Anonymous Comment: ....People/employers/the world cares about money. "How much money can you make for me?" If you went to Harvard and can't generate revenues, you're getting cut loose by end of the year. If you went to Cooley and can generate $2MM in bills, you're a damn rockstar and partner.
Dear Prospective Law Students a/k/a Legal Cowboys & Cowgirls:
You have undoubtedly heard the term "rainmaking" in relationship to practicing law. You probably vaguely understand that it means "getting clients." It is undoubtedly an abstract concept to you at this point. You assume there is some sort of relationship between "being a good lawyer" and "being a rainmaker." Since you are confident that you will be a good lawyer, you have little doubt that you will be a rainmaker and have lots of clients. Let me assure you there is little to no connection between these concepts.
You need to give considerable thought to the rainmaking aspect of practicing law before you actually decide to go to law school. I know that you believe that "highly over saturated legal market" doesn't apply to you, but it does. If you do not know where your clients are coming from before you go to law school, you are really going to be at a loss once you graduate.
The rainmaking metaphor is apt for a lot of reasons. We need water to live. You will need bountiful paying clients to have a growing, thriving practice and be able to pay your bills. The current legal market is not a rain forest; it is a desert. A dry, dry desert.
Place yourself for a moment in the Old West in the late 19th century. You are a young greenhorn fresh off the train from out East. You don't know much about cowboying, but you always dreamed of being a cowboy when you were growing up. You spent your youth reading books about cowboys, then you borrowed a small fortune at a heavy interest rate from a shady New York banker, bought a few hundred head of cattle and headed out West on a train with cattle cars in tow. The train drops you and your herd off at a town in the middle of no where and pulls away leaving you behind. You see the conductor laugh and shake his head as the train pulls away.
What do you do now? The cattle need water. You start asking the old timers where to take your cattle for a drink and they just snicker at you. Someone finally takes pity on you and explains that most of the water was diverted from the river by the large land and cattle barons and now a major drought has hit. The mighty river is just a trickle. Carcasses of dead critters line its banks. The old timers sneer and ask "didn't anyone out East tell you about the drought and the land barons? Wasn't it in the fancy newspapers out East?" Yes, you say, but you always wanted to be a cowboy and you really didn't think you would have trouble watering your cattle once you made it West. You read all the books about cowboying. You're a cowboy now in your heart. You own fancy boots, a big hat, a lasso and a horse named Trigger and everything. Somebody just needs to get you some water for your cattle before they all die so you can show them what a good cowboy you really are. You wish you could make rain like the Indians or something. So, Tex, how are you going to water your cattle? Your cattle are dying, Tex.
What do you do now? The cattle need water. You start asking the old timers where to take your cattle for a drink and they just snicker at you. Someone finally takes pity on you and explains that most of the water was diverted from the river by the large land and cattle barons and now a major drought has hit. The mighty river is just a trickle. Carcasses of dead critters line its banks. The old timers sneer and ask "didn't anyone out East tell you about the drought and the land barons? Wasn't it in the fancy newspapers out East?" Yes, you say, but you always wanted to be a cowboy and you really didn't think you would have trouble watering your cattle once you made it West. You read all the books about cowboying. You're a cowboy now in your heart. You own fancy boots, a big hat, a lasso and a horse named Trigger and everything. Somebody just needs to get you some water for your cattle before they all die so you can show them what a good cowboy you really are. You wish you could make rain like the Indians or something. So, Tex, how are you going to water your cattle? Your cattle are dying, Tex.
So, lawyer cowboys and cowgirls, how are you going to get paying clients? (Keyword in that sentence is "paying" incidentally. There will be no shortage of people with problems who cannot afford to pay you.)
If you are just the child of some Blue Collar Joe who grew up in a working class neighborhood you have your work cut out for you. First, everybody you grew up with already knows a lawyer or is related to a lawyer. Second, keep in mind most people go their entire lives and may only need a lawyer once or twice. Plus, if they can do it themselves they probably will do so. Remember dentists have it all over lawyers. A dentist only has to have about 1,500 to 2,000 patients for a sustainable practice because the patients are on six-month recall. If you try to skip your dental appointments, you end up paying for it down the road. Legal clients are not on six-month recall with their attorneys. In fact, they are likely to be angry at their attorney for the legal process and the cost of legal services and not return period even if they do need more services. The phone needs to be ringing all the time or you are in trouble. Can you generate a quarter million a year in legal revenue to pay for your office overhead and staff and leave a little left over for yourself? That's a start. What about a half million? Year in and year out? If not, stay away from law school.
Did you grow up the child of some Silver Spoon Richy Rich? Is your dad and his friends over at the club wealthy? Do they have businesses that are either growing or tend to get themselves in trouble? Do you have enough experience and social suction to pull that work away from the current lawyers doing the work? If so, maybe law school is for you.
Please understand that even if you land a job with a law firm, you need to start producing from your own client base or you will be gone and replaced with a freshly minted lawyer. No one cares how good a lawyer you are because there are lots of really good lawyers. You eat what you kill in life.
If you are just the child of some Blue Collar Joe who grew up in a working class neighborhood you have your work cut out for you. First, everybody you grew up with already knows a lawyer or is related to a lawyer. Second, keep in mind most people go their entire lives and may only need a lawyer once or twice. Plus, if they can do it themselves they probably will do so. Remember dentists have it all over lawyers. A dentist only has to have about 1,500 to 2,000 patients for a sustainable practice because the patients are on six-month recall. If you try to skip your dental appointments, you end up paying for it down the road. Legal clients are not on six-month recall with their attorneys. In fact, they are likely to be angry at their attorney for the legal process and the cost of legal services and not return period even if they do need more services. The phone needs to be ringing all the time or you are in trouble. Can you generate a quarter million a year in legal revenue to pay for your office overhead and staff and leave a little left over for yourself? That's a start. What about a half million? Year in and year out? If not, stay away from law school.
Did you grow up the child of some Silver Spoon Richy Rich? Is your dad and his friends over at the club wealthy? Do they have businesses that are either growing or tend to get themselves in trouble? Do you have enough experience and social suction to pull that work away from the current lawyers doing the work? If so, maybe law school is for you.
Please understand that even if you land a job with a law firm, you need to start producing from your own client base or you will be gone and replaced with a freshly minted lawyer. No one cares how good a lawyer you are because there are lots of really good lawyers. You eat what you kill in life.
Being a "good lawyer" isn't enough. Wanting to be a lawyer from the time you were born isn't enough. Can you make rain? Do you have access to the water you need to water your cattle? If you cannot answer this yes before you apply to law school, then do not apply to law school. A herd of stinking dead cattle is not pretty.
Oh, and by the way, that banker out East that lent you the money to buy the cattle? He hired some really nasty Black Bart outlaw types to track you down. Get along now, little Cowboy.
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