This week, in “Young, Hungry and Committed”, virtual office NYC attorney, Vivian Sobers Lives The Dream – Nightmarish bits and all
Last night, I lived the dream.
I had dinner with Sonya Sotomayor.
I guess that second sentence is misleading. Myself, and around 500 people had dinner in the same room as Justice Sotomayor.
The New York Women’s Bar Association put on a dinner and conversation with the Justice and I was lucky enough to attend.
While the Justice should be inspiring enough, the most inspirational part of the evening was actually being in the same room as so many successful women.
Glass Ceiling be damned.
Anyways, as I was waiting in line to get my picture taken with Justice Sotomayor, I inevitably began conversing with a group of women waiting in line next to me when suddenly one of them looks at me strangely with a look that belies a cloudy recognition.
“Wait a second I know you from somewhere”.
This is a very strange sentence for me to hear.
I semi-shrink into myself, but eventually I say “um I have a blog”. Not the strongest sentence, I know, but really this was very strange to me. “A blog?”, “A blog?”, “A blog?” three successive furrowed eyebrows with the same response. So I explain that I started my solo practice soon after law school and I write about my experiences.
After a short conversation, we figured it out. She reads my blog. (This fact always astounds me. That someone, somewhere, is digesting my diatribes!)
The topic then turned: What is Solo Law Practice Really Like?
When lawyers who are employed by large firms learn I am a solo lawyer, they are immediately interested. I get the sense that most of them would prefer to work for themselves.
I hear the same story time and time again:
I have been working at the firm for 5 years. I work 90 hours a week. I am being billed out at $600-$700 an hour. I put my blood and guts into the work, often at the sacrifice of my personal life. AND SOMEONE ELSE GETS THE CREDIT.
Now, I can’t say I know that feeling. I have never billed at $600 an hour. The difference is, I always get the credit.
It seems that every attorney, no matter if they were admitted yesterday or have been practicing for years, have always asked themselves at least once: “Should I just go out on my own”;“Is firm life for me”.
The answer of course is it depends! (I am a lawyer it’s the only answer I know how to give.)
For me, solo practice has been a difficult, if not exhausting road. That being said, it is one road I always want to travel. I wouldn’t change my career choice for the world. Period.
But for some, the safety of a firm, where every decision and potential mistake is not yours alone, is preferable. In fact, one of the attorneys commented on the pressure I must feel that knowing I have no other person to share my shoulders with. She asked if I consulted with other attorneys when I felt stuck (of course I do…read here?)
Firms also provide long hours, but the clients and all their problems are not always yours, and some can in fact take a vacation without the nerves of the firm falling apart.
The decision to go solo is intensely personal. But for me, it was an easy decision that I have never regretted – even if I don’t bill $600 an hour…
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Vivian Sobers is a commercial litigator pursuing a solo law practice right out of law school. She is a client in Law Firm Suites’ Virtual Office Program. Vivian’s weekly blog series “Young, Hungry and Committed” documents the trials and tribulations of a young attorney navigating her way through the challenging world of self-employed legal practice.
