Lawyer Up

The Social Network only came out this past weekend, but alarming statistics have begun pouring in from legal firms located near Ivy League schools.  This huge spike in inbound document requests likely stems from the fact that the geniuses of each campus were just introduced to the term "Lawyer Up." Rewind to just last week and picture this: 3 roommates in a dorm room, beers in hand, Dorito dust caking their fingers, all attention focused on their whiteboard.  On the white board is an idea that has the potential to change their lives and the world for forever and for good. The toast themselves, their idea, and the friendship they've enjoyed that led to this discovery and they then set about making it happen.

But, this week, the week after The Social Network, things have looked different.  Still roommates, beers, Dorito-dusted fingers, and a white board, but the beers are untouched and the white board is blank.  (The Doritos still dusting the room, you can't get rid of the Doritos.) The conversation is cagy and the big idea, that is right in front of them, is yet completed.  You see, there are also 3 lawyers in the room.  Each has advised their client to not say anything but just observe what the other "co-founders" might do next.  Each lawyer has a drafted LLC, LP, buy-sell, and golden handcuff agreement in their leather folio waiting for the moment that genius happens and their client becomes the next Zuckerberg.

Across the nation, Lawyering Up is finally giving the excess of law school graduates something to do after graduation. The daycare for mid-twenties something that many law schools have become truly has prepared this new crop of opportunistic "next big things." Mimicking Justin Timberlake, they're taking their geek friends to clubs and reminding them that a million dollars isn't interesting as they inviting their cute paralegal friends to join the party.  With pizzazz and gusto that their litigation class taught them, they're declaring "this is our time!" as they order another round of shots.  Passing the bar has a whole new meaning for these hangers-on to these soon to be 'accidental millionaires.'

So, if you have an amazing idea, the first thing you need to do is not work to make it a reality, no, you need to get yourself some representation.  Don't be the Winklevosses of this story, be the guy that has suited men falling behind him as he wanders the computer lab.  Take a queue from the movie that defines your generation, get out there with your whiteboard and Lawyer Up.