solo & small firm

About the Committee

Mission

Welcome to the homepage of the Solo and Small Firm Committee. Our committee's goal is to deliver the benefits and provide the resources most useful to small firm and solo litigators.

While perhaps not as noticeable to the public eye, solo and small firm litigators are the backbone of our country’s civil justice system. Our committee’s purpose is to provide a forum for the exchange of information, ideas, and resources on issues uniquely impacting the solo and small firm litigator and that will enhance the effectiveness and enjoyment of our members’ litigation practices. Our goal is to “raise the bar” by serving as a clearinghouse on the many varied matters affecting your practice, including current litigation developments, important new decisions, articles on issues of substance and procedure, ethics, technology and Section news. Our success depends upon your participation. We need your help in shaping and defining the message of our committee so all our members can benefit by learning what works for you in your litigation practice.

We encourage you to contact us to get involved.

Message from the Chairs

Welcome to the Solo & Small Firm Committee page! We are delighted to chair the Solo & Small Firm Committee for the 2019-2020 bar year. The success of the ABA and of the Section of Litigation is, in many respects, driven by the involvement of thousands of small firm lawyers across the United States. We come from communities large and small and in many different packages, with different practice models, different concentrations, and different backgrounds, but together, we are a large and potent voice in the bar.

It is our hope that this committee will provide a resource for you and perhaps a portal to greater involvement in the Section of Litigation. To that end, we are excited about new developments from our committee that will provide greater resources for you.

This last year the ABA Section of Litigation put a particular focus on Solo & Small Firm Practitioners, and we hope to continue that focus and provide you with great content geared towards solo practitioners and those practicing in small firms. Our committee's website adds new content each month and our LinkedIn subcommittee page posts new content on a more frequent basis. We also post regular content through our Twitter hashtag #SoloSmallFirmLit. We use these regular updates to provide a place for you to find news of significance to the solo and small firm practitioner. We are also working with other committees in the Section to provide roundtables, webinars, sound advice podcasts, CLEs, and regional meetings to our members. Please check your email and ABA Connect for announcements of these events. We are always looking for new content to post and resources to link. Contact our website editor, Kelsey Heino, with your thoughts and suggestions, and if you would like to join the website subcommittee, let Kelsey know that as well.

In addition, we have an active newsletter. The next edition should be hitting your email inbox in Spring 2020. Want to write for the Committee? We would love to review your ideas and submissions for the newsletter. It is an excellent opportunity to obtain a publishing credit in a bar publication. Contact our newsletter editor, Eleni vanRoden, with your suggestions and submissions, and let Eleni know if you would like to join the newsletter subcommittee.

There are several CLE seminars being planned during this bar year and each will cover a variety of topics. For example:

Women in Litigation Joint CLE Conference will be held in Chicago, Illinois, on November 13-15, 2019
Environmental & Energy, Mass torts, and Products Liability Joint CLE Program will be held in Snowmass Village, Colorado, on January 29-31, 2020
Corporate Counsel Seminar will be held in Carlsbad, California, on March on February 13-15, 2020
Insurance Coverage Litigation Seminar will be held in Tucson, Arizona, on March 4-7, 2020

And, of course, the Section of Litigation Annual CLE Conference will be held May 6-8, 2020 in Washington, D.C.

We love hearing from our members. Please contact us at any time with any questions or to express an interest in getting more involved.

We look forward to meeting you this year. Thank you.

Emily J. Kirk
Jackie Condella
Cochairs, Solo & Small Firm Committee

Announcements

Writers Wanted

We need writers, and who couldn't benefit from authoring an article? If you are interested in writing for the Solo and Small Firm Committee in any form—long articles, short practice points, funny, serious, anything—please contact Eleni vanRodenor Kelsey Heino.

Best Content for Young Lawyers Award

Congratulations to the Solo and Small Firm Committee’s editorial team for receiving a top award at the Section of Litigation’s Fall Leadership Conference for Best Content for Business Development!

Please Join Us for the Solo & Small Firm Monthly Mingle—All From the Comfort of Your Own Office

The Solo and Small Firm Committee wants to network with you! Although one of the many benefits of ABA Membership are the relationships members forge with fellow attorneys from around the country, we know that getting to out-of-town, multiple day conferences can be tough. As a result, the Committee will be hosting a telephonic networking group that will meet by phone throughout the year during lunchtime. The idea: join together solo and small firm practitioners from across the country in a casual setting where they can share practice tips, exchange ideas, seek assistance from one another and simply get to know one another as friends and colleagues. If you are interested in joining this networking group, please contact cochair Emily Kirk. We look forward to getting to know you!

Committee Leadership

Cochairs

Kelsey Heino
David Seserman

Roundtable, Webinar, and Sound Advice Subcommittees Cochair

Open

Membership Subcommittee Cochair and Liaison to the Solo and Small Firm Task Force

Kevin Kwan

American Bar Association TM American Bar Association