The following are my unsexy suggestions for starting a law practice.
1. Know (i.e. identify) what it is that what you don’t know – make the unknowns known unknowns, in the words of philosopher Rumsfeld of Pentagon.
2. Get up early; you aren’t a bar bouncer and the day remains to be seized and used.
3. Return phone calls. My two best cases of this year came when I was the second attorney that the client called, and one already resulted in a substantial settlement. Had the other attorneys had better phone discipline, I’d not have heard from the clients.
4. Make a “rainy day” projects list and review it every 90 days. When business is bad, and there will be bad times, advance on your projects.
5. For the most part, lay off of the booze. Anheuser’s Disease is a plague on our profession; alcohol is pushed at many Bar events for no good particular purpose.
6. You know how the attorneys for George Zimmerman, accused killer of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, held a press conference to discuss the legal advice that they gave their homicide suspect client and speculate on his motives? Yeah, dear Heaven don’t do that, because you are too broke, too old and too dumb to change careers after your disbarment. If you wanted to be selling used cars, you’d be doing that.