Minnesota Lawyer Blog

I just returned from the fourth annual solo and small firms seminar in Duluth.

The two-day conference, officially dubbed “Strategic Solutions for Solo and Small Firms 2008” and sponsored by Minnesota CLE, has become almost a “must attend” for many of the state’s solo and small firm practitioners. The event offered informative CLEs, networking opportunities, good food and family friendly events like a barbeque, a train ride and a tall ship tour. To top it all off, the weather was fantastic!

Everyone I talked to -- from first-time attendees to those who had been to them all -- enjoyed the conference. They all agreed that the event is a great way to meet other solo and small firm attorneys and get a bunch of CLE credits at a reasonable price.

Kudos to Minnesota CLE for another great seminar!

About 60 percent of Minnesota's solo-small firm practitioners make less than $100,000 per year, while approximately 5 percent make more than $250,000 -- at least according to the results of the MSBA Law Practice Management and Marketing Section’s “Solo-Small Firm Economic Survey 2007.”

The results of the survey were revealed at the "Strategic Solutions for Solo & Small Firms" conference in Duluth earlier this month. St. Cloud attorney Michael Ford and Minneapolis attorney LaVern Pritchard, founder of the LawMoose legal search portal, presented attendees with a summary of the results.

Of 5,000 randomly selected Minnesota practitioners in firms of one to 10 lawyers, 339 responded to the survey, which was sent out in late July. Some of the other interesting tidbits that emerged from the survey include:

--18.4 percent practice in the family law area (the largest group represented);
--38.9 percent spend between one and four hours per week on management/administrative duties;
--67 percent charge $200 per hour or less;
--45 percent do not have a retirement plan; and
-- about 44 percent said they were “mostly satisfied” with their careers.

The survery results are available on the Minnesota CLE website.