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Shuttered law firm's attorneys hang out shingles

It’s been nearly eight months since one of Fresno’s oldest law firms folded, leaving its 21 attorneys to make their mark elsewhere. Some have gone on to form budding new practices to serve the Valley.

After 50 years in business, Kimble, MacMichael & Upton succumbed to economic pressures in March, spelling the end of Fresno’s fifth largest law firm and leaving a void for specialties ranging from corporate and labor law to estate planning, patent and tax issues.

Two Kimble alumni, Mark Miller and Marcus DiBuduo, look to fill one of those voids by establishing one of the few Valley practices devoted to intellectual property rights such as patents, copyrights and trade secrets.

Housed in an office at 6780 N. West Ave. in Fresno, Sierra IP Law will serve a diversity of business clients from Bakersfield to Modesto.

“We've been blessed because we were doing a lot of intellectual property work and a majority of our clients came over with us,” said Miller, a 25-year veteran of Kimble, MacMichael & Upton who was named four times among the nation’s Super Lawyers by the magazine of the same name.

Source: Fresno Business Journal

Risky Business: Startup Advice from Women Lawyers - Attorney at ...

by Joan Feldman

You want to do it,” says  Roberta D. Liebenberg , a senior partner at Fine Kaplan in Philadelphia. Whether you prefer to work late at night or in the morning, it’s your choice—and if you need to leave for a soccer game you can.

While economic forces may be spurring more lawyers to start their own firms, the desire for autonomy—to create a workplace built around your own values and no one else’s—is a powerful motivator. Liebenberg says that for her the final push came during a camp visit with her youngest child. “A partner at my law firm tracked me down, and I spent the entire camp visit on the phone dealing with an anxiety attack he was having about a case. At that point, I decided to start my own firm.”

In October, Liebenberg joined five of her colleagues—all contributors to the new ABA book  Road to Independence: 101 Women’s Journeys to Starting Their Own Law Firms —for a frank discussion of what it takes to succeed in your own firm. The ABA-CLE teleconference featured moderator Marsha E. Simms , Amanda Green Alexander, Julie I. Fershtman, Georgialee A. Lang, Liebenberg and Karen M. Lockwood....