Chuck Newton

Spare Room Tycoon: Business Skills for Successful Self-Employment

I do not believe anyone was more helpful to me in doing what I do than James Chan and his book, Spare Room Tycoon. It does not matter if you are a lawyer wishing to go out on your own, or any other business or profession, there is much to be learned. There is confidence to be had.

James Chan, Ph.D is an amazing person. And, beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at the Library of Philadelphia he is sharing his experience for FREE. It is a price point you cannot miss if you are in around or will be visiting Philadelphia.

Make a special effort to attend.

Register by clicking HERE.

Do not miss it.

Florida Space Coast School of Law

I do not really know how much rational criticism there is to the creation of Florida Space Coast School of Law. A limited number of law school detractors seem to be dominating Google on the subject. There might be legitimate and rational reasons to oppose the formation of the law school, but all we get online are knee jerk reactions by those who hate the whole of our legal education system.

The criticisms appear to be three:

1.    There are already too many lawyers;

2.    There are already too many law schools in Florida; and,

3.    The name is stupid.

I am not necessarily buying all of it. Well, except for maybe that the name is stupid.

Frankly, there are just not enough details to know the potential good or bad of such a law school. I would posture to say that whether such a law school is a good choice for those applying to law school has nothing to do with the number of attorneys in the country, the number of law schools in Florida, or really the proposed name of the law school.

For example, one of the leaders of this law school movement is from Florida Coastal School of Law, and the organizers keep referring to the the backers as "investors". This makes me think the law school will be for profit. If so, although it does not necessarily have to be (think Google), I would argue that this mitigates against the advantages of the law school as presented. It is just hard to be an "investor" in a for-profit law school, and not try to bilk every law student out of as much money as possible. It is capitalism, baby!

But, from what little is known, the good part is that someone is thinking about starting a law school that cuts costs and typical law school tuition by 30% to 35%. That is, if true, substantial and admirable. It will also do a lot to reform the system.

About 40% of our lawyers will be retiring within the foreseeable future, legal education is a bigger field than some people think and, as a result, there are simply not too many lawyers. Admittedly, our existing law schools have not done enough to make graduates practice ready, and they are terrible in helping to place lawyers in jobs but for Big Law. The overwhelming majority of law jobs are not posted, and they are especially not posted at law schools.

Are there too many law schools in Florida, or too few?

Who cares, it is Florida. Law schools and the practice of law is getting past such regionalities. Besides, we do not have too many law schools so much as we have too few that are dedicated to the right principals.

We have too many law schools lying about their LSAT averages, and the employment rate and earings of their graduates, while at the same time using this data to charge the living daylights out of their students in terms of tuition, which is supported by career-altering student loans.

There is or can be a better way, and it only takes one law school, new or otherwise, which can get ABA approval, to start the trend.

I have said for a long time that law applicants need to throw U.S. News out the window. Ranking systems are detrimental to your financial health. Provided you have options as to which law school to attend, you should choose the law school that is the lowest cost, and which has a good bar passage rate. Lack of debt and the ability to pass the bar should be criteria enough for the law school applicant.

I have personally thought about this for a long time. I would not mind trying to start a basic, low cost law school just to prove it can be done.

Florida Space Coast might be a good thing or a bad thing, but this should not be judged simply because there are people who believe we do not need another law school. We will just have to wait and see.

How Do I Get Someone To Refer Cases Or Clients To Me???

I had lunch with a new lawyer today. I will not mention his name, but he asked a whole lot of relevant and direct questions of me. Some were hard to answer as directly as he had asked them. Although this is not a direct quote of any one question asked, the issue arose about how, exactly, to you get someone to refer you a case or a client?

Good question, right?

We had talked for some time about how to build a referral-based network, which entails burning actual and metaphorical shoe leather, but the inference from all of this was, again, how do you get someone to refer you a case?

Do you get the difference?

The question is not about deciding what you want to do in the way of a legal practice or niche. Assume that is decided. It goes beyond how to then identify the people, groups, organizations and associations that might be in a position to refer you the cases or clients you desire. Assume this is done and the contact has been made. It is what you do after you do what you set out to do?

I think I stumbled and stammered just a little at lunch. Okay, okay, I stumbled and stammered a lot. I certainly talked around the subject way too much. Standing up and doing a soft-shoe routine would not have been a more obvious indicator that I had not thought about the subject as much as I should have.

But, now that I have had some time to think about it, here is my concise answer. I hope it is not too obvious.

JUST ASK!

I am not advising you to act like a jerk, or to be overly confident, or act like a used car salesman, or try the assumptive close on everyone you meet.  I am not saying to walk up to someone you have never met before and push yourself on them like a large, overly-happy dog that jumps on a stranger and licks him or her in the face.  I am implying none of that.

What I am saying is that in the normal course of any conversation simply ask the person for their referrals. Ask them to tell their friends, family, clients, customers, parishioners (you fill in the blank) about you and what you do.

Do not promise them anything for the referral other than your appreciation. Do not offer to pay them. Do not discuss reciprocation when you have nothing with which to reciprocate.

Remind them on the way out of what you asked, and follow up with an email and other devices.

And, always remember to tell people thank you for something.  Thank you for listening. Thank you for your good word. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for your ideas. Thank you for a compliment. It is easy to forget that you need to be grateful for the simplest or slightest of things and to sincerely thank people. One, it is the right thing to do. Two, a thank you or two helps earn referrals.