Seasoned mentors catch young solos before they fall.

• Author: Coxe, Henry M., III
• Position: Florida - President's page

As a novice prosecutor in Duval County at age 26, the late Assistant State Attorney Baker King took me under his wing and showed me the way.

If I had a nagging question and King wasn't handy, I could walk down the hallway and poke my head in any number of seasoned pros' offices and come away with good answers and caring guidance. But who does the young lawyer in solo practice go to for help?

That question struck me with a wallop when the membership of The Florida Bar recently rolled over to the bold number of 80,000.

Just a decade ago, when my law partner John DeVault was Bar president, there were 58,220 lawyers. That's an influx of around 2,100 new lawyers in the state each year.

Many new lawyers go from law school to firms large and small, or government offices, where an abundance of mentoring is available for the asking from an array of colleagues gathered under one roof. Experienced lawyers are generous in sharing what they know. But some newcomers to our profession bravely hang out their own shingles and are suddenly faced with questions they never imagined while sitting in law classes, where the aim is to teach students to think like lawyers, not how to run a practice.

How do I pay for a court reporter when I haven't been paid by my client? How do I handle an abusive client when I really can't afford to turn away business and have to pay the rent?

We don't have hard numbers yet on how many new lawyers go immediately from passing the bar into solo practice, but we are in the process of collecting that information.

Meanwhile, Mike Garcia, director of the Bar's Research, Planning, and Evaluation Department, can tell us that 29 percent of Florida's lawyers are solo practitioners, and, of those, 10 percent are younger than 35. Garcia can also tell us that four percent of solo practitioners have less than two years experience (about 3,200) and 10 percent have less than four years experience (about 8,000).

While half of solo practitioners have more than 20 years experience, I worry about that group of inexperienced lawyers going solo.

We know a larger number of solo practitioners are involved in disciplinary complaints. Carl Zahner, director of the Bar's Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism, estimates between 20 to 30 percent of participants in the diversion program are young solo practitioners who, too often, are overwhelmed by trying to do everything--from being legal secretary, lawyer, and business manager--on their own.

There is the...