FIRST BLOG EVER - PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER WORKING IN A FAMILY-RUN FIRM

Hello. My name is John Doe, Esq. I am a relatively young attorney. I work in a small, plaintiff's personal injury firm, and I am looking for a place to vent. I will try not to reveal too much identifying information, but I will be glad to let you figure out who I am, if you think you can.

I have been working at this same firm for more than 7 years, and I prefer the idea of stabbing myself in the eye with a dull shank made out of a toothbrush - you know the ones - like you see on those "prison" television programs - rather than having to stay at my current firm for another second. But, I digress...

The firm I currently work at is a family owned firm with less than 10 lawyers. I am not a family member, so no matter how hard I work, I will always be a peon. Of course when I started working there, I was promised the world, and I was naive enough to believe their promises. What an asshole I was.

As the years have passed, I have learned the business well. That is one thing I must give some credit to the FAMILY for (but not a lot). It really is a lot like the mafia. We have the BOSS, with his children acting as the CAPTAINS, and then the rest of us. The other attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, receptionists, and even the office handyman. We are all the same. We work for the FAMILY, but we will never be "made".

The funny part is that I always hear about other lawyers in big firms and the hierarchy of power. The truth is that in my firm, the lawyers are really only needed to sign the documents, and the real power comes from below. Nevertheless, all employees are just employees and will never be anything more to the FAMILY.

So, you may ask, how do I cope. Easy, I perform sabotage. I don't mean to say that I would interfere with a client/representation - I know the boundaries and believe myself to be quite ethical. However, I know that I CANNOT STAY ANOTHER FUCKING SECOND. That thought just keeps on creeping into my mind. My sabotage comes by playing head games. Maybe in my next post I will go into more depth about the head games, but it is getting late now.

I hope this is a good start for a blog. I got the idea to blog bassed on having just read the book "Anonymous Lawyer". Having read that book, I liked some of the ideas of being able to speak your mind, anonymously - something you can rarely do as an attorney. I think I want to take that author's idea, and mold it into something so other attorneys, paralegals, secretarys, etc... can also have a place to vent - by reading and joing in. My goal is to focus on the needs of the small P.I. firms, family firms, etc..., and blast them. Plus, like any good attorney with a healthy ego (like me), I think I can do a better job than illustrated by the book. I have to go check his blog out too (if you want the site, you will have to read the book - I am not looking to promote the book, or the site, so you can do your own leg work).

Oh, I also should tell you that I have secretly started taking new clients on my own. But of course only those that come to me (I wouldn't dare poach a client - even if I do dream about it sometimes). But this information is for another day.

Please comment as much as you would like, as I intend to update this Blog as much as possible. It is however difficult as we do not have internet or e-mail access at my firm (no, I am not kidding!).

-John Doe, Esq.