How do law firms locate clients?
How do lawyers service and bill those clients?
What happens to the revenues at law firms?
Who runs law firms, and why?
These are some of the many questions that law students and younger lawyers – as well as many more experienced lawyers – wonder about law firms.
Introduction to Law Firm Practice seeks to answer these and many other questions about how law firms operate. As the Introduction states, “I hope to draw back the curtain and reveal how law firms operate.” My aim:
[I]s not intended to embarrass firms; rather, it is to expose reality. Such revelation should help newer entrants to law firms better understand the private law firm environment. The primary goal is to empower better decision-making, and thus help newer entrants find greater satisfaction and happiness in a law firm.
To pursue this aim, the book focuses on four key elements:
- How law firms are structured and managed
- How they generate revenues
- How they compensate lawyers
- How they develop business
Also, as a legal ethics professor and risk management lawyer, I try to provide guidance on how firms mitigate risk, deal with mistakes, mentor newer attorneys, and address a host of other topics.
In addressing these topics, the book does not try to suggest how things should be. Instead, I attempt to capture how firms actually operate, including the wide variety that exists among the 170,000 or so law firms that exist in the United States.
Origins of the Book. This book was born of desperation. In 2007, I was asked to teach a course on law firm practice at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. In some ways, I was well-suited for the task. I had graduated from Washington University and was already on the adjunct faculty there. My class, then called Litigation Ethics & Practice Management, included elements on law firm practice. I was also practicing law at a litigation boutique, active in the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section, and had recently completed graduate studies in Law Firm Management at George Washington University.
But 2007 was also a chaotic year. The same year, I joined Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP. There, I made my avocation and part-time practice, professional ethics and risk management, my full time occupation. I also taught my first large section of legal ethics at Washington University. Plus, my wife works part-time at Ranken Jordan (a Pediatric Specialty Hospital), and we have three young children.
Nevertheless, I accepted the challenge.
Then I searched in vain for a book or other materials I could use to teach. The books I located were too technical or largely filled with anecdotes. Also, while I found lots of great information, it was scattered across numerous books, articles, and websites. Constructing a syllabus seemed impossible. So, as the first day of class rapidly approached, I began writing. That first year, I was literally writing the book modules the day before I was teaching them.
Two years, about 200 Introduction to Law Firm Practice students, and lots of work later, the book is finished. This site in turn allows me to keep adding and updating as new developments arise, and to react to what you the audience tell me is needed.
Acknowledgements. I recognize many people in the book, but want to acknowledge a few special contributions here. First, ABA Law Practice Management Book Publishing, in particular Tim Johnson and Denise Constantine, who made this book a reality. Second, Dusty Holoubek of Hinshaw’s Marketing Department, who established and designed this website. Third, my Hinshaw colleague Jamie Schwab for serving as chief proofreader of this site. And finally, my wife Beth and children Andy, Liam, and Katie, who sacrifice a lot for my teaching, writing, and practice.
Thank you also for visiting the site, and hopefully for reading or using the book – and letting me know how I can make it better. Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions you have.
- Michael Downey