Practice Management

It is an acronym that stands for "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt". Originally, it was created to refer to the smear campaigns used by IBM against it's competitors.  The tag line went, "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM".

From a personal standpoint I can tell you this is not true.  Back in the late 80s and the early 90s my firm spent a fortune on an IBM mainframe with simulation software that allowed it to work with personal computers, so that we could run a unified office using T-1 lines from our multiple locations.  It failed.  It never work right.  Neither IBM could fix it nor could the firm's advisers resolve it.  Everybody involved got fired. Back then we spent over a $100,000 to not create what we do readily and cheaply today without consultants.

That is neither here nor there.  I am over that debacle.  (Maybe, a little).  I would not refer to IBM for advice again.  (Maybe I am not over it).  I should have filed suit against at the time!  (I am definitely not over it).  I had better move on.  (Bad memories).  But, our concentration is not on IBM, it is on the acronym itself.  We are concerned about how it operates to prevent many of us lawyers from striking out on our own or congregating in small collaborative groups.

Continuing to work in someone's office or somewhere else is FUD, plain and simple.  Staying on your present course instead of seeking a more enjoyable practice area is FUD.  Not trusting your own instincts is FUD.  Restricting yourself by doing something you do not really want to be doing is absolutely FUD.

We lawyers might put on a good face in public and in court, but I have found that deep down most of us are racked by fear, uncertainty and doubt.  FUD about going out on our own.  FUD about increasing our fees.  FUD about turning away business we know is not good for us.  FUD about taking a leap into a practice with which we might not be as familiar.  FUD about moving our offices home.  FUD about not hiring staff or letting staff go.   FUD about doing something alone.  We are full of FUD.

I say ENOUGH OF FUD!!!  It is too much already.

I understand it.  It emanates from several places.  Law schools many times over complicate the law and especially practice areas.  They certainly do not teach the practical aspects of the practice of law.  You do not come out practice ready. The confusion leave you believing you cannot overcome the obstacles of it all.  Of course this is not true.  You are as sharp as a tack or you would not have gotten into law school, much less survived it.  But, what law school does too often is make you doubt your own abilities.

Elmer Fudd is a good example.  Sure his name is spelled with an extra 'd', but does he not epitomize FUD.  He starts out to hunt the "wascally wabbitt" and in the process is he overcome with fears, uncertainty and doubt", mainly based upon what Bugs Bunny tells him or does to him, or in the ways the "wrabbitt" confuses him.  And, so it is with us lawyers as well.

We all know that most law students drop out of law school the first semester before they even take the first set of exams.  They have not flunked.  The material and the method is new to everyone.  It is over everybody's head.  But, these students are overcome with FUD.  Like Elmer they start out confidence and then they lose it quickly.  You and I survived, but it does not mean that we have avoided FUD.  The early dropper outers might have a more severe case of FUD that we do, but most all of us have been infected.  The incubation period just take longer for some like us.

Money issues represent a big contributor to FUD.  You see failure all around you, and it is hard to understand how you can make it until the practice area or niche has a chance to kicks off.  Yes, there are risks, but the beauty of the Third Wave is that you will minimize these risks if you will cheaply and consistently focus on effective marketing or soliciting for clients and referral sources, and keep or cut your overhead to the ever-lovin' bone.  If you can hunker down, you can wait it out, but you have to be focused on the right things necessary to first establish a practice area or niche.

All of this is related to self doubt.  This is nothing new.  We all face it.

There is no great specific advice on how to outfox the FUD.  It depends on your own mental strength and determination and your particular situation.  But, there are some general things you can do.

The first thing you can do is to pull strength from your goal. I had an attorney lately ask me how an lawyer can possibly I sell his or her self in the area of consumer bankruptcy when the attorney was just out of law school and had no real life experience in the area.  My advice is do not even try.  Do not even play that game with yourself. You are putting yourself down, which has an effect on what you are trying to do, and it turns off your potential clients and referral sources.  You, for now, sell the benefit of bankruptcy to consumers with debt problems.  Not only are you pulling strength from your goal in this sense, but you are using it to fuel your ambition to be more. The question is whether you want to practice consumer bankruptcy.  Let that be your strength.

The second thing you can do is find support.  I do not necessarily mean financial support, but that would be great too.  I am talking about mentors.  But, if not really mentors, other lawyers you can call on with questions that you have.  Not a paid situation.  Not one attorney.  Lawyers, plural, you can get on the phone or take to lunch for real time practical advice when issues arise.  This type of support group is the best.  Friends and other types of lawyers are good from an emotional basis, but lawyers in your practice area already believe in your dream, your goal, and they have been where you are and have done what you are doing now.  Is their advice perfect?  No.  But, calling on a group of them you will get a good perspective and you will learn.

The third thing you can do is re-ignite the faith you have in yourself. Let us face the truth.  Law school too often knocks it out of you.  You know you are smart, but had trouble performing like you did in college and it leads you to FUD. The survey material is a bit much to answer a regular question and you get a bit scattered.  The bar exam does not help in this regard.  Most of your classmates talk about internships and Big Law and clerkships and working for other lawyers or the prosecutors office, and they look at anybody cockeyed when they say they want to go out on their own.  Somewhere in the process you get knocked down and redirected in ways that do not benefit yourself in a positive sense.  You might need to look in the mirror, or make yourself a cup of tea, and have a long hard talk with yourself.

You can overcome the FUD.  You need to overcome the FUD.  If you can overcome the FUD, I know you will do well for yourself, your family and your loved ones.