The Problem with Being a Young Lawyer.
I've been practicing law for ten years now, and don't feel like a young lawyer anymore. When I saw this post on Dana's Blog, it got me thinking about how screwed up the legal business is.
Are you a recent college grad? If so, my advice is to start with a sales position. You can never underestimate the value of working directly with clients and customers to better understand the purchase decision-making process. As you move up the marketing ladder within organizations, you oftentimes get further and further away from the customer. Starting in sales can help ground you in being customer-focused.
The problem with our business (law) is that it is absolutely impossible to take this advice and start in "sales" as a young lawyer. Instead, new lawyers start as far from the "customer" as the law firm can keep them. Then, when (if?) partnership rolls around, lawyers are suddenly expected to jump into "sales" and get business for the firm. By that time, they only know the law firm's view of billing -- not the client's.
Read these quotes from an article Kevin O'Keefe sent me about alternative billing methods (the emphasis is mine):
Michael Saunders, chairman of 120-lawyer Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP, said a majority of the firm's business still is done through hourly billing because many clients stick with what they know. "While a lot of people are talking about this, it's still a small part of how companies are doing business with their counsel," Saunders said. "No one wants to be guinea pigs. They're interested in, 'How can we get what we need done by the best people and the best way possible?' A lot have not seen the need or seen the advantage."
And this:
Larry Bingham, president of 37-lawyer Seigfreid Bingham Levy Selzer & Gee PC, said the firm deals with medium-sized companies and doesn't use alternative fees. "Not that we're opposed to that," Bingham said. "For a closely held company that doesn't have a lot of legal work ... you have to have a pretty big volume for a law firm to know how to bill for that."
Amazing, absolutely amazing. Is it possible that the clients have not "asked for" alternative billing because the law firms have not put it on the menu? And since when does a client have to have a lot of volume of work for a lawyer to "know how to bill for" it? If these lawyers (and thousands like them) had been in "sales" as young lawyers, might they have a different view of what clients want and need? Food for thought.