My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [39]
Approaching his graduation from law school, Jimmy found himself mired in over $100,000 of debt. He had dreams of one day establishing his own law firm, landing his own clients, calling his own plays, and creating an international reputation; but at the moment, Jimmy was just a broke, soon-to-be law school graduate with a C– average. What’s more, he had a total of zero connections in the city where he wanted to live.
Jimmy’s future was very much up in the air. He knew he wasn’t cut out for the traditional big-law-firm, pay-your-dues path. He didn’t want to work eighty hours a week in a cubicle hoping to politic his way to partner in ten years. He also knew he wasn’t the type of person who could work long hours at the DA’s office or laboring on painstaking research to write briefs for a judge. He burned to star in high-profile cases in packed courtrooms. He dreamed of winning life-altering verdicts that hinged on his ability to persuade a jury; but right now he’d feel lucky if he could get any job offer.
LAW AND MENTOR
Jimmy’s fortunes changed on a rainy day in 2001. One of his law professors instructed him to attend a trial in which Dan Cogdell, a famous criminal defense attorney, flamboyantly defended an investment banker accused of killing his wife. Jimmy was amazed at how Dan defended his client and ultimately earned an acquittal.
Sitting in the back of the courtroom, Jimmy saw his future. Dan was the person who could teach him how to defend clients facing the death penalty. Dan could teach him how to build his own law firm. Dan could teach him the wisdom that comes from winning big and losing publicly. Jimmy knew that with Dan’s help, he could escape the years of drudgery it typically takes for new attorneys to make a name for themselves.
Jimmy also knew that such a high-profile attorney would not be easily motivated to meet with, let alone help, a C– law school student. Jimmy had to plug in and do so wisely.
He began by contacting anyone he could think of who might know Dan. He talked to his law school professors and anyone else who might know someone who knew someone who knew Dan. One night, Jimmy shared his intentions with a bouncer outside a popular dance club. Of all people, this bouncer knew Dan.
The bouncer arranged a twenty-minute meeting for Jimmy with Dan at a low-key Chinese restaurant. Jimmy prepared for the meeting as if he were going to court. He worked on a good introductory message; arrived early; and was as polished, professional, and ambitious as he could present himself. Dan listened and watched. Something about Jimmy reminded him of himself. Maybe it was his intense desire. Maybe it was his bluntness. Maybe it was his distaste for kissing butt at big law firms. Maybe it was his persistence in trying to meet with him. Whatever it was, Dan decided to take a calculated risk to find out more.
He offered Jimmy a chance, one chance, to prove what he was made of: Jimmy could work at Dan’s firm for a set period of time doing whatever legal work, no matter how menial, that Dan assigned. Dan would then evaluate Jimmy on the quality of his work and his work ethic to see whether he was all talk or a trial lawyer in the making.
Jimmy spent two years—including his entire last year of law school—working long hours for Dan. He proved his talent, but Dan knew talent needed more than a predictable paycheck to blossom. So, he made Jimmy only one offer