This document summarizes an agenda for a presentation on alternative practice models. It discusses traditional legal education and hiring practices, traditional law firm structures, and reasons why traditional models fail employees. It then explores attorneys seeking alternatives and traits of alternative models. The presentation covers new model categories and provides guidance for finding the best alternative model based on an attorney's preferences and dislikes regarding traditional firms. It suggests questions attorneys should consider to determine what type of new model organization would be the best fit.

1. Alternative Practice Models
in the New Normal
Joshua Lenon – Clio
Nicole Bradick – Custom Counsel,
Potomac Law Group

2. Agenda
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Traditional Education & Hiring (5 minutes)
Traditional Practice Models (5 minutes)
Old Models Fail Employees (5 minutes)
Attorneys Seeking Alternatives (5 minutes)
Traits of Alternative Models (10 minutes)
New Model Categories (10 minutes)
Finding the Best Fit for You (10 minutes)
Questions (10 minutes)

3. Instructors
Joshua Lenon
Nicole Bradick
• Lawyer, admitted in New York
• Lawyer-in-Residence for Clio
• Lawyer, admitted in Maine
• Founder, Custom Counsel
• Director of Business
Development, Potomac Law
Group

4. TRADITIONAL EDUCATION
& HIRING

5. Reading the Law

6. Law Schools
• First Law School in 1793
• American Bar Association School
Accreditation in 1923
• Now almost every state requires ABAaccredited education for admission
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7. Hiring
• On Campus Interviews
– 55% of law schools reported a decrease of 30%
or more in the number of firms doing on-campus
interviews
• Only 64.4% of 2012 graduates had full-time
jobs requiring bar passage.
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8. TRADITIONAL PRACTICE
MODELS

9. Partnership
• 51% of lawyers practice in partnerships
• 14% in firms of 2-5 lawyers
• 16% in firms of 101+ lawyers
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10. Cravath System
• Recruit the “best of the best”
– Required increasing salary numbers
• Training via mentorship
• “Up or out”

11. OLD MODELS FAIL EMPLOYEES

12. Disproportionate Focus
on Billable Hours
The pressure to maximize billable hours
disincentives efficiency and can be harmful to
clients.
The billable hour can cause particular pressure
on parents who often strive for efficiency in
order to handle multiple life demands.
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13. Lack of autonomy and flexibility
• Unreasonable face time requirements and an
unwillingness to offer meaningful flexibility
can cause undo stress to professionals who
seek to be treated like, well, professionals.
• Many firms give lip service to offering
flexibility, but too often the deals are highly
unfavorable to the working attorney, both
financially and practically.
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14. Competition for Partnerships
• In the typical Big Law “tournament” model, only a
few make it to partnership, forcing a competitive
environment with their colleagues. Let’s face it,
competing unrelentingly with your peers never leads
to an enjoyable workplace…
• This only gets worse as it gets harder to become a
partner. Recent unfavorable trends include an
increase in the time to become partner, longer odds
at making it to partner, and the proliferation of the 2tier partnership system.
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15. Lateral Movement Erodes
Camaraderie
• Lateral movement is on the rise in Big Law as
firms are trying to keep up their numbers by
attracting partners with books of business.
This results in hoarding of work and clients
and a constant suspicion of colleagues being
on the move.
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16. ATTORNEYS SEEKING
ALTERNATIVES

17. Big Firm Escapee
• The Big Firm escapee leaves for a variety of
reasons, but generally is a lawyer that enjoys
the practice of law but not the big firm
environment.
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18. Balance Seeker
• The balance seeker does not want to
sacrifice outside interests or commitments to
the practice of law and may wish to practice
on a flexible schedule.
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19. Semi-Retired
• Typically a lawyer who rose through the
ranks at a big firm, but may be looking to
slow down the pace. This may include a
lawyer who has taken a buy out post-merger.
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20. Attorney With Outside Interests
• Similar to the balance seeker, but this
attorney likely has other entrepreneurial
pursuits or career-related passions in
addition to the practice of law. Most
traditional firms do not take kindly to outside
professional distractions, but this type of
entrepreneurial spirit is often welcome in a
new model firm.
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21. TRAITS OF ALTERNATIVE
MODELS

22. Traits Of Alternative Practice Model

23. NEW MODEL CATEGORIES

24. New Model Organizations
• New model law firms
• Secondments
• Legal Process Outsourcers

25. FINDING THE BEST FIT FOR YOU

26. Initial Consideration
The primary thing to ask yourself is: what is it
that you don’t like about the traditional firm
model?
The answer to this question will determine
what kind of new model firms you should
consider. Consider the following typical
complaints about traditional law firm life –
which ones apply to you?

27. What’s the Problem?
• Billable hour pressures?
• Lack of flexibility?
• Overly competitive
environment?
• Unfriendly to women/
minorities?
• Lack of mentorship/
sponsorship/training?
• Working directly with
clients?
• Doing too much “second
chair” work?
• Not being able to work
directly with clients?
• Too much required nonbillable administrative
time?
• Business development
pressures?
• Too much firm politicking?
• The actual practice of law?

28. Dislike Direct Client Work?
If your answers indicate more of a lack of
interest in providing direct legal services to
clients, consider the variety of new model
businesses focused on providing fill-in or
freelance work for other attorneys or law firms.
Focus on high-end legal staffing companies.

29. Dislike the Law Firm Environment?
If your responses tend more toward a
dissatisfaction with the traditional firm
environment, then there are a wealth of new
firms that aim to cure what ails you.
Focus on new model law firms, but beware
that they vary widely, so you’ll need to ask
some careful questions to find the right fit.

30. New Model Law Firms & Technology
• Some offer technology-heavy case
management and collaboration tools that
you might enjoy or not, depending on your
preferences.
• If you are not great with new technology,
inquire about training.

31. New Model Law Firms and Workflow
• Some new model firms may require you to
bring in business, while others will feed you
business.
• Inquire carefully if you do not have your own
book of business but need full-time work –
make sure the firm can keep your plate full.

32. New Model Law Firms –
Brick & Mortar v. Virtual
• Some offer a traditional brick and mortar law
firm setting and others are virtual. Your
personality and preferences will dictate
which will work for you.

33. New Model Law Firms and
New Attorney Training
• If you are a newer attorney, many new model
firms are not yet organized in a way to
provide training and mentorship. Some do,
and you will need to be careful to seek out
the ones who have training built into their
model.

34. New Model Firms and
Intra-firm Talent and Collaboration
• If your type of work often requires a team to
work on your matters, be sure you
understand what other attorneys are
available and how the firm fosters team
collaboration.

35. Dislike Practicing Law?
The final inquiry, whether you simply do not
enjoy practicing law, is certainly one worth
considering. Some attorneys find that they
just don’t enjoy their chosen profession,
having nothing to do with their firm or work
situation.

36. Opportunities Abound
For those who are entrepreneurial in nature,
consider that the proliferation of new model
businesses provides ample opportunity to
apply your knowledge of the law and the
business of law in a wide variety of ways, from
running your own business, to business
development, IT-related positions, etc.

37. Thank You
joshua@goclio.com
@Joshualenon