A One Man Band Does Not Have Much Time For Anything Else

Michael Myer responded to my post concerning him with an interesting and fair enough question:

I know that you are a fervent advocate of niched practice, but some solos, like me, don't know which of their multiple interests will enjoy success. It's hard to say just what personal and market forces will cause one branch to succeed and another to fail, and there's certainly an element of luck in the equation. What is your position on establishing a multi-faceted initial practice with an eye toward later specialization?

Well, first, Michael let me shy away from the term "specialization" for purely political reasons.  In Texas, as with a lot of states, you are not allowed to use that word without listing any number of disclaimers.  (Namely, that you are a numbnut and that there are many more attorneys out there that are better than you). We do not want to get the language police involved in our discussion. Let us just say that you are trying to discover if you should limit your practice or try multiple areas.

My initial answer is that a one man band does not have much time to concentrate on other things.  If he quits playing or loses concentration the tips and donations will quit being thrown at him.

My friends and colleagues can jump in on this question if they want. However, as to your statement that the success of one niche or practice area is a matter of luck, I prefer to call it faith.  You just have to have faith that you will make it.  When I was in law school, Professor Weigel was the only one I remember speaking to us about this.  He has passed now.  But, he said that starting something new in the practice of law is like being pushed off a cliff in a glider and hoping that you can figure out how to operate the thing before you hit bottom.

In reality, it is not that dramatic but we do like to embellish.  My grandfather survived WWI as a 14 year old soldier, and then fled to avoid the Nazis in Germany.  He said it best.  No amount of planning and dreaming is going to make you take that first step.  The only thing that will allow you to do that is faith -- the belief that some how, some way, everything will work out for the best.

I have some great news for you on that front.  From the many attorneys that I know that have tried it, it has not been easy all of the time.  They have had some scary moments.  They have had some misdirection.  They have had some change of plans.  But faith has pulled most of them through, and they have survived to have successful Third Wave practices.

My point has always been not that a niche practice require any less faith.  It is just makes life more pleasant.  There is a greater chance of ultimate success the more you are made to concentrate on something particular as opposed to something that is broader and abstract.  Can you be a one man band in bankruptcy and still effectively represent criminal defendants?  That is ultimately up to you.  Big Law represents just a bunch of one man bands collaborating.  Only solo practitioners think they can be all things to all clients.  I have just personally found it hard to do.  Some have not.

There is nothing wrong with having multiple practice areas.  A niche practice does not have to be a narrow field like I practice, automatic stay violations.  It can be a marketing niche, such as marketing second chance bankruptcies.  I have seen law firms that only represent deaf people in multiple practice areas.  I have notice family lawyers that just represent women, or only seek ad litem positions in adoption cases, for example.  I ran into a blog just the other night where the attorney markets to Bikers. There are attorneys that limit their practice to dog bite cases. I was joking online not long ago about specializing in karate law, only to be directed by a reader to a law practice that limits its practice to karate law and representing dojos and karate schools.  I have noticed one attorney who has a limited national practice representing homeowners with termite damage.  Carolyn Elefant, I am sure, will represent other energy companies with regulatory matters but she markets to a specific field of offshore renewables (and I am jealous because that is esoteric enough excite me).

A niche practice allows you to do several things very well that a more general practice will not.  It allows you to target your marketing and promote more effectively and consitently.  (For example, practice blogging works best when it is narrowly focused).  It allows you to better tap into and establish a referral network, which ultimately delivers the better clients at the cheapest costs to you.  (Read this to be people that will pay your good money up front).  You need clients that can help you put biscuits on the table.

I started out by "hanging out my shingle" (to use Carolyn Elefant's phrase) practicing general law in Texarkana, Texas-Arkansas.  It was my home town.  There was nothing that distinguished me from every other lawyer in town.  As a result, nobody came calling.  Furthermore, the first cases I brought in paid little, or they wanted to trade me things like shotguns and 15 year old pickup trucks for my services.  Then I started doing bankruptcies, which helped.  Then I started doing what nobody else was doing in that area at the time -- Chapter 13 bankruptcies.  My firm could market that we could consolidate and lower bills.  That practice grew in Texas from Texarkana, to Tyler, to Longview, to Nacogdoches, to Marshall, and then to Dallas and Ft. Worth.  Now I limit my practice to automatic stay and discharge injunction violations.  But, the point is that none of this would have been possible if I had not discarded my general practice ways, started refusing cases that would only distract me, niching my practice to Chapter 13s so I could market in a way that distinguished me from everybody else, and concentrating most, if not all, of my efforts on what I believed would work.  I had to believe that if I turned down paying work today that I would be rewarded tomorrow.  General law would not have done it for me.  Marketing general bankruptcy law would not have done it for me.  Concentrating on multiple areas did not work for me and only distracted and delayed me from doing what I eventually did.

And, again, I have nothing against multiple practice areas.  In fact, criminal appointments are probably the least intrusive ways to earn some money while trying to market yourself as a bankruptcy niche player.  The cases are easier to get, there is not a lot of paperwork, it does not take away too much time from the job at hand, and you can exit it easier when cases pick up in bankruptcy.  You need to be extreme careful, however, in getting distracted.  Distraction is the worst enemy to building a niche Third Wave practice.

Back in the day, as they say, I just did not see consumer bankruptcy as a good Third Wave practice. This was especially true for my practice which got huge. However, technology and some forward thinkers have changed all of that.  In particular you need to communicate with Jay Fleischman in NYC.  He has a number of blogs, websites, podcast sites and the like, but he is really the one that has turned consumer bankruptcy and bankruptcy litigation into a one man band.  He has the cymbals on his knees, the drum on his back, the washboard on his chest, the harmonica at his face, and all while playing the squeeze box.  Tech, outsourcing and leveraging to the utmost Jay wil show you is the key.  He has even adopted my term for a suite of online services he offers at MyThirdWave.Com.

Remember, what scares people in developing a Third Wave practice is expecting too much too quickly, and having a misconception of the volume of cases you need.  Magic happens sometimes, but not often.  You do not need that many cases to survive well.  Large numbers of cases beget debt, beget overhead, beget staff to the extent you are working for others and you get distracted.   You have just got to think through the type of cases you need and get a few of those through your front door each month. Consumer bankruptcy attorneys, especially, are like the East Texas farmer who says he does not want to own all of the land, just all of the land next to his land.  They get to thinking about domination and control of markets.  They think in terms of mass numbers.  I did.  I just had to have 10 cases a month, then 20, then 50, then 100.  It is a little contagious when you hang around these lawyers.  Just smile, let them compete with each other, and humor yourself with how little money and effort this is taking on your part to get your 5 good (great) and paying clients a month.  In fact, try to figure out how to use these mass filers you are going to meet.  It is amazing the amount of stuff in the way of bankruptcies, litigation, and other matters these attorneys throw off and throw away.  Depending where you are located, they sometimes need people to cover conflicts and attend confirmation hearings and creditor meetings.  Sure some cases may be unbelievably difficult and require a lot of energy, but these people need help too.  The trick is to get paid for it.  Get a good retainer upfront for the work involved.  If the big filer sends a case to you because the potential client could not pay upfront fees, then let it pass.  But, often these complicated cases do not fit in the type or cases these firms process.  Just do not wholesale yourself.  There is no reason to fear difficult or complicated cases if your livelihood does not depend on the outcome.  I got into stay and discharge injunction violations after figuring out how much of it my firm was ignoring or throwing away.

So, the long a short of it from a long winded Texan is think through it, limit your practice as much as you can because you only have so much time to devote to promoting and marketing, and have faith.

I am all for being a one man band, but it does not leave much time to do other things.

Comments

[Susan Cartier Liebel]

Michael, there is another important point. We all can't start out doing what we will enjoy the most as well as pay us what we want because, quite frankly, we don't always know what we are going to enjoy until we have a chance to experience it. Too many lawyers 'think' they are going to like a certain practice until they actually do it and then decide they don't. I know several lawyers who fell backwards into their practice areas because they cast their nets wide and tried different areas of law based upon who came in their front door capable of paying the rent. One new attorney I know thought he was going to do health care law because that was his background. The paying clients he was getting through referral turned out to be creditors looking for debt collection. He has now built quite a practice because he kept his eyes wide-open. That being said, he does not advertise just 'yet' to the general market place that he does this exclusively. He has done representation in worker's compensation, small business incorporation, real estate transactions and more. He is keeping his options open and enjoying the ride as he narrows down...but not to just one area of law, but to both the areas of law that pay, first, then the ones he can afford to 'enjoy.' You are running a business. You can have your goals for certain areas of concentration, but in my opinion it would be unwise to so define yourself as to be left out in the cold should the economy go south or your interests change. Stay wide-eyed, fluid, keep your costs down and open the door with curiosity and appreciation every time opportunity khocks to see who and what is on the other side.

[Chuck Newton]

Susan Cartier-Liebel is a pro at building new law practices. In her you have a concurring opinion. I say concurring because, although her belief seems to to be to cast your net far, we reach the same conclusion. I think it is better to target. I don't want just fish. I want catfish. However, in her experience and in the experience I state, we all seem to stumble into new niches or fields. We learn to like new dishes. In other words, I might start out after catfish and then stumble upon bass. I think her point is that you do not leave law school with the dream of litigating automatic stay violations. You get into consumer bankruptcy, you come to identify that the automatic stay is a fundamental right provided to people who file, and you notice there is a little used provision of the Bankruptcy Code that offers help when that right is abused. I am still not sure I buy into the theory of jumping into the pond first just to see what you catch. A carp is not very good eats. I prefer to plan the meal I am going to make and the fish I am going to prepare. Of course I understand that to a degree it depends if you are eating to fight off starvation or for pleasure, but in building a practice this distinction is not quite so clear. I think the goal, whatever the choice, is to let your vision take you as far as you can see, and when you get there you will always be able to see further. In short when preparing your catfish and the meal it is okay to nibble along the way. Just do not ruin you apetite for the meal. You just might discover a variation on the next meal you want to prepare. In Susan's example, the person had a particular goal of health care. In my case I eventually had a specific goal of consumer bankruptcy. But, in both cases we pursued limited choices or opportunities at first. I still think that is the rule with one exception. Do not close you eye to possibilities of new niche markets along the way.