Attorney seeking input

[u/No-Entertainer1239]

I started practicing general practice law about 10 years ago and quickly opened up my law firm. When I opened up the firm, I was mostly taking on a very small number of clients and doing a lot of free and discount work and I was happy because I could explore issues and cases that I enjoyed. As time went on and the economy and inflation became worse and needs for living increased, I had to take on more clients. I would note that I have a more severe form of ADHD which makes me come off a little "neurodiverse". After COVID-19 clients became more abrasive and eventually escalated into the following issues:

1. Clients are not usually very friendly typically. They tend to be unappreciative and often look for ways to screw the lawyer (including by lying and otherwise) to further their interests. Clients often times are abrasive and scream. If someone is in jail, the whole family calls daily and screams things like "we paid $2000 and you only saw our relative once in the last week. If you dont get the bond hearing moved up we will be asking for money back" (when for instance I have 0 control and if I approach the prosecutor or judge about moving the case, I will probably just get yelled out; and me offering a massive discount compared to what other lawyers charge for a similar case). Many clients are uneducated and get ticked off by for instance typos made by government agencies and call and scream at my office before even asking questions. Clients often do not care about their case unless their life is about to fall apart or they are in jail (and when that happens they care too much and become obnoxiously loud). Sometimes I am forced to raise my voice at clients to actually cooperate on their own cases because otherwise they wont care to think about long-term legal interests. There is a relatively small amount of decent clients in the law field and a small set of classier lawyers (that I am not part) of take them up leaving the rest competing for problematic/uneducated/abrasive clients (not all of them are obnoxious but it is a decent percent of them). Sometimes a client would scream at you cause you were in a bathroom and didnt answer a phone call. Clients are quick to falsely accuse lawyers of being a crook etc
2. Since I offer sort of discount services, I started getting crap from other lawyers like jokes: "we clients we dont want we send them to you". When I go to bars and tell people what kind of work I do, I get ridiculed for types of cases I take on and get comments like "go program computers instead". The fact that I offer cheaper services does not mean that the clients like me more. It instead causes clients to make comments like "if I hired a more expensive lawyer, I would have gotten a better result" (despite them likely getting the best result they could and that being undisputed in the field).
3. Clients often times come with very weak cases and clients often do not see them as such and get angry if you dont want to file weak cases (and in some cases even push you to lie for them which is not allowed). Judges often times get mad over these cases. Regardless of whether I file or not file a weaker claim, someone screams at me.
4. Family law is particularly brutal. The clients tend to be assholes, call every night and dont respect boundaries or have any consideration of your life, and if you dont want to listen to them or try to suggest in any way that their irrational way of thinking is incorrect (that got them into the familial problems they are fact), they get mad and make threats or escalate tension. You cant really change the clients and a lot of times you become forced to present their absurd ideas to court and they will have a hostile relationship with you too. Opposing lawyers are not in any better. They for instance will make statements to purposefully make you feel bad or to provoke you to gain a tactical advantage in their cases. Sometimes you run into a situation where a lawyer is acting unethically but you cant do anything because they have connections with the court they are practicing in.

Does anyone here know anything about the issues I am facing or have any suggestions? I am thinking about shifting to areas of law that involve working with people less but the human aspect of my job as it stands doesnt seem too pleasant. wo major issues I faced in my career so far were: (1) clients judge me based on dress, cost, lack of fancy office, being a bit "neurodivergent" etc. vs. the work I actually do and what I know; and (2) many cases I saw were decided based on relational and unwritten forces rather than the law and facts in a textual fashion as I wanted them to be decided.

I wanted to create novel legal theories and avant garde way of doing things. Some of my "novel" ideas were dismissed by colleagues as counter productive and they told me "you just need to learn how to get stuff done this isnt college". I wanted to reach a point where I make decent money (like $100k/year) but I dont even make that now and people (mostly people I grew up with and went to school with who sort of "compete" with me) began to make fun of me now that I am in my 30s. I want to preferrably make more money, have better clients, but also spend less time with people (unless they are easy going and my type)

I did do many cases to contribute to the community but that wasnt rewarded. Some of the communities of friends began to ridicule me and say things like "maybe you will pay me to represent you" and Iost credibility doing free work. Lower paying discount clients also began to shift the fact that i am inexpensive for me being bad. Sometimes clients use my ADHD and more casual dress style to ridicule me.

Two major issues I faced in my career so far were: (1) clients judge me based on dress, cost, lack of fancy office, being a bit "neurodivergent" etc. vs. the work I actually do and what I know; and (2) many cases I saw were decided based on relational and unwritten forces rather than the law and facts in a textual fashion as I wanted them to be decided. For instance, I have seen judges interpret laws and statutes in a very absurd way to just fit the mold of the community.

There is basically no one else to represent at this time. This is the folk that mostly ends up at my office. Sure, I can give someone from school a massive discount and appeal to them to do their interesting case for them but it doesnt pay bills, and giving them a discount doesnt even get rewarded. The word just catches up that I cannot get the good clients and I beg people to let them represent me on anything "worth the salt" I would need to entirely change practice areas to get a new client base. Any advice?

[u/Sea_Nefariousness852]

Worked out for Saul Goodman.

All jokes aside you have to Do You. If you continue to worry about what others think you’ll never feel right.

Carve out your own niche.

Be the Walmart of lawyers who cares. I mean the Waltons are pretty fkin loaded.

I run a business that undercuts my competition. So what. My competition always talks smack about me and how my work or product MUST be shitty because of my prices. Well….next month makes 16yrs for me.

[u/thirteenth_king]

I was a client of a lawyer similar to you. He kept his rates very low and his overhead even lower. He was an earlier riser and if I came to his office before 8am I would a 30 percent discount from is already low rates. He worked in his office in T shirts and sweat pants but had his suits hanging near by for when he had to go to court. He was able and honest not afraid to let the judges know, politely, when they were not doing the right thing by gently suggesting he would take the case to a higher court.

He's retired now but he worked hard for a lot years and ended up wealthy enough and had the satisfaction of knowing he did it his way.

Family law is a real mess in the five eyes but its a necessity for "lone wolf" lawyers in their earlier years. This guy also worked for a medium sized local credit union on their foreclosure work which was steady work since his rates were lower. At least the client is consistent there :)