Re: Rock Bottom--Master Ichi Apologizes

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I apologize to this board for the wayward writing of my pupil,
Zataoichi. He is eager to go forth and spread his wisdom, but he
is not ready. I will hit him on his wrists with a stick one
thousand times for this transgression. This is the way it must
be. Namas de.

On 10/02/06, Ichi wrote:
> 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.