In this post, I try to answer the question, what is possibly the best firm for you if you are looking for a change. If you are busy and want my idea right away skip to the bottom. Otherwise, here is some background information from my experience.

In 1976, when I left the United States Air Force after spending four years and eight months on active duty, I had many options.

  • I was offered two positions on the west coast in-house with government contractors (One of my best friends took one of the two offers and spent the rest of his career as an in-house lawyer.)
  • I was offered a position as an associate with a government contracts practice group in a large DC firm. (I turned it down, having spent the last few years litigating against lawyers in that firm and discovering the role of the junior associates.)
  • An associate position with what was then considered a mid-sized law firm in Roanoke, Virginia. (I took this one even though it paid far less than the other two opportunities and even paid less than I was making as a Captain in the Air Force.)

I took the opportunity in Roanoke, in part because I graduated from Virginia Tech, just 37 miles away. That was only a small part of my decision. I took the opportunity in Roanoke because I believed it offered me the greatest opportunity to control my own destiny.

For 20 years I proclaimed I would never be part of a large law firm because I didn’t want to be told what to do. Then, I joined one. In my first year, I doubled my collections because the firm had lawyers who could help my clients with work I could not do myself. By my third year, I had tripled my collections.

Our firm leaders were super conscious about where we stood in the AM Law 100. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I could say that the higher we rose, the more each of us was making. I guess that part was nice, but the so-called prestige of our ranking was something that did not resonate with me.

Fast forward to my coaching career. In my 12 years coaching lawyers in US and Canada firms, I discovered there are many firms out there that have the resources I would have needed to serve my clients but have far lower overhead. I discovered I could have made almost double what I was paid in the big Am Law 100 law firm.

I know many of those firms and many of the managing partners of those firms. If you are a partner in an Am Law 100 firm, looking to make a change, take a look at firms half your size. Look at the bios of lawyers who would help serve your clients, or bring your current colleagues with you.