One of the things I am certain of is that if I had not found a way to change the way I practice I would have gone from solo lawyer to something altogether different, something that probably would have had very little to do with lawyer.
I know this because I took one year off to go into financial services. That was a total failure as a business, even as I spent two-plus years laying the ground work for it while I continued to practice.
As a lawyer, I have always known: 1) I didn’t want to work in firms; 2) I didn’t want to do rote work, and 3) I didn’t want to just manage. Granted, there are rarely those cases that present a challenge worthy of an Atticus Finch—and I certainly don’t think of myself even close to that ideal.
But I’ve come to learn that it’s the details of people’s lives that will provide the most challenge when it comes to the practice and finding solutions for their problems. This in itself can and often does provide a challenge of sorts.
Thanks to that abysmal failure in financial services, I was able to finally merge what I wanted from the practice with a way of doing it that compliments the other parts of my life. In trying to make that failed business work, I learned quite a bit that I implement in my practice today. But, it’s an evolving thing; and provides its own challenges as well.
I know that I will not grow beyond my assistant because it doesn’t serve my purposes. But it is interesting to see the progress of those around me when they decide do decide to grow beyond solo.
I know that I will not grow beyond my assistant because it doesn’t serve my purposes. But it is interesting to see the progress of those around me when they decide do decide to grow beyond solo.!!
I really read this twice , why?
Hi Ahmad:
One of my strengths is dealing one-on-one with my clients, and I enjoy this interaction. I have worked for firms where a good deal of the clients felt that being handed off to an associate is somehow neglecting their case; and even when we would explain that this did not mean they were being shortchanged, they still felt that way.
Since my time is limited and I also enjoy litigating cases, that means that I don’t feel comfortable handing off a client to an associate. And it doesn’t play well with the way I want to integrate my personal life and my business, meaning that I don’t want it to take over my life to the exclusion of my family.
I have found that I can have a practice with a limited number of litigation cases that lets me earn a good living while also providing the services the way I feel the client benefits the most. I also do a lot of uncontested divorce matters, so it all works out for me.
Obviously that is not to say that everyone should stay solo–in fact, I was recently talking to one of my friends who wanted to hire an associate but was not sure she should. Given what she wants to do and the scope of her practice, we discussed the ways in which she and her clients would benefit from her hiring an associate. She eventually did, and so far she is pretty happy with the arrangements.