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The Everyday Lawyer

I teach freelancers, solopreneurs, and small business owners how to manage the legal issues in their businesses with confidence. There's an access to practical legal knowledge problem in the world of entrepreneurship and I'm on a mission to fix it. If you want to receive actionable guidance on how to get your business's legal house in order, subscribe to my newsletter Becoming Legalese Literate.

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Featured Post

The Root of All Our Problems

No Hons, I'm not talking about the current state of our society or the current political situation in the States. Lol. There are simply not enough lifetimes to get to the root of those problems. I'm talking about the roots of our problems. By "our" I mean us business owners who are out here trying to figure out what it takes to make enough money in our businesses to be financially stable and comfortable. If you don't know this about me, then let me share: I love history. Like really love it....

Whelp, it's official! I've just about had it with ultimatum marketing from online business lawyers, y'all! In case you don't know what I'm talking about, let me give you an example by way of a recent exchange I had on Threads (this is one of many): And believe me when I say I KNOW you're not here for petty social media spats, but I'm sharing this with you for a good reason. That reason is this: as long as you're hanging around here, you'll never hear me advocating for 100% legal protection...

Hey Reader, Call me crazy, but I love the summertime for business. People always say business is slow in the summer and it's stressful, but to me, my business always feels the most exciting in the summer. I admit that part of the reason for this is that I'm a single woman with no kids so my time is mine to do whatever I want with. And in the summer, I like to work. That's because I'm pretty introverted and don't like large crowds. And in the summer, people are outside and there are large...

Hi Reader, This week's unscheduled newsletter is a little off-topic, but still deeply connected to the ethos of the work I do here. If you've been here for a minute, then you know I'm actively seeking recurring contributions to support my mutual aid fund The Everyday Lawyer Solidarity Fund. So today, I wanted to take a minute to talk about the history of mutual aid in the black community, the lineage that my particular mutual aid is born from, and why that means so much to me. First, mutual...

Hey Reader, The last time my brother visited, we ended up talking about how stupid the current corporate layoff trend is. You know the one. It's where giant corporations lay off a bunch of highly capable people on a Friday and then post a bunch of job openings for the roles they just fired people from the following Monday. Only the salary ranges for the new job openings happen to be meaningfully lower than what they were just paying someone to do that same job. It's the classic cost-cutting...

Hey Reader, Remember how I said in my last email that we're in a nonconsensual relationship with the law? Well, this week I want to talk more about that because it's not something we discuss often, but it's worth mentioning. This year, I'm participating in my friend Toi's free program The Deepening where you receive one email per week on a political topic as a way to create a consistent practice of political education and engagement. One of the recent articles I received was about anarchy....

Happy whatever day you're reading this, Reader, I'm popping into your inbox today with some practical tips and realities for changing your relationship with the law. Let's get started with a few truths: We are in a nonconsensual relationship with the law. We don't actually discuss and decide on the laws. Nor do we get to choose whether or not they apply to us. The law is enforced upon us. That makes for an imbalanced power dynamic between those who have the power to enforce the law and those...

Happy Friday, Reader, I'm popping into your inbox briefly today because the sun is out for the first time all week here in Maryland and I plan to enjoy it before the April showers return next week. Yesterday, my podcast episode with Melanie Padgett Powers, host of the Deliberate Freelancer podcast, came out and can I say that I think it's my best podcast interview to date? First, Melanie said that I make the law "fascinating." Roll your eyes if you want to, but it's a huge point of pride for...

Can I tell you something, Reader? You're never *just* going to get a standard legal service from me. I'm never *just* going to send you a contract or *just* create a guide for you that explains what your contract means and how to negotiate it. You're never *just* getting a legal action plan in my strategy sessions. And you're not *just* buying a contract foundations course that teaches you the foundational principles of contracting. I'm not built to *just* deliver a service. I'm wired to...

Hi there, Reader, I'm a little late in getting out my February newsletter. I was in Los Angeles for almost 3 weeks cleaning out a storage unit full of furniture and closing out a 17-year chapter of my life as a West Coaster. It was emotional, to say the least, but also very, very needed. Your girl is officially an East coaster who travels to the West Coast every now and then for work and fun. Anyway, that's not what I want to talk to you about today. What I want to talk to you about is when...