December 19, 1995.  I was 25 years old and had been admitted to practice for about 9 months.

No clients, no money, no valuable knowledge.

What did I do?  I set to work.

Every night was spent in the law library in midtown Manhattan.  Every day was spent in court poring over case files.  I spent time online (yes, the Interwebs existed) and did what I could to piece together scraps of knowledge.

When I landed a client, I charged a fraction of the market and let them know I wasn’t the most experienced guy on the block (indeed, in the building).  My first bankruptcy petition took about 80 hours of work to draft.

Now, 16 years later I still practice law.  I don’t mean that I am still a lawyer.  I still practice – I learn, I try, I do what I can to get better.  I’ll never be perfect, but I’m always trying.

You’ll never be perfect either.  Put in the work, learn the craft and be diligent.

Sometimes you’ll make a mistake.  That’s the imperfection of life.  Learn from those mistakes, and do everything possible to rectify them.  It’s all you can do.

And every day, go out there and practice.

Here’s to the next 16.

Image credit:  littlemaiba

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I’m sure I’ll put up a full review once I’ve finished the book, but for now I’m 17% done with it according to the notifier at the bottom of my screen. I want to let you know that you absolutely, positively need to buy this book.

Even if you hate Apple, think Jobs was a nutcase, and intend to be buried between your BlackBerry and a copy of Windows.

I’ve been taking reams of notes, thinking about ways to improve the way my firm operates. Simplifying matters, making the solutions we offer more approachable and intuitive for our clients. I’m considering our systems, our processes, even the way our online presence works.

I’ve never read anything Isaacson has written, so I have no idea if he’s particularly compelling elsewhere. Though I admit to having fallen into the reality distortion field momentarily in the past, those lapses are few and far between. And in spite of the fact that I’m typing this on a MacBook Pro, I do not own an iPhone and feel no reason to do so right now. My iPad is cute, but used primarily by my son and my wife for their entertainment.

Once again, you need to buy this book and devour it at your earlier opportunity. I have been slacking off on work since I picked it up, reading it on my phone’s Kindle app (I use an HTC Thunderbolt, thank you very much) while I walk the dog, and even found myself thumbing through pages last night well after the rest of the house was fast asleep.

Jobs is painted as petulant, obsessive, a dietary freak show, and unhygienic for much of the earlier part of Apple’s history.  Isaacson pulls no punches, and you don’t need to worry about this book being a love-fest.

If Isaacson is to be believed, Jobs was a dude who was clearly playing with a few cards less than a full deck.

And he was brilliant in the best possible way. Persuasive to a fault, Jobs refused to suffer fools at all. He was focused on simplicity and beauty, driven by a need (I don’t think it was a goal – I think it was an imperative) to take an academic tool and turn it into something millions of ordinary human beings would find helpful and approachable.

My mind is totally blown, not by the man – I think that, like most geniuses, he may well have suffered from some sort of mental illness – but by the brilliance of what he did and how he accomplished it all. His losses, his faults and, ultimately, his triumphs.

Do yourself a favor. Buy the book.

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When the honeymoon’s over and it’s not easy anymore, what do you do?  Keep going, or pack it in?

I remember vividly when I became a bankruptcy lawyer, and how much fun it was.  I picked up a cool computer program (Chapter 7..13, well before it was destroyed by the folks at Thomson-West), a few books, and a head full of knowledge.  Clients came in with new and interesting problems.  Best of all, the money was crazy easy.

This was back in 1996, when consumer bankruptcy work was like a walk in the park.  Learn the basics, fill out the documents, attend a meeting of creditors and move along.  No mortgage mess, no major credit reporting problems, no means testing.  I was like a puppy with a squeaky chew toy.

Eventually, the joy of exploration faded.  Clients became a chore, the work rote, the trustees difficult.  So I began to dabble in other areas, not so much because I loved them but because they gave me some variety.

Still, I couldn’t bear to walk away from my consumer bankruptcy practice.

Even when the law changed in 2005, I stuck with it.  To a large extent, it was the alteration of the landscape that kept me in the field.  Everything old was new again.  It was as if I was starting over, and the energy surge was addictive.

Endorphins go only so far.

The start-up phase of any practice is full of challenges and education, but you hit the wall eventually.  At that point you’ve got a choice; you can stick with it or keep going.  If it’s something you love, you continue doing it.  And if you were in it only for the endorphin rush and the easy money, it’s time to go elsewhere.

That’s the situation many of my colleagues are facing right now.  With bankruptcy filings going downhill fast, many practitioners are finding that the days of readily-available clients are at an end.  The phone used to ring 50 times a day, now it’s down to 10 or less.  Competition is extreme, potential clients have less money now than ever before, and there’s a feeling of hopelessness in the world with respect to financial issues in general.

Get a game plan

I’m lucky that I love what I do, both as a lawyer and as a legal marketing consultant.  But I recognize that you may not be quite so thrilled to get out of bed every morning and head to the office.  If you want to keep your sanity, you need to make the choice now.

Do you stick with your current practice area, or do you go elsewhere?  You don’t need to know where you’re going, but you must decide whether you’re staying here.  Staying is going to demand action of a different sort than leaving.

Once you know the direction you’re headed, you can figure out how to achieve your goal.  Take a few CLE courses, network with new groups, investigate opportunities.  In case you were wondering, there are tremendous opportunities for bankruptcy lawyers even in these times.

Execute.

This is the tough part, the execution of the plan.  But as with most things, once you’ve mentally bought into the decision you won’t have much trouble executing.

What sorts of challenges are you having in getting a game plan or executing?

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Come on, I was 25 years old.  Cut me some slack.

Over the next few years I did bring on a partner and then a second.  The business arrangements were fine for a time, but unsuccessful long-term.

The problem was that I was picking the wrong partners.

The people I chose did the same thing I did.  Eventually we realized that the others brought nothing new to the party.  So we split up.  Amicably.

These days I’m happy with my law firm partnership with David Shaev.  David’s got an incredible skill set with years of experience to back him up.  He handles the Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases as well as the mortgage-related issues; I handle the consumer claims and litigation of violations of the automatic stay and discharge injunction.  We are sounding boards for one another, and our skills are complementary.  Beyond that, he’s just an awesome guy.

I’m also lucky to have joined up with Cathy Moran to be part of Bankruptcy Mastery, her online educational venture for bankruptcy lawyers.  Her upcoming Lunch and Learn Series, which will take place for 10 weeks starting June 28, 2011, is by far the finest program for budding consumer bankruptcy lawyers I’ve seen.  If you’re interested at all in this sort of thing, you should definitely check it out.

As with Shaev & Fleischman, my partnership with Cathy allows both of us to do what we do well in order to form a powerful business model.  She is not only a fountain of knowledge, but also an educator who approaches the new lawyer with a level of compassion and patience that blows me away.  On top of that, she’s one of my favorite people in the world.

Partnerships don’t work if you don’t trust one another.  They don’t work if you don’t have differing strengths.  And they don’t work if they’re formed out of desperation.

Lots of bankruptcy lawyers aren’t doing so well financially these days.  The market is saturated in many areas, filings are down, and people are hurting.  But it won’t always be this way.

If you’re thinking of forming a partnership with someone who does the same thing as you, think twice.  When the market turns around one of you will be bringing in more clients than the other.  One will be in court more often than the other.  When the convenience is gone, so is the basis for the partnership.  You need another basis to join forces beyond a down market; after all, two can starve faster than one.  No sense in risking bad blood.

How about you?  Got any tales to tell?

Image credit:  DonkeyHotey/Flickr

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Do you know the proper role for the Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant?

Some attorneys (not to mention a few VBA’s) believe a virtual bankruptcy assistant can train an attorney in the practice of bankruptcy. They also think that a VBA can (and should) get the court’s CM/ECF filing certification on the lawyer’s behalf.  Because of this misconception and other reasons, I feel it is important to discuss the proper role of this important professional to the way your office works.

If a Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant offers to train you, run as fast as you can in the other direction. A VBA cannot and should not train lawyers. To do so is improper and dangerous.

When it comes to your bankruptcy practice and your license, don’t cut corners. Experienced lawyers such as Cathy Moran offer excellent training programs for attorneys, and these are only sources you should be using.

You can’t outsource your entire practice; delegating some of the administrative work will allow you to handle the complex legal matters, but this isn’t a field of law in which you can have a non-lawyer do for you in total. You, the attorney must have a command of the field.

Remember, I said that you must have a command of bankruptcy law.  I did not say you needed to know how to fill out forms.  Unfortunately, the notion of the “simple” Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 case went out the window long ago.

How The Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant Can Be Involved In The Process

At the outset, meet with your VBA and discuss your current needs and assignments. Your VBA will send you a Service Agreement at which time you will review and sign so work can begin.  It’s like a retainer agreement between you and your client – defining the role to be played this independent professional is critical to a long-term working relationship.

After you have met with your client, your VBA (depending upon who you’re working with) may be able to undertake the tedious task of document collection and petition drafting. Your VBA should NEVER meet with your client without meeting with you first. Your VBA cannot legally determine your client’s best course of action.

Have lawyers asked me if I would call a new client to qualify them?  Sure, it happens fairly regularly.  Each time I decline I do so knowing that there’s someone else who’s willing to assist them.  If anyone but a licensed attorney does any of those things, it’s Unauthorized Practice of Law.  It’s also malpractice and puts your license at serious risk.

Now that you’ve signed up the client you can get your virtual bankruptcy assistant involved to help gather documents and information. It’s all done under your supervision, though; at no time does the VBA place his or her judgment before yours.

At the end of the pre-petition phase, your VBA will prepare a detailed petition ready for your review and approval.  He or she won’t go through them with your clients, won’t sign on your behalf, and won’t act in your stead.  You are the lawyer, and you’re the only one who is legally allowed to give advice.  Period.

Other Ways A Virtual Bankruptcy Can Help

If you’re a new to the practice of bankruptcy law then you may not have a full complement of forms and checklists.  Some virtual bankruptcy assistants will gladly share theirs with you, and they can be helpful in getting the administrative portion of a practice up and running.  But these are forms only, not substantive educational documents.

So the upshot is this – don’t make the assumption that outsourcing administrative work is tantamount to offloading your legal and ethic responsibilities to your client and your practice.  You’ve got to be well-versed and trained in the field of bankruptcy law in order to do a good job for your clients.  The ethical and proper role for the VBA is to support you in your efforts.

Image credit: EpicFireworks/Flickr

Vikki Watanabe is the President of the National Society of Virtual Bankruptcy Assistants, LLC, a professional organization for Virtual and On-Site Bankruptcy Assistants located in the United States. She is also a working Virtual Bankruptcy Assistant.

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There’s a lot of talk about creating systems in your law firm.  I’m not opposed to it – in fact, we’ve got some pretty awesome systems cooking where I work.  The problem arises when you rely too heavily on that system.

In order for a system to work well, it’s got to take into account your clients and how their minds operate.

You want to send out a single letter when someone hires you, detailing the exact steps they need to take in order to do their fair share of the work involved.  Some clients may appreciate that one-stop resource whereas to others it will be information overload.  So you need to break it down for them, maybe into a few smaller letters or emails sent over a period of time.

You need to cover yourself in your retainer agreement, setting out the scope of the relationship.  But to a client, the language may be incomprehensible.  Time to re-word it.

It’s easy to forget to listen to your clients and solicit feedback.  Feedback is hard, forcing you to make changes and recognize that things aren’t perfect.  But it pays off.

Not only do I take this approach in my law firm, but also here at Legal Practice Pro.  Our listserv boasts well over 250 lawyers and provides a place to talk about marketing a law firm, office management and technology issues.  It’s become a vibrant community in a short time, and I’m looking forward to watching how things develop.

Why did I go decidedly old school with a listserv?  Because lawyers live and die on email, and I wanted to extend the conversation that takes place here on the blog.  Some of you love the comments here, others chat with my on Twitter and Facebook.  But In trying to nurture a more meaningful community I adjusted course and made it easier for us all to connect.

Come on by and sign up for the Legal Practice Pro listserv.  No charge, no obligation – just a comfortable place for all of us to share our insights.

Image credit: Luke Robinson/Flickr

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When you’re a new lawyer, everything is a challenge.  Where to find the courthouse, where to stand in the courtroom, and how to make a motion look like it’s been drafted by someone who knows what they’re doing.

But over time, it becomes rote.  You’ve got a form to work with, a regular parking spot scoped out in the lot, and the clerks know your name.  When you need an adjournment you instinctively know who to call, what to say, and whether your judge needs something in writing or if your say-so will be enough.

So, too, with running your practice.  Bills come in and get paid in a particular fashion, vendors keep in providing the same service year after year on autopilot, contracts get renewed.

Part of you goes into a fugue, only half-aware of what’s going on in your practice.

Think about the last time you drove to court only to find all the parking spots taken in.  Or when that new judge was appointed and suddenly changed all the courtroom staff and procedures.

Suddenly you were scrambling, just like you did when you started out.  You woke up.

Is there a piece of software that does a better job?

Is there a faster way of doing things?

Is there a more cost-effective way to run your practice, leaving you more money for your efforts and better results for your clients?

If you’re asleep, you may miss that window of opportunity to remain relevant as the market changes.  Because I guarantee that there’s someone out there who’s just starting out.  And you’d better believe that lawyer’s not asleep.

Time to wake up, don’t you think?

Image credit:  Mundoo/Flickr

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At the same time, there are more than a few hucksters.  People who plunked down their money, brought in their swag and are trying to sell us the moon and the stars in return for a swipe of the credit card.

Instant search engine optimization, flashy websites, cheap credit counseling from companies that offshore their call centers (nothing wrong with it, but you’d think they should disclose these sorts of things), turnkey systems and the like are all over the place.

But here’s the thing.  The organization sponsoring the convention isn’t responsible for investigating each and every one of the companies and their claims.  We think this is a safe place for us to make deals, and that a company’s presence is an implied seal of approval from the folks in charge.

Not so.

Sure, NACBA isn’t going to allow an outright fraud to step into the exhibitor space because that’s a bright line.  But when it comes to most of these companies there just isn’t enough time or manpower to do the due diligence required to vet everyone.  That’s your job, not theirs.

So here’s my advice to you.  Don’t sign up for any services or make any commitments while you’re at the convention.  Take down information, check references, talk with happy (and unhappy) customers and demand to see proof of results.

If it’s a company offering to do SEO work for you, go to your own laptop and verify their claims by looking at where their customers show up on the organic search engine results.

Don’t believe anything a salesperson tells you – they exist to make the sale and that’s it.  I’m not saying that they’re liars but cautioning you about what may be a gap in their knowledge about how their product or service functions on a day-to-day basis.

Get the proof before shelling out the cash or putting your neck on the line for a long-term obligation.  If you don’t, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself if it turns out to be a bad deal.

Image credit: rzrxtion (pronounced resurrection)/Flickr

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