Maryland
Bar Bulletin
Publications :
Bar Bulletin
Editor: W.
Patrick Tandy
May, 2004
| SOLO DAY |
SOLO DAY: A DAY JUST FOR
SOLOS!
|
| By Pat Yevics |
The Fifth Annual Solo
Day at the MSBA Annual Meeting will be held on Friday, June 18, 2004,
from 8:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. This year’s program is going to be one
of the best yet. The topics will offer you (as solo and small firm practitioners)
tips on every aspect of your practice to help you not only be more efficient
but to enjoy the practice of law even more.
As many of you know, Solo
Day began five years ago as an opportunity for solo and small firm practitioners
to attend the Annual Meeting for a one-day registration fee. Solo Day is
held on Friday so that solos miss no more than one day from the office, and
it runs concurrently with other education programs at the Annual Meeting.
All topics are chosen specifically to assist solo and small firm practitioners.
This year’s program
is designed to help practitioners with fees, personnel, technology, professionalism
and enjoying the practice of law. Not bad for $50.
The program starts with
two of the section’s most popular “techies” – Jonathan
Bromberg and Steve Tyler. Along with MSBA’s John Anderson as moderator,
they will show you websites that will change the way you practice and live – a
great way to start the day.
The next session,
“Getting Paid and Not Burned,” will feature a panel of outstanding
practitioners. This session will help you prevent fee problems before they
start as well as how to avoid problems when collecting fees.
This year you will once
again have a hard time trying to decide which of the three breakout sessions
to attend. There will be a session on the top 10 personnel issues you need
to know as a small firm employer. The Negligence, Insurance &
Worker’s Compensation Section will hold another great breakout session
with a mock direct and cross examination of a neuropsychiatrist in a mild traumatic
brain injury case. The “trial” will be presided over by the Hon.
Eric M. Johnson, Circuit Court for Montgomery County. The third breakout session
will be a panel on professionalism and civility; the panel will include the
Hon. Lynne A. Battaglia, Administrative Judge, Court of Appeals of Maryland.
Now you have the opportunity to ask what the bench can and should do to promote
professionalism and civility.
This year we have two
outstanding speakers to close out Solo Day. Jonathan Shapiro is a solo practitioner
from Virginia and was John Mohammed’s lawyer. Shapiro handles difficult
and high-profile cases, many of them capital cases. Hear how he deals with
the unusual stress that comes from these cases and how he continues to find
satisfaction in being a solo practitioner.
Finally, learn how laughing
will help you be healthy, wealthy and wise. Mark Mayfield is one of the best
speakers on the seminar circuit. He has spoken at and received high marks
from many bar associations, including Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Missouri and
Indiana. Having heard him at the National Association of Bar Executive Conference,
I have found him to be both funny and practical. He will show you how to
use laughter to handle the stress of being a solo practitioner. This is a
session you do not want to miss.
New this year, the Lawyer
Assistance Program is sponsoring “The Wellness Spot,” an expanded
version of the popular sessions that first started at the Solo and Small
Firm Conference. Throughout the day, there will be professionals providing
blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, chair massages and acupuncture
demonstrations. There will be information on nutrition, stress relief and
mental health services. In additions we hope to start the day with an aerobics
demonstration. Or if you are really up to it, you can do the Sun Run with
me early on Friday morning.
So come on down to the
ocean for Solo Day or for the entire Annual Meeting (if you attend the entire
Meeting, you can also attend Solo Day). Either way, we look forward to seeing
you “down da ocean, hon!” For more information or to register,
go to www.msba.org.
