Sorry Nike: sometimes "just do it" needs an instruction manual.

Carolyn Elefant's "Some Open Questions for Flat Fee Aficionados and Ethics Gurus" on her blog at MyShingle.com. Wherever you sit on the fixed-fees-v-billable-hours bus, you'll like this post. Because unlike many fixed-fee proponents, Elefant isn't content telling her peers to "just do it." That won't bring about meaningful change. She wants to guide them as they move fixed fees from the theoretical to the practical. To articulate the challenges of flat-rate billing in terms they understand, through situations they're likely to encounter. To help real lawyers with real practices effect real change. Like she does in most of her posts on this blog (and at Nolo's Legal Marketing Blawg). Read it, then add your thoughts to the discussion.

So what do you want to do when you grow up?

Jay Shepherd's "Small Firms, Big Lawyers: The Key Question for Shingle-Hangers" at Above the Law. Running a law firm is more than doing great client work. You've got to rent space and buy equipment. Pay the bills and do the books. Market your practice and send out invoices and water the plants and wait for the repair guy to come out and fix your DSL connection. While doing all of the client work that makes it all possible. It's not for everyone. But it might just be for you. Read this post before you decide. And while you're at it, read this response from Carolyn Elefant.