Smaller Law Firms Folding into Larger Firms: Not this one!

The tight economy impacts law firms and the provision of legal services. See this article at Law.Com http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1202422726953.

I don't have any plans to fold or merge into a larger law firm or any other law firm. This is why I have always ran a lean and mean (I am not mean but I like to rhyme) law practice. I use independent contractors for projects and assistance.

When I considered hiring someone a few months ago, I changed my mind. 1. After seeing the quality of a few of the writing samples and 2. After deciding I didn't really want the hassle of training and paying someone on a consistent basis.

I may eventually use the services of a virtual assistant but for now I like using project assistants for tasks. I also like to work on my own schedule and could not take the "face time" needed to work in another law firm. I did it for several years and I didn't like it. I don't like being told what to do. Therefore being a solo practitioner in my own law firm works for me.  

I worked in a law firm where face time was mandatory and meetings were routinely scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays instead of a weekday. I could have wrote a book about "death by meeting" because I lived it and I worked many of "jobs" (yes these were jobs) where I only worked for the paycheck and I dreamed of and planned my escape like a career criminal in a minimum security prison.

I tolled through five years of nursing college for a ASN and BSN, 3 years of law school, and sat for and passed 3 bar exams on the first try. I want to work in an environment where I am happy and satisfied with the quality and quantity of work I perform. I just want to be "me" while I work and make a living.

I had someone ask me recently why don't I represent nurses in criminal matters as its a "natural extension" of my licensure defense practice. Because I don't want to practice criminal law.

Do what makes you happy for a living and eventually you will start to generate enough income to survive and thrive.