Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners

'The Real Job' Of Working In A Small Law Firm

Being in Biglaw is like being half a lawyer. In SmallLaw, you’re the whole lawyer.

By  
on
Gary J. Ross

Gary J. Ross

I frequently counsel people who are considering starting their own practice, and a couple of years ago an old friend reached out to me and told me he had left his job and was thinking about hanging out a shingle. I told him about the SmallLaw highs and the lows, the process of opening an office and bringing in clients, focusing on certain practice areas, billing, etc. I might have gone on and on a bit, as I’m wont to do, but there is a lot of ground to cover when a person opens a practice. Then my friend interjected and said he had to end our call — a call I had taken on my own time, for free, while my then-girlfriend was not-so-patiently waiting for me to get off the phone — because he had to take another call that was about a “real” job.

I was dumbfounded. As far as I’m concerned, THIS is the real job! Putting yourself out there and convincing the world (or least enough people that collectively your bills will be paid) that you are worth hiring — that you will add value, that you will be a benefit — this is the real job. After a while, it’s difficult to imagine doing anything else.

In Biglaw, people can fill different roles. There can be people whose role it is to bring in clients. At one of my Biglaw jobs, the head of our group was very good at bringing in large clients, who would place a lot of work with the firm, even non-securities work. She left at 5 p.m. every day (she was my hero), because her role wasn’t to grind away hours.

Then there are people whose role is to grind away hours, who might occasionally land a client or two, but their primary duty is to do and oversee the work, since not everything can be left to associates. Then I guess there are folks who concern themselves with internal matters at the firm, like training and compensation and the overall direction of the firm.

In SmallLaw, we get to do it all. We get to bring in the clients, we get to do the work — because in SmallLaw, you won’t have enough people that you don’t have to bill hours –- and then we get to handle internal matters like hiring/firing and trying to figure out which vendors to use. It can be overwhelming.

But lots and lots of other people have done it, some very successfully, so there is no reason you nor anyone else can’t hang out a shingle and make it work. And you really don’t know what you’re going to be good at until you try. (As for me, I’ve found that I’m good at… well, I’ll have to get back to you.) The prospect of landing clients can be scary to some, but after a year or two, you get the hang of it and start to figure out which leads are worth pursuing and which aren’t worth your time. The hiring and firing aspect of running a practice is difficult and isn’t something we’re trained for in law school or Biglaw. It’s also hard to carve out the time to think about your practice on a macro level and where you would like it to go and how you can get there.

Sponsored

Again though, you can do it, and by “it” I mean everything. Because being in Biglaw is like being half a lawyer. In SmallLaw, you’re the whole lawyer.

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 securities matters for startups, large and small businesses, private equity funds, and investors in each, and also has a number of non-profit clients. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.

Sponsored

Topics

, , ,