The “Proud to be Solo” Scholarship Contest – for Posse List members who now have a solo practice or are in the process of opening a solo practice

We receive on average 300+ emails a week from Posse List members.   About 200 of them are from our contract attorney members.  The questions we receive from you range from “where is the best city to be for constant doc review work” to “I am moving to [fill in city/state] and want to know if there is contract work” to “what is the hourly rate in [fill in city/state]” to “how do I get a gig in Europe” to “can you recommend a webinar/webcast for [fill in the subject area]”.  

But since the legal market melt-down (well, no melt-down now in D.C. if you are on one of the 6 Japanese language projects or on the A&P or Howrey project which each seems to have 200+ contract attorneys doing mega hours) the top question we have received has been “how do I get out of this contract stuff?”   We don’t know if it because a lot of you had extra time during the “dead zone” of no work and did a rethink of what you want to do/need to do, or what.  But we have tried to provide help through our sister site www.theposseranch.com as well as free webinars from folks like Ari Kaplan who have provided us tons of useful information.

Because in spite of all the challenges you will face trying to hit the “exit” button and get of contract legal work — either staying in e-discovery/ESI management or getting out completely — be comforted by the fact that scores of Posse List members are doing it, and have been successful at doing it.  They have ignored the difficulty, the negativity.  The best news:  we are working in a part of the legal industry that is unusual because it is open to sharing and collaboration, through publications, quality conferences, and trade shows, and peer networking organizations.  And it has certainly worked for those of you who want to stay in e-discovery/ESI management especially those of you we have met at the conferences and tradeshows, who have worked the vendors, worked the law firms, and gone on to project management or some other facet of ESI work.       

But when it comes down to “going solo” one of the biggest challenges that any Posse List member faces in opening his or her own your own solo practice is … funding. Moola.  A big chunka change.  And it is enough to frustrate the hell out of anybody.  Because you need the jack to:  take classes to get the practical knowledge that law school doesn’t provide; to get design, programming, copy, and hosting for a website; to buy practice management software; to take CLE courses …. yadda yadda yadda.   And all this on top of staggering educational loans. 

And we have spoken to scores of you who have started a solo practice or are in the process and you are looking for that little financial “push” to get it happening, get it on track. 

So after that (over long) intro we want to tell you about the “Proud to be Solo” scholarship contest being sponsored by Solo Practice University.  The goal of the contest?  To knock down some of the financial roadblocks you face. 

In the contest they are giving away 18 prizes with a total combined value of approximately $12,000.  The prizes include (almost) everything you could need including cash, a scholarship to Solo Practice University, CLIO practice management software, a complete website/blog design package from Smart Marketing, etc., etc, etc. 

No, it is not for everybody.  It’s for folks serious about doing a solo practice, who now have a practice or are in the process of opening a solo practice.  But you can check out all the details here and see if it fits for you:  click here.    

And the process is rather cool because the entry form is … well … a video.  You need to do a video.  And we aren’t talking “Avatar” or a Spielberg production here.  Web cam, computer camera or flip video.  They’ll do.  The tech quality won’t impact choice.  It’s the content that counts.  But video is the future.  That’s why they are doing it that way.  But all the details are in the link above. 

Anyway, you have until April 19th to enter.  And it’s free with no obligation.  So check it out. 

What do we get from Solo U and/or the sponsors giving out the loot?  Zippo.  Nada.  We thought it was a good deal so we thought we’d pass it on to you.  We are trying to meet the needs of what is now a very diverse Posse List membership.