The Legal Profession’s Greatest Myth
Why Experience Matters More Than Credentials
Nobody has ever asked me where I went to law school.
Well, nobody paying my bills has asked me (plenty of friends have wanted to know why I moved to Minnesota from Texas for 3 years of ice hell).
Other than that? Not once.
Not when structuring a multi-million dollar fundraising round; not when negotiating a company sale; and not even when navigating messy shareholder disputes.
In nearly a decade of practice, working with hundreds of founders, investors, and CEOs, no one has cared about my alma mater, my GPA, or my class rank.
Here’s what they actually care about:
Can I solve their problem?
Can I help them avoid common risks before they become catastrophes?
Can I guide them through complex decisions with clarity and confidence?
In law, experience dwarfs credentials. Every time.
The legal profession has long sold a dangerous myth — that prestige equals competence. We parade diplomas, firm names, and university brands as if they guarantee wisdom.
But a degree on the wall doesn’t make you a good lawyer.
Reps do.
Failure does.
Learning — over and over again — from real-world problems.
I went to law school with brilliant students from Ivy League backgrounds, and many of them were exceptionally smart. But intelligence isn’t the same thing as wisdom.
Wisdom only comes with time, with mistakes, with clients who challenge you, with deals that fall apart, and with the long, slow process of becoming a true counselor.
And here’s the kicker: AI will only accelerate this truth.
Tasks that once required dozens of associate hours — contract drafting, document review, basic legal research — are being automated.
Clients are realizing they don’t need to pay top dollar for boilerplate work anymore, so that fancy Boston-based degree will have to work much harder to command that same price per hour.
But, the more important question is: What can’t AI automate?
Strategic thinking
Sound judgment
Relational trust
Knowing when a contract clause looks fine but could blow up a deal down the road
Which is why lawyers who rely solely on pedigree will struggle.
The future belongs to those who can build trust, guide decision-making, and steward the mission of their clients — not just check boxes or bill hours.
In fact, one of the hidden weaknesses of the “prestige pipeline” in law firms is that young lawyers often get siloed into doing the same tiny tasks for years. They become technical experts on minute details — but they miss out on broader experience:
Sitting face-to-face with clients who might be throwing things across the room or weeping at the potentially bad result coming their way.
Negotiating under pressure, especially when the facts aren’t in your favor.
Resolving messy human conflicts with tact and wisdom.
These are skills no degree can confer — and no shortcut can replace.
Clients don’t need you to impress them. They need you to help them.
And often, the best helpers aren’t the ones with the fanciest degrees. They’re the ones who have been in the trenches, learned from their mistakes, and know how to deploy their hard-earned wisdom.
Experience isn’t an add-on. It’s the foundation.
It’s the difference between advice that’s technically correct but strategically disastrous, and advice that actually moves a company forward.
So if you’re choosing a lawyer, don’t ask where they went to school. Ask them how many deals they’ve closed, what they’ve learned from losing, what mistakes they’ve seen — and how they’d help you avoid them.
If you’re a young lawyer, don’t hide behind a diploma.
Get your hands dirty.
Chase experience.
Fail wisely, and often.
Because at the end of the day, the legal profession doesn’t need more prestige.
It needs more judgment, more wisdom, and more people willing to do the hard work of becoming experienced counselors, not just credentialed technicians.
And the market — not the old myths — will reward them.