How I made big law partner in three years without ever being an associate

I started my own law firm with a friend Brent and then a third cofounder Tom.

We thought this Internet tech thing was cool. It all exploded in the dot com boom, and then we sold our firm at the top of the market to a big legacy firm that really needed access to our clients and cachet.

In between, we made up in flash and hustle what we lacked in experience, skills, connections, and credentials.

Young, Hip, Cool, and Fun

We threw a lot of parties — in fact I wrote the Wikipedia article on dot com parties.

We had lots of great publicity. A profile written by the legal trade press, called Young, Hip, Cool, and Fun, got emailed around the law firm universe to the point where most every corporate lawyer in America had heard of us.

Meanwhile, I earned corporate law from all the associates I hired, and how to file trademarks and patents from the estimed Nolo Press books,Trademark and Patent it Yourself.

Back Door

I saw some of the brightest, most determined, and ambitious people in the country competing with each other to become top lawyers at top law firms.

Same thing with actors, concert pianists, college professors, and basketball players. Everyone is in this competition that is almost impossible to win.

Not only is that a lot of work, it would take extraordinary discipline, talents, and patience to even try, all of which I lacked. Worse, I wouldn’t want that job even if I could have it.

Taking stock, I was pretty smart, saw opportunities that others missed, and didn’t need much money or anyone’s approval to keep me going. I wasn’t beyond scoring a cheap win.

So that’s exactly what I did. I started what looked like a law firm and worked on everything about it to make it succeed other than being an actual lawyer. Things like publicity, industry connections, and parties. Along the way I did learn. It worked.

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