Biglaw

Ex-Biglaw Associate Becomes Accidental Millionaire Thanks To Daily Fantasy Sports

Could this be your way out of Biglaw too?

By  
on

Picture this: You’re a seventh-year attorney at a Biglaw firm, and you’re getting tired of the never-ending rise and grind that goes along with associate life. You may be raking in a six-figure salary, but you’re exhausted, and you’re longing for change. You want to get out, but you’re not sure how. In what little spare time you have, you turn to playing daily fantasy sports (DFS) on DraftKings. And then, just like that, one football game changes your life forever.

That’s exactly what happened to William Elder Jr., 38, a former Dechert associate. “I’m one of the luckier guys you’ll ever meet,” he says. Bloomberg Law has the details:

[Elder’s] life suddenly changed—while watching a football game, on Nov. 18, 2018.

Elder’s hometown Philadelphia Eagles lost 48-7 to the New Orleans Saints. But the 10 catches for 157 yards and a touchdown by Saints receiver Tre’Quan Smith helped the fantasy squad he assembled win a weekly contest sponsored by DraftKings Inc.

His winnings? One million dollars. That’s why DraftKings, a Boston-based fantasy sports company that went public last year, calls the contest the Millionaire Maker.

Elder left Dechert in February 2019, and took some time off to figure out what to do next with his life. He founded BillyVonElds LLC, a DFS consultancy, and spent hours upon hours playing DFS daily so that he could make ends meet. Aside from his million-dollar win, his best single-day win was $40,000. And then along came COVID, which forced him into the world of e-sports. Things were getting difficult, and Elder thought it may be time for yet another career change.

In a happy coincidence, this past May, one of his old Dechert clients, Diffusion, came calling, and a few months later, he became the company’s general counsel.

Elder will receive $250,000 in annual base salary with an initial target bonus equal to 30% of that sum, according to a Diffusion securities filing. He currently owns more than $16,000 in Diffusion stock, per Bloomberg data. …

Diffusion’s employment of Elder has curtailed his DFS activities, he said, although he still manages to squeeze in some games when he has time.

Elder’s got some Super Bowl advice for those who still have time to play DFS: “As part of my DFS stuff I have NFL power rankings. I started doing them about Week 10, right when there’s enough data, and the Bucs have been at the top.”

Sponsored

Will you be betting on Tom Brady and the Bucs? If you’re lucky, you could turn yourself into a millionaire just like this lawyer.

Super Bowl Reminds Lawyer of Game That Forever Changed His Life [Bloomberg Law]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Sponsored

Topics

, , ,