My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [40]
Dan’s employment offer was exactly opposite of those sought by Jimmy’s high-achieving classmates. All they cared about was their signing bonus, guaranteed first-year salary, the average years to make partner, and a firm’s name. They knew they were going to slave away doing research and pushing paper for a few years, so the salary soothed their pain.
If Jimmy accepted this “find out what you’re made of” offer, his back would be against the wall. His $100,000 education loan was about to come due. He had little savings to cover his apartment, truck, and other living expenses. He also had no money for the marketing necessary to land the initial clients that would lead to more clients.
This was the test. Did twenty-six-year-old Jimmy believe in his dream enough to put his entire legal career in his own hands?
LEGAL JEOPARDY
Five months after agreeing to this sink-or-swim offer, Jimmy learned that he had passed the Texas bar examination on his first try. That same afternoon, he visited offices, restaurants, and social gatherings to hand out his hot-off-the-press business cards. He then hit the phone, contacting former classmates, family friends, entrepreneurs, and anyone else he could possibly think of who might know people who could use a criminal defense attorney. To get clients fast, Jimmy became a networking machine.
It wasn’t enough. After one month, Jimmy could see he didn’t have the contacts to get the referrals he needed to launch his legal career. He had an amazing mentor to guide him in the practice of law, but he needed other influential people to refer the clients that would get him into the courtroom. What Jimmy needed was a tag team. A group of people so committed to his success, that they invest their time, talent, and contacts without expecting anything in return.
Jimmy stepped back from his furious card-slinging sprint and studied the social, political, and business power structure of Houston. He researched to find out who really had the influence. He then made cold calls and otherwise creatively plugged in to reach those key power people. He then offered them lunch, coffee, and any other reason he could think up for getting together.
It takes only one meeting with Jimmy to see his passion for criminal defense. The people he strategically plugged in with saw the fire in his belly. They also commented on the credibility Jimmy gained by having such a well-known mentor. Slowly, a few big shots in the community sent over a friend or two who needed legal help. It was a test to see if Jimmy knew what he was doing. With each case Jimmy successfully resolved, he was sent more cases. These influential contacts gradually became the engine within Jimmy’s burgeoning referral network.
Two months after Jimmy went from randomly shaking as many hands as possible to strategically building a tag team, wealthy entrepreneurs, prominent attorneys, corporate executives, and even a few reformed criminals were all sending him referrals every week. His reputation was growing fast. Now Jimmy needed to win a difficult case to prove his skills and begin making a public name for himself.
The chance came when one of Dan’s clients was up against a DWI charge. The case was set for trial, but there was a problem. Dan was representing the star witness testifying in the Enron broadband trial. That trial was scheduled to take place at the same time as the DWI trial. There was no way Dan could take on both cases at the same time.
In a gutsy move, Jimmy went to