There’s always something to howl about.

Into the belly of the beast…

So I’ve been building a criminal practice… I’ve now reached the point that I’m bringing in enough clients to make that self-sustaining in terms of paying the bills and generating some income. Criminal practice is fun, but limited in terms of compensation.

My intention has always been to add at least one, maybe two areas of practice onto that. I’ve been considering some kind of debt/bankruptcy law or equine law (or both). Of course, I don’t want to spread myself too thin. There’s a lot to learn in each area. Equine law is uncharted. There are a few practitioners, but none doing it the way I’d like it to be done. I’d need to invent a whole business model myself, test it, then innovate. In addition to that, I’d need to get acquainted with areas of the law for which there are few, if any, mentors. There’d be a lot of self-learning.

Debt/bankruptcy law is pretty well charted, although I have my own innovations I’d like to introduce, particularly on the business and marketing end. The good thing is that while I’d be able to innovate in certain respects, I wouldn’t have to develop a business model out of whole cloth. And there are tried and true litigation methods, and “Continuing Legal Education” classes that teach you those methods.

So I’m in a bit of a quandry. I’m leaning toward the debt/bankruptcy practice because it is proven and because I can anticipate returns in the first half of 2010. These returns are not insignificant. Equine law may be a time and money suck for a while before either failing or being a huge winner. The upside on equine law could be huge, much bigger than bankruptcy/debt law.

Here’s one additional consideration: If you’re a pessimist about this economy, you should expect bankruptcy and debt law to be a thriving area for years and years to come.

Any thoughts?