Practice Management

Sanity After You Lose Your Law Job

By chucknewton

I use to run into an attorney named Buddy Britt in court in East Texas.  Buddy was a good 'ol boy.  He was a friend of my father's when I was growing up.  I remember him representing me in a speeding ticket during my speed demon teenage days.  Buddy was a master at East Tex understatement.  Nearly every time I saw him at court I would ask, "how's work"?  Buddy would always answer, "Well, I can tell you that the last time I had some work I really enjoyed it".  He was subtle and kind and self-effacing.  And, I liked that.  For good parts of his life as a lawyer he was a solo practitioner.  At times he worked for firms and government offices, but as time moved on he always headed back to being a solo.

What I think Buddy taught me is that although you ultimately want to work for yourself, and although you enjoy the solo practice of law, sometimes the decision is made for you, or in spite of your other interest.

For me, I ended up in the solo practice of law first because in moving back home no other law firm wanted me.  Later, after constructing a large firm, I thought it was just too much for too little reward.

Leaving a law firm or governmental agency to go out on your own may be a deliberate choice or it might be a Hobson choice.  Whatever the choosing, parting with a paycheck and those with which your work can be problem.  Also, finding work can sometimes be difficult at first.

Although going solo can often provide you a degree of sanity, you might want to add these suggestions to your list of helpful hints:

1.  Communicate to the World that you are leaving.  Nothing provokes a feeling of dread or fear, nothing rubs salt into the wound, like concealment or reclusiveness.  You cannot hide or join the monkhood and expect to find salvation in the solo practice of law. Your friends, your family, those you go to church with, your colleagues and your former clients all need to know you are not withdrawing, but that you are expanding your horizons.  You need to know it as well. Hell, if you were fired, just tell everyone, "I was fired, but I have a better idea".  Openness and confidence starts with you.  If you are open and confident, others will be as well.

2.  Put yourself in charge.  If you lost your law job, you still have a job of taking care of you.  It does not matter if you are use to working for someone else.  You are now the boss.  You are in charge of your own life.  You make the decisions here on out as to what you need to do to succeed.  If you do not have an office or a desk, go to the kitchen or dinning room table every day.  Make yourself an office. Work the phone.  Work your email.  Work your connections.  Cold call and make new connections.  Set goals.  Do not goof off.  The time is now.

3.  Volunteer your time.  This is especially true if you do not have enough work and you have decided because of desire or lack of money to work out of your home.  There is no need to feel isolated. There is no need to feel out of touch.  You need to make yourself feel useful.  This builds confidence and friends and relationships.  And, all of this leads to what -- business and opportunities.  So, volunteer.  You can make yourself feel better by helping others.  It will take your mind off things.  You can volunteer at a legal clinic if you like, but it does not have to be law related.  Work with the grief counselors at the hospital.  Volunteer at your child's school.  Here is the wonderful thing that happens when you are helping others in any area of need.  People, and especially the people who you are working with, ask you what you do for a living.  Guess what?  You can tell then your whole miserable story.  You can tell then your plans, your hopes, your dreams.  You do not have to be forward about it, they will eventually ask you.  Here is a secret.  People who are in the mood to help people will also help you.  Sometimes with some legal work they need.  Sometimes by referring a friend.  Sometimes by just keeping their eye out and telling others.  After law school I remember helping to put Christmas packages together for the needy for one organization. They men of the group brought grills and cooked steaks for us to eat at the end of the job.  Okay, we were all Catholic so we drank some beer too.  I was there because what else am I going to do.  I finished working on my only case.  I picked up work from two different businessmen who were working that day.  I remember to this day that one of the businessmen was having trouble with his landscape company at this restaurant.  He asked me how much would I charge for "like a $25 letter" telling them that they are no longer needed.  I said, of course, "$25".  He laughed and I got paid much more.

4. Keep on moving on.  Motion is networking.  Go to the gym. Go to bar meetings.  Go randomly visit other lawyers.  Call people.  Go to the city counsel meetings.  Go to your HOA meeting.  Go to the PTA meeting.  Attend the Chamber of Commerce functions.  Got a dog, go to obedience classes.  Drive an old Mustang, joint the local Mustang club. Go to church.  Go to the YMCA.  Take an extension course at the community college in something you like.  Start working on an MBA.  Go talk to the judges in private.  Attend the fair.  It does not matter. To not hide.  Do not stand still.  Get out and about and get seen. People will ask you what you do.  You do not have to force yourself on them.  They will ask, you tell them, and you give them a card.  Tell them you are trying something new and you need work.

If you do these things, the transition will be better -- and more profitable.  Profitability as a solo breeds success.  Success breeds happiness.  Happiness breeds contentment.  Being in the solo practice of law is not the worse place to be.

Full post as published by Chuck Newton on February 13, 2008 (boomark / email).