Are you having challenges marketing your firm? Many lawyers feel that most referrals come from other lawyers.  If you are a South Carolina Bar member practicing alone or in a firm with five or fewer lawyers, include yourself in the Solo and Small Firm Section’s Solo and Small Firm Practice Area Directory. The Directory is accessible from the Section’s homepage, www.scbar.org/solo and contains practice area information about fellow small firm lawyers in South Carolina. Because the Directory is cross-referenced by both practice area and geographical area, finding a lawyer is quick and simple. The Directory can be viewed online or downloaded and saved as a PDF file. The PDF also contains information for how to print the Directory so that it looks like a book. For inclusion in the directory, small firm lawyers must complete a brief online survey. Questions may be directed to Courtney Kennaday, Practice Management Advisor and Solo and Small Firm Section liaison, at pmap@scbar.org.

One of my favorite funny movie lines of all time comes from 1956′s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers“. Our hero is running for his life. His voice-over narration is (deadpan): “I had known fear before, but never fear like that.” The understatement cracks me up every time.

I was somehow reminded of this line when reading the introduction of a new book dealing with bad times in law practices.  Lawyers have seen tough times before, but never quite this tough.  How Good Lawyers Survive Bad Times by Sharon Nelson, Jim Calloway and Ross Kodner has just been released by ABA books. Need a pep talk with a heaping helping of practical advice? This book is a 212-page cookbook for making lemonade out of lemons, figuratively speaking. As anyone who has seen these well-known authors and speakers would expect, the advice is delivered with compassion, common sense and a dose of humor. Most of the advice is geared to those in small firms, those recently laid off, and those struggling to find jobs. There are tips on getting clients to pay, finding a new job on the Internet, alternative billing , and resume writing. The last section of the book is devoted solely to using technology to practice better, cheaper and faster than before.  For lawyers experiencing the worst of what the economy has dealt, this book is a lifeline. Purchase your own copy, or check it out from the Bar lending library.

Fellow Practice Management Advisor, Linda Oligschlaeger,  of the Missouri Bar, recently published 15 Recession-Response Tips for Small Firm Lawyers in the ABA Law Practice magazine. These tips are now available online.

#6 is “Look at the resources offered by your bar association.” The SC Bar was one of the first nationwide to launch a web resource for lawyers dealing with a down economy. If you haven’t already, visit the Career Counsel pages.