Ask Howard Treesong About Law or Lawyering

[Howard Treesong]

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Howard,

How did you come to make the transition from big firm to in-house? Was your new employer a former client? How does being an in-house lawyer compare to being a partner at a firm?

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I did not develop my own client base, and I thought my upward track was coming to an end. In my particular situation, the office expanded more rapidly in LA than it should have, and was thus vulnerable. I might have been able to survive long-term, but I was unhappy spending my time spinning wheels trying to generate new clients. My then-firm certainly represented my current company, although I personally did not. There were many close connections, though, and I have (and will continue to) hire my old firm.

I'd say that the range of issues I confront now is far wider, even though I had a pretty broad commercial practice. I have a much much much higher caseload, all but a few of which I do not dig into particularly deeply. In general, I'd say the current job is broader and somewhat shallower. I've given up the courtroom work and have gotten the ability to call the shots. It's an interesting trade; so far, so good.

[bobman0330]

[ QUOTE ]
I did not develop my own client base, and I thought my upward track was coming to an end. In my particular situation, the office expanded more rapidly in LA than it should have, and was thus vulnerable. I might have been able to survive long-term, but I was unhappy spending my time spinning wheels trying to generate new clients. My then-firm certainly represented my current company, although I personally did not. There were many close connections, though, and I have (and will continue to) hire my old firm.

[/ QUOTE ]

Knowing what you know now, what, if anything, could you have done early in your career to better position yourself later on on the business development front? Or more concretely, what advice would you give to a young lawyer who is concerned about having problems in that area later on?

[Howard Treesong]

[ QUOTE ]
Knowing what you know now, what, if anything, could you have done early in your career to better position yourself later on on the business development front? Or more concretely, what advice would you give to a young lawyer who is concerned about having problems in that area later on?

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Remember that every single professional contact you make is a future potential client, including your opponents. There's no reason to not be aggressive, but stay entirely out of the cheap fouls business. I've had a number of opponents recommend me on cases where they were conflicted: they thought my work was strong and I was personally reasonable.

Second, start working client relationships from day one; not in an over-the-top salesy way, but rather by figuring out what it is that your firm's current clients need. What's important to them? Cost? Clear written product? Instant response time? Careful and articulate budgeting? An effective and inspiring bedside manner? After you've been working on a case for a while and have enough signature, see if you can sit down with a client and ask 'em what they really think about your work: what's strong and what could be improved. Check off on this with your senior people, obviously.

Co-workers, opponents, current clients, law-school classmates, people you meet at conferences -- everyone.

[iron81]

What would you advise this guy to do? He ignored a jury summons and now has his own court date on misdemeanor charges.

[burningyen]

Interesting, I studied engineering before becoming a lawyer, worked in BigLaw and am now basically in-house (no timesheets!). Incidentally, I’m chickening out of the Joe Horn conviction prop bet. After a second reading of the statutes I think he will almost certainly get off.

[Howard Treesong]

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What would you advise this guy to do? He ignored a jury summons and now has his own court date on misdemeanor charges.

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I'd advise him to retain counsel and stop ignoring jury summonses in the future. I'd also tell him to be sure and pay his taxes on time.

[olliejen]

Hi HT,

2 questions, completed unrelated, 1 dated & irrelevant now...

wrt the MSFT anti-trust case like, 8 or 9 years ago? It was about MSFT bundling IE with Windows versus people having to pay for Netscape. I didn't understand why MSFT lawyers never presented the case as a water company offering water freely available to drink as part of your water bill (IE) versus people buying bottled water to drink (Netscape). No one's ever sued the water company for giving away water that people could buy... That analogy seems apt to me and I don't understand why it wouldn't be applicable...?

Frivolous lawsuits (& the costs of defending/settling them) are oftentimes identified as a key driver of insurance premiums. I don't expect that you to be subject-matter-expert in this space, but from your view of the elephant, are they? If so, are there any process/procedural "fixes" you could put in place to curtail them? I've always thought that instead of capping the amount you could win in a lawsuit, you should fix the % that a lawyer can earn off medical claims (tho I think you might create a problem where lawyers will only cherrypick the easiest/most profitable cases) Your thoughts?

[olliejen]

HT? no [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] for my questions? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Riverman]

Howard,

I am a 2L at a school slightly outside of the T14. If I want to practice commercial law and am not interested in BIGLAW, what would you recommend for the job search?

[Howard Treesong]

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HT? no [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] for my questions? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Not at all: I'm mulling yours over. I didn't like the answer I typed out and want to consider it a little more.