Miami, FL (1888PressRelease)
October 20, 2009 - Addressing a class of law practice administration students in Williamsport, PA via webcast, national law practice management advisor and law firm marketing expert, RJon Robins, told students that “law schools should be ashamed of themselves” and that unless law schools find a way to come to grips with the economic realities of the legal industry law students will continue to struggle to have fun being a lawyer and turn a profit with their law degree as they enter the world of small or solo practice.
Robins, who works with hundreds of lawyers each year that are outwardly successful yet struggling to create some form of work-life balance, says many lawyers are burnt out, working below their true potential and flat-out miserable because they were ill-prepared for the “business side” of running a law firm.
“Most Law school curricula assumes that students will graduate and take a job as an associate at a big firm where law firm management is a non-issue—but that’s just not reality,” says Robins. “Instead 60% of graduating law students will enter the world of small or solo practice,” he says.
And unfortunately, according to Robins, lawyers don’t realize they’ve been thrust into a broken business model until they are taking on too much debt, working 75 hours a week, at odds with their spouse and resenting their once noble career choice and aspirations to do some good in the world.
“There is an age old debate in the legal field as to whether being a lawyer is a business or a profession. What people fail to recognize though is that it’s both. Of course you have to be a competent practitioner. But if you don’t have the skills to attract clients in the first place then your being the best lawyer in the world isn't going to do anyone any good. And if you don't have the law office management skills necessary to turn a profit in your practice, then you won’t have a practice for long and that's not going to do anyone any good either. Broke lawyers don’t do anyone good, least of all themselves their families and certainly not their prospective clients,” explains Robins.
Fortunately, business-minded law firm management professors such as George Role of Penn College are now teaming up with law firm management experts like Robins to ensure their students are truly prepared for a profitable and rewarding legal career in big law or solo practice.
“Thankfully more professors are coming out of the woodwork to tell students that being a successful lawyer requires more than sticking a sign on a door and waiting for clients,” says Robins. “Instead, we’re single handedly changing the curriculum to teach students that yes, you are going to work hard, but no, you don’t have to be a slave to your practice. You don’t have struggle to get business or make ends meet. Instead, we’re teaching them how to be real business owners, in addition to legal professionals so a lawyer can enjoy the financial, personal and professional rewards of being a lawyer. Being a lawyer should make you happy. If not you're doing something wrong". Says Robins who extols his Members: "Happy Lawyers Make More Money!"
For more information on RJon Robins, law firm practice management issues or RJon’s exclusive law firm marketing videos (which are a viewing favorite for students across the country), visit www.howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com.
###
