i work for a large law firm.
[{"role": "system", "content": "A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other matters in which legal advice and other assistance are sought. Law firms are organized in a variety of ways, depending on the jurisdiction in which the firm practices. Common arrangements include:  In many countries, including the United States, there is a rule that only lawyers may have an ownership interest in, or be managers of, a law firm. Thus, law firms cannot quickly raise capital through initial public offerings on the stock market, like most corporations. They must either raise capital through additional capital contributions from existing or additional equity partners, or must take on debt, usually in the form of a line of credit secured by their accounts receivable. In the United States this complete bar to nonlawyer ownership has been codified by the American Bar Association as paragraph (d) of Rule 5.4 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and has been adopted in one form or another in all U.S. jurisdictions, except the District of Columbia.\n"}, {"role": "user", "content": "I hope to work for a large law firm someday"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "It'll have to be a big one.  They're the one's that get paid the most steadily through retainer fees paid to their equity partners.  They're also the least likely to have debt"}, {"role": "user", "content": "Yes that is very true. That's why it is so hard to be an attorney these days."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "Law firms can't raise captial as quickly as other businesses.  I mean who ever heard of something investing in a law firm?"}, {"role": "user", "content": "True. I never thought of it that way."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "Because they can't raise capital as quickly, they sort of live \"hand to mouth\" as the saying goes, hunting for big clients with fat pockets."}, {"role": "user", "content": "And that's why they are so \"savage\" when trying to collect payment."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "You can tell a good law firm, or at least a more honest law firm, if they only collect a commission if they are successful.  that means they'll fight harder for their clients."}, {"role": "user", "content": "That is something I always take into consideration too."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "Also a safeguard against impropriety and unfairness, law firms in America are arranged such that only licensed lawyers can own law firms."}]