WE CAN HELP YOU FIND YOUR PALMTREE
More about Operation PalmTree
Tara and Jeremy have very different, completely separate solo law firm practices. Both firms leverage new technologies and workflows to achieve efficiencies and enhance client service.
Jeremy is a design and construction attorney. He represents businesses. His work is heavily transactional, including design and construction contract negotiation. He has also litigated, arbitrated, and mediated disputes continually since 2002.
Tara is an estate planning attorney. She represents families, emphasizing parents with young children. Her flexible practice is built around not just serving her clients, but making time for her four young kids.
Jeremy dove deeply into new legal technology and systems in 2017 – not to start his own firm, but to help Tara improve her law practice. Hooked and fascinated, Jeremy had no choice but to follow her lead out of big law and into solo practice.
Meet Jeremy
Jeremy S. Baker has practiced law in Chicago and nationally since 2002. In 2019, he formed Baker Law Group LLC to pursue a positive vision of the future, technology, and client service. Jeremy left a great job – partnership at Schiff Hardin LLP, a terrific AmLaw 200 firm with elite lawyers – after nearly 14 years. A resident of its 175-plus attorney Chicago Office, he was elected partner in 2012. From 2002-2006, Jeremy was an attorney at Cozen O’Connor PC, an AmLaw 100 firm.
His full bio is available on Baker Law’s website: www.buildchicagolaw.com
Meet Tara
In 2011, Tara V. Baker formed Trust – Estate Planning for New Families to provide new families with a high-quality estate planning alternative to traditional law firms. From 2008-2011, she served at Vedder Price PC, an AmLaw 200 firm, as member of its Estate Planning and Financial Services Group. Previously, she practiced at Strauss & Malk LLP, a boutique law firm in the Chicago suburbs. In 2019, Tara re-booted Trust to implement the cutting-edge legal technologies and systems that also drive Jeremy’s firm.
Her full bio is available on Trust’s website: www.estateplanningfornewfamilies.com
“Operation PalmTree” was the code name for our plans to leave big law on our solo mission adventure!
A LOOK INTO OUR WHY
Why did we look for our PalmTree?
We left great law firm jobs for freedom and opportunity! We sought the ability to practice on our own terms, with a positive vision of the future and client service. We were empowered by knowledge of new technology and systems that make going solo easier and more affordable than ever.
The world vastly changed in the last five years. Yet, many lawyers have not. They live an obsolete 3-ring binder world of pens, paper, and repetitive tasks that cry for automation. They plod along habitually, with a dull awareness that inefficiency means billable hours. They are unaware of what’s new. And these lawyers will be left behind.
In contrast, some lawyers are part of a culture that focuses on technology and efficiency. Eager early adopters, they are nimble. They look for what is next. They use lean concepts to eliminate waste. They use artificial intelligence, today. They do not hire staff to perform repetitive tasks, they try to automate them. These lawyers will thrive.
Law practice is at a crossroads. Major change is coming, even for lawyers who resist it. What worked in the last decade will not suffice in the next. Many established lawyers and firms will struggle. Only those lawyers who ‘look up’ from their billable task and ask – is there a better way? – will keep pace with those who do.
Was going solo the right decision? Absolutely! We LOVE our former firms, but it was our best decision yet! We get to practice on our terms, with the technology and systems that suit us and our clients. We no longer need ask for permission. We no longer hope for raises or bonuses. We no longer have “jobs” – we just do our thing!
