It’s either one or the other: Employee or Owner. Do it or don’t.

If you chose, “owner,” then you must commit to that path and stick with it.

There is no halfway. People are counting on you. You’re counting on you.

The “2” in the name Path2Partner is not meant to be cute or eyecatching for no reason.  Instead, the “2” was put in the name for a reason.  

The “2” is meant to underscore a theme that will be recurring in this blog for as long as it runs.

Stated simply, we will focus and continue to reiterate 2 things along the way: Development of great habits and consistent execution. These are the keys to developing your practice as a defense-based lawyer and realizing success. This is the way.

Throughout the course of this blog, I am going to talk about toughness and return to the topic on a frequent basis. It’s that’s important.

Simply stated, for a lawyer to be successful in a defense-based practice and to stay in the game over the long haul, that lawyer is going to have to become and stay tough, both mentally and physically.

That’s because …

-It takes toughness to stay late and finish what needs to be done when it would be easier to just go home.

-It takes toughness to take hard positions in court, mediations, etc. and stick with them, even when it’s the unpopular thing to do.

-It takes toughness to be firm with opposing counsel and hold your ground when there are difficulties and dissonace that arise in discovery.

-It takes toughness to make the difficult telephone call to the client to relate disappointing news.

-It takes toughness to do the work to be prepared for depositions, mediations, and trial.

-It takes toughness to get up early, work hard all day, and then work late into the night during trial days when you are so, so tired.

-It takes toughness to get up in front of a trial court judge or very hot appellate bench and make compelling arguments when the chips are down.

-It takes toughness to not only do the legal work expected of you by your clients and your firm, but also find the time to meaningfully market your practice.

-It takes toughness to perform at the levels you need to day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. The work and the expectations and the obligation to achieve and perform are never ending. It is the essence of the infinite game.

As you start your career and go along, it’s fundamentally important to recognize the need for toughness and develop strategies, habits, and routines that get and keep you tough and keep you going (I’m going to talk a lot about that). Because you have to keep going. Only the tough survive in litigation and defense-based practice; that’s the truth.

It’s okay if a lawyer in a firm decides they don’t want to assume the mantle of owner. 

Perhaps his or her disposition or mentality doesn’t allow for him or her to undertake the responsibility. 

Sometimes, the season of life the person is in isn’t conducive to taking ownership. 

Perhaps just being an employee suits that lawyer just fine. 9 to 5 Monday through Friday is all he or she wants.

All of that is okay.  

But lawyers who are employees only do not get, nor should they expect to get, the benefits of ownership: true autonomy, elevated compensation, equity, and voice and vote in the firm.

There is, of course, a price to pay for adopting the ownership mindset. And the price can be high.

Owners work harder. They wake up earlier; they go to bed later. Owners have responsibility. Owners assume the risks relating to operating a business. They do the worrying. 

Most important, owners are expected to be the leaders in an organization.

Ownership isn’t for everyone. But for those who are so inclined and are willing to do the work and the worrying, the dividends to ownership can be substantial.

Ownership. Are you willing to pay the price?

The law is a profession. That’s a fundamental truth. Professionals are bound by a set of ethics and govern themselves accordingly.

It’s also true the law is a business.

You can respect the law as a profession, but also treat it like a business. These concepts are not mutually exclusive.

Being mindful of the business aspect of your practice leads to good decision making. Treating your practice as a business keeps you focused on productivity, sensible about the expenditure of time and resource, and keeps you from tilting at windmills.

A key difference between employees and owners is that owners consistently and mindfully recognize, appreciate, and respond to the business component of law firm life.

As stated in my initial entry on January 1, the purpose of this blog is to help.  

The priority will always be on associates, but this content is also meant to help partners, law firms, and the clients too. The better, more adroit the associate becomes, the better it is for everyone and everything else, including the marketplace and the profession.

Regarding my motivation for putting Path2Partner in motion, this has been a project a long time coming. I am glad it is finally materializing.

Some context:

• I joined my firm in 2002 after an appellate court clerkship. I went to work for a partner who had tried many cases and had over 30 years of experience. Most importantly, he was a lawyer willing to manage and mentor. He gave me a lot of his time. Additionally, he gave me tremendous discretion about how I executed on his directions and guidance. The ability to exercise my own discretion from early on created a lot of self-confidence. I was working for the ideal partner. He shepherded me from associate to partner. A lot of what I learned from him, as well as many other senior lawyers along the way, will shine clear in this blog.

• I realized from the beginning of my work as an associate that in addition to the law being a profession, the law is also a business. Based on that realization, I got to work immediately on doing what I could to establish my own relationships and create my own business. I wanted my own autonomy and I desired to be the captain of my own ship. I marketed the legal knowledge I possessed and was gaining, tactfully shared my successes and achievements, and stayed in contact and tended my relationships. I wrote a great deal and spoke whenever and wherever I could.

• I joined the adjunct faculty of the University of South Carolina in 2009 and taught a course on Hotel and Restaurant Law to undergraduates for many years. It was during that experience, I realized I possessed the heart of a teacher. I truly enjoy teaching and helping others.

• My father was an officer in the United States Marine Corpsand I am a commissioned officer in the South Carolina State Guard. I grew up in a household that prized discipline and responsibility. As I have gone along in my career and built a team of my own, I take the responsibility for others’ development and well-being extremely seriously. The greatest achievements in my career have related not to my personal successes, but the successes realized by the lawyers and other professionals that I recruited and led.

These experiences and the mentality I possess about leadership, responsibility, and mentoring are what have prompted me to start this blog and share what I know and have learned with others.  It is my hope that what I share during the life of this blog is in indeed beneficial to those that read it.