Solo & Small Firm Section Update

• Publication year: 2020
• Pages: 0012

Solo & Small Firm Section Update
Vol. 81 No. 1 Pg. 12
The Alabama Lawyer
January, 2020 By Tazewell T. Shepard, III

The Solo & Small Firm Section is the largest and most active section of the Alabama State Bar, with about 940 members as of September 2019. The SSF Section emphasizes service to solo and small firm lawyers, but is open to all lawyers in Alabama. Section members are also encouraged to pursue service to their community, including pro bono cases with the various volunteer lawyers programs in Alabama.

The section's most popular feature is its very active ListServ, where members ask for advice on legal issues, post possible referrals, and trade suggestions on law practice management.

The section also creates free and low-cost CLE opportunities for its members and sometimes for all Alabama attorneys, such as live-streaming a section CLE event. The most popular CLE opportunity has been the probate practice series, where the section partnered with the Alabama Probate Lawyers Association and local bars in seven areas of the state to provide a CLE event of six credit hours and lunch, all for $25. This program reached almost 1,000 lawyers during spring 2019, and section leadership is planning a similar six-hours-and-lunch program on district court practice for spring 2020.

In addition to the section's growing forms and knowledge bank, a partnership between the section and Legal Services Alabama will soon produce an electronic book of...