Lawyers make terrific founders. Some might say it is counterintuitive. Aren’t lawyers rigid in their thinking? Isn’t it all about minimizing risk above all else?
Yes, for lawyers who choose to work as lawyers. But lawyers who choose to start companies are making a conscious choice to take significant risks, calculated risks. And their JD, far from being limiting, is actually beneficial.
Readers of this column know that Ex Judicata has been front and center in proclaiming there is a new, modern definition of the JD degree. Old: A JD is a law degree. New: A JD is a degree in complex problem-solving. And if there is one thing every single business needs more of, it’s complex problem-solvers. Read on to see how this applies to lawyers who start companies.
When a person wants to launch a business, whether it is buying a liquor store or offering a product never seen before, the majority of people if asked will say that it is a bad idea. That’s just the nature of new. And that majority will almost always be proven right, as 90% of all new businesses fail.
When a practicing lawyer wants to launch a nonlegal business, an even larger majority of people will say that is a bad idea because that lawyer has not worked in any kind of business before, has never held a “real job.”
Thus, they encounter a second wall of doubt, a second group of naysayers. Here they question the sanity of leaving the practice of law and abandoning their law degree.
This is the double whammy. A mistake to leave law. A mistake to do a startup.
One of the more intriguing, successful entrepreneurs in the EXJ Community is Mark Ferguson. All he did was start an axe company, the first new US axe manufacturer since World War II. He knew very little about axes. But he did see an opportunity. He also had 17 years of prior experience working in business in a nonlegal job.
When we interviewed Mark, he told us that after he and his co-founder did their research, they decided to bounce the idea off some blacksmiths and craftspeople over pizza and beer. You might be able to guess how that worked out. In Mark’s words:
We wound up getting a group of seven or eight of them together and did this big presentation and then said, ‘Isn’t this cool? We’re going to do this, and isn’t this exciting?’ And just about every single person said, in not so many words, ‘You guys are idiots. You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re not going to be able to do this.’
But, Mark had an ace in the hole. His legal training. What we call the JD skill set.
In his case, it was particularly helpful when it came to selling the product.
Sales is just like you’re making your argument and building a case to try to persuade customers. You do the research and organize it and build an argument. I think law school and being a lawyer is fantastic training for this.
The company Mark co-founded, Brant & Cochran, is now 16 years old. He overcame all doubts about the likelihood of his success. His JD skill set served him in making that business a success.
At our first startup, Ex Judicata—the foundation for the EXJ Community—we had the opportunity to interview some other amazing JD Founders including:
Michael Andrews, Michael Andrews Bespoke
Nicole Clarke, Trellis Research
Brett Deutsch, Deutsch Photography
Philip Dube, Whip Smart Wine Company
Helene Godin, By the Way Bakery
Patrick Krill, Krill Strategies
Velma Lee, Lee Designs
Perry Ochacher, Willett Public Affairs
April Rinne, Futurist and Author
In their interviews, which can be accessed above, each founder credited the JD skill set as a foundation for their success.
What is the JD skill set? While there is no formal list, here are the traits we reference most often in the EXJ Community.
• Analytical thinking
• Issue Spotting
• Risk Assessment
• Delivering under pressure
• Superb presentation skills
• Driven to exceed expectations
• Laser focus on goal attainment
• Ability to work late into the night
Some combination of these skills has helped every non-practicing lawyer reading this to advance in their own chosen nonlegal career. We highlight founders here because they have to play many roles, they call on the entire toolbox.
Nicole Clarke, co-founder & CEO of legal tech company Trellis Research, in her interview with Ex Judicata, made this point and along the way added some additional reasons why law school training is so valuable to founders.
Law school is super grueling, and starting a business is incredibly hard. It’s a grind for sure. You’re working a lot. Another thing I took away from law school is that I could learn anything. I remember learning securities law. This was stuff I didn’t think I’d ever come across again. But if I set my mind to it, I knew I could learn it. And in business, especially when starting a new company, you have to wear many hats. Many of these roles will be new to you. But believing that you can learn, start doing it, and knowing that you’ll be able to figure it out, that’s core to starting a business.
For all lawyers reading this who harbor a notion, a dream, a concrete idea, it is safe to say that you will have a leg up on other founders because of your JD.
The authors of The Great Escape column, Neil Handwerker and Kimberly Fine, are the founders of exjudicata.com, a platform designed to help lawyers move to nonlegal careers. They just launched a new related platform, the EXJ Community, the first ever peer-to-peer network of non-practicing lawyers.
The post Why Are So Many Lawyer Entrepreneurs Successful? Overcoming The Double Whammy appeared first on Above the Law.
Lawyers make terrific founders. Some might say it is counterintuitive. Aren’t lawyers rigid in their thinking? Isn’t it all about minimizing risk above all else?
Yes, for lawyers who choose to work as lawyers. But lawyers who choose to start companies are making a conscious choice to take significant risks, calculated risks. And their JD, far from being limiting, is actually beneficial.
Readers of this column know that Ex Judicata has been front and center in proclaiming there is a new, modern definition of the JD degree. Old: A JD is a law degree. New: A JD is a degree in complex problem-solving. And if there is one thing every single business needs more of, it’s complex problem-solvers. Read on to see how this applies to lawyers who start companies.
When a person wants to launch a business, whether it is buying a liquor store or offering a product never seen before, the majority of people if asked will say that it is a bad idea. That’s just the nature of new. And that majority will almost always be proven right, as 90% of all new businesses fail.
When a practicing lawyer wants to launch a nonlegal business, an even larger majority of people will say that is a bad idea because that lawyer has not worked in any kind of business before, has never held a “real job.”
Thus, they encounter a second wall of doubt, a second group of naysayers. Here they question the sanity of leaving the practice of law and abandoning their law degree.
This is the double whammy. A mistake to leave law. A mistake to do a startup.
One of the more intriguing, successful entrepreneurs in the EXJ Community is Mark Ferguson. All he did was start an axe company, the first new US axe manufacturer since World War II. He knew very little about axes. But he did see an opportunity. He also had 17 years of prior experience working in business in a nonlegal job.
When we interviewed Mark, he told us that after he and his co-founder did their research, they decided to bounce the idea off some blacksmiths and craftspeople over pizza and beer. You might be able to guess how that worked out. In Mark’s words:
We wound up getting a group of seven or eight of them together and did this big presentation and then said, ‘Isn’t this cool? We’re going to do this, and isn’t this exciting?’ And just about every single person said, in not so many words, ‘You guys are idiots. You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re not going to be able to do this.’
But, Mark had an ace in the hole. His legal training. What we call the JD skill set.
In his case, it was particularly helpful when it came to selling the product.
Sales is just like you’re making your argument and building a case to try to persuade customers. You do the research and organize it and build an argument. I think law school and being a lawyer is fantastic training for this.
The company Mark co-founded, Brant & Cochran, is now 16 years old. He overcame all doubts about the likelihood of his success. His JD skill set served him in making that business a success.
At our first startup, Ex Judicata—the foundation for the EXJ Community—we had the opportunity to interview some other amazing JD Founders including:
Michael Andrews, Michael Andrews Bespoke
Nicole Clarke, Trellis Research
Brett Deutsch, Deutsch Photography
Philip Dube, Whip Smart Wine Company
Helene Godin, By the Way Bakery
Patrick Krill, Krill Strategies
Velma Lee, Lee Designs
Perry Ochacher, Willett Public Affairs
April Rinne, Futurist and Author
In their interviews, which can be accessed above, each founder credited the JD skill set as a foundation for their success.
What is the JD skill set? While there is no formal list, here are the traits we reference most often in the EXJ Community.
• Analytical thinking
• Issue Spotting
• Risk Assessment
• Delivering under pressure
• Superb presentation skills
• Driven to exceed expectations
• Laser focus on goal attainment
• Ability to work late into the night
Some combination of these skills has helped every non-practicing lawyer reading this to advance in their own chosen nonlegal career. We highlight founders here because they have to play many roles, they call on the entire toolbox.
Nicole Clarke, co-founder & CEO of legal tech company Trellis Research, in her interview with Ex Judicata, made this point and along the way added some additional reasons why law school training is so valuable to founders.
Law school is super grueling, and starting a business is incredibly hard. It’s a grind for sure. You’re working a lot. Another thing I took away from law school is that I could learn anything. I remember learning securities law. This was stuff I didn’t think I’d ever come across again. But if I set my mind to it, I knew I could learn it. And in business, especially when starting a new company, you have to wear many hats. Many of these roles will be new to you. But believing that you can learn, start doing it, and knowing that you’ll be able to figure it out, that’s core to starting a business.
For all lawyers reading this who harbor a notion, a dream, a concrete idea, it is safe to say that you will have a leg up on other founders because of your JD.
The authors of The Great Escape column, Neil Handwerker and Kimberly Fine, are the founders of exjudicata.com, a platform designed to help lawyers move to nonlegal careers. They just launched a new related platform, the EXJ Community, the first ever peer-to-peer network of non-practicing lawyers.
