old way - clerked in school, landed a good job, made some money a few years that went in-house or opened firm.

this isn't happening much anymore. the legal profession is changing.

Business Insider, Economist, WSJ and a host of other sites:

Big law jobs aren't out there anymore

12 major law firms have closed 2003-2013

Bloody Thursday in 2009 - thousands of lawyers lost work in a single day when 6 major law firms around the globe cut staff

In 2008 , 250 law firms comprised the Big Law - by 2040, WSJ and economist predicted it will be down to 25

Getting a job at a Big Law firm is more competitive than it ever used to be, and it doesn't pay nearly as well anymore.

But Small isn't an option anymore either.

Since 2008, firms that employ 10 or fewer lawyers have experienced a 8.1% decline in Revenue each year

And its more expensive to open your own firm, too.

I sat and wrote the bare minimum you would need to open your own law firm, today, here in Dallas....shoestring budget, folks

$9,465 to get started - taxes, licenses, insurance, basic equipment/tools

Do you have $9645 laying around?

Cuz that will get you going for a month.

Clients cannot afford our services

27,000 per month for a 2 lawyer practice with 3.5 non-lawyer staff

$158/hr to keep the doors open - that's before any profit.

Law TV did a survey - what people will pay for varius legal services

Let's match up what I NEED to make an hour to what clients have told lawyers

Legal Zoom:

service gives you form docs to fill in for basic legal issues

lawyers berate this service in much the same way that the Post Office berates email. Email killed the post office. Legal Zoom will kill the legal industry as we know it

Will: $69

Beyond legal zoom - new solutions to legal problems. Who would pay 15-25000 for a divorce when there is no-conflict when they could "consciously uncouple" through a non-lawyer advisor.

The Practice of Law - as we know it today - is nearly extinct

Lawyers are more like coyotes - navigating clients through a complex legal PROCESS - than they are trusted advisors.

We become "form filler outers"

For Many of you, there will be "No Law"

16% of new lawyers are STILL unemployed in 9 months.

21800 New Law Jobs per year (10 year average)

46,500 new lawyers per year (2008-2012)

Do the math.

You might think the prognosis for the legal industry - or for your job prospects, or for doing what you came to law school to learn to do is "not so good".

The Legal Industry is changing

You have to Stand Out

You have to Do it Better

You have to be more efficient

Remedy - I've been there, I know what you have to do

You have to make a choice:

Story of carrying crosses across desert.

Here is the choice: Are you going to complain and gripe about the sad state of the industry, or are you going to ask your self this question:

What is the Profound Opportunity that is front of you right now?

* Complex Legal Process -
* 47,000 Veterans for every attorney...how many phone calls a day.
* opponent that has gotten away - for centuries - with ignoring Vets and their reps
*Cash Flow Cycle of 3-5 years
* Veterans have deep suspicion of lawyers
* No Trained Help
* Limitations on ability to get paid for the work we do.

I am in my 8th year of representing Veterans and (knock on wood), we have conquered nearly every one of these obstacles.

While other law firms struggle to get bills paid, my firm met its 2015 Q1 revenue goals by January 10th.

We are winning cases that take other lawyers 3-5 years...in 11 months or less.

Unprecedented access to the VA....partnership between a lawfirm and the VA.

5 Things that I learned....5 keys to success. Set you apart

A Veteran emailed me the other day and begged me to look at his case. Why I asked? because I have never seen any lawyer with such a clear vision and I want my case to be a part of that.

You know what you want to do and you get it done.

Employers in the legal field are looking for that. When I interview law students for internships or jobs, I don't hear vision, purpose. I hear bland recitations of

#1 thing you can do to prepare yourself for the legal industry of the future is to Define Your Vision

That will set you apart.

Vision exercise. Index Card. Why you went to law school.....money? justice? I want to become a lawyer to....

Tape it your mirror, read every day. Tell people. Don't stop until you either achieve that goal, or realize it wasn't really your vision.

Law student who desperately wants to represent Veterans has been hounding me for a job.

She said this: you're my professional hero...seen you speak at numerous conferences, read your work online and watch all your videos.

You get to do what you have a passion for, and you get to do it in jeans.

When you have passion and intensity - when you are pursuing your vision like your hair is on fire - people overlook a lot of stuff that is irrelevant. Grades. Publications. The occasional f-bomb. pony-tails.

As an employer, I see a lot of lawyers looking for work - they tell the skills, experience, but not a one of them let's me see their intensity.

I asked you if you knew how to make $9k+ a month to keep a sole practice going? What if I set your hair on fire and told you to go find $9k a month. Would you find a way to do it? Approach your career like that. There is no place in the new legal profession for the banal.

When you talk to lawyers about digitize, they think you are talking about the paperless office and e-filing.

the computer I hold in my hand is as powerful as the computer taht put men on the moon.

Will change the legal industry.

My entire intake process is coded, so that a computer can select - out of the dozens of people that call us every day - which is most likely to be the case I WANT. Then it automatically retrieves the file from the VA, uploads it to our system, and we can review it.

*Visibility of what my Prospects have read, who they are,
*Client interactive case files
*Real time chat with lawyers
*Power of the Blog - it is no longer a "web diary". The blog is the foundation of a successful online presence.

If I could go back and do one thing different in law school, I would create my brand. chrisattig.com and start blogging. I would learn the tech, how to write online, how to build a brand online. Because in the end, being able to show a law firm that you know how to build their online presence...

Vet contacted me. late in day, wasn't going to take call, said the hell with it, what is one more call

Said he was kiling himself and needed to make sure his estate and benefits were in good legal order so his spouse wouldn't suffer.

That made me mad. I have worked with far too many surviving spouses who have lost husbands and wives to accept that committing suicide could ever be a noble gesture.

Laid into him, explained life after suicide from the survivor's perspective. loss of income.loss of dad. loss of spouse.

You do what you have to do - but don't call me thinking that any lawyer can make your suicide easier.

Didn't hear back from months, he sent an email thanking me...point isn't to toot my horn.

What if I did not pick up that phone? In the end, our profession is about service to others - people, companies, whoever you represent. Ask yoursefl, every signle day, what if the light at the end of the tunnel is you?