In this episode of Classroom 2 Courtroom Podcast, we dive into how you can transform your JD law degree into a successful revenue stream. Discover the stark realities of law school's mission, the role of bar prep courses, and what truly happens when you step into a law firm. 

Learn about the crucial continuous education and adaptation needed in the legal profession to thrive and generate income. This guide is essential for every new and aspiring attorney! Join us to navigate your journey from classroom to courtroom effectively.

Scott Benton: Hi, everyone. Scott Benton here. I am your host on the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast.

And today, the question that we're going to address is, how can you convert your JD law degree into a revenue stream? How can you convert your law degree in a revenue stream? Because presumably, you've gone to law school and you've spent all this money on tuition.

You might even have some student loans that you've got to pay off. And now, after you've graduated, after you've passed the bar, you want to be able to go to work and you want to convert that diploma that you have into a revenue stream, that presumably is the entire point of why you went to law school in the first place.

So, let's get into that a little bit.​

I would argue that it is not, that is not the mission statement of a law school. That's not the mission statement of any law school. The mission statement of any law school is to get you to graduate law school. That's what they're doing. They're not actually teaching you how to practice law. And by the way, you may notice that in a lot of law schools, probably all of them, they kick that can down the road a little bit and they push off that idea of teaching you how to practice law to the law firm that you go and work for.

Now by the same token, after you've finished law school and you've graduated, the next step in that process generally is, you're going to study for the bar. A lot of times, you're going to take a bar prep program. So, we also have to look at the mission statement of a bar prep program.

Are they in the business, is their mission statement about getting you to practice law as an attorney? And the answer again would be no. So, what would the mission statement be for a bar prep program?

So now, you have graduated from law school, you've passed the bar, you have your ticket, you're all ready to go, you are a licensed attorney.

You start to look for a job in the legal field, and you go to these firms, and you need to know what the mission statement is of the firm. Now, is the mission statement about getting you to graduate law school? It is not at all. Is the mission statement about having you pass the bar? No, they've already expected you to have graduated law school, that you have your JD, that's part of the requirement of practicing as an attorney, and that you've passed the bar and that you're licensed.

So, if you are coming into a law firm or you're interviewing with a law firm, and your expectation is that, they are going to teach you how to practice law, that's not really what their mission statement is. That's not what they're looking for. They're not looking for people who need to learn how to practice law. They're looking for people who know how to practice law, because their mission statement is to provide quality legal services for their clients. So, that is what you are going there, to help them accomplish. You're not going there to have them teach you.

In other words, how they bring in new clients, how they do intake for their new clients. They'll have a CSA, a client services agreement for instance And so, there's a whole process for that. There's going to be an entire system for providing legal services and for billing the client, and on. There are going to be all of these systems in place. And the systems in one law firm are not necessarily going to be duplicated in another law firm.

So, if you move from one law firm to another, and you've learned the systems in one law firm, chances are, you're not going to know the systems in the new law firm. You might know some of them. There may be some things that are the same, but chances are, they're going to have different systems that are going to accomplish the same thing, and you're going to have to learn the new systems.

So, you have to be able to figure out how to learn something that's new that you're confronting. Now, as a new lawyer, when you go into a firm for the first time, when you're working as an attorney for the first time, there's going to be a lot of subjects that you don't know. Again, you're going to have to go and learn all the subject material that law firm is working on.

You're going to have to learn all of their systems. You're going to want to have a practice guide with you. Probably at all times that you're highlighting and going through so that you know that subject and have that resource in front of you that you can go to, because otherwise, you're just going to be lost in that particular area of law.

Now, it's not that law firms aren't going to teach you how to practice law, they are going to provide resources for you. In a lot of cases, there's going to be mentorship that they're going to provide to you. They want to make sure that you are getting up to speed and that you're able to do the job, as quickly as possible. And so, they're going to provide a resource just in terms of their knowledge. Maybe they've been working at this law firm for several years and they have a wider range of knowledge than you do, and you're going to need to know when to go to them with your questions.

Whether it's with people at the firm, or files, or you want to go to your practice guide, or whatever, there's going to be a moment every single day in your life, no matter how long you work as an attorney, where that gap is gonna open up, that gap of unknowing, that gap where you haven't done the thing that you need to do that's right in front of you.

Now at some point, you're just going to have to jump right in. You're going to have to jump into the pool. You're going to have to jump into the deep end. At some point, you're going to be uncomfortable and you're just going to have to push your way through it.

Now, it's one thing when you're doing your first hearing or trial, it's another thing when you're doing your 10th. And by the time you've done your 10th trial, it's going to be much more familiar to you. It's going to be a process that you've done over and over again. And in terms of continuous learning, and improving your skill sets and improving the skills that you already have, you want to improve the areas that you're strong in. You want to improve the areas that you're weak in. Because, believe it or not, everyone's going to know that you're weak in a subject. You're going to know that you're weak in a subject. You're going to want to think about how to improve that area in your life.

There are YouTube videos on how to do an online deposition, for instance. Maybe you have to do a Zoom call, and this is going to be a 3 hour deposition and it's going to be online. And you need to know how to present those items, those exhibits. You want to know how to do that, but maybe you're not familiar with Zoom, or maybe you don't know how to do a deposition.

So, you want to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. It's a little bit of a paradox, I know, but just understand that your entire legal career is going to be about finding yourself in a place where you don't know the subject or the task that is in front of you that you now need to complete. And again, the law is changing all the time. The world is changing all the time. So, you need to know how to stop and pivot, you need to know where to go, and you need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and you need to know how to solve those items that you are going to confront where you don't know how to fill out a form, you don't know how to do a deposition, you don't know how to do a hearing, you don't know how to go to a trial, that's just going to come up over and over again. And these are things that you're going to have to pay attention to, in order to gain that knowledge.

So, I hope this has been helpful. I am your host on the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. My name is Scott Benton. And if you'd like to get our alerts, if you'd like to check us out a little bit closer, you can go to our website. Our website is Classroom2Courtroom.com. That's classroom, the number 2, courtroom.com.

Thank you very much.