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Baylor Law School Launches Inaugural Legal Mapmaker™ Clinic
By: Josh Weaver

Legal Mapmaker™ is the new two-day workshop designed to prepare young lawyers to open their own law firms. It provides a model business plan with two goals: helping lawyers succeed and helping the public by showing lawyers how to provide legal services efficiently and affordably.

The inaugural Legal Mapmaker™ clinic occurred on August 18 and 19, 2016, at Baylor Law School in Waco.  Legal Mapmaker™ is sponsored by Baylor Law School in cooperation with other law schools and the State Bar of Texas and is designed to partner with the new young lawyer coaching network being developed by the Texas Young Lawyers Association. This collaboration seeks to give young lawyers the tools they need to get started and the coaches to help them grow. The Legal Mapmaker™ sponsoring schools plan to expand this first two-day program into a full-week workshop over the next three years.

This year’s participants delved into 12 practice development topics:

1.  Mission and professionalism;

2.  Selection of practice areas;

3.  Office and staffing;

4.  Business plan;

5.  Financial management;

6.  Avoiding malpractice (compliance issues);

7.  Marketing;

8.  Technology;

9.  Case evaluation and referrals;

10.  Client relations and delivery of services;

11.  Bar and community involvement; and

12.  Coaching.

Written materials for each topic accompanied the live presentations to provide step-by-step guidance for success and efficiency.

Much like the State Bar’s Texas Opportunity and Justice Incubator program, Legal Mapmaker™ aspires to increase the public’s access to justice. By following the Legal Mapmaker™ recommended steps and starting a law firm that is efficient and cost-conscious, young lawyers will be in a position to help their fellow Americans who are otherwise not served by the legal profession.

In keeping with this goal, Legal Mapmaker™ is waiving the program fee for all attendees who pledge to take one pro bono case in their first year of practice, preferably in partnership with the Pro Bono Mentor Program sponsored by the State Bar of Texas. The Legal Mapmaker™ sponsors believe that by taking one pro bono case, young lawyers will find they enjoy the opportunity to serve, and incorporate pro bono representation into their future professional careers.

Be on the lookout for future Legal Mapmaker™ clinics!

Views and opinions expressed in eNews are those of their authors and not necessarily those of the Texas Young Lawyers Association or the State Bar of Texas.