Why Start My Own Law Firm?

If you are considering starting a law firm, you have probably been doing so for some time. For me, I've considered starting a law firm for about 7 years, which takes me back to my first year of law school. When everyone was running around trying to get those big firm jobs, I was too, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about some of the things those firms can demand that you give up in order to continue to receive the high salaries they provide. Things like your free time, time with your family, time to take care of yourself, your political and social views, and your life in general. (I don't have any specific stories to point to but I think we can all agree that this type of "taking one for the team" at big firms is required often).

Big Firm Life is Not for Me

If you couldn't tell, I didn't get one of those big firm jobs the first summer. I took a volunteer job clerking for a district court (trial level) judge for the summer in a large, metropolitan city. I was exposed to jury trials and bench trials; I drafted decisions on summary judgment motions and other substantive issues; and I had the ability to pick the judge's brain with every stupid question I could dream up. It was a great experience, and if nothing else showed me that I was smart enough to be a real lawyer.

After that summer I talked with all of my classmates, and as classmate are opt to do, we compared notes on what we had done. Many of the big firm clerks talked about all of the money they got and all of the parties they went to, but none had any great stories about what they had done that made them a better attorney. Those with smaller firm experience, on the other hand, talked about what great experience they'd received (for the most part) and were enthusiastic about the practice of law.

In addition to being generally unimpressed with the big law firms in general, I have an innate quality that makes me well suited for solo law practice: I am a go-getter, a doer, with a type-A personality, that likes to grab the bull by the horns and really dig into something new from the ground up. What better way to make my mark on the world than by opening my own business, my own law firm, and seeing what I can make of it? I am excited by the chance to make my own mark on the world, control my own destiny, all the while becoming a successful business man and lawyer.

So, the long and short of it is, I am excited by challenges, want to have control over my own destiny, which includes free time, family time, play time, and work time, and want to have an arena where I can display my talents. Hopefully life as a Seattle DUI attorney!

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