The Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be
By Carolyn Elefant
Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be
Creator, MyShingle.com
Inspiration for New Grads and Practicing Lawyers,
Volume II
Collected from MyShingle.com, May 2008-May 2010
Have you lost faith in the legal profession?
As we enter the first decade of the 21st Century, the legal
profession is changing at a rapid pace. Big law is
crumbling. Unemployment is rampant. Practicing
lawyers are burdened with six figure student loan debt.
Routine legal services are being outsourced or
automated by technology.
And yet, in the midst of this turmoil, there’s never been
greater opportunity so long as we lawyers keep in
mind the reasons that drew us to this profession: To
serve clients. Solve problems. Facilitate economy. To
do justice. Like the first volume of this e-book, this
second set of collected posts from MyShingle will
remind you of, and inspire you to become the lawyer
you always wanted to be.
2
Trust yourself
and believe.
Whatever
happens, don’t
give up.
--William Kamkwamba, TED
Talk: How I Harnessed the
Wind (posted at
MyShingle.com, 11/30/2009).
Second Chance Solo
What would you do if you were exonerated after spending twelve
years in prison for a crime you didn't commit? Would you
spend the rest of your days justifiably bitter, complaining about
the injustice of a legal system that could convict an innocent
man?
Or would you feel gratitude towards those lawyers who helped to
vindicate you and decide to become one yourself.
Wisconsin attorney Christopher Ochoa chose the second option.
Though Ochoa initially considered working as a prosecutor (to
prevent baseless cases like his from ever going to trial),
following graduation, he struck out on his own as a solo.
Before long, Ochoa found that his practice had blossomed
into a "full blown criminal law practice.”
Starting a law firm gave Christopher Ochoa a second chance to
reclaim his life. If solo practice can help a guy who spent
twelve years in prison build a productive and satisfyi