ABA – The Business of Creativity

My Flat-Fee Model Gets the Attention of the American Bar Association

The clients of Houchin & Associates have been enjoying a novel (and very win-win) approach to working with a lawyer for almost a year now. The model is basically that clients sign on to a one-year agreement to work with the firm at a flat monthly fee which includes a list of the projects they need us to complete, and “as needed” access to the lawyers and staff of the firm for advice and counsel as issues come up during the course of their business.

The model just got the attention of the American Bar Association – specifically the ABA Journal online edition. They are currently running a short feature on the model and the firm on the front page of the ABA Journal Web site.

I’m sure it won’t be on the front page forever. 🙂 So I grabbed a screen capture.

The full article will probably be online indefinitely, but I grabbed a screen capture of that too.

Many might question the wisdom of sharing that I’ve been through a personal bankruptcy and the struggles surrounding that time in my life, but it’s part of the story and helps put the who issue in full context. I learned a great deal during that experience and I believe what I learned has value to other people in both that as I survived, so will they and that it’s better to try and fail then to never try at all. Then get up and keep trying new things until something works.

I think I’ve found a system that works, for me, and for my clients. Other people are starting to think so too.

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Creativity—You’re Full of It!

The American Bar Association asked me to write the introductory article for the November Issue of The Young Lawyer (one of their many magazines for attorneys). The issue is dedicated to the theme of Creativity. It’s on the streets now, so I can finally share the essay. Enjoy.

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Creativity—You’re Full of It!

By Kevin E. Houchin

You’re full of it! You really are. There’s no way that I’m the first person to tell you. You can’t deny it. You’re full of it up to your eyebrows.

Full of creativity. You were born with it. You are made of wonderful, delicious, colorful, smelly, heaping globs of creativity!

As a child, your humanity burned with the divine spirit of creativity. You imagined games. You imagined friends. And, you even created vivid experiences that existed only in your mind but existed nonetheless.

Then, you went to school.

You learned to live by other peoples’ rules and their ideas of how and what you “should” be. Walls grew that blocked your view of those wonderful places in your imagination. Those walls grew until finally the creativity of your heart, spirit, and right brain were all but abandoned in favor of subjects that could be objectively tested with multiple-choice exams and computer-graded bubble sheets.

Then, you went to law school.

Your walls were adorned with thorns and you were not even allowed to have ideas of your own. Any creativity you were allowed to display was carefully disguised as nuanced synthesis of precedent (other people’s ideas—the older and less original the better).

It felt like you had suddenly become unworthy of being the source of an idea or thought. You felt like a slave to a footnote or maybe like a footnote yourself.

But, you’re not in law school anymore. Now, you’re the only “source” that really matters. Your senior partner may determine your job status and salary, but you get to decide how much credibility to give those things.

If you’re feeling trapped in a job that doesn’t allow you to express your creativity, you have the power to change that. You don’t have to leave your job to feel more fulfilled. Rather, start chopping through the thorns and breaking down the walls that decades of education have placed around your creative spirit. Trust me, you can do this and still be an effective lawyer. It may even be the secret prerequisite to a happy and satisfied life in the law.

There’s no simple seven-step process to recovering your creative spirit. The journey is different for each of us. A simple start is to look for creative opportunities that already surround you. You happen to be holding one of them in your hand. This issue of The Young Lawyer is dedicated to helping lawyers recognize opportunities for expressing creativity in their lives and work. Use it to jumpstart ideas for creative outlets that you would enjoy. Paint, play music, sail, climb, write, spend time with family, do community service, sing—do something other than work.

It’s time to start living a more creative life. Read these articles. Fuel your spark of creativity, and then share your flame. You’re full of it!

The kind of notes that make one’s day…

I received this note as feedback from the article I wrote to introduce the November issue of the ABA Young Lawyer Magazine which is dedicated to Creativity. The article is titled “You’re Full of It!” As soon as the ABA puts the issue online, I’ll post the article. Until then, they have exclusive first publication rights. 🙂

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Mr. Houchin:

I just wanted to thank you for writing such a necessary article in the YLD Newsletter. What you wrote resonated with me on a host of levels, and it arrived in my office at EXACTLY the moment I needed to hear someone outside of my own mind remind me of all the creativity that I have been trying to find time to cultivate and enjoy. The practice of law can feel all consuming. Conflict is a daily part of the practice. Nonetheless, the antidote is exactly the cultivation of the creative.

Just a note to say, your words were very necessary and came at exactly that right moment.

Thank you,

Tanisha M. Bailey-Roka, Esq.

Thanks Tanisha. 🙂