Description
Why Working at a Small Law Firm Makes You More Valuable
[00:00:00] Does a summer associate at a small firm, prevent me from moving into a major firm as you mentioned? How can I explain why I summered at a smaller firm other than, 'I stuck out with bigger firms' in a way that would sense to a larger firm.
Okay. So people are human. This is a thing. This is a whole thing of like law students are all taught this and people pick it up in law school, but there's nothing wrong with vulnerability.
You do not have to explain yourself. You shouldn't have to. Most law firms will not ask you why you worked at a smaller law firm. Law firms will assume that you just didn't get a job at a large law firm. That makes you more valuable.
It makes you more valuable because you want it more. One more reason does not take it for granted, hungry. All those sorts of things. And hopefully, you will learn about what it takes while you're not working. Observing surroundings and so forth. So there's nothing wrong with not working in a big law firm. Law firms love people that are vulnerable and vulnerability just means that they can see they can care about you.
I could approach [00:01:00] things and let me just give you two points of view.
If I tell you that I went to one of the top 10 private high schools in the country. Did very well there as an athlete. Got into several top 10 colleges. Got scholarships to other several schools and it was a superstar. I graduated fourth highest student in my class at a top-five college. You're going to think, what an asshole. I mean, this is what you would think. That's one way you could talk about me if you want to.
OtherAnother thing you could say is I grew up in a broken family. My sister was shot and killed working in a fast-food restaurant when I was seven. My mom's son, Frank, went off the rails and, got involved in substance abuse. My stepdad was so broken up by this, that he got cancer and died.
And I grew up in a single-family household and had all sorts of horrible things happen. From the time I was 10 years old, I was doing a paper route and we'd get up at five in the morning. I would do one in the morning and then I would do one at night.
And not only that, [00:02:00] I was sent home from school and I was young because I wasn't taking baths. After all, I didn't have anybody telling me to do that. And my teacher, when I was, in third grade took me to get a haircut because my parents didn't do that. Now, if you heard a story like that about me, you would think, wow, this is horrible.
I feel very sorry for this guy. I want to help him. You have to like someone vulnerable and they improve themselves. They do things that make them much stronger than the highs of a law firm.
You have to realize that there are all these different things. That way you can present yourself. Now, if you try to present yourself the way I did the first time that you're infallible, there's nothing wrong with you. You're certain you're going to get much positive attention because the second person, I'm sure, is someone that you like better.
And so it's that way with law firms, like human people, they want to help people that are trying to help themselves are trying to do everything that they possibly can. So that's how you need to think about your career. You make yourself vulnerable to clients. When you make yourself vulnerable to juries when you make [00:03:00] yourself vulnerable to employers. You don't have to be like this perfect person.
There's nothing wrong with not getting a job with a big firm. What's wrong is giving up. That's the point of what I'm telling you about today. You can't be giving up in your life.
You need to be vulnerable. And so being vulnerable to law firms basically means, I didn't get the good grades as I could. I was doing a lot of things wrong in interviews. I made mistakes and here I am, I'm back and I'm ready to work hard. And so we're coming across as that kind of person, that's going to make you much more likable and people are going to say to themselves, I want to help this person as opposed to the arrogant person that comes along and was a summer associate in all these big firms.
And so anybody on this call that feels there's something wrong with you because you didn't go to the best law school or you didn't get a summer associate job in the best firms or you're unemployed and there are problems with you. You need to understand that your vulnerability is a strength. And wanting to improve and get better.
It's not something that a lot of people have because of what happens to most of the people [00:04:00] that get jobs in these big firms. They go there and they complain about the benefits. They complain there's too much work. They complain they don't like the job. They complain about all these different things. And they end up as the kind of people that aren't liked by firms and law firms want to bring in people that appreciate them. Everybody wants to feel appreciated and that will help you in the long run.
So don't think your weaknesses are things you perceive as weaknesses 'cause they're strengths.
