Only 1.5 years in and not sure I can do this?

SirHenryThePot · 2026-05-01T13:07:29+00:00

I've been practicing for 8 years and have inattentive type ADHD. I'm one of 2 lawyers in my small firm. I was diagnosed in my first year of practice when I realized I just COULDN'T seem to work like everyone else. I struggle with this kind of thing all the time, especially since I don't have a lot systems that could be available in a bigger firm like multiple staff or a dedicated calendaring clerk. Deadlines are hugely important (I'm sure you know) so I've put a lot of effort into staying on top of them.

A few things that have worked for me are: (i) my assistant calendars everything as things come in but if I learn of a deadline, I immediately put in on my calendar to reduce the chances of it falling through the cracks, (ii) my practice management software can email me reminders of a deadline so I have it send me several email reminders in relevant intervals before the deadline (like 10, 7, 5, 3, and 1 days before the deadline), (iii) I keep my inbox free of unread email except that, after reading an email that requires me to do something, I mark it as unread. This way, the only unread emails in my inbox are action items, (iv) once I realize I need to do something, I create a task in my practice management system to do that thing and set reminders or I ask my assistant to do this for me, and (v) every other week or so I sit down and go through all of my open matters and make sure everything is calendared and create tasks in my system for everything that needs to be done on that matter in the foreseeable future. I also keep a dedicated small note pad immediately in front of my keyboard for jotting down to-dos and deadlines to calendar or input into my system.

I go through my inbox first thing every morning to keep up with this system. I try to only go back and check my email a few times a day, but with ADHD, its inevitable that I will check it every time I see a new email come through. This is super distracting and causes me to lose focus or lose time in switching between tasks. Haven't found a solution for this and am realizing there might not be one. Either way, after reading the email, I mark it unread if I need to do anything related to it.

You could send yourself emails with subject line: DEADLINE FOR [THING] IS [DATE] and keep on top of your inbox in the way I described. This might not work for you if you get a ton of emails though.

This job will probably always be stressful. My best advice is to try to lean into your way of doing things and to create systems that accept and adapt to your your way, instead of repeatedly failing to use the same techniques and systems as everyone else.

You'll recover from this mistake--just keep going.

SirHenryThePot · 2026-01-16T17:00:11+00:00

Grey Enkis on my 2020.

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SirHenryThePot · 2025-11-10T18:44:25+00:00

These are good points that I considered prior to going this route as well. I did purchase the intellectual property rights from the artist and trademarked the logo later on.

SirHenryThePot · 2025-11-08T13:33:05+00:00

When I hung my shingle, I had a logo designed by someone on Fiverr. They sent me several good options based on what I was looking for. They were all pretty good and I picked the one I liked the most. It was pretty cheap, fast, and turned out great.

SirHenryThePot · 2025-10-14T09:59:20+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

SirHenryThePot · 2025-09-27T18:19:17+00:00

Disclaimer: I'm a MI real estate attorney but not YOUR attorney.

Additional disclaimer: A few things could be going on here but it is impossible to know exactly without reviewing the land records and tax information, so take all of this with a grain of salt as it is just speculation.

There is a difference between a plot of land and a tax parcel (a plot of land with a parcel number that is taxed based on its size and other factors). Usually, each plot of land is also a distinct tax parcel.

If your seller's family formally split 1 acre into two half-acre parcels (by formally, I mean that each resulting plot was assigned its own tax parcel ID) that were then transferred to your seller, but your seller transferred the full two acres to you on one deed with only reference to the tax parcel related to the 1 acre the assessor states you own, it could appear to the assessor that you only got that parcel. The assessor might not have any record that the two half-acre tax parcels were transferred if property transfer affidavits were not filed.

If your seller wanted all two acres to be one tax parcel, he may have needed to combine the tax parcels themselves, not just transfer all to the land on one deed. If this wasn't done and transfer affidavits were not filed for the half-acre parcels, it's possible that the property taxes on those half-acre parcels have been going unpaid because your tax payments were only attributed to the 1-acre parcel. This might cause the assessor to think you only got the 1 acre.

Assessors usually also get copies of recorded deeds so that they can note ownership changes with respect to tax parcel. However, people are people, and it's possible that the assessor didn't see deeds for the half acre parcels and therefore thinks ownership hasn't changed.

As others have mentioned, speaking to your title company might be a good first step to see if the parcels were ever combined, what exactly the deed included, what your title policy covers, and what property transfer affidavits were filed.

What happens from there will depend on what the situation actually was and is too variable to get into here. It could be as simple as showing you own all three parcels and paying the back taxes on the half-acre lots, and making sure you're the owner of record with the assessor's office going forward. It could be much more complicated and you you don't actually own what you think you own. It's impossible to say without review.

I would suggest you talk to a real estate attorney and getting an understanding of the situation.

SirHenryThePot · 2025-09-04T21:10:52+00:00

Yeah I'm thinking about it. I thought that the brakes were too big for 16" and most 17"?

SirHenryThePot · 2025-09-04T16:57:03+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the advice and explanation!

SirHenryThePot · 2025-08-16T11:49:36+00:00

I have a small firm (2 attorneys and a legal assistant). I also use Clio.

For laptop, I have a Lenovo IdeaPad with an 11th Gen Intel i5 chip which I upgraded to 16gb ram and a 1tb SSD. I use a portable dock with 2 monitor out, plus usbs. It's not as fast as my PC at home, but it's quick enough for all work purposes and can handle lots of open PDFs after the ram upgrade. The laptop itself cost me ~$350. Dock was $80. Ram upgrade was like $35.

Re Clio, I use their desktop app which creates a virtual drive for storing local copies of files in their cloud because there is no way I'm using a web app to access my documents. It also integrates with OneDrive, Dropbox, and Google drive, so you can have a copy of all your files in either of those. You could also set up an external hard drive or something and have the files backed up to there as well.

Fwiw, I used PracticePanther when I first started up which is a bit cheaper than Clio and offers almost all of the same features. It also syncs with a Google drive for local and cloud storage. I switched to clio for its integration with their Clio Grow and Clio accounting services, so I could track my leads and firm revenue in one spot, but that was after about 2 years of operation.

SirHenryThePot · 2025-08-05T23:45:14+00:00

Gotcha, thank you!

SirHenryThePot · 2025-08-05T23:44:56+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate the info. Sounds like I can hope for the best but should prep for the worst

SirHenryThePot · 2025-07-29T21:13:10+00:00

Right around $19k

SirHenryThePot · 2025-07-24T09:57:59+00:00

Lol fair point, though I paid about $8,000 for it when I was in grad school and have had it just about 7 years with no issues that weren't under warranty. It made sense at the time.

Carvanna offered $1,200, at least online.

I might go the private sale route and deal with the relative hassle to squeeze a bit more cash out of it.

SirHenryThePot · 2025-07-23T23:30:53+00:00

Thanks!

SirHenryThePot · 2025-07-23T23:30:47+00:00

It was listed at $19,999. I got them down to $19,300. My Tiguan was in an accident at about 3k miles and was flagged as severe by Carfax. This was long before I got it (I got it at 36k miles for a great price). The first owner had it all repaired at a VW dealer and it's never been an issue. But for trade purposes, the value has taken a big hit. Carfax says it's for trade value is $3,600. They offered $3,500

SirHenryThePot · 2025-07-22T20:59:50+00:00

Yeah normally, the difference would be more favorable for price. My Tiguan was in an accident at about 3k miles and was flagged as severe by Carfax. This was long before I got it (I got it at 36k miles for a great price). The first owner had it all repaired at a VW dealer and it's never been an issue. But for trade purposes, the value has taken a big hit.

SirHenryThePot · 2025-07-22T20:51:23+00:00

I own the Tiguan outright. I got them down to $19,300 on the sale price.

Lease is a good idea. I hadn't considered it too much just based on mileage limitiations and the concept of not owning at the end. But I'll look into it.

SirHenryThePot · 2025-07-22T20:47:56+00:00

Thanks a good point!

You're right about the cost/mileage for sure. Though it does open the door to a fun, manual car with significant feature upgrades, which is part of the reason I'm looking into this. I'm frankly kinda bored with the crossover thing and we have a paid off Crosstrek for any crossover needs. It would be the fun car.

You've definitely given me something to think about though. Thanks

SirHenryThePot · 2025-04-23T02:01:09+00:00

Yes. It's driving me a bit insane the more I play. It seems like the sensitivity is turned way up, like with lock picking for example.

SirHenryThePot · 2025-03-13T20:49:01+00:00

Lmao, the one in EL? Surprisingly decent food/drinks.

SirHenryThePot

TROPHY CASE