Practice Management

I do not know if you ever watched the TV series The Waltons.  (You can watch some clips by CLICKING HERE).  But, I remember one scene in which John Boy was worrying about the unemployment or non-employment rate for writers.  Then his younger brother confirmed with him that writers are self-employed, to which John Boy agreed.  Then the little brother asked if writers are self-employed, how can they ever be unemployed?

It is a darn good question in the area of law as well.

I get phone calls from lawyers every day it seems looking for employment.  I get unsolicited resumes in the mail and as email attachments.  I get asked advice about looking for a job as a lawyer.  At the courthouse I hear lawyers bemoan the current firing of attorneys from Big Law and other law firms.  The district attorneys' office and the United States Attorneys' office is overcome with applications, many by lawyers that do not even want to do that kind of work.  And, then based on this so-called lack of employment, commentator after commentator, especially those like me with their own blog, denigrate law schools and the law as a profession.

Where this sense of entitlement for a law job came from I am not sure.  Certainly, it is fostered by law schools, and by the ranking system, in that schools promote employment rates to those looking at the profession.  It is deceptive in that these employment rates do not much discern whether the law school graduate has $100,000 plus a year job with Big Law, or whether they are really working pouring shots at gin joint.  (I guess being a "member of the bar" can have a lot of connotations).

When I was a young attorney running TV spots and heavily marketing, older attorneys would decry my efforts by stating that law was not a "business" but a "profession".  Needless to say, they were not enamored with the changes in the profession that I was presenting.  But, they also were not enamored by the entry of more women in the profession or minorities either.  Let us just say that although I always tried to stay respectful, they were not happy with a lot of things I was doing to build my client base.

I have thought about this a lot over the years because I grew up with a lot of great attorneys in my community who I respected.  These attorneys played a big part in the reason that I went to law school.  And, although some of what they were saying might have been lost on me then, I have had a long time to think about it.

One of the things I believe they were trying to communicate was that law is not a "job".  It is a "profession".  It is a calling.  It was not necessarily suppose to be a post of employment.  It might be a series of tasks but it was not suppose to be a material assignment.  The idea of an appointment of any kind was really more a luxury offered to those that had achieve much in their profession over the years.  Nine to five is not what it is suppose to be about.  It is not a business calling as such or a grind or an operation or a position in an organization.  The practice of law might be a vocation of sorts or an occupation in a sense or a calling in the real sense of the word, but it was not meant to be a swindle, burden, enterprise, or some kind of tour of duty.

More often than not, the profession of law meant to be unaffiliated, non-staff, independent, freelance, free agent type of work.  In short, associated with other or not, a lawyer was really more of a individualist.  It is hard to be this when you live off the tit of another.  You tend to lose your individuality, your morals, your differences you bring to the table, the special complexion you bring to the law, the distinction, your way, uniqueness, and really your separateness.

When you think about it, law is probably one of the last areas in which you can survive and thrive on your own and on your own terms.  Comparing lawyers to businesses might not be appreciated, but think about everything else and see how it culminated into working for a bigger organization that does not much appreciate you.  Realtors increasingly have to joint large national brands to survive.  Doctors have to typically join hospitals or large multi-specialty clinics or a doc-in-a-box in order to practice effectively.  Do you think you can compete as a mom and pop video store any more?  What exactly can compete well against Wal-Mart or Home Depot or Office Max or Best Buy?  Or, for that matter Amazon, Dell, Microsoft or Google?

And, whereas jobs have some benefits, who do you know that does not want to quit their job or to eventually do something else?  In the practice of law, if you do not like the practice area, you can just start accepting a different type of case.

If you were to stop with the mindset of looking for a job, and start looking for work, or cases, or clients or a cause, you would see that what law, according to the old timers, is a profession, a calling, that lends itself well to helping others on your own or in small groups.  It does not take a paycheck.  It simply takes a will to be the best you can be.  And, if you pursue it this way then the money will follow.  A living will be made.  Oh, you might not get rich (although a few might), but you will be happy doing what you want to do, when you want to do it, in the way you want to do it.

Further, a law job is still, at best, contingent work.  If you do not perform to the liking of another, if the firm does bad whether you do or not, or the economy goes south, or your colleagues do not perform up to par, you are going to eventually find yourself on the street and starting over from scratch, and possibly at an age when you do not want to be in that position.  Besides, we all know that most Big Law associates eventually lose their jobs or move out or are forced out.  Which is harder, having a big income and losing it, or building your profession and income slowly but consistently in a position that you cannot easily lose and that you like?  I will take the latter.

So, forget the job and take the profession, and I think in the long run you will be happier and more comfortable.