I am working on starting a pilot program at the North Carolina Bar Association. It's called Starting Out Solo and is based on a group by the same name that started up in Massachusetts (trademark hawks can relax, I have permission to reuse the name). we're hoping to get up and running in the next couple of months.

The Massachusetts Starting Out Solo was begun by a lawyer named Audrey Heidt. It is a working group of solo practitioners who went straight from law school into solo practice (or pretty close to it) -- a situation that I am seeing a lot more of in North Carolina these days. The group members get together every six weeks or so for an evening meeting. Each meeting focuses on some facet of starting and running a solo practice. The group members take turns setting the agenda and running the meeting, and everyone contributes to the knowledge base. No one is set up as the lone guru instructing from the mountain top; instead, everyone shares his or her best ideas.

I'm excited about this program. It is going to be free (though membership in the NCBA and our GP, Small Firm, Solo section is a prerequisite) and limited to twelve attorneys in the pilot. While I hope (and expect) the group to provide a lot of value to the participants, I am particularly hopeful that it will help combat the isolation that a lot of lawyers experience in solo practice.  It's hard enough starting and running a solo practice when you are experienced in your craft; add to that the additional degree of difficulty that comes with having to learn to be a lawyer at the same time you are learning to run a business and the task really becomes Herculean.

I hope that our Starting Out Solo, like Audrey's original group, helps makes the transition into solo practice a little less stressful and a lot more fun for the participants. I'll let you know how it goes.