Small Law Firms

The End Of The Race: The Time Has Come To Move On (Part I)

Unfortunately, real life is not like the movies. Shannon Achimalbe's dream Biglaw job never became a reality.

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A few years after graduating law school, I set up my own solo practice. Well, to be honest, I was forced to do it. It was during the Great Recession and even people with top credentials had trouble finding work. Young lawyers were working all kinds of menial jobs to make ends meet. But everyone I know and every small-firm blog was singing the high praises of solo practice: You can set your own hours, choose your clients, work from home, and have work-life balance. So I thought I’d give it a shot. I figured that the solo practice gig would only be temporary, so I only spent money on the bare essentials — a basic website and a laptop. Assuming I found a job later, it would be easy for me to close up shop.

A year later, my practice became profitable. Three years later, it became very profitable. I developed a good reputation among my peers and many of my clients stayed loyal to me to this day. Once I was able to pay down a large chunk of my student loans, I felt financially stable and I got the feeling that everything was going to be okay.

I then began to think about the future. For my practice, I was planning to spend a considerable amount of money to get a nicer office, more advertising, and hire staff. Personally, I was thinking about buying a house and a nice car.

But in the back of my mind, I wasn’t sure if solo practice was what I really wanted to do for the next 20 years of my life. I never saw myself as an entrepreneur. Not only that, solo practice had its own challenges, like finding clients, referral sources, having an advertising budget, and personnel management. Funny how most of these solo cheerleader websites don’t mention this. I didn’t think I would be performing at my best under these conditions.

And once I bought all of the things I mentioned above, transitioning elsewhere or doing something else altogether would be harder, if not impossible. Not only that, as I get older, age discrimination would kick in, assuming it hasn’t already.

So four-and-a-half years ago, I decided to search for a job one last time. But not just any job. A job where I would be doing work that I enjoy. A job where I can work with people who are not only the best in the business but are also supportive. And most importantly, a job that’s not going to put my physical and mental health in jeopardy.

I decided to write about it in the hopes that others would find it insightful, or at the very least entertaining. And so, on April 2, 2014, the Back In The Race column began with the goal of documenting my attempt to rejoin the rat race. I used a stage name mainly because I didn’t want to be treated differently than anyone else.

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From then until now, I wrote over 250 columns for Above The Law on a number of topics in addition to the challenges I faced in my job search. In short, not much has changed in the job search process. While the employment market now is better than it was in 2008, there are still more lawyers than available jobs and employers are still quite picky.

Now more than ever, potential law students are more cognizant of the potential debtload and questionable job prospects. But some people are planning to go nonetheless because they think they can overthrow President Trump. Also, the law school game has changed. Many law schools have lowered their tuition and have offered more generous tuition discounts in order to stay competitive. And a few law schools have closed permanently with more to follow in the next year or two. The universities and private investors no longer believe that building McLaw schools will provide a financial return on investment. So we won’t be seeing a new law school for the next few decades.

I also wrote extensively on solo and small-firm issues. I wanted to counter the idea that setting up a solo or small-firm practice is a panacea for unemployment. There are so many things you have to do just to have a minimally profitable firm. You have to maintain a budget and cannot spend money on items with questionable returns. Also, most clients are not angels who got swindled.

But now, I think it is time to move on and do something different. I plan to continue writing on small-firm issues and other topics, but it will not be in this current format. But it’s safe to say that my job search is over and I should focus my energies elsewhere.

I am very grateful to Above The Law’s editorial staff for giving me this opportunity and allowing me — an unknown with no writing experience — to write for as long as I did. I should point out that I also got to chat with and meet in person current and former ATL columnists including Jeff Bennion, Nicole Black, Jeena Cho, Keith Lee, Jordan Rothman, Jill Switzer, and Ellen Trachman.

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Finally, for the very few who read my column regularly hoping that I would be hired by a Biglaw firm, I apologize for not giving you a happy ending. Unfortunately, real life is not like the movies. Life is unfair sometimes. Actually, it’s unfair a lot of times. But a part of me thinks I dodged a bullet. We’ve all read too many stories of lawyers overworking themselves at the expense of their families and their health. Many of these major law firms have brutal billing requirements. On the other hand, I work a fairly chill schedule. And I don’t have a lot of clients with drama issues or the inability to pay.

Next week, I want to write more in detail about the things I learned over the last four years. And if I am in a really good mood, I just might reveal my true identity.

Shannon Achimalbe was a former solo practitioner for five years before deciding to sell out and get back on the corporate ladder. Shannon can be reached by email at sachimalbe@excite.com and via Twitter: @ShanonAchimalbe.

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