Plan to Attend the Solo & Small Firm Section’ s Upcoming CLE Luncheons: September 17 and november 28!
CHAllenge Yourself to groW Your prACtiCe tHis YeAr solo & small Firm section Chairs: Matthew Crist – Crist Legal | PA & Gian-Franco Melendez – Law Office of Gian-Franco Melendez, LLC
You need to work on your law firm, not just work in your law firm. remember, you are not an employee. You are an entrepreneur.
Welcome to another year for the Solo & Small Firm Section of the Hillsborough County Bar Association! I am honored to continue to serve as your co-chair, and it is my pleasure to introduce and welcome Gian-Franco Melendez, who will be serving as the Section’ s co-chair this year. Gian-Franco and I are excited about the coming year and the opportunity to grow the Section, continue providing great educational opportunities, organize some networking events, and create opportunities and build relationships for our members to grow their practices.
Our group of solo and small firm practitioners primarily includes members who are both lawyers and small business owners. To run our law firms, we do the“ lawyer stuff”( meeting with clients, drafting motions, preparing for hearings, etc.), and we do the“ small business owner stuff”( we maintain our trust account, pay the bills, negotiate pricing terms with vendors, etc.).
But let’ s say your goal is not to just run a law firm. Let’ s say your goal is to grow your law firm and get to the next level. Then you have to do more. You need to work on your law firm, not just work in your law firm. Remember, you are not an employee. You are an entrepreneur.
That means resisting the urge to micromanage and instead focus on delegating. If you don’ t think you have enough employees to delegate, take advantage of technology. You can hire a virtual bookkeeper to keep track of your firm’ s finances. You can hire a virtual paralegal to help you keep your cases moving. You can hire a contract attorney to draft briefs. There are countless other examples.
Getting into the mindset of working on your business rather than in your business keeps you focused on the big picture and your vision. It leverages your firm’ s greatest asset: You. Your vision, your knowledge, your skills,
© Can Stock Photo / 4774344sean
your relationships. This mindset lets you spend your time thinking strategically about where you want your firm to go and targeting the types of clients you want to attract.
Being active in the HCBA and in the Solo & Small Firm Section will help you with that goal. We will have several meetings this year, including informative CLE presentations, networking meetings, and practical practice-building sessions. Please come join us for these meetings, which are great opportunities to talk to fellow lawyers and members of our section and grow your firm.
Whether you are a current solo or small firm practitioner, or are thinking about taking your career in that direction, I hope you will join us this year. Gian-Franco and I look forward to working with you to grow and strengthen our businesses and the Solo & Small Firm Section.
Author: Matthew Crist – Crist Legal | PA
Plan to Attend the Solo & Small Firm Section’ s Upcoming CLE Luncheons: September 17 and november 28!
S E P T- O C T 2 0 1 8 | H C B A L A W Y E R
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