Solo
and Small Firm
Section Council
Ronald C.
Scott
Chairperson
P.O. Box 2065
Columbia, SC 29202
(803) 252-3340
Fax: (803) 799-1726
rons@scottlaw.com
Jane H.
Downey
Vice Chairperson
P.O. Box 11874
Columbia, SC 29211
(803) 929-0030
Fax: (803) 929-0050
jdowney@downeylaw.com
James E. Smith Jr.
Immediate Past Chairperson
Section Delegate
1422 Laurel St.
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 933-9800
Fax: (803) 933-9801
jes@seslaw.com
Council Members
J. Steedly Bogan (exp. 2005)
P.O. Box 12489
Columbia, SC 29211-2489
(803) 256-6747
Fax: (803)
771-0610
jsb@scbar.org
Patricia A. Speth (exp. 2005)
P.O. Box 726
Marion, SC 29571
(843) 423-7648
Fax: (843)
423-7649
spethblackmon@earthlink.net
William E. Booth III (exp. 2006)
P.O. Box 906
Columbia, SC 29202
(803) 343-2895
Fax: (803)
343-2812
boothlaw@bellsouth.net
Aaron J. Kozloski (exp. 2006)
P.O. Box 11902, Capitol Station
Columbia, SC 29211
(803) 748-1320
Fax: (803) 255-7074
aaron@capitolcounsel.us
Casemaker®:
changing the online legal research landscape |
Solo and
Small Firm members: save $45 on upcoming CLE seminar |
Questions, comments, consults?
It’s
your section: what we do and why we’re here
Casemaker®: changing the online legal research landscape
The South Carolina Bar is one of 19 state bar associations across the
country providing members with a valuable new membership benefit —
they are joining the Casemaker® consortium in order to
provide free online legal research to their members. The Bar launches
its Casemaker® online library in September.
Originally launched by the Ohio State Bar Association in 1998, Casemaker®
is a unique online legal research tool with a powerful search engine providing
access to a combination of state and federal materials. Casemaker®
includes historic to current cases, statutes and regulations. The South
Carolina library also includes the South Carolina Code of Laws, ethics
advisory opinions, court rules, published and unpublished court opinions,
past South Carolina Lawyer articles, a searchable index and more.
While online legal research tools are not new, before Casemaker®
joined the playing field, those services were very expensive. However,
use of the Casemaker® library is a free service for all
Bar members.
Log on to Casemaker® soon to see the legal resources at
your disposal! In September, each Bar member will be mailed username and
password information to access the library, which is located on the Bar’s
Web site. Simply click on the Casemaker® link that is displayed
on the home page. Details on how to use the system, in the form of a printed
manual, an online question-and-answer forum and a tutorial are also available
at that site.
For questions or more information on using this exciting new membership
benefit, contact Practice Management Advisor, Courtney Kennaday at (803)
799-6653, ext. 183 or pmap@scbar.org.
Solo
and Small Firm members: save $45 on upcoming CLE seminar
The Solo and Small Firm Section is co-sponsoring a CLE entitled "How
to Manage Work in the Law Office." As a benefit exclusively for Solo
and Small Firm Section members, the registration fee will be reduced to
$150, which is $45 off the regular registration fee. The seminar will
be held on Friday, October 8, 2004, at the University of South Carolina
School of Law Auditorium. It will also be broadcast to Greenville, N.
Charleston and Rock Hill. Immediately following the CLE will be an oath
seminar. If you attend both seminars, you can earn 2.5 LEPR credit hours.
Questions,
comments, consults?
Find answers on the Solo and Small Firm Web forum
The Solo and Small Firm Section maintains an online forum for its members
to post questions and answers on virtually any topic or idea related to
the practice of law, and it’s free. The address is http://forum.scbar.org/solo.
Anyone may read the posts and messages; however, you must register in
order to post a question or a message. Registration is quick and simple.
Each user creates his or own username and password. For more information,
contact Joan Brown at joan.brown@scbar.org or (803) 799-6653, ext. 182.
It’s
your section: what we do and why we’re here
The stated purpose
of the Solo and Small Firm Section is to enhance the competence and skills
of lawyers engaged in solo or small firm practice and improve their ability
to deliver the most efficient and highest quality legal services to their
clients. The section provides a forum through which solo and small firm
practitioners may encourage and assist each other in resolving problems
common to them and the legal profession. Activities include participation
and membership in the section’s electronic mailing list, networking,
communicating with section members and sponsoring section meetings. Other
projects include: exploring and promoting insurance benefits through the
Bar that might be available and beneficial to solo practitioners and promoting
the use of the Bar’s Lending Library.
The section goals and objectives for 2004-2005 include:
• sponsor or co-sponsor an October 2004 seminar;
• publish a section newsletter;
• provide how-tos and other information helpful to solos and small firms through E-Blast;
• increase Solo and Small Firm Section membership; and
• promote and utilize the online Lawyer-to-Lawyer Directory.
The section council is also planning a 2005 annual meeting in the Columbia
area. Joan Brown, the Bar staff section liaison, recently attended the
Missouri Bar’s Solo and Small Firm Conference in Lake Ozark, MO,
and reported that the conference was well-planned and well-executed, with
an attendance of approximately 700 lawyers. Several law firms and 41 exhibitors
sponsored the event. Seventy-six seminars were held in addition to two
one-hour “CLE at Sunrise” seminars. Their CLE Division held
a “Garage Sale,” where in addition to selling CLE publications,
they sold used office furniture and books.
Some of the factors contributing to the success of the conference included
intense marketing, the casual family-oriented atmosphere, their Solo and
Small Firm Section’s highly-active Listserv® and
the low registration fee, which covered all the seminars members were
required to have for the entire year.