Solo & Small Firm Section

The Solo and Small Firm Section (SSF) of the California Lawyers Association’s Mission is to foster a supportive community for solo and small firm practitioners across all areas of practice, to guide our members on their path to becoming strong, competent and ethical solo and small firm business owners, and to recognize the accomplishments of solos and small firm professionals across the state. Read more

On October 9th, Governor Newsom signed the State Bar fee bill (S.B. 176). Among other provisions, S.B. 176 increases the annual dues for active attorneys for 2020 to $544; total fees for inactive licensees will be $183. The new law adjusts the income threshold for scaling to $60,478.35. Read more

Lawyers from throughout California met in beautiful Monterey from October 10th – 12th for CLA’s Annual Meeting. The theme of the event was, “Navigating the Future for all California Attorneys.” The three-day event was packed with extensive CLE programming, networking opportunities, interactive sessions with CLA Leadership, keynote speakers, and an unforgettable night at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Read more

Governor Newsom signed a number of bills this year that amended the Code of Civil Procedure.  Those bills include: S.B. 370 – Discovery:  Response to Inspection Demands:  S.B. 370 amends section 2031.280(a) of the Code of Civil Procedure.  Parties responding to an inspection demand will no longer have the option of producing the documents “as they are kept in the usual course of business.”  Instead, when produced, the documents “shall be identified with the specific request number to which the… Read more

By Julie Brook, Esq., CEB (reprinted with permission) When a contract has been breached and it’s clear that performance won’t continue, plaintiff’s counsel needs to consider what damages are recoverable before filing a complaint, and then how to prove them. First, do this analysis before deciding to file suit: Figure out what the actual damages are. Although many cases deal with the measure of damages for breach of contract, no hard and fast rules can be stated because often the… Read more

I decided to look for websites that rank or discuss legal software. I was hoping to find an unbiased site which would provide useful user information about software programs. Read more

MCLE Compliance Group 3 (N-Z):  Your Compliance Deadline Is Fast Approaching! If you are in MCLE compliance group 3 (N-Z), your compliance period ends January 31, 2020, and your deadline to report compliance is February 1, 2020.  Why wait until January to get in those last few hours of programming?  SSF offers informative, constructive, and inexpensive MCLE programs that you can take at any time, including both online CLE for participatory credit and self-study articles.  Still need some specialty credits? … Read more

Sabrina L. Green, ChairStratton & Green, ALC San Diego, CA sgreen@sglawcorp.com SSF Friends, If you are like me, it seems like 2019 started just a couple of months ago.  But here we are at the end of the year and, dare I mention, the beginning of the holiday season. Looking back now, I find it amazing what the Solo and Small Firm Section has accomplished under our now former Chair, Renee Stackhouse.  Having just been sworn in as SSF’s new Chair,… Read more

In a traditional transaction, California lawyers receive U.S. dollars in exchange for providing legal services. But it is not unheard of to see transactions where lawyers are compensated in different ways. Most typically, alternate payments come through the provision of goods. But, of course, there are other options. And perhaps the most recent trend is toward the use of cryptocurrency. Read more

The State Bar’s Board of Trustees created a Task Force on Access through Innovation of Legal Services (ATILS) which was charged with identifying “possible regulatory changes for enhancing the delivery of, and access to, legal services through the use of technology, including artificial intelligence and online legal service delivery models.”  ATILS was asked to balance two goals:  consumer protection and increased access to legal services.  In response, ATILS prepared a set of regulatory reform options, and the public has been… Read more