Putting Yourself on the Path to success
Solo & Small Firm Section
Chairs: Matthew Crist - Crist Legal, P.A. and Gian-Franco Melendez - Law Office of Gian-Franco Melendez, LLC
We all chose this path
for various reasons.
We need to make sure that
our law firms work for us,
W
not the other way around.
elcome to another
year for the Solo &
Small Firm Section
of the HCBA! I am
honored to continue to serve as
your co-chair, along with Matthew
Crist. We 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
help them grow their practices.
Most of the members in our
Section are essentially both lawyers
and small business owners. Whereas
most attorneys can simply be just
that, an attorney, our members
have to wear many hats. While
all law schools do their best to
teach us to be lawyers, few teach
us to manage a small business. To
survive, we must be good lawyers.
To succeed, however, we need to
work extra hard at something that
many of us have limited or no
training on — running a small
business. Our law firms will not
grow if we simply focus on working
our cases, and don’t give being
business owners enough attention.
That being said, we have to be
smart about how we grow our
practice. Many solo and small
firms fail or burn out because they
grow too big too fast. We all chose
this path for various reasons. We
need to make sure that our law
firms fit our lives, and not the
other way around. We need to
learn how much and what we need
to handle ourselves, and what we
should delegate to employees or,
even better, the right software. It
is also important to keep overhead
as low as possible, and for as long
as possible. Thanks to technology
and the age we live in, there are
many different programs and
companies that make things
much more streamlined and cost-
efficient. Utilizing the right case
management systems, bookkeeping
software, virtual paralegals,
answering services, and countless
other technologies, can set us up
for success.
Another asset we have is being
a member of the Solo & Small
Firm Section. Our goal this year
is to provide all our members with
the resources they need to make
sure their firms end the year better
than they started it. We will have
several meetings this year, including
informative CLE presentations,
networking meetings, and practical
practice-building sessions. Please
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,
we hope you will join us this year.
Matt and I look forward to working
with you to grow and strengthen
our businesses and the Solo & Small
Firm Section. n
Author: Gian-Franco Melendez, Law
Office of Gian-Franco Melendez, LLC
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SEPT - OCT 2019
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HCBA LAWYER