Advice for young lawyers and law students: Get practical experience

The general consensus seems to be that most law schools do little, if anything to prepare their students for the actual practice of law. It is a constant refrain on many law blogs devoted to legal practice and marketing, and law firms seem to grumble about it, too.

Susan Cartier Liebel, of Build a Solo Practice, LLC, gets a glimmer of hope upon hearing a radio ad for a law school that touts its preparation of students for the actual practice of law:

I was truly impressed. Maybe, just maybe, not every law school aspires to be the next Yale. Maybe, just maybe, more positions will open at these law schools for adjuncts who actually practice law. Maybe, just maybe more law schools will opt out of competing for artificial ranking in U.S. News and World Report. And maybe, just maybe, as we preach to new lawyers to fashion practices centered around the client those same law schools will fashion educational programs around the needs of their clients, the students. And maybe, just maybe, the ABA will loosen up or revamp their accreditation process to mandate more skills training so the education makes more sense in the real world.

That would be nice, wouldn't it? I have to admit that I was awfully caught up in the old way of doing things. The reason, I think, is that I loved the process of learning the law. Loved it. I'm one of those guys that was always volunteering answers in class instead of praying that the professor wouldn't call on me. I relished the hours in the library, briefing cases, reading hornbooks, and drafting outlines. Geez, I think I even liked exams! 

I did very well in law school, and I guess I just assumed that my law school success would eventually lead to success in practice. The "ideal" career model at the time seemed to be to get a job with a big law firm (which I did), spend the first few years in the library and learning the ropes (which I did), gradually take on more responsibility for dealing with clients (which I did), and eventually start networking and bringing in clients (which I never got the hang of), after which you eventually made partner (which I never had a realistic shot at — see "bringing in clients"). 

In retrospect, neither my approach to school nor my career path were the best for me. Sure, I loved law school, but I failed to take advantage of clinics that could have taught me more of the nuts and bolts. 

And the big firm? I really didn't like most of my big firm time, and would have gained a heck of a lot more practical experience, and probably a lot more skill at networking and business development, at a small firm. 

It's never too early to start gaining practical experience. Do it in law school, if you can.

Have I been too negative?

Until my last post, I did not even have a "successes" category of posts. Oh, I already had categories ("labels," in Google Blogger parlance) regarding state of mind, like "attitude," "motivational resources," and "personal." But nothing explicitly designating a success.

Odd as it may seem, especially with my recent comment that this is a sad blog, I hadn't really thought that I was writing this blog or running my practice with a severely negative attitude (somewhat negative, sure). But I suspect that my lack of a "successes" category up to this point is because I was being too negative and overlooking other successes.

It took a big one like this — which I'm hoping is a sign of things to come — for me to start a "successes" category. Here's to many more posts going into that category!

UPDATE: You used to see this in my sidebar:

Not anymore. No doubt I will still use humor to get by tough times, but I think I'll try to keep it uplifting. I realized that sidebar gadget was violating my advice not to joke about failure.

Hallelujah! The blog finally brings in a paying client!

I can't believe it! After nearly 18 months of blogging, during which I put up more than 600 posts, finally — finally — I have signed up a paying client that found me through my professional blog (not this one, obviously — my other blog).

This started coming together last Thursday, when I picked up a voicemail from someone who had come across my blog. Immediately, I knew this contact had potential, but I was afraid even thinking about that would jinx it. A couple of phone calls later, a couple hours brainstorming at the client's office yeserday afternoon, and . . . I was driving back to the office with a $5000 check in my briefcase.

I had just about given up hope, especially with a severe run of people looking for free legal services a couple of months ago.

Let's hope this new client is a sign of things to come!

A crushing realization: I'm on the dole.

I never applied for welfare.  That is, I never went to a government office and said I was out of work and needed money.  But I find myself on the dole nonetheless.

How?

The "Earned Income Tax Credit."  From the IRS website:

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) sometimes called the Earned Income Credit (EIC), is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families. Congress originally approved the tax credit legislation in 1975 in part to offset the burden of social security taxes and to provide an incentive to work. When the EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit.

In other words, I last year I had so little income that, notwithstanding substantial premature, taxable withdrawals from my IRA, my tax liability was still less than the EITC, and the government is giving me the difference. 

I was expecting to owe a lot in federal income taxes because not all of my premature contributions had tax withheld.  When my tax preparer told me last week (I had an extension) that I was going to get money, I asked how that was possible.  When he told me it was the EITC, I felt bad enough, but then he added: "That's highly unusual.  I only have one or two people a year that qualify for that."  Gee, thanks for making me feel worse!

Yeah, I know that a lot of people say that the EITC is not welfare because it goes to "working people."   In other words, they claim that because it's not simply doling out money to people without a job, then it's not welfare.

But it's the government giving me money because I'm in sorry financial shape.  It's hard for me to rationalize that away as just another "tax deduction."

As with most setbacks, I am going to try to turn this into a positive.  I've never had a motivator this strong, and you can bet that if I am ever as successful as I think I have the potential to be,  I will look back on this time as a driving force. 

The Rationale Behind the New Sidebar Header Photo

My wife has known about this blog almost since its inception, but I don't think she's ever read it. She knows it is therapeutic for me to get my thoughts down. But she's not that familiar with the overall tenor of the blog.

This weekend, I added the photo you see under the "About Me and this Blog" heading in the sidebar. My wife, sitting next to me on the sofa, where I was working on my laptop, noticed the photo.

"Oh, that's such a sad photo!" she said.

"It's a sad blog," I responded.

I think she may read it now.

On the brighter side, I've lightened up the blog.  No more black background, a little more color.  A little more cheery.

UPDATE (10/29/08):  Maybe I should have said this is a sad blog so far.

I Should Have Such Problems

A couple of weeks ago, a lawyer in Nevada named Tami Cowden ran a couple of posts on her Appealing in Nevada blog about the odd number of resources available to lawyers who want to transition out of practice.

In her first post, she wondered, do other professions act like this?

In her second, she hits on one of the reasons that lawyers get discouraged about practicing law, and puts it in personal terms when she writes: "[I]n my more cynical moments, I have described commercial litigation as working for wealthy people who can’t get along."

I think that is a very common sentiment among litigators, especially among associates in big law firms. I had the same feeling myself on occasion when I was an associate. I even had an associate from the adverse firm express that sentiment to me about the case in which we faced each other! So, like many lawyers, I thought at times that there simply had to be better uses of my time.

I acted on that impulse, but by going into a different area of law rather than leaving it entirely.

Now, of course, I long for a few well-heeled clients, no matter how inane their problems, as long as I could turn those problems into paying work. Trust me, all you associates complaining about how your work is not rewarding — it could be a lot worse. You could be in my shoes. That thought won't get you through thirty years of an unsatisfying career, but it should provide at least temporary solace. Perhaps it will at least keep your work from suffering or give you a more sober view of your options.

I'm not trying here to belittle the concerns of lawyers facing career dissatisfaction. Remember, I was once in your shoes. I'm just providing a little perspective.

By the way. Ms. Cowden's second post goes on to describe a particularly satisfying occasion, which is worth reading about.

Back Up and Running

One of the problems with a struggling practice (beside the obvious financial hardship) is that it causes one — or causes me, more accurately — to think from time to time that if I can just make it past — X being whatever obstacle I see in my way — then things will improve. There are a couple of problems with that approach.

I'll illustrate both problems by analogizing to my first (and, to date, only) century (100-mile bike ride), in which the course ran through the Sierra foothills (but it was not the California Death Ride, which would have been impossible for me). Suffice it to say that I finished, but that I wasn't in nearly the shape I should have been.

Now, to the problems.

First, X might not go away. Because the century course ran through the foothills, there were many twisty ascents, and the view around each curve was usually obstructed by evergreens, so you couldn't usually tell what was around the next turn, let alone how far it was to the summit. If I had a nickel for every time during that ride that I looked up in exhaustion and thought, "the summit has to be around the next curve" only to find yet another climbing turn in front of me, I would have been able to retire my student loan debt a few years early. What might not go away, or at least last far longer than you think you can stand in your practice? How about a lack of business, or perhaps some personal financial setbacks?

Second, even if the X is removed (or, better yet, overcome), that doesn't mean you have long to wait before you meet the next X. My relief at reaching each summit in the bike ride lasted just until I finished coasting back to the bottom, when it was time for the next climb. So, it's not necessarily going to be smooth sailing.

These thoughts are brought to mind by the fact that I finally replaced my computer and wireless internet card. That's one X out of the way . . . I no longer have to do a lot of work on my living room computer. And I cannot even being to convey how demoralizing that theft was. I really felt I was being kicked while I was down.

So, I'm wondering what my next X will be and when it will hit. Not in a sad sack, "poor me" sort of way, but in a "I want to be prepared" sort of way.

Whatever it is, it's nothing that more business can't help.

Please, Please Stop Asking Me for Free Legal Services

Image via Wikipedia I just can't stand it anymore. Since the exceptional low point nearly three weeks ago of having my computer stolen, at least six people have asked me to represent them for free. What gives? Why do you think I would do that? I'm barely scraping by here.

If you need free legal services, call a public service organization related to your concern or call your county bar association and see if they have a pro bono panel, i.e., a slate of lawyers willing to provide free representation in the right circumstances.

Stop calling me, unless you're prepared to pay a reasonable fee. I mean it. I'm beginning to feel like I have a "kick me" sign on my back. You're going to drive me insane.

To the Thief Who Stole My Computer

Around 5:30 a.m. on August 7 — I know the time from the alarm log — you broke the window to my office and pulled out my iMac, Fujitsu scanner, USB hub and wireless broadband card, and got away before response to the alarm arrived. Those items will cost me about $2,000 to replace.

I've waited this long to post because my feelings have vacillated over the last 20 days between wishing you had severed an artery when you broke the window to get in or that my iMac might accidentally fall into the tub while you're taking a bath (sinful thoughts, I know, and ones that I fight) and just trying to brush this off and carry on. My initial post contained both sentiments — ill will toward you and a defiant "you can't beat me, I will carry on" type of rah-rah BS.

I just don't know about the rah-rah any more. I've been struggling for years, I've been busting my ass nearly around the clock the last two months bringing in some fees for a change, I'm barely feeding my family, and around $20,000 in work recently melted away. I am hanging by a very thin thread — financially, emotionally, mentally. For a few days there, I was thinking that you actually did me in.

Then, some good news. It looks like the insurance company is going to come through with replacement value for everything. So, the struggle continues - even though I am currently using that money to live on and won't be able to replace the computer for a while.

I Wasn't Emotionally Prepared for My Move-Out

Well, you know that my lease recently ended.  And you know that I started with an office that was snazzier than I needed.  So, I should have been thrilled at the opportunity to downsize, and I was.

And yet, it has been a painful experience.  Packing up my office was a lot like those scenes you see in movies, where someone packs up the house they've always lived in, and every item they touch holds its own memory.  Except in those scenes, its almost always fond memories that are evoked.  In my real-life move out, the memories were almost all bad, about promise unfulfilled.

First, I was forced to face what a pack rat I've been.  All that paper!  most of which I didn't need and went straight into the recycling bin, where it should have gone months or years ago.

Them there was the substance of so many of those papers.  Lost opportunities.  Poor follow-up.  And in way, way too many cases, time wasted.

There were the memories of how excited I was to move into the office, certain of how impressed potential clients would be, and that I'd be making money within a year, two at most.  That unfulfilled expectation is really putting a damper on my hopes for the new place, though I know I have to learn from my past experience.

Anyway, those bad memories kept hitting me as I packed up the office, and it was really tough because my wife was helping me pack and our young daughter was there most of the day, too.  So it made me even more conscious than I usually am that those failures meant that I had failed my family.  Had I not been so busy with so much packing and moving to do, I don't know how long I would have dwelt on those thoughts.  As it was, thank God, I was so busy that I couldn't dwell on them.  Still, they were enough to stress me out, to make me short with my wife even as she was helping me.

Now that I think about it, this is a purely cathartic post.  Not much you can learn from it.  And I don't mean to scare anyone out of going solo.  But it this post instills a little fear in you, that's not a bad thing.

My Lease is Up! Time for a Fresh Look at Overhead.

You've seen me post previously about renting too much or too nice of an office.  That was a BIG mistake of mine.  Worse yet, I had an escape clause that I could have exercised after either of the first two years of the lease, and I decided each time not to exercise it.  Dumb.

At the end of the first year, I figured I still needed the nice space to impress those clients that were going to walk through the door "any day now."  After all, it had only been a year, and everything I'd read told me I was supposed to still be losing money (which I was), so I thought I'd take it another year.  The two-year point was the pint, after all, at which I was supposed to start making money.

So another year went by, time to either get out of the lease or stick it out for the full three-year ride.  To tell you the truth, I can't really remember why I didn't exercise the early termination clause.  I know it was a conscious decision (i.e., that I didn't just forget and miss the deadline), but I can't remember why I made it.  Could be that I had a burst of business at the time that both made it inconvenient to move and convinced me that prosperity was around the corner.  Could be I was just stubborn and wasn't willing to admit that I had bitten off more than I could chew.  After all, I still had money in the bank back then.  Whatever the reason, I stayed in the for the long haul.

Now, the three years is up, and none too soon.  Beautiful building, great landlord, nice location, even fair rent -- but even the fair rent is more than I can afford right now.  So I am downsizing quite a bit.  A home office wasn't practical, so I still had to rent space, but at only about 36% of the rent I've been paying for the last year.  That ought to help.

A friend of mine helped me move some of my office furniture into storage (another expense, but I'm hoping I'll need it again in another year or so, and storing it is much cheaper than buying the same quality all over again).  He said to me as we were carrying something down to the truck, "I don't mean to sound callous, but I remember asking you as you were moving in (he helped with that, too), 'Are you sure you need all this space and this nice of an office?'"  I remembered that very clearly . . . damn!.

The change in office is a good opportunity to reevaluate all of my overhead.

Phone lines and Internet ISP?  Gone!  It will be less expensive for me to use cell phone for voice, Sprint wireless broadband for Internet, MyFax for Internet faxing.  With the wireless broadband, I can drop my ISP.  No hard feelings towards any of my vendors.  The AT&T service was fine, and I would happily recommend DSL Extreme, which was great.  But money is money.

Westlaw subscription?  That $500-a-month monkey on my back is over in about three more months, and I'm letting it drop.  I actually love the service, but handy as it has proven to be (working on those briefs and memoranda late at night, after the law library closes), my client load was never consistent enough for me to be sure I'd have clients to pass the cost through to every month.  I ate a lot of it out of my pocket.  Doing without will require two things: (1) a satisfactory, low-cost alternative (Loislaw, maybe) and (2) the discipline to adjust my work habits so I'm not doing late-night work and can get heavy-duty research done at the library (which happens to make Westlaw available to its patrons) during the day.

(You may be wondering why I have to work late at night when business has generally been slow.  Two reasons: (1) when I got business, it was in spurts, and (2) ADD [I think].)

The combined savings in rent, phone, Internet, and Westlaw will be around $1300 per month.  Yeah!

In any event, I'm sure happy for these changes.  Combined with a recent uptick in business, they are giving me reason to hope -- for around the 10th time or so since I opened my practice, I'm afraid --  that prosperity is right around the corner.

Here I go!

Get Your ADD Under Control Before You Go Solo

That post title may strike you as tongue-in-cheek, but it's not. I'm deadly serious. And forgive all the background you're about to read before you get to the point of this post, but it's necessary.

Do I have Attention Deficit Disorder? I don't know for sure. I've always considered it an over-diagnosed "disorder." But I can tell you that since I started writing this post around 60 seconds ago, I've already thought of 5 other things to do and I almost left this page in the middle of typing this to run a Google search on one of those items.

I used to joke about having ADD. When I was an in-house general counsel, I used to come home frustrated with all the different things that had tugged at my attention diuring the day, with the result that I would hop from project to project. I'd come home and tell my wife, "It's as if I have adult ADD!"

Well, maybe I do. My wife is fairly convinced of it. She's been reading up on it because our daughter has dyslexia, and dyslexia and ADD often go hand in hand.

I'm not yet convinced, but I'm getting there. I know how my mind can flit from one thing to another. But I don't quite seem to fit the profile. According to the book I'm reading, Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder, the typical ADD sufferer is an underachiever and behavior problem in school and tends to "settle" for an unsatisfying marriage and career. That just doesn't describe me at all. I was near the top of my class in high school and law school (undergrad, where I majored in electrical engineering, was another story -- I barely finished in the top half of my class). And, to put it mildly, I was (for the most part) a "goody two shoes." And I sure didn't "settle" when it came to marrying or my career. I think I made out like a bandit in my choice of spouse and I am in the career that I want, and that I thoroughly enjoy when I am not being distracted . . . I'm just not sure I'll be able to make a living at it on my own.

No, school was no problem, nor was my coice of spouse or career. It's everything else I have a problem with.

But I also think I demonstrate the upside of ADD: I am a creative thinker. Sometimes, too creative, which can be a problem. I come up with a million ideas during any given project, most of which are eventually jettisoned, but can get in the way of the development of ideas that make it through to the end.

So, whether I technically have ADD or not, whether it's actually a "disorder" or not (regardless, it is a different way of thinking), I know that I am distracted from my tasks many times during the day. Sometimes, I go to the law library to work, even if I don't need to use its resources, just to eliminate distractions like internet access and administrative office tasks. (I'm not about to seek medication, and will not self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, which is apparently common.)

I have the potential to succeed despite ADD. So, my immediate steps are to become aware of how my mind works. I am now very often aware when I am being distracted and can correct much better than I used to.

The authors of Delivered from Distraction note that many highly successful business people have ADD. I've only looked at one case study so far (I'm not very far in the book), but the keys seem to be to concentrate on being the creative guy and delegating out all the admin stuff.

That can be tough to do when you're starting out as a solo with no staff, but it can be done. For example, I think Foonberg's advice to hire a bookkeeper is the best advice in his book. You can also get cost-effective help with typing, etc., maybe hire someone to come in one day a week to get all your filing up to date. The less organizing you have to do, the better -- at least that's what my ADD-addled mind leads me to believe.

What else am I doing? My wife is reading a book titled ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life, and that's next on my list. I've also discovered an ADD-specific blog: The Splintered Mind by Douglas Cootey: Overcoming AD/HD & Depression With Lots Of Humor And Attitude (which looks especially promising because the blogger is, like me, very cautious about medicating for ADD). There are probably more out there, but I'll have to be careful not to over-commit.

So, finally to the point of this post. Be very honest with yourself about how you work. Have you been troubled by ADD? If you have, recognize it and plan for it. Start reading about it. I sure wish I had, instead of just joking about it.

UPDATE:  Ray Ward at the (new) legal writer has a post describing how distractions like e-mail and the telephone can interfere with getting actual work done.  I feel that distraction in spades.  Sequestering myself in the library is sometimes the only way to avoid it.

The Risk of Failure

The message of this video is a good one, so long as you don't concentrate on ULTIMATE failure. Watch it, then I'll explain.

Obviously, you can't start your solo practice with an attitude of "well, failure happens." But failures are going to happen along the way. Not just court losses, but maybe slow months, an inability to meet expenses, a lost client here and there, even failed professional relationships.

You have to slog through these setbacks, but you have to do more than that. You have to recognize the failures and spend time analyzing them so you can learn from them and adjust. That's something I don't think I did enough of, though I'm sure making up for it now!

Hat tip: Sheryl Schelin at The Inspired Solo.

Dress for Success?

I wrote most of this post about a month ago, when it looked like my blog was actually going to bear some fruit. But I can tell you that in that short time I have somewhat soured on blogging.

I work damn hard on my professional blog (I don't mean this one). I can't spend just 20 minutes a day on it like some law bloggers because I cannot "blog my work" -- it's not the nature of my blog.

So anyway, here is what I started writing about a month ago. I'm not sure I believe it any longer, for reasons I'll explain at the end.

Start reading a blog called Real Lawyers Have Blogs. The guy who writes it (and I believe founded the company Lexblog), Kevin O'Keefe, is considered an internet marketing sensation and he knows what he's talking about. There's reams of advice over there.

This post is going to give you some of my personal experience. Not for this blog, obviously, which isn't even two weeks old. No, this post concerns my professional, substantive law blog, which is less than a year old -- and which, in order to retain my anonymity, I cannot name, since my real name obviously appears on my professional blog.

I noticed that my blog started gaining more traffic as time went on, and when I looked at referral sources, I saw that most of it was from Google searches, and that a lot of the traffic was to older posts. Those two factors suggest that your traffic will naturally go up as the number of posts accumulates because there are now more Google searches that will turn up posts on your blog. You may be frustrated early on that non one seems to be reading your blog. Keep with it, and you will see the traffic grow.

A blog opens a relationship with your prospective clients and referral sources. Like all networking relationships, it takes time for it to bear fruit.

Blogging can be a little intimidating. Everyone that tells you to start one tells you to do so at least in part because a blogging on a particular area of the law connotes expertise in that area, and maybe you don't feel like an expert because you're going solo right out of law school or to start practice in a new area of the law. But you can't let that show. Who cares if you say something that people won't agree with. Lawyers disagree all the time. You're all smart enough to make sense most of the time, so don't be intimidated about blogging.

In fact, maybe you are going solo specifically to move into a new practice area. So you might start substantive blogging even BEFORE you open your practice. Your blog is probably portable -- as long as yours is the name on the blog and you do no more than describe yourself as an employee, you might be able to take your blog with you. I think Carolyn Elefant's new book, Solo by Choice, has a chapter on that subject.

My own professional blog is about nine months old. It took several months before it brought in a client inquiry, and it has brought in a total of 20 or so client inquiries, none of which I could take because none of them had any money. But the inquiries came, and they have lately increased. So I think the earlier, the better.

By the time you go solo, you will have found your true blogging voice and will be in fine form to announce your new solo status on the blog.So, in ten months of blogging, I have converted exactly ZERO inquiries from it into paying clients because NONE OF THEM HAD ANY MONEY.

What's changed since I started this post a month ago is that I have finally become fed up with people expecting me to work for remotely distant, improbable deferred compensation. It is quite amazing to me that someone can sit in front of my desk, present their case, and then expect me to take it for free or for deferred compensation that has a very dim chance of materializing.

Do these people do this with their doctors? Veterinarians? Grocers? Gardeners? I doubt it. But somehow they think that when they need a service where there is a lot of money at stake, they should not be expected to pay anything up front or even pay as they go.

I suppose it is fallout from all of the personal injury advertising you see. But I am in a field that is not often suitable for contingency fees.

In any event, I am now convinced that the only thing I have accomplished with my blog is to educate other lawyers in my field, convince lawyers in other fields that they can do what I do without hiring me (when I am actually trying to convince them that they need my expertise), and attract penniless clients to my office like bees to honey. I'm getting rather tired of it.

So maybe one part of my advice stands: read the blogs about law blogging. Maybe you'll pick up some tips that will help you avoid my predicament. But honest to God, I have followed a lot of that advice myself, and it has gotten me nowhere.

I'm tired of hearing from people with no money. Do us both a favor. If you can't pay me, don't call me. As this post drags on, I realize that people with no money deserve their own post, so I'll stop here and get started on a new post.

Shifting from Marketing Mode to Working Mode is Tough!

I've been in such a fast-paced and time-consuming marketing mode lately that I'm finding it hard to get down to work with the new projects I pulled in during that time. I have enough work to keep me busy full time for about three weeks, but I'm only getting about 4 good hours of work in each day because I start each day with my marketing tasks: attend to the blog, write a post or two, read the day's decisions to look for article ideas, see what prospects I need to follow up with. It's time-consuming and I need to cut back on some of it so I can actually get some work done.

While I realize this intellectually, it's not all that easy to do. My marketing frenzy has been driven by my survival instinct. Like a shark has to move the the water constantly to survive, I have had to be marketing nearly full time. Now that I have actual work to compete with that, it's tough. When I sit down with my work, a part of my brain is gnawing at me, saying "Why aren't you marketing right now? Get out there!" It's as if I'm afraid that I'll start concentrating solely on the work and find out when I come up for air that there are no new projects in the pipeline.

So, how do I get over this uneasiness? I've got to remember that quality work is also a marketing tool, or so says The Greatest American Lawyer.  When I am immersed in an actual project, I'm just engaged in another form of marketing. I'll keep thinking that, anyway, and see if it makes it any easier. I hope so. I don't need the distraction while I'm working.

Don't Even Joke about It. Really.

There were times during the last three years that I kind of used humor to get by. Just cynical humor. Like when I just started and had no clients, I used to call myself "self-unemployed."

One day, my wife mentioned how our house was "starting to come along." We'd been painting here and there, tearing up some floors, other very minor and inexpensive home improvements that were starting to make a big impact. So my wife says, "We're getting this place in shape, hon! It's gonna look good!" To which I cynically responded, "Yeah, we ought to have it all fixed up right around the time we have to sell it."

It really wasn't funny then, back when I still had money in the bank. It's really not funny now.

Bottom line: don't joke about failure, even if grim humor has worked for you in the past. It has a way of becoming self-fulfilling, I think.

Desperate Acts aren't Always Useless Acts

I've had a nice confluence of the real world with the theoretical in the last several weeks.

Hungry for work, I decided to call a lawyer I know to see if he had any ideas where I could pick up some work or who might be looking to hire someone like me. You see, I am at the point where I am simultaneously looking for employment and looking for new clients (more on that in a later post).

I don't even know this lawyer all that well. In fact, I have probably spoken to him less than half a dozen times over six years.

So why did I call him? I knew he liked me. He interviewed me six years ago for a position with a firm he and an old friend were starting. He was solo at the time, his friend was (I believe) leaving a firm, and the two of them were starting up a new firm. He liked me enough, at least, to have me meet together with him and his new partner after he met with me alone. But they never made me an offer.

Then, out of the blue, around a year ago he e-mailed me to see what I was up to and perhaps if I could help him out on a project or two (which never came to fruition). Since then, I've e-mailed him every few months to let him know how things are going and to keep the relationship alive, so I would be on his short list if he needed help.

As I said, this time I called him specifically for advice on where I might pick up some work and/or find a job. He gave me the names of two busy lawyers he knows. I've already completed one contract project for one of them and am started on another. I've been in touch with the second lawyer and we should be meeting soon.

Here's the confluence of the real world with the theoretical world: I opened Carolyn Elefant's Solo by Choice to a random page the other day, and saw one of her marketing tidbits. I don't have it in front of me now, but it boiled down to this: instead of sending out a mass mailing that's likely to get thrown into the wastebasket on receipt, call half a dozen people to see if they can guide you to some work.

I placed my call out of desperation. But it also turns out to have been the sensible thing to do.

Lesson: if you already know some lawyers when you start your practice, keep in touch with them regularly. Seems obvious, so I'll add this caveat. Take extra care to keep in touch with lawyers that like you, whether they like you on a personal level or a professional one. The guy I called? I'd never done a stitch of work for him. He knew me from my resume, three personal meetings, a phone call or two, and a couple of e-mails describing my efforts to gain more business. But we got along very well on a personal level, and it paid off.

I've called to thank him for steering me to these other two lawyers, and you can bet your britches I'll keep this relationship alive. (After all, I like him on a personal level as well.)

The Difference a Check Makes

Image from WikipediaGot a check from a client today. Promptly after invoicing him. For every penny he owed me. A little over $700.

With the exception of a recent check I got from the state for some work done as appointed counsel for indigent criminal defendants lately, it's the largest check I've gotten in months.

I never -- well, not since I was about 25, anyway -- thought I'd be looking at a $700 check like manna from heaven.

Oddly, this check has buoyed my spirits. Not because the $700 is going to make or break my practice. But because the client paid promptly and has already given me a second project that will pay more.

Your Pedigree -- What It's Good for, and What It Isn't

I like to make fun of lawyers who went to big-time law schools, mostly because (1) I did not, and therefore probably have a chip on my shoulder I am unwilling to admit, and (2) from what I can gather from my friends who went to schools like Cal (Boalt), Michigan, Stanford, etc., their education prepared them more for running a political campaign than practicing law. I had one colleague in a BigLaw firm who used to joke that I taught him torts, but he really wasn't stretching it too far.

Anyway, let's run down my pedigree first, so you can see that it has little to do with success or failure as a solo; at least, little to do with my success or failure as a solo. Perhaps it has greater impact for others.

In any event, this is me (again, deliberately vague to preserve my anonymity):

• Graduated from an elite undergraduate institution in the early 80s with an engineering degree.
• Took my degree and became an officer in the Marine Corps for several years.
• Got out of the USMC and did a few jobs while I applied to law school.
• Finished in the top 3% at a highly-regarded regional law school. (I don't think "highly regarded regional law school" is an oxymoron.)
• Went to work out of law school at a huge international firm (1000+ lawyers), then left for a "small" 400-lawyer firm after a few years.
• In-house general counsel for a privately held company. Then . . .
• Starving Solo.

Note that the prestigious undergrad education, top 3%, prestigious "ticket punching" law firms, and responsibility for all legal matters of a substantial privately held company all amounted to a hill of beans when it came time to go solo, because (1) none of these things taught me anything about how to do it, and (2) there was no way for me to I couldn't figure out how to parlay these credentials in the solo world.

As far as using this background in my marketing, it may have actually hurt me. You see, I was in BigLaw in some big cities. I now live in a much less urban area about an hour and a half outside the nearest large city, and I don't think the lawyers around here think too much of those kind of firms. Which doesn't exactly increase the odds of referrals. And clients -- at least real people -- really couldn't care less where you went to school.

This is Harder than I Thought

I'm not talking about launching and sustaining a solo practice. I'm talking about blogging about my turnaround efforts while still maintaining my anonymity.

To describe my efforts with any specificity would probably give away my area of practice. Combined with the fact that I have a professional blog addressing that area of practice, finding out my area of practice would allow one to substantially narrow the field of who The Starving Solo really is.

As if you care. As if there are thousands of people are out there figuring out how to unmask me.

Anyway, I badly want to blog about some recent efforts that may bear fruit, but the actual posts have to wait until I figure the best way to post without risking my unmasking.

Thanks for the Well Wishes

This blog hasn't attracted many readers, but I have received very nice comments and/or e-mails from several people, including a few bloggers on my "Solos Doing It Right" blogroll. All have wished me well in turning around my practice, and I am very grateful for their thoughts.

I had been a little worried that people who saw this blog might think it is satire or write it off as the rantings of a bitter failure, but these comments tell me it is being received as I intended: serious reflections from a solo who has tried hard yet finds himself on the brink of failure.

So thanks for the well wishes, everyone, and know that you have mine, as well.

This is obviously not the job for me.

I'm not talking about the one I have now. I'm talking about the one that San Diego law firm Scholefield & Associates, a boutique construction law firm, is trying to fill.

They're looking for an associate to do client development, and just client development. They're not even looking for an experienced attorney. A brand new lawyer who might have more fun schmoozing potential clients instead of actually practicing law is just what they're looking for.

An excerpt from their website:

You will join and actively participate in client trade groups. This may involve securing speaking engagements for firm attorneys. You can expect to represent the firm in client events such as

• Monthly meetings
• Fundraisers
• Golf tournaments
• Trade group dinners
• Trade group social functions
• Skeet and trap shooting events
• Educational seminars, etc.

A good golf game is a plus, as is an interest in outdoor activities such as fishing, hunting or motorcycles. You will be spending some time outside of the office, including some evenings and weekends attending and participating in client and trade group events. No extended out of the area travel is expected. Unlike a conventional associate position, your job performance will NOT be based on billable hours. You will be measured on your ability to effectively introduce our firm's services to key clients. This is a challenging opportunity for the right person. You will find that this position is unique to the law firm business model. [My emphasis.]

Unique, indeed! Leave it to California, eh?

Oh, and that $100,000 you spent on law school? Well, it won't go to waste. Again, from their website:

You will not let your law school education go to waste as you must be admitted to practice in California, and may be expected to advise clients and attend hearings.

Cool.

Hey, you know, I could use one of these guys. If I had money to hire one, I'd consider it!

To Blog or Not to Blog

I wrote most of this post about a month ago, when it looked like my blog was actually going to bear some fruit. But I can tell you that in that short time I have somewhat soured on blogging.

I work damn hard on my professional blog (I don't mean this one). I can't spend just 20 minutes a day on it like some law bloggers because I cannot "blog my work" -- it's not the nature of my blog.

So anyway, here is what I started writing about a month ago. I'm not sure I believe it any longer, for reasons I'll explain at the end.

Start reading a blog called Real Lawyers Have Blogs. The guy who writes it (and I believe founded the company Lexblog), Kevin O'Keefe, is considered an internet marketing sensation and he knows what he's talking about. There's reams of advice over there.

This post is going to give you some of my personal experience. Not for this blog, obviously, which isn't even two weeks old. No, this post concerns my professional, substantive law blog, which is less than a year old -- and which, in order to retain my anonymity, I cannot name, since my real name obviously appears on my professional blog.

I noticed that my blog started gaining more traffic as time went on, and when I looked at referral sources, I saw that most of it was from Google searches, and that a lot of the traffic was to older posts. Those two factors suggest that your traffic will naturally go up as the number of posts accumulates because there are now more Google searches that will turn up posts on your blog. You may be frustrated early on that non one seems to be reading your blog. Keep with it, and you will see the traffic grow.

A blog opens a relationship with your prospective clients and referral sources. Like all networking relationships, it takes time for it to bear fruit.

Blogging can be a little intimidating. Everyone that tells you to start one tells you to do so at least in part because a blogging on a particular area of the law connotes expertise in that area, and maybe you don't feel like an expert because you're going solo right out of law school or to start practice in a new area of the law. But you can't let that show. Who cares if you say something that people won't agree with. Lawyers disagree all the time. You're all smart enough to make sense most of the time, so don't be intimidated about blogging.

In fact, maybe you are going solo specifically to move into a new practice area. So you might start substantive blogging even BEFORE you open your practice. Your blog is probably portable -- as long as yours is the name on the blog and you do no more than describe yourself as an employee, you might be able to take your blog with you. I think Carolyn Elefant's new book, Solo by Choice, has a chapter on that subject.

My own professional blog is about nine months old. It took several months before it brought in a client inquiry, and it has brought in a total of 20 or so client inquiries, none of which I could take because none of them had any money. But the inquiries came, and they have lately increased. So I think the earlier, the better.

By the time you go solo, you will have found your true blogging voice and will be in fine form to announce your new solo status on the blog.

So, in ten months of blogging, I have converted exactly ZERO inquiries from it into paying clients because NONE OF THEM HAD ANY MONEY.

What's changed since I started this post a month ago is that I have finally become fed up with people expecting me to work for remotely distant, improbable deferred compensation. It is quite amazing to me that someone can sit in front of my desk, present their case, and then expect me to take it for free or for deferred compensation that has a very dim chance of materializing.

Do these people do this with their doctors? Veterinarians? Grocers? Gardeners? I doubt it. But somehow they think that when they need a service where there is a lot of money at stake, they should not be expected to pay anything up front or even pay as they go.

I suppose it is fallout from all of the personal injury advertising you see. But I am in a field that is not often suitable for contingency fees.

In any event, I am now convinced that the only thing I have accomplished with my blog is to educate other lawyers in my field, convince lawyers in other fields that they can do what I do without hiring me (when I am actually trying to convince them that they need my expertise), and attract penniless clients to my office like bees to honey. I'm getting rather tired of it.

So maybe one part of my advice stands: read the blogs about law blogging. Maybe you'll pick up some tips that will help you avoid my predicament. But honest to God, I have followed a lot of that advice myself, and it has gotten me nowhere.

I'm tired of hearing from people with no money. Do us both a favor. If you can't pay me, don't call me. As this post drags on, I realize that people with no money deserve their own post, so I'll stop here and get started on a new post.

Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down

Been a while since I've posted, but nobody's reading this anyway, so what the hell.

I've tried networking like crazy since before I opened my practice. About a year before I went solo, I joined a local board of lawyers on a local publication that met monthly. Since opening my office, I have joined two Inns of Court chapters in adjoining towns. Each chapter meets once a month (once ten times per year, one 8 times per year).

This seemed superior to attending other types of groups, because the Inns chapters are divided into teams, so you have dinner with the same group of people every month (that is, the ones in your team). I thought this would help develop deeper relationships than going to the kind of monthly get-togethers where you meet different people every month.

Total business revenue generated from referrals after nearly 3 years of meetings: $0.00.

Actually, I don't begrudge any of these guys. At least they were civil and cordial and wished me well.

Lawyers at some other functions, on the other hand, treated me like I had leprosy. Trouble with trying to break into the legal community of a small town, I guess. Business revenue generated from these meetings: $0.00.

I referred a good number of cases to other lawyers when I first opened up. I could have handled a lot of the cases myself, but they weren't in the field of my past experience or desired practice, so I referred them out. I read this was a good way to develop return referrals. Number of return referrals in the following three years: 0.

I talked with a new contact today, who lives and works in a town about 15 miles away. He told me that one of the challenges I faced in my town is that lawyers don't tend to refer cases, but instead keep them for themselves even if they have no experience at all and can't do a good job.

It was nice to hear my impression confirmed by an unsolicited comment.

Things are looking up lately through some other marketing, but I don't want to write about it because I don't want to jinx it. If something pans out from it -- or not -- I'll write about it then.

I want to be a "Shingular Sensation," Yeah!

Carolyn Elefant at My Shingle inaugurated her "Shingular Sensations" series last week. She says that every week or two, she hopes "to interview a solo or a small firm lawyer who in one way or another represents the best that this genre has to offer," and who can also teach us a thing or two. She starts her series with a profile of Andy Simpson, a lawyer in the Virgin Islands who recently obtained a large damage award against the U.S. Marshals Service in a discrimination case.

Believe me, if I can turn around my practice from its present situation, that may be worthy of a "Shingular Sensation" accolade. That would be cool, except for having to relive again how I got here.

But maybe no one will remember that part. Just like when people heap praise on someone for turning their life around from one addiction or another. (Hell, people heap praise on someone just for entering rehab, let alone completing it.) They remember the turnaround, not the addiction.

I hope that's the way it is for me. But to find out, I need to accomplish the turnaround first.

Read Blog Archives for Some Good Advice from Successful Solos

Second link of the day to Carolyn Elefant of My Shingle, who asks her readers if they ever bother reading blog archives. Quite a coincidence, since just hours earlier I linked to a post of hers that is more than two years old!

Anyway, her question got me thinking about the value of blog archives to solo startups.

I can't say that they helped me, because I did not seek their advice until I was in trouble. Had I looked at them from the outset, they might very well have helped. Indeed, I am implementing certain recommendations right now.

I think that anyone considering a solo practice should look at archives on all of the successful solo blogs (many of which are in the "Solos Doing It Right" blogroll in the right sidebar). They have anecdotal advice you won't find in many "how to" books. Plus, since some solo bloggers started their blogs either when they were planning their practice or early in their solo careers, their early posts are likely to be very relevant to your early solo practice (technology tips aside, perhaps).

Desperation from Day One May Not Be a Bad Idea

Carolyn Elefant, of My Shingle fame, had a post a few years ago that I ran across only recently. She titled it Are You Desperate Enough to Succeed as a Solo? She wrote, in part:

[I]f you want to succeed in starting a law firm, desperation, or more accurately, the willingness to do something absolutely desperate to bail out a case or save your firm can serve you well. I was reminded of the power of desperation when I read this article about a woman who dove into a disgusting fast food dumpster to salvage her thesis. Yes, she should have had a back up copy so the mess was partly her fault anyway. But sometimes in the practice of law, things go wrong despite our best efforts . . . We can allow our desperation to overcome us - or like the dumpster-diving grad student, we can use our desperation to overcome our circumstances. It's been my experience that the solo and small firm lawyers who've got it in them to take the latter path almost always succeed.

Now, desperation is a quality I currently possess in spades. And I am doing my utmost to get it to help me overcome my present circumstances.

But I think one key to success may be to start feeling desperate about the survival of your firm from the day you open your doors. Not so desperate that you project desperation, because that will just scare away prospective clients and referring lawyers. But just desperate enough to drive you harder than you might normally operate would be a good thing.

I spent a lot of time trying to build relationships (at the expense of more advertising or other "direct" marketing), and everything I read said it would take time for those relationships to bear fruit. With a few exceptions, I'm still waiting. Relationship-building is not for the desperate. Desperation calls for more direct approaches, I think.

It will be easier for you to act desperate if you abhor debt and you don't want to see your savings dwindle. Don't think of your savings or a line of credit as a cushion. Think of them as emergency rations to be eaten only after you are stranded, then do everything humanly possible not to get stranded, and if you do get stranded, make it as temporary a situation as possible.

Perhaps the mindset is well illustrated by a different BigLaw colleague of mine, who always lived at the limit of his means. A nicer house, cars, etc. than he could really afford. He said the lack of a cushion spurred him to greater success. That just may be the trick. Pretend you're him.

It was also expressed well in point no. 7 of a 7-point guide to overcoming fear of failure at PickTheBrain, which was linked to by Build a Solo Practice, LLC:

7. Burn the boats - When ancient Greek armies traveled across the sea to do battle, the first thing they would do after landing was to burn the boats, leaving them stranded. With no way to make it home besides victory, the resolve of the soldiers was strengthened. When success and failure are the only options, you have no choice but to follow through.

Except I am recommending only that you to act as if your boats are burned, not to actually do it.

And for a contrary view on burning one's boats, read the first comment at the PickTheBrain post. By the way, I only spent a few minutes over at PickTheBrain's blog, but from what I saw, it looks like an excellent blog to follow for personal motivation and peodctivity tips, both of which will be important when opening your practice.

The Catharsis of Blogging

I've been at this blog less than a week, and I must say that the catharsis it affords me already has me feeling much better about my prospects. Being able to turn my mistakes into lessons for others has been great for my mental health. So things are already looking up.

Here's One Mistake I Haven't Made (and Won't Make)

Solo in Chicago provides a link to a newspaper story about a lawyer who is now behind bars thanks to his practice of continuing to take retainers from clients during the time his license was suspended.

EVERYTHING is Secondary to Getting Clients

When you start to research how to open your practice, you're going to see advice on everything: technology, office space, library, setting your fees, etc. These things are all secondary to the FIRST thing you need to accomplish: getting clients.

If I were doing it all over again, I would rent the smallest, cheapest office I could, preferably on a month-to-month or short-term lease basis, put a phone, computer and printer/scanner copier in it (and locate the nearest Kinko's for those big copy jobs). The rest of my infrastructure could have been put in place as I went along.

I have a lovely office, but with only sporadic work, it's a little like being all dressed up with no place to go.

The Virtual Office

Guest-blogging at Build a Solo Practice, LLC, Stephanie Kimbro has this post about her virtual office set up. She has no physical office. For the tech-minded, this description of her on-line office sounds great:

My vlo [virtual law office] is my entire law office. My client files, client data, billing, invoices, accounts receivable, other accounting and administrative tools, calendars and other data management tools are located in the backend of the office. I have a central point where all of my cases are organized and it shows me the status and priority for better time management.

***

On my client’s side, they have access to their own homepages where they may view all of our online communications, pay me online, download and upload documents, and update client data, among other features. My clients feel like they can communicate with me 24/7 and on weekends which is a convenience to them and helps them feel like they are kept current on the status of the legal services they have asked me to work on.

Many lawyers are skittish about putting confidential information on-line, but Kimbro notes that communication via a secure internet connection is safer than transmitting information via e-mail.

Some lawyers have been using Basecamp or Backpack as lighter version of the vlo, but Kimbro and her husband have developed a complete "virtual law office" software package. To see how Kimbro has implemented it, go to her post for a link to her website.

If your practice or anticipated practice is amenable to this sort of set-up, it sounds like a great way to reduce overhead -- not to mention the tax break you'll get for working out of your house.

Don't Get Over Your Head in Overhead

If you're reading up on how to open your own law office, you will see advice to keep your overhead to a minimum. Take that advice seriously.

When I rented my office space, I spent about $600 more per month than I ideally wanted to. But the space was so nice, you see. It looked so professional. And it had a separate conference room. So in addition to the higher rent, I also spent around $2000 on a conference table and chairs.

All of this would have been fine if I had been able to generate more traffic into the office. As it is, I figure that conference room furniture cost about $100 per client or client prospect that has actually sat in the conference room, and right now I really wish my bank account had the extra $18,000 I've paid in rent these last 30 months.

And I don't think the "professionalism" of my office helped me sign a single client.

By all means, start with shared space or a sublease if at all possible. Home office, even better.

Don't Overcomplicate Your Marketing

One of the eerie things about reading self-help or advice materials is that in describing the "problem" they seek to address, their description of the person with the problem sounds exactly like me. It's as if the author had been following me around, watching my every move for the last six months.

It happened most recently when I read this post at Business Development, in which the author writes about how lawyers tend to complicate their marketing efforts by planning and analyzing them to death rather than just getting out there and doing it. Geez, that was almost painful to read.

But "getting out there and doing it," thank God, is something I have already willed myself to do. Fortunately, I had recognized this over-planning problem months ago and have already started correcting it. It's a problem related more generally to the problem of perfectionism, which makes one plan something to death before trying it. I'll have lots more to say about perfectionism in posts to come, I'm sure, for it has dogged me for quite a while.

But boy, did this over-planning ever screw me up for the first 18 months or so of my practice. As a result, I am way behind where I should be in results from marketing.

Here's what the post's author writes to help you overcome fears of giving a speech:

Fine, you probably won't win any prizes for style. Your speech may stink. Your conversations may be awkward. You may feel like an idiot. But you will learn more from actually trying and seeing what happens than you will from a hundred hours spent crafting The Perfect Newsletter. And you know what else? It will be far, far more effective than you suspect.

There's an old adage in sales that applies here. If you're a salesperson, and you meet a hundred prospects -- that is, stand in front of them, and talk to them, you will sell one-third of them, no matter how bad you are. They need what you have, and that's that. Another third will not buy what you are selling, no matter how great you are at communicating. They don't need it, and that's that. The third third, the swing vote, are the ones you can sway with skill. But if you see enough people, even if you have Tourette's Syndrome, you will make plenty of sales.

Ironically, speaking is the one thing of which I am pretty much fearless. That is, I have no generic fear of speaking in front of people. I don't have to use tricks like imagining them all in their underwear to make them less intimidating.

At any rate, my advice is the same: whatever marketing method you select first, just get out there and do it starting on day one. Make a simple plan, then execute it.

Why I am Anonymous on this Blog

Think about it. If you were writing about your mistakes in starting your practice and getting clients, would you want people -- and possibly prospective clients -- to know it was you?

An attorney has to project trust, experience and confidence. I work very hard at projecting these things in my interpersonal communications. None of them would be easy to convey if prospects knew how little business I have right now, even if that is not in itself indicative of my skills.

The Wall Street Journal recently had an article about an attorney at some large law firm who was suffering from stress and burnout and started a website about it to help other lawyers. He is not anonymous. But I think he has less reason to be. He is a highly successful lawyer for a powerful firm serving powerful clients, apparently quite well in spite of the stress and burnout. In other words, he is writing about the downsides of success.

I, on the other hand, am not writing about success of any sort. Unless, of course, my efforts to turn around my practice work out.

I suppose there is a possibility I'll go public once day, but I'll have to be so wildly successful at that point that I will have no concern about words from this blog coming back to haunt me. But until that time, I'll probably have to be deliberately vague about certain things: my location, schooling, legal experience, my practice areas, etc. will probably only be described in general terms in order to preserve anonymity. I'll probably even have to be vague about my turnaround efforts, even though they are one of the main subjects of this blog.

I'll do what I can to make this blog useful while remaining anonymous.

About this Blog

Don't be deceived by the title of this blog, which might sound a little flip, tongue in cheek, maybe even satirical. This blog is not intended as a spoof of any of the fine solo practice blogs out there (many of which are in the blogroll to the right). Nor is this a legal humor blog like Above the Law, Lowering the Bar, Legal Antics, etc.

This blog is deadly serious.

I started my solo practice about two and a half years ago. It is horribly embarrassing to admit, but I still have negative cash flow most months. I have struggled like hell, mostly ineffectively, to get clients.

I can hold out for a few more months. But I have to turn things around quickly.

This blog will chronicle both my past failures and my current efforts. I'm hopeful I can get in the black soon. I have to. Wish me luck.