What
would
you
do
if
your
law
practice
suddenly
lost
all
of
its
clients
and
you
had
to
start
over
from
scratch?
That
may
sound
like
a
dramatic
hypothetical
—
until
you
look
around.
My
friend
Nicole
Black
recently
wrote
about
AI-driven
layoffs
sweeping
through
tech
giants
like
Amazon
and
Meta,
asking
whether
lawyers
might
be
next.
Between
automation,
consolidation,
and
shifting
client
expectations,
many
law
practices
are
vulnerable
to
disruption.
AI
isn’t
the
only
culprit.
During
COVID,
brick-and-mortar
firms
vanished
almost
overnight
as
clients
stopped
coming
through
the
doors
and
courts
shut
down
temporarily.
Some
firms
stayed
the
course
and
work
bounced
back
but
other
firms
shut
their
doors.
Trends
change
too
—
something
I
know
firsthand.
Fifteen
years
ago,
I
was
one
of
the
only
lawyers
in
the
country
representing
landowners
and
communities
fighting
interstate
gas
pipelines.
Work
poured
in
effortlessly…
until
I
started
winning
and
setting
new
precedent.
Once
my
victories
proved
these
cases
could
succeed,
the
environmental
groups
that
had
once
turned
away
my
clients
jumped
into
the
fray
with
deep
pockets
and
donor
funding.
They
began
taking
the
same
types
of
cases
for
free
—
and
even
though
I’m
good,
I
can’t
compete
with
free.
The
niche
I
had
built
from
scratch
was
suddenly
gone.
So,
what
do
you
do
when
that
happens?
When
the
phone
stops
ringing,
the
email
inbox
goes
quiet,
and
you’re
left
staring
at
a
calendar
with
nothing
on
it?
Here’s
what
I’ve
learned
—
and
what
I
would
do
again
if
I
had
to
start
over.
1.
Don’t
Be
Bitter
There’s
nothing
less
attractive
than
lawyers
blaming
AI
for
lost
business
—
for
example,
whining
about
clients
who
rely
on
cheap
AI
solutions
without
acknowledging
that
high
legal
fees
drove
those
clients
to
use
AI
in
the
first
place.
Likewise,
while
I’d
love
to
blame
the
environmental
groups
for
stealing
my
business,
the
truth
is,
I
took
my
eyes
off
the
steering
wheel.
Having
been
recently
widowed,
my
sole
focus
was
getting
my
daughters
through
college
debt-free,
so
I
tried
to
squeeze
every
penny
out
of
my
pipeline
work
instead
of
diversifying
my
income
stream.
That’s
on
me,
not
my
competitors.
2.
Take
Stock
of
What
You
Have
Left
Even
if
your
client
base
disappears,
your
talent
doesn’t.
You
still
have
expertise,
systems,
content,
relationships,
and
reputation.
To
bridge
a
cashflow
gap,
reach
out
to
colleagues
and
offer
your
services
on
a
per
diem
basis
and
let
them
know
you’re
open
for
referrals
and
work
opportunities.
My
own
outreach
yielded
several
contracts,
including
an
ongoing
stint
as
a
hearing
examiner.
If
you
can’t
find
work
from
other
sources,
you
could
make
your
own
by
pulling
together
an
online
course
or
training
to
sell
to
businesses
or
other
lawyers.
3.
Pivot
to
a
Need
—
Not
Just
an
Interest
When
business
dries
up,
it’s
tempting
to
chase
what
feels
exciting
or
novel.
But
successful
reinvention
comes
from
finding
unmet
demand.
Talk
to
colleagues.
Read
Reddit
threads.
Scan
LinkedIn
posts.
Listen
to
what
clients
and
lawyers
are
worrying
about.
For
lawyers
displaced
or
concerned
about
displacement
by
AI,
reinvention
may
look
like
exploring
new
business
models
like
flat
fees
or
subscriptions
or
providing
hybrid
services
that
leverage
AI
more
heavily
for
efficiencies
but
keep
humans
in
the
loop.
Or
maybe
it
means
shifting
to
another
practice
area
entirely.
In
my
own
case,
I’ve
used
the
void
to
move
towards
building
an
AI-forward
law
firm
focused
on
appeals
and
estate
planning
and
helping
lawyers
use
AI
and
technology
to
future-proof
their
practices.
What’s
most
important
is
experimentation.
Stop
polling
other
lawyers
for
advice
and
get
busy
doing.
Move
from
saying
it
won’t
work
to
it
didn’t
(or
even
better,
it
did!).
Some
experiments
will
flop,
but
one
success
can
relaunch
your
entire
trajectory.
4.
Don’t
Wait
for
the
Market
to
Come
Back
—
Create
the
Next
One
Markets
evolve.
The
lawyers
who
thrive
aren’t
those
who
cling
to
what
was,
but
who
define
what’s
next.
That
might
mean
becoming
the
go-to
lawyer
for
AI
ethics,
fractional
general
counsel
services,
or
digital
estate
planning.
The
next
practice
area
is
always
born
from
pain
points
of
the
moment
or
curiosity
about
solving
a
new
problem.
5.
You
Did
It
Before
and
Can
Do
It
Again
When
your
practice
dries
up,
it’s
hard
not
to
feel
like
a
failure.
But
here’s
the
thing
that’s
true
for
every
law
firm
owner:
You’ve
built
something
from
nothing
once
before.
You
figured
out
how
to
attract
clients,
make
money,
and
turn
uncertainty
into
opportunity.
Those
skills
don’t
disappear
So,
when
the
bottom
drops
out,
don’t
just
brace
for
the
fall.
Use
it
as
a
pivot
point.
Shed
the
parts
of
your
practice
that
no
longer
serve
you
or
your
clients
and
build
what
comes
next
on
your
own
terms.
Because
in
the
end,
survival
isn’t
what
defines
law
firm
owners
—
reinvention
does.
If
you’ve
done
it
once,
you
can
absolutely
do
it
again.
Just
like
me.
Carolyn
Elefant
is
one
of
the
country’s
most
recognized
advocates
for
solo
and
small
firm
lawyers.
She
founded
MyShingle.com
in
2002,
the
longest-running
blog
for
solo
practitioners,
where
she
has
published
thousands
of
articles,
resources,
and
guides
on
starting,
running,
and
growing
independent
law
practices.
She
is
the
author
of
Solo
by
Choice,
widely
regarded
as
the
definitive
handbook
for
launching
and
sustaining
a
law
practice,
and
has
spoken
at
countless
bar
events
and
legal
conferences
on
technology,
innovation,
and
regulatory
reform
that
impacts
solos
and
smalls.
Elefant
also
develops
practical
tools
like
the AI
Teach-In to
help
small
firms
adopt
AI
and
she
consistently
champions
reforms
to
level
the
playing
field
for
independent
lawyers.
Alongside
this
work,
she
runs
the
Law
Offices
of
Carolyn
Elefant,
a
national
energy
and
regulatory
practice
that
handles
selective
complex,
high-stakes
matters.