Biglaw, Small Law Firms

There's No Hiding In SmallLaw

Part of the SmallLaw pitch is that you offer not only lower rates but also more personalized service than a Biglaw firm, and you have to deliver on that.

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Ed. note: Please welcome new columnist Gary J. Ross, who will be writing about his journey from working in a Biglaw firm to starting his own small law firm.

I used to hear stories about Biglaw associates who wouldn’t show up for months and months and nobody would notice. Though I never really believed those tales, it’s true there are definitely those who are able to successfully fly under the radar, just figuring they’ll coast along and make payments on their loans until they get counseled out. When I was in Biglaw, there were a few associates who never seemed to be in the office. Once I had to take a day off — which obviously in and of itself caused a lot of consternation and great gnashing of teeth — and needed someone to cover for me, and the practice group coordinator suggested I choose a certain associate because he hadn’t been on a deal in a while. I did, but then the partner I was working with (aka the teeth-gnasher) emailed him and the message bounced back because the guy’s mailbox was full. Hadn’t been on a deal in a while & his mailbox was full! Obviously full mailbox guy wasn’t directing all his efforts towards maintaining the glory of the firm. Who do you think the teeth-gnasher got mad at?

In SmallLaw, unless you have a spouse with a regular paycheck (preferably a large one) or a trust fund, you can’t hide for a day. There is no sea of associates in which to get lost. You have to have clients to eat, and you won’t have any clients if you’re not available. Part of the SmallLaw pitch is that you offer not only lower rates but also more personalized service than a Biglaw firm, and you have to deliver on that.

I’ve found that with few exceptions, SmallLaw clients need an answer quickly. Typically you’re engaged for something that’s already happened or is going to happen soon, not for something in the distant future. In Biglaw, clients would call me with complicated securities law questions that they knew would take a day or two to answer. If it concerned an upcoming annual disclosure filing or a registration statement, sometimes I could even have a couple of weeks to find the answer. In SmallLaw, the questions tend to be less complex, but the period of time to deliver an answer is shorter. And sometimes my clients are calling for an off-the-cuff opinion, such as when they have been presented with a business opportunity requiring more or less immediate action and want to know if I see any red flags. And unlike in Biglaw, there is no forwarding the email to a colleague. It’s on you and you alone.

For a lot of SmallLaw clients, hiring an attorney is a big undertaking, so they are very interested in what their attorney has to say. They’re not paying you to sit silently. More than once I’ve been on a Board of Directors conference call and the Board members will be bickering back and forth and one member will suddenly say very loudly, “Everybody be quiet and let’s find out what the lawyer thinks!” Even when the issue isn’t really legal-related. That rarely happened to me in Biglaw, even as a senior associate. (By the way, “I think this game of Candy Crush I’m playing while you all talk is challenging” is not the best answer.)

And it’s great. Now that I’m used to it, I tell people my opinion like it’s actually worth something (though it’s still debatable whether it actually is). And the more random questions from clients that I field, the easier they are to answer. My heart used to palpitate when my office would tell me a client was on the line, particularly this one client who likes to ask a lot of hypotheticals, but no more. I just answer the best I can, stay as confident as I can be, and go on about my business. And bill the time, of course.

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Gary J. Ross opened his own practice, Jackson Ross PLLC, in 2013 after several years in Biglaw and the federal government. Gary handles corporate and compliance matters for investment funds, small businesses, and non-profits, occasionally dabbling in litigation. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.

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