Deciding to go it alone: leaving a partnership rewarding for some.

Cynthia Elkins was on the partnership track when it became clear that her employment law practice didn't fit well with the firm's main focus, workers' compensation.

Instead of moving to another firm, Elkins decided to hang out her own shingle, a move she admits was "scary" at first.

Now I don't look back," said Elkins, whose practice has grown large enough to add another associate. "When you're an associate the partnership mentality is so dominant in your head because it's the thing that validates you. But I gained more respect by venturing out on my own."

Most attorneys will tell you that a partnership at a firm still carries the greatest cachet in the profession, and there is a lingering stigma that those who choose to go it alone can't cut it in a big firm, but those clinging to that image are the partners in those very firms.

Many who opt to go it alone or with a small firm are finding plenty of respect measured in the size of their practice, the work that they do and the recognition they get from clients, they say. That's especially true for business attorneys who say their clients appreciate their experience running a business as much as they do their legal expertise.

At the same time, the Internet has eliminated the biggest shortcomings traditionally attributed to the solo practice--the support of a research department and a hand from colleagues when they need it. Solo practitioners now have access to a number of online resources to help with everything from case law to feedback on opposing counsel.

"As a sole practitioner, with the onset of the computer age, I have access to resources from the county bar; trial lawyers have another service," said Allan Oberman, a Woodland Hills-based business transaction and litigation attorney. "You can ask questions about how to handle a problem or has anyone dealt with this attorney or that judge. I needed a Spanish interpreter for a trial and within a minute and a half I had two recommendations."

Among the members of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, a full 50 percent are solo practitioners, according to a survey the association conducted last year, and another 20 percent work at firms with five or fewer attorneys.

Women are least likely to have partnership positions at firms. According to a study conducted by the National Association for Legal Career Professionals, although 47 percent of the attorneys at L.A. area law firms are women, just under 19 percent are partners, a fact perhaps as much attributable to lifestyle choice as to the glass ceiling, some say.

"I think a lot of women purposely take themselves off the partnership track," said Sue M. Bendavid-Arbiv, a partner at Lewitt, Hackman, Shapiro, Marshall & Harlan in Encino and a mother of three. "For me, it was a goal to become a partner, and I was very driven. I didn't think I couldn't do it and be a good mother at the same time."

But many female attorneys choose jobs that give them more time at home, and men too are increasingly choosing career paths that provide a better balance between domestic and professional responsibilities. Some left large law firms to start a solo practice only to build it into a larger firm--this time on their own terms.

Consider Ira Rosenblatt, founder and director of Woodland Hills-based Stone, Rosenblatt & Cha, which began as a solo operation in 1992 and has grown to number 20 attorneys.

"We've hired a number of associates who have taken significant pay cuts to work for our firm," said Rosenblatt. "The tradeoff is it's going to be a shorter commute, and it's not uncommon for a number of lawyers here to be out coaching their kids' soccer game."

Choosing a partnership at a large law firm means commuting to downtown Los Angeles or Century City.

Besides the commute, achieving partnership status means an attorney must produce about 36 so-called "billable hours" a week, a requirement that translates to 10-hour days and more. And it often means being in the office when the partners are there, regardless of individual preference or clients' needs.

"I'm not a morning person," said Elkins. "When I worked at a firm where the partners got there at 7 in the morning, and I didn't, it was an issue. They left at four or five and they didn't acknowledge that I was there until 10."

Women may be more likely to choose a solo practice or in-house counsel role when they are raising children, but many of the reasons for the choice also involve the nature of a large-firm practice. Issues resonate with both sexes.

The whole issue of billable hours, many attorneys say, means that they spend time doing, not the work they most enjoy, but merely the work that generates revenue for the firm.

Deborah Sweeney left a partnership at Michelman & Robinson for an in-house counsel position at Mycorporation.com after giving birth to her first child. But she has stayed in that role even as the company was acquired by Intuit and what began as a part-time position has evolved into full-time work.

"It's not quite the hours of a law firm where you're expected to be there from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. as a partner," said Sweeney, who has since had a second child. "It's not necessarily easier. It's more manageable."

In place of partnership pressures, those who choose to go it alone must become their own IT, billing and accounts payable managers, time consuming work even as compared to the race for billable hours, as Wendy E. Hartmann found when she left a seven-attorney practice to go solo.

"My daughter was in high school, and I wanted to be able to spend more time with her," recalled Hartmann, who is now folding her solo practice into Alperstein, Simon, Farkas, Gillin & Scott. "I thought I could limit the amount of work I wanted to take on and I could make my own hours. But I think I was a little naive thinking I would have more flexibility."

The difference, these attorneys say, is they can choose the hours when they work.

"I coached my son's little league team for eight years," said Oberman. "Without being a sole practitioner, which allows me to adjust my time accordingly, I probably would have missed those eight years."

By SHELLY GARCIA

Senior Reporter