Why I Started My Own Law Firm
So, I started my own law firm. Until recently it did not cross my mind to post about the firm — on this platform or anywhere. It’s tricky…
So, I started my own law firm. Until recently it did not cross my mind to post about the firm — on this platform or anywhere. It’s tricky as a lawyer to use social media. There are all sorts of rules! And I was not particularly interested in marketing myself or my firm through social media. So, why bother?
Flash forward to a discussion I had with my friend and fellow legal entrepreneur Brian Scherer of HeyCounsel. We got to talking about the 2020s trend of companies building in public. I wondered then what it would look like for a law firm to build in public. Perhaps more importantly, why would a law firm build in public?
In reflecting on this question, I thought about myself as a starry-eyed first year associate, when the idea of building my own firm was the farthest thing from my mind. If me-then could talk to me-now he would have a lot of questions. For starters, how did I get here? Perhaps more pointedly, why would I start a law firm when there are already so many great ones?!
And then it struck me. If writing about my career journey can be helpful to a young professional trying to chart their course — that first year Biglaw associate who’s trying to sort all of this stuff out — then it is probably something that is worth doing. So let’s take it from the top:
Why did I build Spohn Law, PC?
I am a husband and father before I am a lawyer: When I began my career I was unmarried and without children. Nothing pleased me more than showing up to the office very early, staying very late, and doing it all over again the next day. Now I am married to an extraordinary woman with two beautiful children and one eccentric dog. They — and my family, friends, and community — are the most important things in my life. In short, my priorities changed.
Being a good husband and father means “being there”: It is no secret that historically in this country women tend to make more career sacrifices then their male counterparts. One major reason for that is women continue to take on significantly more domestic duties than men. Data indicates that COVID only made all of this worse. Whatever the solution(s) is/may be to these disparities, modern gender equality must include men. In my family, that means, among other responsibilities, I am the “point” person for my children. So, I needed to find a way to realize my professional aspirations and to physically “be there” for my family.
COVID opened my eyes to the benefits of hybrid work: Pre-COVID I was skeptical of remote work, and with good reason — the hybrid work infrastructure simply was not there. I might have been able to work from home one day a week, say, but the rest of the time all the action (and hence any possibility of career success) was on-site. COVID changed that. And, to my surprise, I was able to get more work done in less time in a hybrid work environment! The way that we work changed.
I care who I work for: When I was a young lawyer, I was eager to get any work I could lay my hands on. Since then I have worked for a wide array of clients and have come to learn that I care very much who I work for. I am grateful have a particular set of skills that can help companies grow and thrive. I want to help visionary companies make an impact.
I want to treat my clients like my best clients treat their customers: I had the privilege of working for six years in-house at First Republic Bank (FRB). Prior to its acquisition by JP Morgan Chase, FRB consistently ranked near the top of most Net Promoter Score lists. In plain English — customers loved FRB. No law firm has recorded such a high NPS. This does not have to be the case! I want all of my clients to recommend me to their friends.
I want to run my firm like my clients run their companies: Most of my clients are scrappy, pre-IPO tech companies in the Bay Area. They move very quickly and are highly efficient. If, say, there’s a new world-changing technology that can help them succeed, my clients would feel an imperative to use such technology to further their mission. Meanwhile, many law firms are currently banning such technology outright. I will use the best tools and technology I can to serve my clients as efficiently as possible.
Distributed law is the future: The first fully remote law firm was created a little over a decade ago. Since then, we’ve seen several fully remote firms thrive. Firms like Scale LLP are proving that distributed law not only “works,” but creates several comparative efficiencies relative to the brick and mortar law firms of yore. I will build a firm on the shoulders of these industry innovators.
Those are some of the main reasons why I build this, and what Spohn Law is all about.
Next week: How I built this (or, my journey into the California administrative state)…
BDS