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| Givelle Lamano |
Givelle Lamano is a 2010 GGU Law grad who did what many lawyers and law students would find frightening and intimidating—but also highly enviable: She started her own practice right out of law school. That practice has grown into a hugely successful DUI and criminal defense firm, and the rave reviews about her on Yelp are a testament to her results-driven, client-focused work.
She is also the co-founder of the Three Strikes Justice Center, a non-profit organization focused on alleviating the overcrowding of prisons. And she serves as a Board Member for Insight Prison Project, an organization providing services to prisoners and parolees in 12 California prisons, 3 county jail facilities, and several re-entry programs.
I spoke with her about her experiences and life in the law.
How and why did you come to the decision to start your own practice?
At the time I graduated in 2010, there were not too many job opportunities available to recent law graduates. It wasn’t like back in the day where you worked at a firm first and then branched out to hang your own shingle. It was quite the opposite. Graduates were forced to hang out their shingle right out of law school, and I was part of that.
Why did you pursue a career in criminal law?
Criminal law fell on my lap. I went to a Criminal Trial Lawyers Association meeting and I met criminal lawyers who gave me contract work.
When you’re first trying to look for work or a job, you should keep your eyes open to different opportunities. For example, if someone had offered me an intellectual property job, I would have taken it. Explore every opportunity to find what clicks. When I started law school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. In my second year, I did employment law [in GGU’s Women’s Employment Rights Clinic], and even while prepping for the Bar exam, I did some contract work in international law. But it wasn’t until I did criminal work that I found a passion.
The main thing I like about criminal law is speaking for people who can’t speak for themselves because of how the criminal justice system is set up. I like standing up for people.
What are the biggest challenges in running your own firm?
Law school doesn’t teach you how to run a business. Learning how to run a business and wear the different hats such as an accountant, rainmaker, paralegal, and more, and understanding what to delegate, how to manage, and have a vision. Those are all parts of being a business owner. You have to be a business owner first so that you can provide the best representation possible.
This means that you must be a well-balanced individual.
A lot has to do with personal development. Personal development always precedes business development.
Running a business can be unpredictable. You’ll face a lot of challenges, but find that you won’t have to reinvent the wheel. A lot of times, you’ll have nights where you’ll worry whether you’re doing things right and whether you can take the pressure of being a business owner and grow a large enterprise. You start to question the world and your beliefs and values. If the business relies on you, you’re the wild card.
In order to be a leader, therefore, you have to really know yourself and supervise, direct and motivate. There are different types of leadership. There’s positional leadership, where you are the boss and people listen to you. Then above that is the leadership where you are the boss, people listen to you, and you also get things done. Then there’s the leadership where people listen to you because they believe in your vision and concept. Then there’s leadership where you train other leaders.
All of those levels come with personal development and understanding yourself and how you want to make a difference in people’s lives.
What do you do to market yourself and get clients?
The best thing is to provide good service. Most people, when they look for an attorney, call the only person they know who knows an attorney, or they go online. So it’s not like the old days where people go to the Yellow Pages. Now, they go through a person they trust, or they go online and do a Google search.
As a result, online visibility is key—but also being the person who wants to help people. I market myself as an attorney that cares about her clients and wants to help people any way she can. If I get a property issue, I don’t just turn it down—I try to find the best person to handle that type of case. A genuine interest in helping people comes back to you in return because the client sees you as someone who wants to help them, and not just as a criminal defense attorney.
The legal parts of the job are very technical. But you can figure that out because law school teaches you that. But it doesn’t end there. You have to ask what you can do to improve the quality of people’s lives.
The one caveat to that is that, while you do want to help people, you don’t want to be a “door attorney” that takes every case that comes in the door. You must have a niche. So I don’t do appellate work, for example, and whenever someone calls me with those cases, I send them to the best person to handle that type of work.
Are there any particular tools or technologies that you lean on as a solo practitioner?
I use a software called MyCase. It’s a case management system that allows us to have everything electronically. Nowadays, most people use a handheld device, so people work from their Androids and iPhones. MyCase allows me to pull up everything up on my phone, whether it’s a police report or client files.
Another tool is Plaxo, an online address book. As you grow, you start to meet a lot of people, and Plaxo has their names, pictures, and what type of work they do.
I also use HackPad, a Google feature that’s an online to-do list constantly shared with different users.
And I live by Google Calendar.
How do you manage work-life balance?
In the beginning it will be hard to have a work-life balance. Nothing comes easy. In the beginning, you have to hustle. In the first few years, it’s difficult and I have to be frank and say there wasn’t much balance. But when you love what you do, it’s not bad because you love the hustle. After a while, you find balance by delegating. I used to do my own laundry and clean my apartment, but now it’s more efficient to have someone do those things for me.
It really depends on each individual. A lot of attorneys take pride in being a workhorse and working 12 hours a day. For me I find time for myself. I go to dance classes and do pro bono work. I have a non-profit and that feeds my soul.
I also come from a big family, and I try to make time for them—but it can’t be done unless the work gets done. The best way to measure whether your business is doing well is by the numbers. You should know what your profit margin is, and the numbers determine how successful your business is doing.
But being able to walk away from the business and have it still make money is the goal.
If you can do those two things—if the business is profitable and you can walk away from it and still have it function—that is a success.
What advice do you have for lawyers who just graduated and passed the Bar?
Chill. Just chill out. You just went through ten years of education with undergrad, LSAT, law school applications, law school, and the Bar. If I could look back and give myself advice, it would be to just spend a day or a week doing whatever makes me happy.
My other advice is to do what I call natural networking. All the advice you get from other lawyers, law career services, and family members—everyone says network, network, network. But it’s all about making a meaningful connection with the people you’re meeting with. After you meet people, really ask questions so that you can get to know the person and establish friendships. The people that you do click with, you will want to invite to Sunday brunch with your family. Those are the individuals you click with. Keep in touch with them and keep them in your life. That’s what I mean by natural networking.
Anything else you want to say to the GGU family?
Give back. Pay it forward. It takes five years to build a good reputation and five minutes to ruin it. What you do when no one is watching is a good testament to your character. Give back because you genuinely want to do it, and treat people well.
If you are interested in starting your own practice, you can apply to be a part of the BALI program, with more details located here: www.bayarealegalincubator.org. Or email Director of Employer Outreach Andrea Loh (aloh@ggu.edu) or Cynthia Chandler, Mentoring Attorney at Bay Area Legal Incubator (cynthia@acbanet.org).
