Passed the Bar - Hung a Shingle - Stephanie Caballero

Surrogacy lawyer, Stephanie Caballero, never intended to go solo, but life took her to a new city and voila, she's a solo.

Stephanie Caballero, Surrogacy Lawyer

I actually never intended to go solo. When I passed the Bar in December of
2003 I was working for Blue Cross of California in Woodland Hills,
California. At best, I would be in-house counsel for BCC and if not, work in
some sort of regulatory capacity. But then, life happened and in 2004 my
husband got a job in San Diego, so I quit my corporate job, packed up the
kids and the dog and moved to the land of eternal sunshine.

Now what? I had a successful marketing career but no legal experience.
Lawyers, I found out, weren't really interested in talking to me, despite my
marketing skills and I didn't really want to work in marketing when I had
worked so hard for my law degree and license. So, I got creative and
contacted a local surrogate and egg donation attorney (I had had my own
experience with the process) and offered to intern for him. Having gone
through it myself, he thought it would be a good idea. It was, except for
one problem: I didn’t know that I couldn't live where I live and make it
back in time to pick up my kids from preschool. The work was great, but the
drive was killing me.

So, I decided to take the experience I learned in two months and open up my
own practice. It was the best decision I ever made. I used my 10+ years in
marketing to develop my brand and website and then I hit the road marketing
my practice to the physicians and lawyers in the field and I talked to other
new solo attorneys for advice (I'm forever in Cindy Jones's debt). I have
been in practice a little over two years and I have a thriving legal
practice, which includes a paralegal and an assistant. I do attribute my
success in part to my marketing background. I don't know many lawyers that
can say they are first in the Google rankings (try searching "surrogacy
lawyer" and see whose website comes up) after only two years.

As you can imagine, though, the attorney that I interned for was not happy
that I was now his competition. Well, at first he wasn't. Now that he sees
me "everywhere," (his words not mine. He recently told me at an industry
conference that he wanted to give me Sodium Pentothal so he could figure out
how I did it) we now work together and refer clients. But, the best thing
about my practice is I get to help couples and individuals from all over the
world have babies. What's not to like about that.

Stephanie

Stephanie M. Caballero, Esq.
Law Office of Stephanie M. Caballero
1225 San Elijo Road
San Marcos, CA 92078
P (760) 798-2265
F (760) 798-4255
[email protected]
www.surrogacy-lawyer.com
http://surrogacylawyer.blogspot.com/