The Dreams of a Solo

Demonstrating Success Over Time

While it has not been years or decades since I started my law practice, the last few months have revealed an interesting phenomenon.  I have noticed that the people I come in contact with have quickly transitioned from "So you are just starting out" to "I have seen and/or have heard that things are going very well."  Given the relative youthfulness of both my practice he term "time" in this context is limited in duration.  However, as each week passes the word on the street carries a more mature tone.  From the outset the reaction I have received both directly and indirectly has been positive, but a part of me always noticed slight hints as to the messenger's familiarity and comfort level with the new law practice.  I have to admit that on some level my senses were picking up on the little voice inside my own head called self-doubt.  But I have to believe that some people were waiting to see how things would shake out before they felt that my law practice deserved to be taken seriously.  To be honest I did not expect it any other way.  There is a reason that long-standing firms or companies are in a better position to succeed, at times, than newer ventures.  Consumers, potential clients, and referral sources take comfort in a proven track record.  This is not a revolutionary phenomenon by any stretch, but that does not diminish from the profound impact that a solid reputation can have on the health of a business.

As I inch closer to the one year anniversary of the opening of my firm I have had reason to reflect on some of the events of the past ten months.  One event that draws my immediate attention is the addition of Nick Hoffman to my firm nearly two months ago.  I mention that because the timing of this addition corresponds with my first observations of the changing perception.  It was almost as if the stadium of interested and casual onlookers mutually agreed that doubling the size of my firm indicated a bull market.  I can neither agree nor disagree with that assessment.  I can say that the addition did come at a time were things really started to come into focus from a business perspective.

This has all reinforced in me something that a parter at a firm I once worked for told me.  He always said that sustained success in the practice of law requires two things: time and solid lawyering.  To a large degree both factors directly impact each other in some way or another.  While I agree with this former partner in large part, I also believe that his recipe for success represents an overly simplistic view of the business of law.  There is no doubt in my mind that the passage of time coupled with superior legal work will bolster one's reputation, which in turn will contribute to the ongoing success of a law practice.  But what we are really talking about here is the business of law not necessarily the practice of law, since reputation is one, if not the most important factor when it comes down to getting clients in the door.  After all the brightest and most competent attorney without any clients will be out of business just as quickly as an incompetent attorney without any clients.  Therefore, I would make one addition to his list: networking.

So in my estimation the best way to build a successful, sustaining law practice is to make time for networking to acquire new clients, to invest the time in takes to complete the required legal work at a very high level, and to allow the passage of time to bolster your reputation and the perceptions of others.   Sounds simple right?  While that may not necessarily be true, it is definitely "doable."  So get out there and make it happen.

Failure Is Not What We Think It Is

At various points in my life I have been asked or I have asked myself what my greatest fear is.  My response has almost always been "Failure."  I loathe the idea of it and it keeps me up more than anything else.  The problem with fear is that it tends to be irrational.  For one, my fear of failure kicks in at different times and for different reasons.  Most of the time I do not have a chance to define failure before it scares me.  That seems pretty bizarre to me.  In reality I am sometimes scared of something and I have no idea what that something is.  Is failure the opposite of succeeding?  What about failing due to lack of effort or no effort at all?  I presume that the latter tends to scare us less than the former.  The truth is we probably fail each and every day by letting opportunities pass us by.  The only good part is that we don't even realize our own failures in those cases.  But we manage to etch the memories of our attempts that ended in the opposite of success in our minds for all of eternity.  Some of you are failing yourselves right now as you read this solo blog at your law firm job as your solo dreams sit on ice.  The train will come back around someday, right?  I do hope you are right.

The hard part about failure is that it is little more than perception and that makes it very subjective.  One man's trash is another man's treasure.  Opening up your own law firm and bucking the BigLaw experience may well be failure in the eyes of some lawyers, just as the opposite may hold true from a solo's perspective.  Which one's right and which one's wrong?  That is the kicker.  I believe that only you or I can be that judge of that from our own perspective.  So I guess they are very possibly both right or both wrong depending on the unique facts of each case.  There is nothing like a good lawyerly answer to the age old question, "What should I be when I grow up?"  It depends.

Oh, by the way, if one of your last remaining threads attaching you to a law firm job is the "security" in having a "guaranteed" income, then I suggest you take a look at the post from Law.com titled, "Dechert Gives 13 Associates Layoff Notices."  Check out Rick George's post on his Sololaywer blog on the same story Law.com - Dechert Gives 13 Associates Layoff Notices for his take and a priceless recommendation to recession proof your professional life.

Google Search: Why solo practices do not work

One of my favorite ways to brainstorm new topics for this blog is to look at my visitor stats to see the searches that those visitors are running that are leading them to this site.  When I was looking at search stats a few weeks ago I noticed that someone ran a search for "why solo practices do not work" (without the parenthesis) in Google.   This particular search struck me for a variety of reasons including the obvious objection that you can assume I have to that statement in the first place. 

Now I don't know the context in which the searcher was conducting his or her search, but I can imagine what that context might be.  The searcher may have been investigating the possibility of opening her own law firm and she wanted to research the main issues that solo practitioners faced with the intent that she would address these issues upfront.  The alternative and more pessimistic interpretation may be that the searcher was framing her search to fit her preconceived notion that solo practice were destined for failure.  If the latter was the case then I suspect this searcher was not one I would include in my "aspiring solo," "solo dreamer" or "soon-to-be solo" category.  But let us assume that she ran the search as part of her planning to start her own law practice.  I think that is an excellent idea.  Any new business owner should address the known issues that other similarly situation owners have faced in the past.   

My take is that solo law practices are not destined for failure, but then again I am a bit biased in that regard.  Starting you own law firm is not an easy task, but it is also not impossible.  It is different than working in an established firm with other attorneys.  Often times you will have many more responsibilities as a solo attorney than you did as an associate or partner.  Again, that way be different but it isn't anything you cannot overcome.  All I can say in closure is that I hope she found what she was looking for and I hope that she continued to lay the foundation for her solo practice. 

SoloSez Now Has a Facebook Group

Many of us are familiar with the SoloSez listserv that is a free service through the American Bar Association.  If you do not already subscribe to the listserv I would strongly urge you to do so by going to the ABA Solo Center website.  I do not always have the time to review each and every one of the sometimes hundreds of posts that come through the SoloSez listserv everyday, but I did notice one recently that caught my eye.  Someone (I do know who, but technically the SoloSez listserv is supposed to be somewhat confidential, at least I think that is the case) set up a SoloSez group on the popular social networking site Facebook.  If you do not have a Facebook account have no fear, you can easily create one.  If you do have an account, just log on, click on Groups link and search for SoloSez.  Once you find it you will just click the "Join Group" link.  That is only the beginning of the fun as far as I am concerned.  The next step is going through the list of group members and sending out Friend Invites.  My Friends numbers have doubled in the last three hours and I am not even close to being through the SoloSez list.  I would encourage you to take a look at the Facebook group, but you should be warned that Facebook has been known to be somewhat addicting.  That is not unlike the addictive nature of blogging as detailed in this post co-authored by Ann Handley and David Armano on MarketingProfs Daily Fix, titled "Top 10 Signs You Might Be Addicted to Blogging."