Monday Mentors with Dallas Business Lawyer Jim Chester

Dallas Business Lawyer Jim Chester

Jim Chester, a partner at Klemchuk and a business and technology attorney, joins me on today's show. Jim talks about entrepreneurship, finding a fulfilling career path, and deadlines, deliverables, and budgets.

 

His firm/practice

  • Boutique technology law firm
  • Focuses on business transactions working with small and mid-size companies at all stages
  • Some others in the firm do patent and IP litigation work
  • There is always something new, especially with technology company clients (he also does some international / trade work which is always evolving)
  • Cybersecurity and data privacy are major issues he works on
    • GDPR for all of EU and California's law are important
    • Other states are starting to come online
    • There isn't a federal law
    • Not enough enforcement actions yet to know exactly how these are applying; creates uncertainty
  • His career path?
    • Tried a bunch of things in law school
    • Didn't enjoy litigation
    • Started career as an international business / trade lawyer (wrote his master's thesis on NAFTA)
      • Sounds sexy, but it isn't.
      • Glorified tax law
      • Realized he enjoyed working with smaller clients, but they didn't have many trade issues
    • Started his own firm to transition
      • Commercial/transactional IP
      • You have to invest in yourself early in your career; things that you won't be paid for but help you learn what you like and get better at it
      • You create a lot of your own luck
    • Four quadrant matrix (Interested / Not interested and Market for it / not a market for it) - get into the quadrant that is interested and a market for it
  • There has been growth in the business transactions area for them during COVID; people had time and started new projects
    • Law doesn't typically embrace change quickly, but COVID forced change (e.g. Zoom, tech, work from home)
    • WSJ article - COVID kickstarted the 21st century
    • Some of these changes will be silver linings to the pandemic
    • Will require more self-discipline
    • Need to completely get rid of the stigma of work from home
  • His entrepreneurial ventures
    • Lawyer co-working space
    • His own law firm
    • Subscription based model for industry-specific legal forms
    • A few other non-legal related

Advice to lawyers in practice

  • Manage your manager
    • take responsibility for your own projects
    • anticipate what is next
  • Don't leave a partner's office with an assignment without the deadline / deliverable / budget...the DDB
    • Gives you a much better idea as to the scope
    • Daniel references a The West Wing episode
  • Find someone who has a job you want 20 years from now and look at their bio (Linkedin)
    • what skills did they obtain along the way?
    • what experiences did they get?
  • Don't try to live to someone else's standard of success; listen to yourself.
    • The choices are based on the idea that he is a lawyer because of who he is (not the other way around)
  • Be a self-starter, creative, entrepreneurial
  • Find a mentor
  • Think about building a book of business
    • The first $100k is the hardest
    • $400k to $500k is easier
    • Build / maintain relationships
      • alumni/classmates
      • local bar

Final thoughts

  • Be honest with yourself and think in big picture terms as to whether you are in the right place

Rapid Fire Questions

  1. Name one trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: Ingenuity
  2. What habit has been key to your success: delusional level of confidence
  3. Favorite app/productivity tool: Things
  4. What would be listed first on the interest line of your resume: spending time with family
  5. Favorite legal movie: To Kill A Mockingbird

Thanks again to Jim Chester for joining us on today's show!