As I was packing up a hard disk drive to ship to Larry Daniel yesterday, I was asked why I make it look so clean and professional.  I fell back on the old adage, anything worth doing is worth doing right.  But this has a curious application to the world of the solo practitioner, for whom doing things right presents a dilemma because it comes as a cost.

One of the first observations one has of Biglaw is that they look professional.  They look good.  From their yellow pads to their redwelds with their firm name on the top, they exude professionalism.  They always have pristine looking exhibit tabs at the bottom of their papers, and even their 32 file copies of papers use original bluebacks.  They look good.

For the solo, these things can present issues.  Everything costs money, and somebody has to pay that money to get the good stuff.  For the solo, there’s no diffusion of expense, spread around 3000 partners and associates so that no one feels like it comes out of their personal pocket.  They can spend like drunken sailors without the slightest concern that it will reduce their take-home at all.  Solos feel differently.

Every expense comes straight off the bottom line.  We pay it.  We feel it.  It’s our net revenue that pays the price of some fancy legal pad.  And as every solo knows, the name on the top of the legal pad doesn’t make the writing on the page any more insightful.  We follow the sage advice of Benjamin Franklin that a penny saved is a penny earned.

But this frugality is often misconstrued to mean that we can present ourselves as a low rent operation.  That’s a grievous mistake.  Being solo has no correlation with being unprofessional.  I’ve seen many friends slide down that slippery slope of trying to save money at the expense of maintaining as professional a practice as any Biglaw firm in Manhattan.  The two are not mutually exclusive.

Much of the appearance of professionalism comes at a relatively high cost (such as redwelds with your name on them) relative to their benefit.  But that doesn’t mean that you should walk into court with a plain manila folder with ragtag papers hanging out of both sides and scribbles covering the front and back.  Save the worthless cost of vanity printing, but get the tools necessary to walk into the courtroom with the same professional appearance as any big firm lawyer.  This isn’t frivolous, but a critical piece of the providing the representation your clients rightfully expect. 

While there is truth to the proposition that appearances have no inherent correlation with competence or quality of representation, appearances do impact perception, including the judge and adversary, as well as the client and his family and friends.  If you go to court in a shabby, tattered, ill-fitting poly-blend suit, with black Nike referee-sneakers where shoes ought to be, you will be treated as you deserve.  You may be sufficiently well-known despite your sartorial challenges to overcome the deficit, but you will most assuredly not receive the same immediate respect given a lawyer walking into a courtroom who looks like a million bucks.  If you think this false, you’re deluding yourself.

The same is true of your work product, which is a reflection of your pride, attention to detail and, yes, competency.  When papers go out with old, mangled, reused exhibit tabs, it sends a message.  I reuse exhibit tabs like any other solo, but only the ones that remain clean and unbent.  The nasty ones get deep sixed.  They don’t reflect who I am as a lawyer.  I save where I can, but not at the expense of looking slovenly.  I take enormous pride in my work, and I will not allow that to be undermined by carelessness in appearance.

Pick and choose amongst the many bells and whistles available to lawyers to allow us to present ourselves as we want.  We don’t need to compete with Biglaw for the stupid stuff, the pure vanity that compels them to bill their clients like there’s no bottom to the pit.  Recognizing what makes you appear professional and focusing your efforts on maintaining a highly professional appearance adds only a minor cost while producing significant dividends. 

Mostly, it’s a frame of mind.  It’s about caring about everything you do.  It’s about paying attention to detail.  Every detail.  It comes back to the old adage, if it’s something worth doing, it’s worth doing right.  Just do it right.