Luck

Yesterday morning I saw two rainbows on my way to work, at different places along my route to the BART station. It's not unusual to see a rainbow at this time of year here, but it is pretty surprising to see two in one day. And it being the eve of St. Patrick's Day, that wonderful celebration of all things sort of Irish, free association of ideas took me down a somewhat predictable path. Being Irish by education ("Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame…"), I felt perfectly free to convince myself that I was experiencing deep thoughts on some topic.

Hmmm, rainbow, pot of gold, St. Patrick's Day, luck, women lawyers. That's it—a deep thought! Does luck play a role in the success of law practice business development? My answer: yes, and no.

True legal talent, hard work, good health, and passion for the law, the clients, or the cause are essential for a lawyer who wants to develop a thriving private practice. Those who work hard to develop skills, satisfy client needs, and passionately devote themselves to their career over a long period of time usually have a good chance of developing an economically viable practice. But many lawyers have all of those things and yet never build a sustaining book of business. On the other hand, some lawyers manage to get lucky, strike gold in one or two years, but never sustain that book because they lack the other pre-requisites.

I personally believe that the opportunity to develop a satisfying and economically sustainable law practice depends on lucky breaks, for women and men alike. It certainly has been the case in my career. I've been extraordinarily lucky in many ways. And except when my inner imposter tells me otherwise, I do think that I have some talent, and I know I have worked hard. But without a lot of lucky breaks, I would not have the wonderful clients and referral sources that have enabled me to have a healthy book of business, and one which is relatively stable regardless of the economic conditions.

So that is my unsupported opinion based on my analysis of anecdotal evidence; let's develop some actual data. Please respond to the survey question in the sidebar, and by all means, feel free to comment.

I'm thinking now is a good time to go buy a lottery ticket.

Cynthia