Opportunity maker-- Attorney's book helps lawyers self-promote during down economy

By John Minnis Legal News Rainmakers make their own luck. Attorney-turned-author Ari Kaplan is a rainmaker. When Kaplan, 37, was writing his book, "The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career," the economic meltdown had not yet occurred. So after his book hit the stores in June 2008, it was poised to be a top seller when the economic bubble burst three months later. "It's about how to stand out in a stagnant economy," Kaplan says of his book, "but I wrote it before the stagnant economy hit." An ironic twist is that one of the back-cover endorsements for the book was written by Anastasia Kelly, the American International Group's general counsel who refused to take an Obama administration-ordered pay cut following the government's $180 billion bailout of the company in September 2008. In December 2008, she resigned with $2.8 million in severance pay. "Ari Kaplan is indeed an opportunity maker," Kelly wrote. "This could be a blue print for law schools to incorporate...." The law schools seem to agree. Kaplan passed through Detroit Metropolitan Airport recently on his way to and from a speaking engagement at the University of Toledo Law School. He has also spoken at Michigan State University Law School and at Harvard, American University Washington, Howard, St. John's, Arizona State, Stanford, Tulane and UCLA, to name a handful, and at major law firms and bar associations. Kaplan interviewed more than 100 people for his book, ranging from the president of MetLife and prominent attorneys to law students. "Some of the best ideas I got were from creative law students," he says. "Law students study cases and write about them on blogs. Lawyers have Google alerts and find these postings by students, and that encourages lawyers to contact them. That was so savvy. I was very impressed." In fact, Kaplan's book is about standing out in the crowd, getting noticed, and doing so in a constructive manner. Blogging is just one of the means he addresses in "The Opportunity Maker" on how to get noticed. "Self-promotion has nothing to do about you. It's about highlighting others and letting that reflect on you," he says. "That's the message I try to send out." A graduate of George Washington University Law School, Kaplan practiced for nine years with mostly large firms in New York City. He published 125 articles and wanted to teach a course at a firm on how to get published. At some point, he realized he liked writing better than practicing law. "I chose to become a writer," he says, "and everybody thought that was a dumb idea -- except my wife," who is also an attorney. Once out on his own, he did create a course for attorneys on how to get published. He presented the course at bar associations and law firms. A magazine publisher forwarded some of Kaplan's work to Thomson/West book publishers in St. Paul, Minn., and he was asked to write a book of his ideas. He turned the offer down. "I didn't know how to write a book," he says. But he reconsidered. "I thought that if I could be a conduit, there could be some value there." Kaplan has written extensively on law and technology. He has served as an Internet law commentator for CNET Radio and has been interviewed on CNN. He has received numerous writing awards and is a member of the bar in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. In his book, Kaplan discusses rainmaking and self-promotion. He compares self-promotion with investing. Just as one should start investing early on a regular basis, attorneys and even law students should start early in promoting themselves. "Self-promotion is part of the art of lawyering," he says in his introduction. "The best lawyers are great at what they do and at conveying that greatness to others." In the field of law, Kaplan says, those who do the work generated by others have a job only as long as their peers value their contribution. Rainmakers, those who generate their own work, have jobs as long as they want and, therefore, control their futures. Before one can be a rainmaker, Kaplan makes clear, one must learn the law. But students today are not limited to writing summaries, essays and briefs. They can blog, co-author an article, join student chapters of legal organizations, create a LinkedIn group--anything. But they have to do something outside the classroom. Kaplan discusses creative ways to "make friends, not contacts," get published, broadcast yourself, be your own PR firm, invest in the long term (career-wise) and think of others. "The Opportunity Maker" also offers good advice for beginning and experienced attorneys who want to advance their careers or improve their rainmaking skills. "This is must reading," writes Kendall Coffey, CNN Legal Analyst and former U.S. attorney, "not just for new lawyers, but also for veterans." There is risk in self-promotion, in putting yourself forward, admits Kaplan, who has stumbled a few times on his own. Once he conducted a 30-minute Webinar but forgot to start the Webinar software. "I was terribly embarrassed," he recalls. "That's life. I made this really dumb mistake. That's OK. The world isn't going to end. And I promise you, some of your ideas will work." Kaplan Twitters. "I'm always experimenting with the social media," he says. "I listen to what people have to say. Twitter offers you an opportunity to listen, and that's the value, especially in the legal profession." When asked what his No. 1 message to students and attorneys is, Kaplan says, "I tell them a sincere action will yield sincere results. Take some step to demonstrate who you are. Fight through the risk aversion we all feel. Take some small step in a positive way and impact someone in a positive way. Create an opportunity for someone else, and you will build a strong foundation for a relationship." Published: Thu, Feb 18, 2010

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