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AFancyShingle 10 - 21 Apr 2012 - Main.KatherineMackey
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| | One of the main reasons I was interested in taking this class is to learn more about unconventional legal careers. I don't think of myself as being a very entrepreneurial person, so I've found myself listening to some of what Eben says about working for yourself and doing good while doing well with skepticism. The path he describes sounds great, but I don't see myself who has what it takes to strike out on my own (I imagine other people feel the same way--after all, at least some of us are in law school because we are risk averse). That's why I found this article to be so interesting. The article is fairly light about Casey Greenfield's actual legal qualifications. She went to Yale Law School and worked as an associate for a short time at Gibson Dunn. She also took some time off to work (though it's unclear how relevant her work experience was to her legal career). The article also doesn't tell us too much about the personal traits she has that might make her an exceptional lawyer. The article does emphasize how pretty, privileged, charming and tenacious (at least regarding her own high profile custody battle) she is. I came away from this article with complicated feelings. On the one hand, Casey Greenfield has managed to strike out on the path Eben has been describing to us. She has done so at a fairly young age and without spending a lot of time doing work that she was not interested in. On the other hand, by giving us so little information about her actual legal career and qualifications, the article makes it seem like she has been able to do this because she is very privileged and because she had an out-of-wedlock baby and a high profile child support/custody battle with a famous, married legal commentator. I'd be interested in getting a more nuanced and informative perspective on Casey Greenfield's career and I'll be interested to see where she and her firm are in 20 years. | | | Register for the April 23rd webcast, and see what it takes to start your own practice from attorneys who have done it. You'll also receive 200 LexisNexis Reward points for attending the webcast and completing the survey at the end."
-- ElizabethSullivan - 16 Apr 2012 | |
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> | This thread has been really interesting and helpful to me. Thanks to everyone who contributed. I thought I would sum up some of our major points for other people who are interested in the stuff we have been discussing.
Practical Tips for Starting Your Own Practice
1) Focus Your Firm Around Something You Have Expertise In / a Personal Connection to: This is good for two reasons. One is substantive, in that it will be easier to get a practice off the ground if you don't have to start from a knowledge base of zero. The other is cosmetic: it's valuable for marketing if you have a compelling story to tell about why you entered into a certain practice area and why potential clients should choose you to represent them.
2) Find a Partner with Complementary Skills: I think Jane's observation about this is really astute. I didn't pick up on the fact that Labby seems to be filling in holes in Greenfield's own abilities (and it seems like her connections are probably proving to be helpful to him too). When we talk about starting our own practice in class, I've always envisioned it as being an individual activity. But, thinking about it as something you can do with one or two other people makes it seem more attainable. This raises the question of how to best choose a partner or partners, which is a complicated question on its own.
3) Find Innovative Ways to Reduce Costs: In class Eben mentions how market forces play a significant part in reducing the availability and stability of firm jobs. Solo practitioners / small firms can take advantage of the demand for lower cost legal services by being innovative and flexible in the way their structure their practices. The HangShingles? blog uses a PO box and in class we are learning to use a Twiki. I would be eager to hear about other strategies for doing this.
4) Hustle / Network: This is important for all lawyers to some degree, but more important for solo practitioners because they are responsible for generating their own business. The HangShingles? blog is a great example of what it takes. I think Eben has also hinted at another really valuable lesson for current law students. He mentioned that he got his 1st clerkship (which led to the 2nd one) not because of his grades but because of the relationships he developed in law school. This suggests that people who are interested in being solo practitioner should work to cultivate relationships now, when we have access to a huge network of professors, students, and the various professionals who come through law school.
If other people have practical suggestions, resources, or information, please add them. |
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