Last week the Multnomah Bar Association presented a panel on how to start a law firm. Dean Alterman, who has founded three firms, joined four other law firm founders for a wide-ranging discussion to aid lawyers who have recently started a firm or or considering starting a firm. Is solo practice right for you? How do you know that you’re ready to form your own firm? And once you’ve founded it, how do you run it? The speakers answered these questions and more, all in an afternoon.
We’re very pleased to announce that our office administrator, Brittany Weld, has earned certification as a Certified Legal Manager (CLM). The CLM® certification is issued by the Association of Legal Administrators and recognizes administrators of law firms for a combination of education and experience. The minimum requirements include three years as a full-time manager of a law office or as a specialist in one of six specified areas of law firm management, 10 or more hours of coursework, and passing a 125-question examination.
Congratulations, Brittany!
Some years ago I developed the theory that professional careers can have three stages. Stage One is the day you graduate from law school, or medical school, or accounting school. You know more about all parts of your field than you ever will again. You are full of knowledge but haven’t yet acquired the practical experience to put it to use.
Stage Two arrives maybe 5 to 15 years later, as your practice acquires a focus. You learn much more about a narrower field, but the details of what lies outside that field fade away. I can talk for an hour about how to draft an easement agreement (real estate), but I couldn’t give you more than 30 seconds of information about the guest passenger statute (torts) or the law of general average (admiralty). A physician might develop a specialty in orthopedics while retaining only a hazy knowledge about kidney disease.
Many people enjoy satisfying careers in Stage Two, becoming recognized as experts in their field.
But for some fortunate professionals, Stage Two will give way to Stage Three, when the professional has developed not just technical skill in a specialty, but the general skill to diagnose problems and to devise solutions. The Stage Three professional may not be the one who implements the solution, but is often the one who knows what is causing the problem and what the solution will look like, whether it’s the Stage Three orthopedist who recognizes the patient’s joint pains as signs of kidney disease, or the Stage Three lawyer who discerns the human conflict that underlies a business dispute and advises the client on how to solve both the dispute and the underlying conflict.
If you’re entering Stage Two as a real estate and business lawyer and want to achieve Stage Three, let’s talk.