Around the water cooler: The Opportunity Maker

Ari L. Kaplan wanted to empower law students and lawyers to get out from behind their desks and take their careers into their own hands.

Kaplan wrote the new book, “The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development,” which talks about proven and creative strategies for lawyers to empower their legal careers from law school through partnership. It discusses ways to build a personal brand, leverage creativity, and maximize business development potential.

Some of the chapters have titles like: “The Most Important Lesson Law School Never Teaches,” “Find a Mentor,” and “Networking & the Personal Aspects of Promoting Yourself.”

He said the book talks about the concepts behind business and career development. Starting at a young age and putting the time in early can yield a good return in the future, he said.

The book, he said, “provides ideas to customize their own path. I interviewed over 100 people for the book in some way or another, and got lots of pretty consistent advice. The key to success is to be interesting, and by being interesting you become memorable and by becoming memorable that leads to opportunities.”

Kaplan is a legal consultant and principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors. He counsels professionals on networking and getting published. He teaches techniques for leveraging writing and other activities that help with business development.

A lawyer who practiced for nearly nine years, his accomplishments include publishing around 150 articles, serving as a legal commentator for CNET Radio, and teaching a continuing legal education course.

Thomson/West saw an article Kaplan wrote for the American Bar Association’s Student Lawyer magazine and asked him to write a book about the kinds of creative networking and business development strategies he discussed in the article.

He signed a contract in September 2006, submitted the book in November 2007, and it came out in June.

“I’m really excited because the book’s message is purely positive,” he said. “They is all about how you can distinguish yourself in a positive way.”

Kaplan said the response has been exciting because different populations of the legal and business community have been interested in the book because its message can be universal.

“The idea is that you need to genuinely find ways to connect with people in a way that will yield inspiration as well as other benefits,” he said. “Particularly for our [legal] community, to find ways to stand out in this stagnant economy. Things are changing, and they are changing so quickly. We really need to find ways to engage with others.”

For more information visit theopportunitymaker.com