Can we talk about the secret about which the big firms don't want you to know? What's the secret? That most of them aren't that good. That most of them don't do any better than the solo or small firm lawyer. It's been driven home to me time and again that the attorneys with the big firms are not necessarily the best or the brightest. They just made a different choice in how they chose to practice family law. I graduated 6th in my class of 304, was an editor of the law review, a member of the Order of the Coif, and clerked for an appellate judge. My credentials rival any lawyer in a big firm. What makes me different is leverage. I don't have associate attorneys underneath me who can bill time for which I get the credit; I don't have a large staff who does the tedious work so I don't have to, people who are dedicated to sorting, scanning and saving endless pages of discovery (I do, however, have a fabulous staff who consistently make me look good - thanks, Chrystal, Erin and Curtis!). I do the overwhelming majority of the work. Nothing goes out of my office that I haven't looked at and touched. The same can't be said of attorneys at my stage of practice in bigger firms. Things are less formal at my office than at the big firms. I can make alternative arrangements with fees without running it through committee; I take the time to get to know my clients in a way partners in larger firms can't and don't - i have that luxury. What I don't have is the big firm name and clout - so what? The name doesn't win the case, doesn't get the best result for their client, doesn't make their client feel supported at a critical time in their lives. The individual attorney does, and that is what a client should be looking at when they hire one, not a firm name.
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