The Office

Hi, guys!  I’m still alive…somehow.  I meant to write a new entry sooner, but the last week or so has been a real whirlwind.  Starting a law office really is something else!

In my last entry, I wrote about how I’d be starting my new job on November 1.  That was the plan…but plans rarely work as anticipated.  As it turns out, my predecessor (who was going to help me move in) had court in another county that day (because lawyer) which came up suddenly.  As such, we had to reschedule the grand opening day for the next week.  To relax and refresh, I spent most of the weekend playing Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.  Fun historical tidbit: according to legend, some pirate crews held mock trials as a hobby and would roleplay as lawyers (they figured they’d be caught one day and wanted to give a good show in court before being incarcerated or executed—hey, practice makes perfect).  This makes my virtual roleplaying as a pirate before starting a legal career weirdly appropriate…

Anyway, after refreshing and relaxing over the weekend, it was time to finally begin.  On Monday, I met with my predecessor after some court hearings (because lawyer), and she handed off the keys to the office with careful instructions about what each one did (along with some useful advice about the functions of the office).  I loaded up a box of my things into the Benmobile and drove over to my new office (the first of many commutes).  I then spent the morning unpacking my things and figuring out exactly how to arrange my new office space.  When I finally got it to my satisfaction, I sat back and took a deep breath.

 

My glorious new office, once organized to my liking.  Fill that small glass plate with fun-sized 3 Musketeers, and you pretty much have what my office looks like as of now.

With this monumental step complete, I then felt a monumental sense of dreadful stress.  Here I was, in my own office, with myself for a boss, without any idea of what to do next.  There were over a dozen tasks that needed to be handled to get my new office off the ground, and I had a frustrating lack of guidance on how to handle it.  To help get on track, I called Cthulhu to vent and strategize.  Cthulhu kept me sane (“Cthulhu kept me sane”—there’s a phrase you’ll only read in this blog) and helped get me organized with some to-do lists.  As such, with my eyes on the big picture and professionalism in my heart, I spent the rest of the week getting my s*** together.  I organized myself as a limited liability company, set up a working relationship with an accountant, got myself a personal website, got myself a work e-mail address, got myself a work phone number, got myself some 3 Musketeers (OK, that one was as much personal as it was business-related), bought legal calendaring software, and checked in with the Oregon State Bar for guidance regarding other new small business issues.  It was a lot of work, but it fortunately isn’t work I’ll have to do again.  Success!

By the end of the week, I was feeling a lot better about my new office and career decisions.  Feeling pretty great about life, I decided that I could use some rest with a friendly face.  As such, I took the customary 2–3 hour drive down to Salem on Friday and spent the (long) weekend with Cthulhu.  When not eating at my favorite restaurants or hugging Cthulhu, I spent the weekend playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, preparing paperwork for opening a business account, picking up Luigi’s Mansion 3, and brainstorming what the heck I would include in my next blog post (one of these things was work-related—can you guess which one?).  My batteries recharged (especially my phone battery, which I needed for 2–3 hours of GPS usage), I departed on Monday and returned to Tillamook.  This time, I was coming back to something I didn’t have before—my new business.

And so, the mighty legal juggernaut known as Benjamin D. Fischberg, Attorney at Law LLC has entered the Tillamook scene and is here to stay.  I still have some organizational things to work out (such as business cards and banking), but my career is on the up.  While I won’t receive any cases until December, that should give me plenty of time to practice running a practice and continue adapting to life here in terrific Tillamook.