The Systematic Reason Why Most Attorneys Fail in Large Prestigious Law Firms

Description

20220629 The Systematic Reason Why Most Attorneys Fail in Large Prestigious Law Firms
[00:00:00] Okay. Today's presentation is about really what I consider one of the greatest causes of failure of attorneys that not just in large firms, but, in firms of kind of all sizes. And I think it's a very important presentation because it's about and these are actually reasons it's not the systematic reason, but it's the reasons that attorneys fail.
And it's something that I've seen countless times throughout my career. I see it on an ongoing basis and every day these are the, I'm gonna talk about these reasons today and hopefully people will, or you may understand some of the reasons or appreciate them.
One thing I will say is this particular presentation is based on an article. And I've certainly been attacked for being honest about this stuff. And it's nothing in particular attacked publicly and before this particular topic and and which is okay. But what I'm doing here is I'm delivering kind of the truth in terms of how the system works and not everybody necessarily appreciates the [00:01:00] system in the way it works.
And and that's okay too. So that's what I'm gonna talk about today. And then after the presentation, I will take questions about this and and how that this particular issue works and and and why And and then any general questions you guys have as well.
So I, I started in girls, I started my career as a asphalt contractor. I started doing that in, in high school and and then did it all through college and law school. And and one thing I would say is if you're very good at this any profession, to be honest with you, it doesn't matter if you're on TikTok or what you do.
But if you could very good at something you can do very well financially. And and and one of the things that I just you wanna say is that, as I talk about this profession and then other stuff a lot of what I'm gonna say, may you may find offensive and upsetting.
There's nothing I'm gonna say that's offensive to anybody in particular. I'm just talking about different kind of rules and how they apply in any profession. And it's about hard work and things like that. [00:02:00] But it's, these are things that a lot of times that people don't want to hear.
And and I'm gonna talk to you about when you do have a great opportunity why you need to take advantage of it and and why people aren't going to necessarily advance you based on your past achievements or your your affiliations or anything, why you're really gonna need to work hard to do well yourself and why people to do that and follow the rules do well.
So when I was growing up in this asphalt business and very young I certainly looked for role models and the most successful asphalt contract I knew was doing incredibly well. So well that he I've never heard of anything like this, but he built his house and put hydraulics so he could pick it up and move it in different directions to face his sun as a Rosenfeld site, which is an incredible engineering feat.
But it's, I guess the kind of thing that people do when they have more money than they know what to do with, and sounds fun. But he wouldn't be able to move his house, to face the sun as it rose and fell or whatever big success [00:03:00] story and this particular person wasn't that well educated if at all meaning he might have graduated from high school.
I don't know, but probably not even that. He wasn't extremely motivated. He was a nice person and worked hard, but he wasn't besides for his house, I don't think, there was no expensive flows or anything or cars or anything special about him. But he did one thing very well.
And. One thing I learned is the doing, following the rules in terms of what's required of you is very important. And and he in particular got very wealthy under a special government program that benefited people from special backgrounds and minorities with contracts do related asphalt work.
And it doesn't matter what his background was. For all, you could have been handicapped, a American Indian, or a different racial group or a sexual orientation. It doesn't matter. But what's important is that he was given this opportunity because of something in his background.
There was something that. Made him get a [00:04:00] preference and and made him be awarded contracts that he might not have otherwise gotten. In a profession that typically was dominated by a certain type of group. And and again, women contractors were also a special group under this program and he wasn't a woman who was a man, but as part of this program, he had the responsibility to document his workers to do set aside a certain amount of money in case things went wrong in his business to to do work of a certain quality meaning they had to pass certain things he had his workers had to have breaks at certain times.
They had to be paid a certain amount in a certain way as workers. And he had to have some diversity in his workforce and this again was a long time ago, but he had to have equipment that was maintained a certain way. He had to not cut corners with the materials he was using. He had to allow the government to come in and look at his books and his books had to be up to a certain standard.
And and he had all these different rules. He had to follow that are not fun rules. It's it's no different than, and our company, for [00:05:00] example, that guy give people, if you wanna work in our company, you have to give a report each day at the end of the day, what you did and and different people have rules and other people don't.
And and since the government was hiring him to build roads there were report for the public. The government did have standards that wanted have followed and it expected things to be done in a certain way. And and before getting this getting this opportunity to work on all these government programs he'd been doing just kind of simple work, he'd been working for parking lots and homes and where you didn't really need to have those type of systems.
So anybody can go out and pave a parking lot or a house. And but when he started working on federal and state highways he became able to work in a, in an industry in place where he was able to get access to a lot more money, meaning bigger clients, bigger budgets, more opportunity, and so forth.
And and he would not have gotten those opportunities. Had he not been willing to follow the systems and the systems were all the ways of documenting things and doing things a certain way. [00:06:00] And if that's all he really had to do. And and once he did that and did the good work he became successful.
And the thing I thought was interesting is and I've always tried to study people on every industry that are successful with Al are asphalt or whatever. But he said one of the most successful people he knew said to him when he, when he won his first large contract, was that. You better not take this for granted and you better do everything they ask you and don't mess this up because sometimes you only get one chance, meaning if he decided to cut corners and not follow the rules, or if he decided to make up rules or do what was not asked of him and so forth he would not be able to advance.
This particular contractor got very lucky. He was able to get, I think his first major contract was not the something he, I normally would've gotten. He was, giving someone the opportunity to go from, doing parking lots to a state highway or what, I don't know what his first opportunity was, something like that.
[00:07:00] It's not normal. It's not something that happens normally. And but he, it happened to him because of a program that was meant to help someone from. His particular background and it did, and it worked. But even though he got a lucky break he though he did things, he was able to take the opportunity he was given and he did everything in his power to make it work for him.
He followed the rules and and he made it work and it did work for him. He soon became he by following the rules and doing what was asked of him. And he soon became one of the largest asphalt contractors and he invested in his business and he continued to become more successful and he did everything he was supposed to and and became extremely successful.
Another contractor I knew also was part of this program. He got a large job state job that awarded him another program. And the first thing he did when he got it is he went out and bought himself in expensive car. He kept paying his people in cash because he wanted to save payroll taxes and all that kind of thing.
And he bent the procedures. Didn't think they applied to [00:08:00] him. He could get away, he didn't maintain his equipment. His insurance maintained and lapsed he didn't do the books away. He was supposed to. And because he didn't do things that way. He was stopped in the middle one projects and the state didn't pay him and he started bouncing checks and so forth and car Reposessed, all those sorts of things.
And. Then last time I worked with him I was working with him on a project somehow that he was also involved in he didn't even have bank account and was doing all his deals in cash. So he had a sense of entitlement. And this is something that a lot of people have, he felt that because I don't know that the rules didn't apply to him.
He had to he was entitled to this special deal he got and and he could do whatever he wanted and he was owed something and and he deserved these jobs above other people. And instead of viewing this as something that was a blessing he got, he blew it now. I'm not saying that everyone that gets an opportunity for under a program [00:09:00] like this should succeed, but I see people and I'll just, be completely honest with you.
I see people or miraculous things happen to them. I've seen people with all CS in law school get hired at a, at the, top 10 firm for some, I don't know how it happens, but they do. And then they blow it. They, then they think, oh, I'm making all this money. I shouldn't have to, I'm titled to this and, or they, I've seen people I saw one girl years ago.
I don't know what happened. But she got into. Somehow got into a, I'm not even gonna say the name of the law school, but like a top five law school. She was a, a white blonde collegiate cheerleader. And she was at a top five law school and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being white and blonde in a cheerleader.
But she was a C and B student and an average college, and I don't know how any of this happened and it wasn't just cuz of the LSAT. And it didn't take advantage of the opportunity. So people get advantages all the time and it doesn't matter necessarily. Why that happens even getting hired in a big firm, regardless [00:10:00] of your background is a advantage and it's a special advantage and something that a lot of people don't do.
And so this particular contractor because he didn't follow the rules he basically his whole life went to hell and last time I spoke to him, which again was decades ago he knew, was talking about hiding one of his dump trucks, cuz he was worried the tires would be possessed cuz he bought the bottom on credit.
So in truth the contractor who failed was more confident a harder worker a better salesman and had more charisma and a better market than the one who succeeded. So that's a thing I just want you to think about very quickly that the one who failed. Was more confident about a harder worker.
He would work harder. He was better salesman. He could, when you met him, you would be more impressed with him and a better market than the one who succeeded. And I see this with attorneys all the time. I meet some of the most successful attorneys in and, the country, and you meet them and you wouldn't think that they were anywhere near as successful as they are [00:11:00] based on their charisma and and other things.
And but they are because they follow the rules. And so the contractor failed because he didn't follow the rules. He didn't think they applied to him. And and you should never think that rules don't apply to you. And in large firms there's rules that apply to everyone.
And it doesn't matter. Everyone can talk about how they're whatever open to all these different ideas and you can work remotely and do all these special things. But in reality that doesn't necessarily apply like people need to be a certain type of person. And one of the thing oddest thing is there's a lot of attorneys out there that believe.
Rules don't apply to them. And it could be people that go to top law schools. It could be people that I, and I see that all the time, by the way, I see people that go to these top law schools all the time. I see resumes like this every day and they make these horrible career choices like[00:12:00] that that don't take into some of the rules that I'm talking about.
And then they believe that someone should hire them because they went to this law school. It doesn't matter. Or they believe that they're special because they got a job at a really good firm at one point, and someone should hire them because they or who knows, or because they're in a big city or I don't know.
But I keep seeing people fail over and over again, I don't think they need to follow the rules. And it's often the smartest people. So like contractors who incorrectly, they don't need to follow the rules. A lot of people from top law schools don't grad graduate and reach anywhere near the levels accomplishment because they have reaching their careers because they may believe that the rules don't apply to them.
And at the same time, people that do follow these rules from lesser backgrounds often succeed. And they're the kind of rules I'm gonna talk about today. So a lot of the most talented people, because they, the sense of entitlement and believing that rules don't apply to them and will not succeed when they should.
And and then and it's a shame. And so a lot of times one of the [00:13:00] funniest things I see are and I hate to say this, but these graduates of Yale law school, it's crazy making, like they, they come out of law school and then they do things that have nothing to do with the law. Like they think, it's a great idea to.
Build aqueducts or something in Tanzania, or, who knows where Siberia, I don't know, but do things like that because it looks really exotic and cool. And then they think that they can come back to a law firm and be a partner. It, none of this makes any sense, but I see this all the time or people leave the practice law and they think because they're smart, they can come back to a big law firm when it's impossible.
And and or go to, go into academia and then come back, or I don't know, but all these different things or go in house want to come back. And you can't, this I'm, I'll talk about these rules, but you can't do it. You can't, you just can't do it. It doesn't work.
It's not, it's not how things work. It's just not it doesn't matter where you went to law school. It doesn't matter how smart you are. It doesn't matter how talented you are. The, once a law [00:14:00] firm knows you're not committed to the, to what they're doing and and you're likely to leave and won't file the system.
And you think you're above being an attorney in law firm. Why would they want you, think about it. Why would you, if someone thinks that they're above being your friend and they're too cool for you but then they come back after. Not being your friend and say, oh, maybe I'll be your friend.
Now, why would you wanna be their friend? It doesn't work. And especially if it's a business where it's about making money. So no, it's a bad business decision. People know if you leave the practice of law or you leave working in the law firm and so forth and you wanna come back, you're not gonna work as hard.
You're gonna make unreasonable demands on the firm maybe because of where you attend a law school, you're in expect special treatment. And and it's just gonna be very difficult for you. And and a lot of people I see this all the time. I see people that have really good backgrounds and then they think that they're entitled to special treatment and sometimes that'll work for a little while, but usually it doesn't almost always it doesn't.
And and there's nothing wrong with [00:15:00] doing another profession. There's nothing wrong with going to work in the government or going to in house. And these are there's. These are not bad career decisions. I'm not saying they are. But what I am saying is if you wanna be in a law firm you have to be very focused on being in a law firm.
You have to understand the reason you need to stay in a law firm and and why you need to follow the law firm's rules and that's one of the rules. And again, I'm gonna talk a. About the rules, but the secret of being enormously successful in anything lies in understanding the rules and the rules about a law firm are pretty, pretty simple.
They're no different than the guy that got very successful as a contractor, working for the government. You have to follow those rules and if you don't, then you get in trouble. And law firm is an established game. And if you follow the rules and the systems you'll do well, if you don't you won't.
And and just because, however, you got a job, so people, there are people that get into law school based on connections. I don't know how hunter Viden, [00:16:00] for example, got into Yale law school. As a transfer student maybe he was the best student they could have brought in. I don't know.
But. People get opportunities based on connections and things all the time. And and that's good. It's good to get. It's good to get things through connections. It's good. If you are a cheerleader at a, PAC 10 school and graduate from, with a Q five and get a, whatever and your LSATs and not a great score and end up at top five law school.
That's great. But it doesn't mean that you can't, you don't have to play by the rules and you don't have to, you still have to play by the rules. You have to play. But even if you were a first in your law school class, you have to play by the rules. You have to, everyone has to play by the rules.
And and if you get lucky, you still have to play by the rules. If you get lucky by getting into a certain law school, if you get lucky by getting a certain job or getting getting a job through a connection or something happens to you, you need to play by the rules. It doesn't matter. And and a lot of people get very lucky getting jobs inside of major law firms.
It's [00:17:00] often luck. I've seen people I've met people that have literally like lots of 'em that have gotten jobs in the top law firms in the world where it was luck. And it's not always luck. It's usually by or town, but. But, but if you, regardless of how you get to where you are, you still have to follow the rules.
And I keep talking about these rules and I will talk about the rules but but you have to follow them. And so here's when I look at a resume, like I, again, I've been doing this for so long. I when people apply to BCG my goal is to to see the best in people. And so I will look at every resume and get behind people and help them.
And and if I see a, an ounce of hope, I will work to find opportunities for that person, cuz I believe everyone's entitled to opportunities, but most people in my position in recruiting firms are extremely discriminating. Meaning if they see 200 resumes they will maybe be interested in one of them because they're looking at all these things that [00:18:00] kind of disqualify them.
And and I don't look at things that way because I've seen. What happens when people believe in people. And I believe in if you're watching this, I believe in you and I believe in anyone that's trying to get ahead and I believe in because everyone needs people to believe in them. And it's it's very rare that people come along and believe in them.
So when people use our company, like I do everything I possibly can to find opportunities for them, but a lot of people will look at your resume, most recruiters, most law firms, most people. And depending on the type of law firm, now there's law firms that are very hard to get into. And there's law firms that are easier to get into, but most people are gonna look at a bunch of different things when they look at your resume and and they will figure out ways to eliminate you.
And there's so many rules in the legal profession that you need to follow to to stay ahead. And if you don't, it becomes very difficult. So if you quit your job without a new law firm with the new one [00:19:00] lined up you're typically, especially in a market like New York, you could go to Columbia law school start your career at a major firm.
Let's just say, I'm just gonna make up a firm, but Goodwin Proctor or something, I'm in a big, respected law firm. And and if you quit and you don't have a job and you try to get another job in New York in a big firm, it's. Next to impossible. It's not, it can happen. But it's next to impossible.
I've seen instances where, someone was in where someone like that was then interviewed and they walk into the first interview and the partner says, I didn't realize you, weren't employed. Sorry. These interviews are over, and then just shows the person out. This is how it works.
You, if you quit your job without a new one lined up. In the legal profession, you're typically going to be rejected. If you go in house you're typically gonna be rejected. The rules, the way this system works is. And again, it's not, you're not gonna be rejected by all large law firms in different cities.
So [00:20:00] it's the most competitive markets though. It's very difficult cause people just assume you're fired. If your legal, job's not important. If you go in house you're often going to be rejected. It's not by law firms. Again the, it is possible to find a law firm if you go on house, but it's so it's extremely difficult because why would they, if you were a business, why would you hire someone that probably doesn't wanna be work for your business, which the law firm is a business.
If they want to go to a someplace where they're ne not necessarily accountable for hours and all that kind of stuff, you wouldn't wanna do it. If you switch your practice areas again, you're unfortunately the way the legal profession works is if you start in a practice area, the odds of you getting into another practice area are extremely difficult.
I've had candidates that were first in their class from top 20 law schools. Working in big firms in say litigation that wanted do corporate or working in corporate and wanted to switch to litigation, literally no positive reception nothing. And and and it's [00:21:00] difficult.
If you left the practice of law and you wanted do something else for a few years again that's not following the system, you have to commit to it. And and people law firms want people that are gonna stick with it. So that's just how it is. You have to cuz if they know, if you leave by the way that you're going to leave again.
There's a there's a saying that you never rehire anybody. And and that my business, for example, I have a lot of people leave and then then they come back and say, oh, I'd love to come back. I've made a mistake, but they, those same people always leave. And I've seen that in other companies and firms, too, everybody that leaves always leaves again.
It's very rare that people stick with it. If you move every year or two and you've been doing that, you've done that several times then Most law firms. If they know what they're doing, they're not going to bring you back. Why would they it doesn't make sense that they you're gonna leave again.
If somebody has been in three jobs in each one, they've been at one to two years and you're the fourth [00:22:00] employer, what do you think's gonna happen? The person will leave. If you become a contract attorney and you wanna work in a large law firm and you were at another precise firm, there's nothing wrong again with being a contract attorney.
But the law firm is not there's no, they have no incentive to bring on someone that has looked for another type of position. It's not following the rules on the systems again. If you become a solo practitioner now there are instances where solo practitioners are hired by firms.
But again once you become a solo practitioner, there's a perception that that you're not going to work again and and all sorts of stuff. And that's or that you're gonna go start with something with the clients, or you don't want supervision. I don't know what it is, but it's what it is.
People will not bring people like that back. If you move to a small town To be near a love interest or something. And then you break up and wanna return to a major market. The odds of getting hired again are pretty pretty slim because when you what's gonna happen when you meet the next person what's gonna happen what are you gonna do next?
And your ability to stay employed and [00:23:00] especially with the largest law firms is related to your ability to show you're following the systems and the requirements of what that employer needs. It's not that the, these employers are evil. It's not that they're there's something wrong with them or even you for wanting to do things different.
But these law firms have options when they hire people. It doesn't matter what the trends in society, whether it's the trends towards whatever type of values are, popular at the moment. It at these are businesses that have to operate in a certain way. And just think about what you would want.
If you were running a business that relied on people to represent clients in a certain way, you would wanna hire the best people for them. And you would want people who were committed to the system. Certain people say they hate the lifestyle of large law firms. Other people would may say they don't wanna follow the system.
Other people may say they don't want the life of partners and they wanna be nothing like them. Other people may say That their family [00:24:00] independence is more important. They may find fault with the politics of the firm and say it's too much too Republican or too Democrat, or I don't know. And not like it I've heard all the criticisms, they, the criticisms, by the way, have always been there.
They're always the same criticisms. They've always been the same criticism. I've gone back and, read books about practicing law that were from the 1950s and sixties and the same people, things people were saying back then, they're still saying today, it's all the same it's nothing has changed.
And it's always gonna be the same. It's either you buy into it and you realize that there's a cost associated with following the system to your freedom and to your personal outlook or it's not. And you don't have to follow the systems. If you work in a hospital, there's a certain system.
The system means, you have to be on call a certain number of hours. You have to do certain things. If you work in a law firm, it's the same thing, especially large law firms. And the benefits of the law firm is if you work in a large law firm, you have a big brand behind you, which has all sorts of benefits.[00:25:00]
You're more employable if you move. You're gonna get to work on larger matters and you'll make more money than attorneys not following the same systems. That's those are the benefits, the, those drawbacks of course but those are the drawbacks. And so this is how it works. Most business people, by the way if you were given a choice of owning a McDonald's, a Starbucks or TGA Fridays, or I don't even know how well TGA Friday's doing anymore, but some other chain restaurant are told you could start your own hamburger restaurant or coffee shop.
Most people would much rather own one of those chains. And most attorneys by the way, would also rather work in a prestigious law firm, making a big salary to go to work in an unknown law firm. I I always found it funny cuz you know, I don't do it anymore, but I used to cold call and people on the phone.
And for different jobs. And if I call a partner in a small firm about an opportunity, a big firm, even if they've been there for 20 years, they're almost always interested. People always wanna go to the largest and most prestigious thing. And if I told you gave you the choice of owning a McDonald's versus owning [00:26:00] a six, chain or six outlet chain of a hamburger restaurant you would probably choose the McDonald's because you want the prestige and anything.
So anyone can start a hamburger restaurant. There's no really bare to entry. You could probably do it for $20,000 and be in control of your destiny. You won't need to follow orders. You can do things the way you want but the odds are that you'll fail. And and then if you do fail the odds are or the odd, even if you do not fail, the odds are, you won't do very well.
Most restaurants fail. Anyone can go to law school and pass the bar. It's not. There's, you can sign up for law school in California or in different states and do it on your computer if you want or even just get books in the mail. And then you, anyone that does, that can start their own law firm and get a position with an non loan law firm, making very little money.
Anyone can do this. The odds are that if an attorney does this, they're gonna fail. And if they fail, they're not gonna make as much money. As if they joined a serious law firm and followed that law firm system. So that's just [00:27:00] how it is it's you can and if you go to a better law school and then you do well, or you interview and you learn all those systems, you'll do well.
And anybody can quit their job in a large law firm or medium size or small law firm and decide to do something else or do something completely different. And there's definitely exceptions. But most people who do this will fail and not make as much money, not have as much prestige not do as important work, almost everyone that makes a decision to walk away from the largest law firms.
Now not everyone of course, but doesn't do well because they walk away from an established system that works. And almost everyone that owns a business other than a franchise a restaurant will fail. If you look at McDonald's and McDonald's, and I can go to parts of the country I was growing up in the 1970s.
There was, I remember in Detroit there was some McDonald's and and they're still there, still in the same location, but I don't think there's a single restaurant. And I'm thinking of one on street called Jefferson in Detroit. I don't think there's probably a single [00:28:00] restaurant in Detroit.
That has been open for probably more than 10 years or 20 years. Maybe there's a couple but very few. So it's the same thing with law firms, they stay open and they, most of 'em, they very rarely go out of business. So to start a McDonald's you need I don't know, probably way more than a million dollars these days, but I need to follow a rigid system.
That's dictated how you operate them. It's a, there's a 12 binder manual of processes and procedures. And you need to be trained in these systems and and constantly people are gonna walk into your McDonald's and inspect it and tested and make sure you're following these systems. And and they will, they'll review it.
They will, you'll be required to buy certain types of food. You'll required to throw it out. If it goes a certain number of days old, you're required to follow all sorts of checklists. When you clean it at night, close it down, you're required to follow sorts of checklists in the morning when you start it, you're required to, clean the machines at certain times of day.
All these different things and staff it a certain way. And your performance of the speed of the drive-throughs [00:29:00] measured. All these sorts of things happen and they're all they're all measured. And no one will get into McDonald's. If the, if. If they're not committed and if they don't look like someone that will follow the system, so McDonald's will interview you.
They'll ask you all sorts of questions about your commitment. They'll look at your financial history, they'll check your credit. They're gonna do everything they can to make sure you're the best fit for them. And it's all about being the sort of person who's gonna commit and follow the rules and systems.
That's how it is. And and that's why very few people don't wanna McDonald's get one because very few people are gonna be willing to follow the systems and start something that will sit in the same location for 50 years while hundreds of restaurants across the street and down the block and so forth, come and go because they're following the systems and that's what makes a sustainable career.
It's also what makes a sustainable business. I'm sure the McDonald's some places close, but very rarely. If you don't follow your system in McDonald's, you're gonna lose your [00:30:00] do money at, McDonald's take your restaurant over and never allow you to buy a franchise from them again. And if you fail with McDonald's or any other franchise, then most franchises will never want anything to do with you again, because they know that you probably won't follow the system.
So if you have a Kentucky fried chicken, you decide you wanna I don't know, do something different, then they will close your franchise. If you have a sell a different product there or not buy their one thing, they'll just, you're done. It's over. And it's the same thing. And that may seem harsh if you invest in real estate and a location and building a McDonald's or a Kentucky fried chicken or whatever, but that's how it works.
It's just about every other franchise out there. They have systems expectations ways of doing things and these systems work and very few McDonald's ever fail because they have a system and the people that own them can make a lot of money. You can make a lot of money with McDonald's or any good franchise burger king, whatever.
But you can't own one of these franchises or participate in these [00:31:00] proven business models and ways of doing things. If you think these rules don't apply to you. Just think about it this way. Can you imagine going into McDonald's where the people weren't wearing uniforms where the McDonald's was deciding that they were gonna use a cheaper ketchup or maybe they didn't have ketchup cause they wanna, they don't want up the expense of buying ketchup or they decided they were just gonna make up some menu items or what would you do?
You wouldn't be comfortable and you wouldn't wanna shop there. And and it's crazy. People, but, and it wouldn't happen. It just wouldn never happen. It wouldn't, you wouldn't go to the McDonald's and find something that's outta, outta line. The same thing with the law firm, can you imagine going into a major law firm, if you were a client with a problem and finding attorneys that worked the way they, the hours they wanted that decided That they could come and go as they please, where they only took the types of assignments they wanted to effect the client had a problem and someone was a litigator, but didn't want to touch a matter that involving [00:32:00] this type of thing that they couldn't put anybody on the case that the people that were paid money, but were, had no expectations to show up or to be available certain hours where where the attorneys worked and did things the way they wanted, where they decided they were gonna.
Make typos or whatever when they decided they weren't gonna report to partners or do things or enter their hours into the system. These things wouldn't happen. And if they did then the attorney would be gone and there's a price to being an attorney in a large law firm and staying an employee there you need to, you need to generally have gone to a good law school, but not always you need to show commitment and that commitment, they're looking for you to be committed to their business model just as a McDonald's is looking for you to be committed to their business model.
And and be because of that commitment, you will make more money. You get to work for something that's established and will likely not go out of business. If you did really well in law school or went to a good law school, or didn't go to a good law school, you'll probably need to have done well to get there.
So you're the, what [00:33:00] you're getting when you go to that law firm is you get the ability to work with a certain type of peers, which is nice. You need to be willing to work hard and play by their rules. You need to dedicate yourself to your practice area and the clients of the law firm. You need to be committed to what they're doing because they have a lot of people to choose from.
And as you get more senior one of the rules you start bringing in business or showing the promise to do so that's just one of the rules. It doesn't go away. It doesn't go away because you have extra work to do, or because you. I decide it doesn't apply to you. It's the rules and the rules are also the people that work the most hours are gonna get advanced.
And you need to do, what's asked of you, you need to follow the system. If you move around too much, like I talked about earlier for inconsequential reasons, cuz someone talks to you in a way that you don't like that's gonna hurt you. If you have gaps in your resume that's going to hurt you.
You have to be very careful and and the second the law firm believes you're not committed to their system. Just like if the McDonald's believes that you're gonna fail at your franchise or not [00:34:00] follow their system, or it looks like you lost other franchises and no one's gonna do business with you.
So they have to believe you're committed. And and if you're not committed then they're gonna stop hiring. We'll let you go. You need to be able to follow them and understand the system that you're part of. And if you don't follow the system, you're gonna be in trouble and not do well. There's a system for how things work and prestigious law firms and these systems are all basically the same and all good law firms.
It's just how it works. And if you wanna be part of the system, you can, if you don't they're in a, then you're not gonna succeed. And so the biggest mistake anyone can make, and I don't know. I don't like saying this, but it's no different than the asphalt contractor that didn't follow the systems or the rules.
It's no different than if you go to college and you decide you don't, you wanna give bad grades and not work. You can do that. That's but it's the system requires you to do that, to get good grades and to work hard. If you wanna go to a good law school, the system also requires if you wanna become a doctor that you have to take certain classes, this [00:35:00] part of the system.
So you have to follow the systems of the law firms too, just because you have certain political beliefs or beliefs about work and stuff doesn't mean that you can get away from them. And if you don't follow these rules, you're gonna have a very tough career and probably life too, by the way These systems and rules exist because everyone needs to be responsible for following them.
And this is one reason I get, so I, it's very depressing for, I don't know why I take your career seriously. I don't know. I do know why, but I, but the point is I take everyone's career very seriously and it's my job. And and I get very upset when I see people making mistakes. I'm demanding of people that work here.
I'm demanding of, what I, what, because I'm I believe that people should succeed and I don't like it when people just succeed. So I, and I speak to people all the time and it's depressing. It's it's upsetting when people make up rules and because it, they're, they fail and it's, there's no reason for [00:36:00] most people to fail.
It's again, the egos people's egos are involved. There's all sorts of reasons, but it's upsetting. This is an example from when this, before this presentation was put together, but I spoke to someone that had gotten a position top firm as a corporate attorney. They'd gone to a fourth year law school and didn't do very well.
They'd also gone to a bad college, which is fine. Person was a. It was a former professional model and beauty queen and lots of charisma and so forth. And after career of, one year in a law firm, she decided she was gonna get married and moved to a rural location and practice there.
And and then she moved there and didn't work for a while and then broke up with her fiance, moved back to a major city and expected a warm reception from a law firm. This is a true story. And and and I I told her, I was like, you know what your odds of getting position are very slim, with this kind of stuff in your background.
I don't really understand you can't just, you just because, you just can't give up. So I asked her how she got in a. Such a job in such [00:37:00] a good firm, she told me she'd known someone and they'd helped her, which is great. And then I asked her, what would a law firm think about her potential stability and commitment after having quit to move, to re you know, to resort town why and she said she had experience in a major firm.
Why wouldn't they be interested in her? Asked how committed she was. She said she wanted to practice for another year or two, maybe go in house and make money. And I said, I asked her if she'd leave something more interesting came along, meaning she met another guy, she got another job that was more interesting.
She might, but she wouldn't tell law firms that so none of these things made her employable despite her charisma and whatever other things that made her stick out. No one in the right mind, regardless who, what this person has done in the past is going to hire them because they're not committed to the system.
And and so law firms are businesses. They have no motivation to bring people in that aren't gonna follow the rules and have every show that they're not gonna work out. So you can certainly. Convince [00:38:00] someone maybe with a and a contact and get into a law firm at some point, if even shouldn't be there, but but to stay there you have to follow the rules.
They apply to everyone. Maybe this woman has been able to get things in her life that she otherwise would not have gotten because of her charm and stuff. But it doesn't work in the long run doors open for people that are able to follow the system. Now, if this woman had gone into a law firm and followed the system and hadn't flaked out, then she probably would still be there.
And she probably would be a partner in all sorts of things. But the doors open for a variety of reasons, doors open because of your can open because of your ethnic or religious background, which is great. I know People get jobs. A lot of times are helped by people because of their tribal, I guess I call them tribal affiliations and there's nothing wrong with that.
If you've anybody who studied anthropology knows that people help people from the same tribes and there's nothing, that's how the world is. And that's great. Sometimes people get hired because of that there's a past [00:39:00] discrimination against different types of people. And that's good too, that helps society.
And it helps equalize the playing field. I have nothing against that. I'm not commenting on that. And I'm not saying that it's not a good thing, but I'm saying you can, doors can open because of that. They can open because of your charm. They can open because of where you went to law school, they can open because of how you did in law school.
They can open because of all sorts of reasons, you, whatever achievements you've had in the past, they can open because of your, a tribal affiliation could be you're from a certain city. It doesn't matter. They can open because you interview they can open because, oh, you're good looking that helps.
There's all sorts of things or you've done something special in the past that law firms all sorts of things can open doors. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. What those things are that open doors, there's all sorts of things that open doors many times cuz you know, someone tho those can open doors, they can open because you're just because you're in demand practice here.
I've seen ti issues where someone has a rare skill that they were lucky enough to get. And all of a sudden they're [00:40:00] catapulted, from a, like a three person law firm to a thousand person, law firm, these things can happen. You doors can open for you. And again, I'm not commenting on the reasons they open.
I'm just saying they can open and and that can be great. And and that's my job. My job is to get doors open for you. My, I do everything I can to get the jobs open or doors open for people. I will present you in a way that makes you look good. I will find employers that would wanna open the door for you, even if you don't believe they will, I will believe in you and other people don't believe in you.
And and and I'll do everything I can to make doors open for you. And that's my job. That's what I do for people. But once you do get the doors open, you need to follow the systems. That's the, that's your job. So you may, your job is not getting the doors open, that the job of getting the doors open is like a salesperson's job.
And that's, again, I'm not saying I'm a salesperson, I guess I am, but I'm saying that it's a research, job's a sales job. It's a and then getting in there is your job to [00:41:00] sell yourself and to present yourself in the right. But then after you've done all that's only the entrance. The entrance is not that then you have to provide the product and the product is following the systems and the systems exist because the people that follow them and the groups have followed them to do better when they follow them.
And if you don't follow the systems or rules, your career is gonna get derail and it will happen quickly. That happens to most attorneys. If you make just one bad decision about that, not following the systems, this can be over. So if you own a burger king and you decide that you wanna start serving sushi, that's probably gonna hurt you.
Okay. You're gonna lose your burger king. If you decide that you're only gonna be open from three to 6:00 PM or three to 9:00 PM, because it's not convenient for you to open early and serve breakfast. You're gonna lose things. If you decide that you are going to cut back on the amount of salt you use to save money on French fries, or I don't know, or do smaller servings, [00:42:00] you're gonna lose your burger king.
So these are the same kind of decisions that you need to make when you own, when you're working in a law firm, if you make bad decisions you're gonna lose, you're gonna lose it. And the same thing with practicing law in a large law firm, no one cares about the fact of how you've done in the past.
No one cares really where you went to law school. They don't care how you did in law school. When you get into a law firm, they don't care. They don't care who you know, and who got you the job, they don't care how you're looking. You care. You are, they don't care about your religious background once you get there or how you interviewed none of this or your whatever.
All they care about when you get in there is whether or not you follow the system. Large law firms hire brand name law firms because the law firms have a brand and the brands exist because of those systems. And these systems make the law firm stronger and better at serving their clients.
They ensure the best quality attorneys and the most motivated attorneys and the most organized attorneys are showing up to work on their matters. Otherwise. If they're running a flaky law firm and they're allowing [00:43:00] flaky people to be in there that wanna do other things or have come in and are hired, even though they don't look like they're gonna stick around and that's not good for the law firm or the clients.
And again, there's plenty of places you can work. You can you don't need to own a McDonald's. You can own a, your own burger stand and operate it, however, the hell you want, but it's probably gonna go out of business. So you can do whatever you want. You can open an law firm in a rural area and take three months off a year if you want.
And if that works for you, that's fine. But the people that win and it's in business, it's in life, it's in everything have systems. So McDonald's Amazon Starbucks, all these brands succeed and become household names because they have systems. If you order from Amazon and you think they're gonna deliver your order in three weeks, you're probably not gonna be happy.
People complain that work in Amazon, that it's demanding and they demand that they get the shipments out in a certain time and it's stressful. And and fine people in Starbucks are like, oh, this is horrible that we have to make all these [00:44:00] orders and things. But if you didn't get these different types of orders or whatever, you wanted Starbucks, and didn't get it quickly, you would be mad.
So all these systems exist. And you're part of that. If you're a lawyer and you have the benefit of earning a good income because of that because of your background, but if you have a door open for you and you have an opportunity to work in a good law firm, Then you should take it. And and you should follow systems.
If you follow the systems in a small law firm and you do really well, you can work in a larger law firm if anybody that seed succeeds in anything that succeeds to the extent that they follow these systems. And that's really what this presentation is about. It's it's about the importance of this.
It's about understanding the rules of where you work and following those systems and realizing that if you don't do these things, then you're gonna be in trouble. And and you can't make up the rules. You can't the rules that I told you about. Just switching jobs on for whatever reason and to [00:45:00] about not committing about being CR all these different types of rules exist because the law firm's trying to provide a really good product and those same rules exist in different franchises regardless of what the franchise is.
So my hope would be that you would understand that that once you do get the kind of job that you want, or you're trying to succeed wherever you are, that you understand the rules of where you work, and then you follow those rules. Now that doesn't mean that you have to that you have to stick with a law firm or any organization that has those rules.
There's nothing wrong with not liking the law firm environment, because I certainly not everyone does. I certainly wasn't a fan of it, and I'm not a bad person for that. And you're not either, if you are not a fan of it, but if your skillset is right, you have to realize that you that you have to follow the rules there.
The same thing goes in house. If you go in house, you have to follow the rules there. So I've seen plenty of people. Fail in house because they failed to understand the rules. I've seen [00:46:00] plenty of people fail in all sorts of businesses because they didn't understand the rules. And so part of your job of succeeding is understanding these rules.
And once you do understand the rules, then doing everything you can to follow them and make sure that that you are seen as is following them. And ultimately if you do that you're gonna be much better off. So I will take quick break. I will take questions about this stuff or really any career questions you do have.
And and I certainly appreciate you guys and girls listening to this and I hope this has been helpful, but I'll be back in one or two minutes. Thanks.
Questions here. Gimme okay. Here's a good one. This is my kind of question. Cause I've certainly been there too. This one is I'm experiencing a midlife crisis. I'm thinking about taking long sabbatical. Oh, what the heck's this. It's your word choice. Sign back in. What the heck? Sorry guys.
Okay. I'm currently experiencing a midlife crisis [00:47:00] and deciding to take a year long sabbatical to travel. I wanna eventually become a prosecutor, but will the SP ruin my chances? No. So if you wanna go into government or do something else I don't think it's going to hurt you that much. Especially if you're in a law firm.
My concern, and one of the reasons for this presentation is just understanding kind of these rules that law firms follow when they hire people, is they don't like people leaving if you're experiencing a midlife crisis and and you feel like you need a, some time off, I would definitely suggest doing that.
I don't and anyone, by the way for your emotional and your sanity some, the law firm environment is not for everyone. And I, I know a lot of people that. And there's, I'm sure there's people on this presentation, people will deal with unhappiness in their environments in all sorts of ways.
So people will they'll drink too much. They'll smoke, they'll take drugs, they'll go to doctors and get prescriptions for all [00:48:00] sorts of stuff. And and to some extent, those things can help you, and but at the same time, if you are in a situation where you feel like you need to be under the care of doctors and prescribed all this medicine, or you need to drink too much, or you're you find yourself drinking too much at night or taking drugs and things.
And again, the people deal with stress in different ways. And so there's, I'm not being critical of that. And and most things may be necessary, but. You always have to think what if I was in a, if I was in a different environment or I was is this really healthy for me in the long run? Because a lot of people die very early.
A lot of people have divorces and things that probably wouldn't happen. Otherwise they have unhappy kids and all sorts of things that wouldn't happen otherwise. What I'm telling you today is as hard as this advice has been about what a law firm requires, it's just what they require. It's not to say that's the right career choice for [00:49:00] everyone or you should do it.
It's like, why would you do something that continually causes you pain and makes you upset? It doesn't make sense. So you can't that's not a good use of your your skills or your anything it's you have to to take care of yourself and in your mind and your and not everybody is calibrated to work in a large law firm or to live that kind of life.
And so there's nothing wrong with that. And especially, the thing is a lot of people are happier. If you become a prosecutor that may be a much happier job for you and. You may really enjoy it, but I would, one thing I would say is that the most important thing for most people there's two things.
One half of your life is your career and the other half is your personal and family life. And you need to balance both those and you want to be happy both of them. And the thing I see is that in very large demanding firms, a lot of times people don't have the family. And so that whole part of their life is a failure [00:50:00] or and that's not good.
It's not good for anybody involved. And and I think also a lot of people have very good family lives, but then their their careers and shambles. So maybe that's okay. But you have to do what works for you. And there's nothing wrong with not liking it.
It's I certainly do not criticize anyone for close this here for that sort of thing. So I hope that helps. Lemme see here these questions oh, here's another great one. And these are good questions by the way. Yeah know, this is a tough topic, so I'm definitely understand where everyone's coming from.
So it says here I lost motivation a few years ago and tried to fix up, taking a step back, working a few hours, taking a less interesting work. It helped me for a while just done into anymore. Is it science to quit laundry, something else? So sometimes so motivation is about a lot of things. Motivation is about many times your happiness how happy you [00:51:00] are, so you can be unmotivated because you're having other issues.
So if you're tired or you don't feel directed, or you're not doing something you like, you can be unmotivated, but you definitely should be motivated in whatever you're doing. And and it doesn't sometimes it's the practice setting. Sometimes it's the could be the people you're working with.
It could be. The matters you're working with. But most times but most of the time, the thing that's important to understand is most of the time the issue is related to how you're thinking about things. One of the things that they always say is very important about kind of the people you surround yourself with and who you allow into your mind.
And so I remember when I was practicing law, there would always be people that would stop by my office and tell me how horrible where I was working was and what a bad life it was. And and these are my own peers and that definitely sucked the life out of me and was not happy. [00:52:00] So a lot of times the, in the thoughts you let into your mind and the people you surround yourself with will have an impact on how happy you are.
And and you have to realize why you're doing what you're doing and really list the good in it. Now, if you've completely lost motivation, you don't have the energy. Yeah. You should be doing something else. You should be the work you do by the way should be energizing.
So anything you do should be energizing and it shouldn't take away from your energy should not take away from your energy. So one of the things I noticed, and this is in the work that I do is When I was practicing law, like it was all I could do to get into the office by nine 30 or each morning.
And I just didn't enjoy it. And and then when I started doing what I'm doing now till this day, I get up at four 30 in the morning or sometimes earlier, sometimes, latest by five, but I'm fired up. And I like what I do. And and I and I'm dedicated and do everything I can to, and I wanna, give everything I got and there's nothing [00:53:00] there's nothing unusual about that.
When you find the things you like, if you find something you like doing then you get strength from it and not the opposite. And you need to have, you need to be energized and empowered by the work you're doing. You don't need your work should not be taking away from the. Your energy and what you're getting.
So that's something I would say that's very important. And if the work you're doing is if you're feeling beat down, I'm happy, always looking for something else to do. There's a benefit to commitment. So commitment is, you're better off many people like a good marriage for example, is built on long term commitment.
And a good job is built on long-term commitment, but there has to be a lot more ener there has to be a lot more joy and positivity and and enthusiasm about whatever you're in. Then there is negativity. And so the negatives are outweigh the positives. That's not good. So I would say if someone's completely lost [00:54:00] motivation to practice law, then what are you doing?
You could maybe try a different practice setting, but you have to ask yourself, is that gonna be really much different? Probably not. Sometimes it isn't, but you have to have motivation for it. And one of the things I think that. It's important to think about practicing law.
And this is just a, this a kind of a real general statement, but one of the things that's very important is having a desire to solve other people's problems regardless of a criminal or a good person or a big company or a small company, or whoever you're representing. You have to be motivated by getting them justice and the best options possible and so forth.
And if you're not then that's a problem. So it should get you excited. You should be very excited about solving other people's problems. That's the job of an attorney. This is the job of a doctor is being very excited about solving their illnesses or their issues. You have to get excited by that and if it's not energizing to you then that just means you're probably in the wrong profession.[00:55:00]
Regardless of what your profession is, you have to enjoy it. And so that's one of the things that I would really encourage you to think deeply about is whether or not the work you're doing is energizing. And if it's not energizing, then then you probably shouldn't be practicing law.
So this is another Similar question. Let's see. And again, practicing law many times can be based on the type of people you're working with too. So I you could work in a law firm that, that you think is fun and you like the people, and you could work in a law firm that you don't think is fun. And every law firm is a different type of culture.
So it doesn't necessarily mean that just because you don't like practicing law in one place, you don't like another, if you like the gist of the work and what it represents then that's really positive. It's just, if you don't like the people, some people are better off working on their own completely solo.
Some people are better off working a large law firms. It doesn't matter, but you have to find out what's good for you. So this is, I wanna ensure that I have a long steps career. What advice can you give to achieve long term success and big [00:56:00] law? So what the biggest advice I gave in this presentation is just understanding kind of the rules and the very simple rules are what's important and what's important and any are gonna be your hours, your business, as you get older, your interest in the subject matter.
The willingness to understand the rules where you're at rules, where you're at rules, where you're at, and every law firm has different rules. There's different rules everywhere. If almost Your willingness to take feedback,
take feedback, and to improve based on it. And the biggest one I think is just your overall commitment. It was very funny I was at my first law firm and I was looking for a job and I went to interview with this horrible firm. It wasn't a horrible firm, but it was this west LA firm that portrayed itself as a, I don't know, just entertainment, but I went to interview this firm and the firm found out and and I, and they had a [00:57:00] couple people that they knew were very committed that were associates that were in my class.
And I don't know if they sent them by my office, but these guys came by and they basically were talking about how great the firm was. And if I stayed, I would make partner and. And there were maybe 10 people in my class and and everybody left and those two guys stayed and they became partners and and did very, and are still there as partners and did very well.
And this was, a long time ago, 20 plus years. The point is that the commitment matters and and your ability to commit and be seen as committed. And it goes a long way because and it's not easy looking committed and and that's really the biggest thing. And if you look committed now, just because you are committed, doesn't mean you're gonna advance you still have to do good work.
You still have to work lots of hours. You still have to see interest in the subject matter, and you still have to bring in business or look like you're gonna bring in business at some point, but the better you do those things the better off you're gonna be. There's a lot of [00:58:00] books that, that talk about success and and what to do.
And a lot of those books talk about how to control your subconscious mind and all these things. And there's thinking grow rich is probably the most famous one. And the lessons there apply to anything I think, and it's a it's a great book and it can help you and to understand the rules and there's things in there reading.
Writing down a statement of what your goal is, and then reading it to yourself every day whether it's, making money or becoming a partner, whatever and doing those things. And this stuff works and there's there's lots of good motivational speakers out there and tapes and things,