The Terrible Truth about Lawyers: How Lawyers Really Work and How to Deal with Them Successfully

Before starting International Management Group, Mark McCormack was a Yale-trained lawyer for a few years, until he became disenchanted with the profession. He writes from personal experience. If you learn nothing else from this book, take away this key thought: Lawyers are trained to find problems, not solve them. That's why a couple of CEO's can resolve a dispute inexpensively over lunch in an hour or two where teams of lawyers can't do it in months or even years.

Sadly we live in a society where far too much of our daily world is molded by attorneys rather than engineers, artists, warriors and great thinkers. It's that way because we let it be. One of the lessons of decades in business and education is that the proper use of attorneys is to facilitate execution of decisions made by those with an understanding of the problem and non-legal issues. To be sure there is an important and critical role for attorneys in facilitating the proper execution of the client's intent. But attorneys are only human and come with varied personalities, defects, strengths, prejudices and goals. They need to be managed and McCormack provides priceless guidance on the issue, filled with humor. Some years ago the ABA recommended that attorneys leave the room when lawyer jokes and stories were being told. That alone reflects part of the problem, for in most every fable there is a kernel of truth, useful to those who listen. Should be required reading for anyone who engages or works with attorneys. Its primary benefit is not that it makes lawyers look bad but rather it contains a vast amount of wisdom about when to use attorneys and how to use them effectively . Perhaps more importantly it helps to understand how attorneys are are commonly misused. One should not leave the book with the belief that all attorneys are bad for your financial health. Properly integrated into a team effort they are priceless. Other bits of wisdom - if you employ a jerk as an attorney you are a jerk. The author has the experience, wisdom and writing ability to make this a rare combination of highly useful and highly readable. Highly recommended .

This is a fantastic book, and I'm absolutely amazed that it is out of print. McCormack is a lawyer-turned-businessman, who built a business from scratch that placed him on the FORBES 400. So if there's a businessman who knows legal matters enough to help the average businessman, he's it. He gives advice I don't think you'd find anywhere else, and gives it in a very readable and often entertaining form. I can't recommend this book highly enough.