Make it Your Own Law Firm. Book Reviews

Make it Your Own Law Firm. Book Reviews – Part 2

Review by Ann K. Levine

As the author of a law school admission guide book,The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert I can vouch that the next step after getting into law school is to read Spencer’s book. It’s better to read this than any of the books on your law school’s summer reading list. If you want to know what the practice of law is really like – from someone who is proud to be a lawyer rather than disgruntled and bitter (but who has to hustle every day to build a business and keep it) then please read this book. Even if you don’t think you ever want to have your own law firm, this is a must-read because – at some point- I promise you WILL think about working for yourself. It might be when you can’t find a job after law school graduation, or it might be if you don’t make partner at somebody else’s law firm, or if you do make partner but get no equity, or you make equity partner and discover that you’re working to pay for someone else’s fancy vacations. You will want to know your options for starting your own firm, and this is the book to read.

Spencer goes through issues that most law students have never encountered – issues to be aware of when entering a lease, when hiring and firing employees, deciding what cases to take, and how to get your own clients. He doesn’t overload you with details but gives examples from his own experience so you know what to watch out for. He even has fill-in-the-blank sections to help you make decisions that are right for you. His early chapters even help you decide whether to be a lawyer, and the chapters that follow give advice for things you can do while in law school (and after!) to help build your own law firm. His writing style is very easy to read, narrative, and lacking any arrogance or ego that you might expect from someone who has built a successful law firm on his own. When reading the book, it’s important to note how many times the author thanks or recognizes others: other attorneys, secretaries, law professors, accountants, advisors, people who send him cases. This is a key part of practicing law that law students aren’t taught – getting out there and meeting people, and treating people well, is vital to success in the legal profession.

I am very happy to put this book on the short list of those that I recommend to my Law School Expert blog readers and to my law school admission consulting clients.