Thursday, July 1, 2010

Another lunch

I finally had lunch with the lawyer that the old guy set me up with.  He had some helpful suggestions, although he was fairly critical of what I've been doing thus far.  (Apparently, I should have hung up my own shingle straight out of law school. That's what a real go-getter would do, at least.)

Here are his suggestions:
1) Hang up my own shingle and take whatever business I can get.
2) Get random certifications.
3) Attend every fucking meeting under the sun.

Here are my responses:
1) In all honesty, I don't know if I'm ballsy enough to do this.  I'll admit, it's a good idea; it would give me experience and clients.  However, I may not have the knowledge or confidence in my own abilities to pull it off.
2) It's a good idea.  I'm working on it.
3) I hate lawyer meetings.  They are ridiculously boring and have never done anything for me in the past.  But, I guess I can suck it up and start going.  Might have to renew my bar association memberships for this...

2 comments:

  1. You won't get any clients and will eventually fold up shop. The only calls you will get are from people that don't want to pay you anything and/or want to barter services rather than actually paying you anything.

    Telling a new attorney to hang out a shingle in this era is the same as telling a black person to go become a doctor back in 1860. It's just a bullshit thing people in a better position tell people in a shitty position so that they don't have to admit how fortunate they've been in life and blame the other person for their situation. These people most certainly did not start their own law firms or even face the same student loan problems or competition for spots in law school, they probably scored a shitty 160 on their LSATs and got into a T14 anyway, then got a decent law firm job out of law school which paid their debt within 2-3 years maximum.

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  2. D:

    I agree what this lawyer said. But with modifications: You need an experienced lawyer, that you'll share the money with, who will advise you when you get stuck. Don't take anything under the sun; you need to stick to a few areas that you can learn well. You need to figure out legal marketing; and no lawyer will really tell you the tricks of legal marketing.

    I was you a decade ago; albeit in a better economy. Don't be afraid to email or call for mentoring.

    I was fortunate to have some good mentors in the past.

    Gus

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