This Book Have Confidence You Can Do It: An Historical Perspective. 8 Should You Start Your Own Practice? (You Can Do It) Am I Competent to Give Legal Advice? Should You Work on a Job for Experience Before Starting Your Practice? Being a Contract Lawyer to Get Experience and Money While Building Your Practice Earning a Living Between Graduation and Opening Your Practice Should You Start with Another New Lawyer? Practicing with Your Spouse Should You Practice Another Business or Profession While Starting Your Law Practice? Should You Specialize? Naming Your Law Firm Sole Practice v. Partnership v. Shared Office The Written Business Plan Managing Your Student Loan v

.................... 3 The History of This Book........................... 6 Have Confidence You Can Do It: An Historical Perspective. 8 Should You Start Your Own Practice? (You Can Do It).

2 vi Contents Part II: Getting Located Where Is the Best Place to Open Your Office? (From a Client-Getting Point of View) Where Should You Locate Your Office for Your First Year or Two? (From a Cost Point of View) Should You Trade Space for Services? How Do You Get the Best Space Arrangement? Practicing in a Law Suite Practicing from Your Home Virtual Law Offices Part III: Getting Equipped How Much Cash Do You Need to Start Your Practice? How to Get a Rich Relative or Friend to Finance Your Start-up Costs by Offering Tax Advantages Checklists of Needs for New Law Office Office Supplies and Procedures Personal Computers, Word Processing, and Office Technology 108 Should You Do Your Own Word Processing? Should Your Office Furnishings Be Lavish? Announcements, Stationery and Professional Cards, Christmas Cards, and Mailing Lists Part IV: Getting Clients How to Handle Friends and Relatives How to Market Your Services Cost-Effective Media Advertising The Internet and Your Addresses Your Web Site(s) The Importance of Accepting and Promptly Returning Telephone Calls Managing Written Communication Can You Get Clients from Organizations? Cold Calling to Get Clients Getting Clients by Using Charities Insurance Claims Adjusters: A Source of Clients Shmooze Your Vendors How to Accept Personal Injury Cases How to Communicate Settlement Offers to Clients Representing Seniors

........................... 74 Practicing from Your Home......................... 79 Virtual Law Offices................................ 85 Part III: Getting Equipped How Much Cash Do You Need to Start Your Practice?

3 Contents vii Can You Get Clients by Running for Political Office? Getting Paid Work from Lawyer Referral Services Getting Legal Fees and Work from the Government Getting Legal Work and Fees from Other Lawyers Minority and Affirmative Action Work and Money How to Get More Legal Work from Existing Clients by Mining Your Closed Files How to Recognize and Handle Conflicts of Interest How to Keep Clients How to Satisfy a Client How to Lose Clients Cases and Clients That Should Be Turned Down The Prospective Client File How to Say No to a Client or Case Accepting Cases With Doubtful Merit Damage Control If You Are Fired Part V: Setting Fees The Fee and Representation Letter (The Engagement Letter) Referral Fees or Division of Fees Engagement Letters, Nonengagement Letters, and Disengagement Letters Balancing the Public s Need for Legal Services and the New Lawyer s Need to Eat How to Set Your Fees Making Yourself Affordable Without Lowering Your Fee (Alternative Billing Arrangements) Don t Quote Fees or Give Legal Advice over the Telephone or by to New Clients Cash Up Front Shelly s Rule and Foonberg s Rule Getting Money Up Front from New Clients Cash Fees Client Costs The Importance of Cash Up Front for Survival (Also Known as Foonberg s Rule ) Getting Paid by Client Credit Card Financing Your Practice with Bank Credit Cards How to Get Cash Up Front to Reduce Bad Debts and Increase Cash Flow and Avoid Going Under How to Word Invoices That Clients Are Happy to Pay

....... 214 How to Get More Legal Work from Existing Clients by Mining Your Closed Files......................... 217 How to Recognize and Handle Conflicts of Interest........ 220 How to Keep Clients.

4 viii Contents The Importance of Monthly Billing Final Billing on Completion of a Matter How to Make Clients Happy to Pay Legal Fees by Selling Them Stationery How to Make Money by Reading Advance Sheets, Technical Journals and Law Bulletins Typical Client Costs Can You or Should You Pay or Receive Forwarding Fees or Referral Fees? Bedside Manner in Setting Fees Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) When and How to Withdraw from a Nonpaying Matter Part VI: Managing the Law Office Management of the Law Office General Comments Time Management 101 Finding Time and the To-Do Lists Organizing Your Day and Your Life to Make More Money by Planning and List-Making Managing Telephone Communications Never Let the Sun Set on an Unreturned Call Organizing Your Desk to Make More Money How to Keep Time Records to Make More Money and to Preserve Evidence of Work Done Getting Ready for Your First Clients Typical Court Forms Sample Generic Checklists and Forms Your First Court Appearances How to Interview a Client What Clients Want: Learn How to Listen to Clients When They Talk (Foonberg s Rules of Listening) How to Conduct a Meeting (Foonberg s Ten Rules) Preceptors and Internships The MacCrate Report Negotiating Skills How to Maintain Bank Accounts How to Maintain a Trust Account to Avoid Disbarment Insurance Needs of the New Lawyer Don t Forget Taxes and Licenses Why You Need a Personnel Manual Bookkeeping and Accounting Systems

.............................. 315 Can You or Should You Pay or Receive Forwarding Fees or Referral Fees?................................ 316 Bedside Manner in Setting Fees.

5 Contents ix The Office Cash Flow Survival Budget The Paperless Office vs. The Less Paper Office Paper and Computer Document Management Organizing Your Computer Files Simple Hard-Copy Filing Systems for the New Lawyer Distinguishing Between Prospective, Active, Closed and Dead Files Closing and Disposing of Files Destroying Old Files Destroying Old Files When the Client Has Disappeared or You Did Not Follow Proper File-Closing Procedures What to Do With Electronic File Data Fondling the Files How to Build a Good Form File Library Needs and Costs How to Buy Law Books (If You Buy Them at All) Saving Money by Eliminating Postage and Express Delivery Services Squeezing Extra Hours into the Day to Make More Money Timely Delivery of Work Should You Use a Telephone Receptionist, Telephone Exchange, Mechanical Answering Device, Telephone Company Service, or Voice Mail? Why You Should Use Investigators Part VII: Ethics and Professional Responsibility Professional Responsibility and Practice Management The Profession of Law Is Not the Business of Law Handling Anti-Lawyer Jokes and Comments Fifty-Two Ways to Win or Avoid the Ethics War What Are the Consequences of Violating the Canons of Professional Ethics, the Code of Professional Responsibility, or the Model Rules of Professional Conduct? Ten Rules for Avoiding Disciplinary Complaints Practicing Professional Responsibility A Short History of Our Ethics The ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility and the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct Ten Commandments of Good Trust Accounts What to Call Yourself

.............................. 463 Closing and Disposing of Files........................ 465 Destroying Old Files.

6 x Contents Dealing with Foreign Lawyers Buying and Building a Law Practice Avoiding Disciplinary Problems Part VIII: Resources and Advice Where to Go for Help Getting Free Management Help from Your Local Law Practice Management Advisor The Importance of Continuing Education The Wheel Has Been Invented How to Manage and Collect Accounts Receivable Where to Get Cost-Effective Help to Build and Expand Your Practice Foonberg s Short Course in Good Client Relations The Importance of Doing It Right Checklist for Opening Your First Law Office Part IX: Quality of Life Quality of Life Dealing with Difficult People Quality of Life for the New Lawyer Starting a Practice Quality of Life September 11, Epilogue: Proof That This Book Works Index About the Author

................. 595 The Importance of Continuing Education............... 600 The Wheel Has Been Invented........................ 604 How to Manage and Collect Accounts Receivable.

Schneps, Leila; Colmez, Coralie. Math on Trial : How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom. New York, NY, USA: Basic Books, 2013. p i.

Schneps, Leila; Colmez, Coralie. Math on Trial : How Numbers Get Used and Abused in the Courtroom. New York, NY, USA: Basic Books, 2013. p i. New York, NY, USA: Basic Books, 2013. p i. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/mcgill/doc?id=10665296&ppg=2 New York, NY, USA: Basic Books, 2013. p ii. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/mcgill/doc?id=10665296&ppg=3 New