Re: Rock Bottom--Master Ichi Apologizes

More | Report Post

Some Guy, you've had it rough. The response was for Giroscope.
The Master apologizes for misdirected commentary.
On 10/02/06, Giroscope wrote:
> I was a solo for 2 years out of law school. I actually passed
> up several job offers because I wanted to be on my own. Solo
> practice sucks. The clients suck. They are usually bottom of
> barrel types who don't believe they should have to pay a
> lawyer. The work sucks. Usually messy and boring. Solos are
> not respected within the legal profession. Given the high
> student loan debt levels, I am surprised anybody would ever go
> solo anymore. I'm not saying this to be a downer. I'm just
> sharing my experience. During my 2 years as a solo, I never
> had any money to do anything. Whenever I got a big fee, I put
> it back into the business. I couldn't take my kids to the
> ballgame or do anything.
>
> Then throw in things like this: You do a great job for a
> client but the case does not work out well, maybe because it
> was a difficult one to win anyway. Then, they either sue you
> or file a complaint against you. Solo practice, and non-
> biglaw firm life sucks. Biglaw sucks too, but at least there
> you are well paid and have a powerful organization behind
> you. If you can't get a biglaw job, go to government, or non
> traditional. Solo life really sucks.
>
> On 10/02/06, Carol wrote:
>> On 9/30/06, Some Guy wrote:
>>> So you made the plunge into law and eventually solo
>>> practice. As it turns out, things don't go so well. In
>> fact
>>> they go really bad. Your bankrupt, or on the verge of
>>> filing bankruptcy. You live with your parents. Your womans
>>> dumped you. Your burned out. Your overweight. You have no
>>> friends. Your car is broken and you can't afford to fix
>> it,
>>> and you have to ride the bus. Plus you've been unemployed
>>> for 6 months, and you've been disciplined for attorney
>>> misconduct... failure to return files, failure to return
>>> phone calls, client abandonment, failure to do work
>>> compentently.
>>>
>>> How do you recover from that? What do you do with your
>> life
>>> now?
>> well, not be flip but it looks like things can only get
>> better. you're not the only one to be disciplined, many
>> attorneys get disciplined but only the ones that people
>> complain about. You might consider public service, the
>> legal openings in government don't pay well but they hire.
>> most states have a state job board on the net. maybe you
>> just got in over your head with the solo. i've made some
>> significant errors in my practice too, it's called a
>> learning curve, but if you dwell on it and let it get you
>> down it just snowballs. It sounds like you may be suffering
>> from depression. scrape together the money and go see a
>> doctor, get on an anti-depressant, learn to meditate and
>> find a counselor that can help you through this. been
>> there. going through a dry spell myself right now, the rear
>> bumper of my car is fixed with duck tape cos I don't have
>> the money to get it fixed right. at least you have a bus to
>> ride. btw, there is no ethical reason (imho) to tell clients
>> all of this but you should definitely let potential
>> employers know. good luck.