cessful solo practices to see what their day-to-day life
was like. I wanted an idea of what I was getting myself
into. I highly recommend this. Nobody ever refused
to meet with me, and I gained invaluable advice. Also,
be prepared for how the financial issues may impact
you and your family. Operating a new business is a
struggle in the beginning, but with persistence, a solid
business plan and effort, it turns around quickly.
4
What has been the biggest obstacle
you have faced as a result of the
size of your practice?
Louis Cohan: Obstacle?! Well seriously, the only real
obstacle for us is people who don’t know better. What
I mean is, there is tremendous talent in small law
firms. Many of us have worked for, with, and against
the biggest firms for years. Today, technology means
we have resources to match any other firm. We can
deliver our services at lower prices because our overhead is dramatically less expensive. Notwithstanding
the above, there are people out there who will hire a
bigger firm just because it is bigger. I mean no disrespect to our bigger firms who are competitors. Rather,
I mean to suggest that the smartest, most sophisticated
consumers of legal services choose based on talent
and fit, rather than size, alone.
Matt Jordan: Personnel issues. When you work at a
big firm, someone else handles HR. At my firm, we
handle all of these issues ourselves. Finding and keeping good people can be a challenge, but we have been
very lucky. Our staff is exceptional.
Jeb Butler: Dividing time between our medium-sized
cases, which are our bread and butter, and larger cases
that take more time but bring greater rewards. We
work through the issue in two ways. First, when either
Darren or I are working on a larger case that suddenly
becomes very demanding, the other guy can step in
and keep the wheels turning on the medium-sized
cases that still need attention. Second, we partner
with folks. It is a great joy to work with other people
from other firms, and Darren and I are not shy at all
splitting fees with other lawyers. We have done that
with regularity in the two years that our firm has existed, and will continue to do it—either on cases that
originate elsewhere and are brought to us, or on large
cases that we originate.
Cheryl Legare: The biggest obstacle for me has been
adjusting to not having associates to delegate some of
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June/July 2016
the more mundane (but important) tasks of a litigation
practice. Dealing with vendors has been a learning experience, too. Do not get me started on what we went
through to get our phones and Internet hooked up—.
5
What has surprised you the most
about life in a smaller firm?
Louis Cohan: One of my favorite stories to tell about
life in my smaller firm involved a settlement mediation. I was nearly 20 years into my practice when I
started CLG. I had litigated and resolved many millions
of dollars of cases before starting CLG. Notwithstanding, I had this pretty big case. We scheduled mediation
and I represented six plaintiffs with a contingent fee
arrangement. All the ingredients were in place to make
possible a substantial settlement. That meant there
was a lot of money at stake for me. Notwithstanding
all of my prior experience and that I had been an
equity partner for many years before founding CLG,
I found myself feeling strange about having such a
significant personal stake in the financial outcome of
the mediation. The feeling was—surprising. I ended
up hiring a trusted and more senior attorney (at no
additional cost to the clients) to advise me during the
mediation. I just wanted someone objective with no
stake in the outcome to tell me if I needed to back
off or push harder. It all worked out great and the
mediation was a big success.
Matt Jordan: I have had a few. First, it is tough, hard
work. When you work at a large firm, the clients are
more institutional. Each of my clients is an injured
worker who has no idea how the workers’ compensation system operates and is afraid for their job and
health. Also, the shift in how I spend my time has
been quite surprising. When I first started practicing,
I was keenly focused on the practice of law. Nowadays,
I have gotten much more comfortable with that aspect of my practice and spend much more time on
marketing and helping to address the business side
of a small firm.
Jeb Butler: How fast time goes.
Cheryl Legare: I am surprised, although I should not
be, at just how much I love it. I have the same amount
of work, but it is different because I am in control. I
have managed to find a balance between work and life
that I never had when I