Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners

Get Yourself Credentialed

Networking isn’t inherently bad or a waste a time. But it’s far more important to become a person worth knowing.

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handshake LF networkingGonna get myself, I’m gonna get myself
Gonna get myself connected

Stereo MC’s – Connected

Naval’s tweet predictably set off a mini-firestorm of tweets and articles defending networking (see here and here). (Disclosure: Naval is the CEO of AngelList, a client of my firm’s, so you’ll have to decide whether what you’re about to read is heartfelt or merely sucking up.)

But he was right. Networking as a nobody isn’t going to shoot your career into the stratosphere (or even the troposphere). But once you’ve won cases or have written or spoken widely, your networking will change into something much more valuable. Instead of showing up at events where you’re glad-handing everyone and randomly handing out business cards, you’ll find yourself in more and more situations where people are interesting in meeting you. Where the event itself wants you there. This is much better than being one of a hundred or so people at an event and hoping people remember you afterwards. If you speak on a panel or make a presentation and manage not to completely humiliate yourself, people are going to come up to you afterwards (maybe even days later if it’s at a conference). Those people are going to remember you.

Conversely, if you’re not a person of value you will not get as much out of networking. If the option is to stay in the office and finish an article and get it to the publisher or to go to a run-of-the-mill networking event, finishing the article might be the more worthwhile option. If you go to so many networking events — and let’s face it, many are fun, especially the ones with booze — that you don’t have time to write or to inquire about speaking opportunities, then maybe you should ease up on the networking and work on becoming a thought leader, or at least someone who writes and speaks enough to be considered mildly knowledgeable about his practice area.

Also, when you have a list of articles and speaking engagements, clients are much more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt if you ever mess up anything. If you’re not appreciably different from anyone else, then they’ll be quicker to let you go. I once had a client fire me because I answered the phone in a grumpy mood. (Though honestly, the firing was mutual – she’s the one who had made me grumpy! And yes, even I get grumpy from time to time.) Nothing like that happens now, and potential clients also don’t expect me to drop everything I’m doing and call them right away — which isn’t always feasible — like they did when I was just another faceless startup lawyer.

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Be the speaker. Be the writer. Be the teacher.  Be the person who is advertised. Be somebody.

Anyone can do it. One speaking engagement a year. Anywhere. The library, the zoo, the corner of a public park. Anywhere. Just do it, and then put it on your bio. Then apply for other speaking engagements, letting them know you’ve spoken elsewhere, and hope they don’t see it was at a zoo. Then work your way up to community centers, CLE presentations, chamber of commerce events, and then industry events, where you might talk to a room of potential clients. (But what I’m emphasizing here is getting credentialed.)

One writing credit a year. Anything. You can squeeze out one measly article in 365 days. Find a website that publishes everything it receives, and then send something in and add it to your bio. Start there, then work your way up to more relevant websites and periodicals. Anything is better than nothing. Before you know it, that one speaking engagement and one writing credit each year will start adding up.

Anyone you do happen to bump into who can further your career is at some point going to look at your credentials to see who exactly you are. You can’t do anything about your school at this point (except maybe get an adjunct gig at a better school, which is easier said than done), but you can fill out the rest of your bio as best you can. Writing and speaking are the main things, which is why I keep harping on them, but maybe also what organizations you’re a member of, though the latter is far less important than the writing and speaking, unless you’re actually leading these organizations (in other words, don’t think you’re going to get anywhere by just being a joiner).

At larger companies, the general counsel isn’t going to be able to replace the current counsel without justifying it to the CEO or even the board. Which sounds better: (A) “Hey, I met this guy who’s pretty interesting to talk to, I think we should move our legal business to him,” or (B) “Hey, I met this guy with a long list of relevant publications and speaking gigs who seems to be an authority in the field, and I think we should move our legal business to him.” How is a board going to react to A? With B, the board will say, sure, whatever you think is fine, but with A, the board is going to say “wait just a cotton-picking minute.” (That is, if the board is racist. Or not.)

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Networking isn’t inherently bad or a waste a time. But it’s far more important to become a person worth knowing.

Gary J. Ross founded Jackson Ross PLLC in 2013 after several years in Biglaw and the federal government. Gary handles corporate and securities law matters for venture capital funds, startups, and other large and small businesses, as well as investors in each. You can reach Gary by email at Gary.Ross@JacksonRossLaw.com.

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