4 Hartford Business Journal • April 10, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com
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incubator can teach him, he said.
Cynthea Motschmann, 36, of Farmington,
also just started at UConn's incubator. She said
she values the mentorship, office space and
other types of support the center is providing.
"Working at a [small or large] firm you
have these challenges, but it's a little difficult
when you're a solo attorney because you don't
have the staff to help you, so you have to rely
on networking and colleagues," Motschmann
said. "This program is a great idea and it's
definitely fostering a support system for all
of us here."
Growth tips
Growing from a solo to small practice also
can be a challenge, albeit one many would
like to have.
Meghan Freed of Freed Marcroft LLC in
Hartford originally started a solo practice,
but then partnered with her life partner, Kris-
ten Marcroft, to grow the firm.
"I had done big firms and needed to decide
what was next, and I really wanted to take
the skills I had learned in those large envi-
ronments and translate them into skills that
would serve individuals instead of corpora-
tions," Freed recalled.
Figuring out health plans was a major chal-
lenge, along with how to switch gears from
corporate finance to marital and family law,
a decision she and Marcroft made together.
"We hired a business coach [who] said
you absolutely have to focus your practice;
that's critical to thriving," Freed said. "We
both instantly said [we wanted to focus on]
divorce and family law."
For Poriss, managing growth also means
learning to say no to some clients.
"We don't take everybody who wants to
work with us," she said. "Lawyers who do that
are going to be broke and burnt out and make
mistakes."
Nationwide, American Bar Association
President Linda Klein, who last year met with
solo and small firm attorneys in small cities
all over the country, followed up by launching
"ABA Blueprint" in the fall — a suite of virtual
and practical products and consulting services
aimed directly at the solo and small market.
That relatively new program, available to
ABA members and nonmembers for various
monthly fees, integrates tools so attorneys
don't have to try out products on their own
that later prove incompatible.
"I'm very excited about this program,
because I believe it will enable the lawyers
at smaller firms to compete with larger firms
and bring access to justice to more people,"
Klein said. n
