Life after Law School Forum

[Maserati91]

Hey so my dream is to have my own law firm one day with 3-4 attorneys, a nice office in Manhattan, and a bunch of big cases to handle while making north of $500k a year.

Yes I know it's a big goal.. I plan to work at BigLaw if everything goes well for 6-8 years then go and open my own firm. I have a lot of people in my community who have done this in healthcare law or plantiff law and are very successful. But, I was wondering how it works for corporate attorneys. I love the transactional side of law. Currently I work at a personal injury botique firm, my boss started it and he's very wealthy from it, driving a bentley and all. But, he deals with small cases like accidents and stuff and he told me he makes his money through volume of cases. So I was wondering, would it be possible to start my own corporate firm realistically? Since most cases are dealing with big companies, would these companies want to come to me to handle their tranactions as opposed to biglaw? I'm kind of confused. I know it is relatively realistic to go into solo practice in healthcare, estate law, personal injury, but what about corporate.

Thanks =)

[Big Shrimpin]

[Renzo]

Depends what you mean by "corporate law." If you mean incorporating nonprofits, providing tax advice to small businesses, doing small-midsize commercial lease closings, etc.; it's not impossible. If you mean M&A work, securities issuances, securitizations and other financial work, it's beyond absurd.

[Maserati91]

Depends what you mean by "corporate law." If you mean incorporating nonprofits, providing tax advice to small businesses, doing small-midsize commercial lease closings, etc.; it's not impossible. If you mean M&A work, securities issuances, securitizations and other financial work, it's beyond absurd.

Lol thanks just the advice I wanted. So if I want to have my own practice, stick to litigation right?

[Renzo]

Depends what you mean by "corporate law." If you mean incorporating nonprofits, providing tax advice to small businesses, doing small-midsize commercial lease closings, etc.; it's not impossible. If you mean M&A work, securities issuances, securitizations and other financial work, it's beyond absurd.

Lol thanks just the advice I wanted. So if I want to have my own practice, stick to litigation right?

Going solo as a litigator is no more or less likely than doing it as a real estate lawyer, a tax lawyer, a regulatory lawyer...

What you need is real, serious expertise in your field; what that field is becomes secondary.

[shoeshine]

Depends what you mean by "corporate law." If you mean incorporating nonprofits, providing tax advice to small businesses, doing small-midsize commercial lease closings, etc.; it's not impossible. If you mean M&A work, securities issuances, securitizations and other financial work, it's beyond absurd.

Lol thanks just the advice I wanted. So if I want to have my own practice, stick to litigation right?

Going solo as a litigator is no more or less likely than doing it as a real estate lawyer, a tax lawyer, a regulatory lawyer...

What you need is real, serious expertise in your field; what that field is becomes secondary.

Expertise in a field is a huge asset when trying to run a solo corporate litigation practice. I know several attorneys who have specialties in different aspects of corporate law that basically work as contractors for big firms. One attorney who I am particularly close to is an expert in a very small subset of corporate tax liability (I think she has an MST and a JD). She spends most of her time working as a consultant for huge firms when they have cases involving her specialty. She bills at the an extremely high rate and has very little overhead since her firm is technically only her and her paralegal/assistant.

I think it takes a long time to build up a reputation like hers but it can be done.