Does Politics Play A "Great" Part In Lawyer Success? Forum

[guy121]

I am a 2L in the Pittsburg area. I currently attend Duquesne Law, and have grades which place me within the top 10% of my class. As I am preparing the transitioning phase from law school to lawyer, I am starting to realize that politics plays a role in hiring / success. Does politics play a great role in lawyering success though?

I guess the greatest example to express my concern is Duquesne alum Thomas R. Kline. He is a legend here. I have done research on him, and found he is the like the biggest medical malpractice / personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia. So much so, that he recently gave away $50 million to Drexel. But when I did more research, I found that he partnered with Shanin Specter in 1995 (Son of prominent Philadelphia politician and potential 1996 presidential candidate Arlen Specter). Although I can't confirm my assumptions, I would think that Mr. Kline was able to get the best / highest paying cases, and have the best resources due to the fact that his partner's dad was both powerful and loaded. I have also watched Mr. Kline testify before. While I think he is a good attorney, I cannot see what separates him from the good med. malpractice lawyer who couldn't give $100K to a law school, lt alone $50 million.

So, let me reiterate, does politics play a significant role in being a successful lawyer. I know politics plays a role in everything to an extent. But, is it significant in this field? Does my above example answer the question?

[BigZuck]

I'm not sure I really understand your post but in general I would say "No, one anecdote doesn't necessarily prove anything."

[petepilsh]

Give me a little bit more time to digest this one and I will think it over and get back to you.

[jrc223]

i think most would agree that connections become more important the further away from the T14 you go, but i don't think this has anything necessarily to do with politics

[Scottie2Hottie]

As my crim pro professor said, "A federal judge is just a lawyer who was friends with a senator"

I know of one fed judge in Philly who was a fundraiser for Specter and that's how he got nominated. Not to say he wasnt qualified, a lot of people had his credentials

[Traynor Brah]

What exactly are you asking? Does having a friend whose dad is a politician make you e.g. a more talented brief writer? At developing clientele? Are you suggesting that high-level politicians are in the know w/r/t potential big money tort and med mal plaintiffs and steer these folks to their contacts? This is a weird questions that makes some really weird assumptions.

[abl]

I think the OP means "connections" by "politics."

If so, yes, connections play a significant role in lawyer success. Being well-connected and well-respected in your field is very helpful in getting clients (on both the defense side and the plaintiffs side). And getting the best business and the best referrals gives you a big leg up when it comes to making partner, getting big bonuses, etc -- pretty much anywhere you work. That said, even the best connected lawyers must have some basic level of competency. In fact, it's generally going to be pretty hard for the average joe to become connected without doing a great job in practice. Probably the best route to making these sorts of connections is to do some combination of networking and doing an amazing job with the cases that you have. The importance of connections is probably greatest for law jobs furthest from biglaw and T14. So, for example, a Duquesne graduate looking to make it rich in the Philadelphia med mal scene will be well-served spending a significant amount of time glad handing at local lawyer events, whereas a Penn grad looking to make it rich in NYC biglaw is going to benefit relatively little by going to these sorts of meet and greets.

If the OP means politics by "politics"--e.g., involvement in some particular political party--then I'd say that politics generally won't play a significant role in success as a lawyer. There are, of course, several exceptions to this (most negative). If you're a Ben Carson conservative trying to make it in a traditionally liberal legal practice like civil rights litigation, well, your political beliefs (or worse, your political activism) will likely hold your career back. On the other hand, if you've been a reasonably high-up person in Liz Warren's office and work at a plaintiffs-side securities or antitrust class action firm, that's probably going to help. But your political beliefs--especially if you do relatively little to act on them besides voting--are not for the most part going to have much of an impact on your career as a lawyer so long as you don't hold beliefs wildly out of the norm for the field in which you're working (e.g., being the world's biggest Senator Warren fan might hurt your advancement in Goldman's in-house legal team).

[despina]

I am a 2L . . . I have also watched Mr. Kline testify before. While I think he is a good attorney, I cannot see what separates him from the good med. malpractice lawyer who couldn't give $100K to a law school, lt alone $50 million.

Other folks have addressed other parts of your question -- and sure, connections definitely help some lawyers become successful.

I would just say this based on the quote above:

a. You're a 2L, so you are just not qualified to differentiate what differentiates a good experienced attorney from an excellent experienced attorney.

a. Even if you were, yourself, an experienced attorney and thus qualified to evaluate the subtle differences between other experienced attorneys in your field, you would not necessarily be able to evaluate all the things that makes a lawyer good just by watching him/her "testify" (I assume you mean "argue in court" rather than "give testimony as a witness.") Being a successful litigator does require strong courtroom manner, but there are a lot of other things that go into it that you just wouldn't be able to see just from observing someone in court -- negotiation skills, client relationships, research and writing skills, practice management, strategic creativity, motions practice, etc etc etc. You can't tell any of those by watching somebody in court, and you therefore can't necessarily "see what separates" the excellent litigator from the pretty good litigator.