| future. Their attitude
seemed to be, apres moi le deluge, and ultimately that's exactly
what happened. Further, the firm's overhead, hourly rates, and billing pressures
were increasing, and it became unrealistic and uneconomical to do the best
legal job possible. I felt that I was being forced to compromise the quality
of my legal representation in favor of getting large fees and collecting
the bills. Finally, I realized that because I had concentrated on serving
our traditional business client base rather than cultivating my own client
base, I had jeopardized my own ability to have a large measure of leverage
and control within the firm. I did not have the power base from which to
mold the direction the firm would take." Along with financial success had come internal firm politics. The pitting of partner against partner took increasing energies from the firm. Disputes over who would earn how much were very disturbing, and Howard decided to engineer a departure strategy and to resign as soon as the next year-end bonus allocations were made. He set about looking for a different career opportunity, and one year to the day after he decided to leave his firm, he finalized a deal with three other individuals to organize, develop, and market their concept into an information service business. He smiles as he remembers the time he finally made a decision to leave. I was nervous about my future, especially with a mortgage, two kids, and a pending divorce, but making up my mind gave me a sense of control over my life that I hadn't had for years. The major psychological adjustment I had |