According to the Urban Dictionary, a nillionaire is someone without any money of their own. His or her bank account is nill and hence the word. He or she portrays signs of money, but it is just a fiction.
Over the years I have learned that is the problem with judging some Second Wave lawyers. The image does not meet the reality of the situation. They have the big office, but it is leased. They have the Mercedes, but it is all debt. They bought the Mac mansion, but it was with 100% plus financing. The wear thousand dollar suits, but they have substantial credit card debt. The country club membership was financed with their home. The pool is the result of a home equity line of credit. These attorneys are not as they appear. They are nillionaires.
The problem is that you look at these lawyers (especially the ones in the same practice area as you) and you ask yourself what is it that you are doing wrong?
The answer, of course, is nothing. The nillionaire lawyer is the one with the problem. It is not you. I guess we are all guilty of it at times in some small degree, but others flaunt in ways that leave you confused. But, you do not want to be like them. In secret, they are always having to explain how a check bounced, they are asking a banker for money, they are having to explain to the private school their children attend why the tuition payment is late, and more. Outwardly they appear prosperous. Inwardly it has to be a nightmare.
Of course, this phenomena is not limited to lawyers, but lawyers are our concern here because you need to be careful not to copy what they are doing. You do not want to model your practices after these lawyers. You want to be actually successful and not merely successful by appearance. You do so by being reasonable.
One of the beauties of being a Third Wave lawyer is that it often eliminates the need to conduct yourself in this way. You have no bodacious public appearance to maintain. You have no grandiose law office to furnish or for which to pay. You work out of your home or from a relatively inconspicuous office space. It is cheap to appear nice online. If you work out of your home, you can often afford to live in a nice area with a wonderful public school system within walking or biking distance for your children. It is simply more democratic. The lack of substantial overhead and upkeep allows you to not fight so hard for business, or take advantage of people who seek to retain you.
There is no reason to think that as a lawyer you will be a millionaire, but that does not mean you should be a nillionaire. Certainly, there needs to be a happy medium between the two. I happen to think that is the Third Wave practice of law.
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