My First Understanding of Real “Success”

By Edward Poll

Lawyers in solo practice are particularly vulnerable to stress and burnout because of worry over income, client demands and workload.  Managing the practice like a business was never taught to us in law school.  While lawyers tend to be assertive, especially in dealing with matters for our clients, we also tend to doubt ourselves. To get where we are (years of schooling at or near the top of our classes, and a successful law practice), we tend to measure our accomplishments by a standard of “perfection.” Since “perfection” is never possible, we tend to doubt ourselves … and this impacts our self-esteem. In fact, in coaching lawyers, self-esteem is one of the most important and challenging issues I am called on to deal with.

Certainly I have experienced such feelings myself.  For many years, I thought “success” was how much money one earned each year. And I always compared my earnings to my perception of what others earned. This is the dilemma facing many partners in large law firms having an “open” compensation system.  The question is never whether what they earn is reasonable. But, how does what they earn compare to the lawyer down the hall?

And, as a practicing lawyer in my earlier  career, handling divorces, I wondered how my clients could earn more than I, be perceived as “successful,” yet have a net worth less than mine. Then, as a coach and consultant to lawyers and law firms, I thought that lawyers in large firms, especially equity partners, were more “successful” than I who, as a sole practitioner, both earned less than them and didn’t have the power of a large organization to help achieve my goals.  Eventually I got beyond these feelings by recognizing and accepting the success that I had built in my life and career.

“Success” is best when defined by your internal mechanism rather than being reliant on external measures. One of my bedrock beliefs is that lawyers should charge for the value of the services they provide, and not at an hourly rate like a day laborer. The “value” is determined by your own internal value system. It can be modified or confirmed by our client’s standard as well. After all, value is always in the mind of the recipient in the final analysis.

My billing for consulting and coaching is totally flat fee and project based. I started billing this way when I began my consultancy in 1990, because I wanted to bill, not for the amount of time I worked, but for the value I gave my clients.  Part of my approach is that, once I negotiate the fee for a client engagement, based on my perception of the value to be delivered, I give up the power of the pen.  In other words, once I send my bill to a client, any dissatisfaction on the client’s part is reason enough for them to write down the amount of the bill to the value they think they received.  Of course, I hope this doesn’t happen and it rarely does.  But the opportunity for them to exercise the power of the pen is always there. And that is a powerful tool in the hands of the client.

A successful lawyer will usually do better, personally, getting paid on results.  And the client will be more willing to pay the larger amount to the lawyer because the client received so much value. As lawyers, our real job is to help others make their lives better.  I truly believe that most lawyers, at heart, love their profession.

As Confucius said, “Pursue a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”  The trick is to get past the distractions and stress so you can see your career for what you want it to be and create your own definition of success.  There is always a larger boat in the water, no matter how large your boat may be.  View success not as “how much,” but rather as “how well” you use your earnings. Real wealth, as one person taught me, is having discretionary time. Employ your time, and build your legacy. That is success.

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