ABA Launches Smart Soloing Center
The American Bar Association today launched the Smart Soloing Center—an online resource that is the latest in its growing portfolio of products and services designed for sole practitioners.
The center aggregates content from across the ABA’s website and a host of Internet sources. It includes:
• The Solo Blog Network, featuring posts from some of the most insightful lawyers who are writing about the joys and challenges of solo practice.
• Articles drawn from the ABA’s dozens of substantive law magazines.
• The most popular discussions from SoloSez, the ABA’s free e-mail discussion list for solo practitioners.
• The latest news about solos and small firms from the daily feed of the ABA Journal.
• Links to a wide variety of websites for solos.
In February, recognizing the economic challenges faced by many solos, the ABA cut dues for solo practitioners by as much as 50 percent, to as low as $9 a month. Since then, it has improved its value proposition by adding a variety of products and services for that segment of its membership.
“Solos need things other lawyers don’t, so our efforts to increase membership value are important because we need to provide them now,” ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm, a partner at White & Case in Washington, D.C., said recently about the ABA’s focus on solos.
Among the new products and services for solos who are members of the ABA:
• Up to 18 credits of free online CLE in its Smart Soloing School taking place Sept. 28-30. The courses will be available online for a full year so solos can take the classes on their schedules.
• A complimentary edition of Smart Soloing: How to Build Your Practice, a new e-book packed with helpful information for solos. A free preview is available as a downloadable PDF.
• An e-mail newsletter, Smart Soloing, featuring articles about how to run a solo practice, published eight times a year.
