The Biz Buzz

I work at a Law firm. we arent one of those bigshot names that have managed to acquire a household reputation. But surprisingly, even to me...we are in big business, we advise and handle litigation, Arbitration and ADR for many of the blue chips in various sectors of Egyptian (and Foreign) Big Business. Not to forget getting rid of problems of some pretty influential people ( the stuff they dont like to appear in the news papers). Anyone in my Firm is either a pretty powerful person to know, or someone who has the expertise to get rid of even your biggest broblem. My card holder has the business cards of people, some would actually kill to meet. The same applies to my cellphone contacts. I was actually offered a 4 digit sum in local currency for a phone number i had on my phone, tells you alot about the temptations i encounter in my daily life. I am on first name terms with the CEOs and MDs of most of the Clients we advise. and im only in my mid- twenties? impressive, apparently not impressive enough.

read on,

I was having lunch with a friend someday, we were at a nice poshy place in Zamalek. I bumped into an old acquaintance i met through a common friend. My impression about him when i frist met him was someone who was pretty ambitious and trying hard to make it big. In my opinion he seems like he is one of those people who are trying Too hard it intimidates you. Now dont get me wrong i have nothing against ambitious people, i for one know i am one of them, nor does other peoples successes intimidate me ( frankly i respect and love the challenge) But what i didnt like about the lovable fellow is that i felt he was "Faking it " nope i m not talking about what your first thought came after processing that term between quotations, im talking about faking success. Drawing up this image of perfection is very very disturbing to me, it displays lack of self esteem and awarness that u are flawed and what are you doing about it? lying your ass off .

Anyways in order to get to the point we exchange salutations and the normal how have u beens and what are you upto these days. he tells me he is working for this internationally acclaimed multinational accounting and financial services firm. impressive and i was really happy for the chap. then comes the part where i tell him what i do, hes like a lawyer? wow!!! what firm. i tell him the name of my firm which i really didnt expect him to know about.

His Face just shrivled in dissapointment, and in the most condescending tone possible he puts his hand on my shoulder and says the following:

"Trust me man, stick to a multi-national, thats where someone like you should go to"

i replied with a modest smile , trying not to reveal how much i pity the fool.

You see, heres the thing i hate. he just asked where do i work, didnt ask what do i do there? what kind of cases do we handle , am i happy or not? he just asked to know wether or not i work at a multi national or not, and here is what says about this fools rationale:

Multinational = Happiness & Success

Anything else = Misery & Failure

I then asked him a question which assured me my opinion was right, "did u ever hear about them?"

"No they arent famous man...go somewhere else"

now how foolish is that?

I agree multinationals can be very appealing to anyone who is young and ambitious , who wants to get somewhere and most people would be stupid to chose an SME startup over an established multi national, but i fail to see that this statement applies to alot of certain professions.

Law is very different. it changes from country to country , system to system, its a totally different world from here to libya for example, different technicalities, different loopholes, different ways of doing things hence different concerns. this is not HSBC we're talking getting you off for murder , getting u that inheritence your mean uncle has blocked off u, getting u that license to operate in the stock market , u think this shit is the same everywhere?

Frankly going for a multinational law firm is like wanting to make a blockbuster movie and hence go get Jim Carrey to act in an Egyptian comedy along with Ahmed eid...u simply just cant

Jim knows nothing about what makes Egyptians laugh, their humor , their culture, he doesnt even speak the language? what is he going to translate the jokes ok ill give u an example

"once a guy instead of sitting on a coffee sat on a tea"

Multinationals might work properly with a sales oriented business cause it all comes down to demand and supply, a universal need which in essence is the same everywhere in the world. let me tell u something ya chap menak loh..u know that some law firms in New York refuse to do work in New Hampshire (and i didnt say something like California on the other coast) because the laws are different. so what do u say about some american firm going multinational?

and if i wasnt right then why is it that most firms that open up overseas tend to forge a partnership with some crummy two bit local practitioner and let him in on a piece of their humongous pie?

Moving on, or should i say back...when i was a little boy, my father taught me that i gotta fight for what i have, not only fight against losing it, but fighting to actually gain it in the first place. You gotta earn what u get. Im a very sincere beleiver in that. yes id love to chair a board meeting of a billion dollar enterprise someday and im definetly fighting for it every day of my life but to do that...i think u need credibility and im not just talkin about corporate culture credibility im talking about credibility from every person who envys what u have hence does the easiest thing that would permit his failure by simply saying "u aint all that". you got to impress that guy to and u wont do that with your Ivy League Education or your Armani Tie. You do that with trench work, loads of it. You fought for all your life, its time to reap the harvest.

I go to a lot of companies and business and i hate what i see. i see really good people who have the potential to make wonders for themselves and hence, to others as well sitting their withering their livelihood away in front of a computer screen, making big money and being fooled that they are actually gaining experience. ask him how do u start a business, he refers you to the legal department, ask him how to forge a good relationship with your subordinates he refers you to the HR department, ask him about the product his company makes and he gives u a damn brouchure!!!! im asking u man!!! i very well know how to read!!! and they call that experience. And he looks down on me when he finds out i take the subway to court and know the subway network by heart (btw i have a car) , that i talk in arabic without including words like "say" or "concept" when im sitting down with friends. that i buy shoes from downtown, that some of the people i meet in my line of work dont know what an iPod is. does that really matter? Multinational Dude will eventually learn how to tell a liar from someone telling the truth after about 15 years from work, cause hes a smart kid and is striving to be better, by experience when hes a big CEO will be able to tell u 12 different ways of how to transfer shares without incurring merger tax but never seen what a share looks like. is on first name terms with all the countries influential people but wouldnt bother to remember the name of the worker who brings him in his latte every morning. cause he digs this life, but he wants it easy.

i dig this life too. but im a jerk who likes to make life harder on myself.