Thinking of leaving the stress and misery safety and comfort of your firm’s nest for the rigours of solo practice. Bitter Lawyer’s Matthew Richardson is Mergers & Acquisitions by day, Unethical & Amoral by moonlight; here he delivers a cautionary tale about drinking and thinking fast and loose with that very subject, Crashing Solo …

A few months back, I got an offer to strike out on my own and leave BigLaw for good.

The offer came from Andrew, a really solid guy at the firm, who just wasn’t partner material. It was an open secret that nobody knew what to do with him. He was a diligent worker, but he just didn’t have the ability to connect with clients. That’s the polite version. In truth, he was socially awkward—a total slob who constantly had dried ketchup on his face and mumbled something awful. There were probably firms that would have cut him loose a long time ago for simply being a disheveled mess, but he was down to throw back the sauce whenever I wanted, and he liked watching UFC.  As far as I am concerned, those are qualities that matter.

One night, while we polished off some twelve-year-old Macallan, I asked him about his future. When you’ve been an associate for ten years and still haven’t made partner, I wondered if he’d yet said to himself, “Hey, maybe there is something else I can do with my shitty life.”

“I’m leaving the firm soon to start my own boutique shop.”

I was shocked.  I’m sure if my blood alcohol had been under .25, I would have told him I thought it was a terrible idea. Instead, I apparently agreed to quit and become his first associate.

When I woke up in the morning, the only thing I could remember was agreeing to take our waitress to Bonaroo or some other poser grunge festival that is everything I stand against. Apparently, Andrew had a clearer recollection. And he saw our drunken rambling as an ironclad agreement.

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