So I’m partnering up and one of the conditions my soon to be partner placed on our union was for me to stop blogging, and I don’t hold that against him. When I started this blog, I was doing my best to survive life as a toiletlawyer. I used the blog to cope with my struggles, and hopefully entertain some people along the way. Further, because I was working for a soulless personal injury firm, I didn’t mind over-sharing facts about the firm and the cases I worked on. Now that I’m in business for myself, it’s probably time to move on.

The site isn’t dying though, Subtle Dig has told me that they plan to save my old posts under a moniker I will choose shortly, and bring in a new writer. At my request, they are going to hold off their search for a few weeks and allow me some time to find a successor. So here goes, I’m looking for someone who:

1) Works for a personal injury firm or insurance defense firm.

2) Has a few hours each week to put together an interesting post. Current bloggers are more than welcome.

3) Isn’t going to turn this into a hate-filled, anti-law blog.

I know Subtle Dig is going to alter the website soon, so you will be able to give your input there. They are great people to work with and did a pretty great job bringing in readers and revenue. Since my first post, toiletlaw.com has received over 14,000 visitors and I’ve made just over $50.* It boiled down to slightly more than minimum wage, which I think is pretty impressive for a personal blog with virtually no advertising. Send an email to blog@toiletlaw.com if you are interested.

With that out of the way, I guess it’s time to head out. I truly enjoyed the emails and other feedback the readers gave, hopefully I will be talking to you all for years to come. Thanks for everything.

* Sorry about the seemingly strange math, that includes removing the taxes for this year at the monster independent contractor rate. I was also unaware that minimum wage had increased. To clarify, I spent about 18 hours on the blog and made $109 pre-tax.

Office

Initially, I imagined leasing a small executive suite in or near downtown. I wanted a reception area, an office, and some extra space for what I was going to call the “mailroom” – a place for filing, copying, faxing, postage, etc. I was hoping to find 500-750 square feet for $1000-1400 a month. There were a number of offices that would have worked too – but nobody would budge off their 5 year term requirement. As arrogant as it sounds, I want to the option to grow in 2 or 3 years.

Then I got a call from an old undergraduate buddy. He’s graduated from the University of Texas law school in 2007 and practiced in Philadelphia biglaw until he was laid off in February. He opened his own shop afterward. A mutual friend informed him that I was about to open my own shop.

Long story short, he has extra space and offered me one of his two spare offices at a very reasonable rate ($475 a month, utilities included). He also offered to bring me in as a true partner for a tiny buy-in ($1000 and I have to outfit my office out of my pocket).

To partner or not

My potential partner was very honest about his income and cash-flow. After paying the firm’s bills, he’s averaged about $2500 take-home each month, which seems pretty great given the age of the firm. His primary work has been entity formation, though he’s done some estate/tax planning as well.

If I come in, we would both forgo a draw for the first 2 months while I build our personal injury practice. I would also be lead on any probate case should one come up. My potential partner has never stood before a judge in court.

So the positives:

• a decent cash flow already in place,
• entity formation and estate planning forms developed,
• great office space and a trained receptionist/secretary,
• I get to build and guide our personal injury practice from the ground up.

And the negatives:

• I’m lead counsel and I’ve never really tried a case,
• I find probate work terribly boring,
• I have a partner.

Just looking at that list, it seems like I should partner up. If you guys see anything I missed, please let me know. I told him I would let him know by October 1.

$74,523.38

My final check – with all taxes removed. I wish I could tell you that the firm was sad to see me go, or that they even noticed. I’m going solo; this blog is going to take a bit of a turn.

Interesting details to come.