This book is designed to help you harness your potential for business development and empower your legal career from law school through partnership. It provides techniques for defining your personal brand, leveraging your creativity, and maximizing your success. Rainmakers, public relations experts, elected officials, marketing masters, in-house counsel, business executives, career advisers, associates, law students, and others who have walked in your shoes offer perspective on issues ranging from networking, mentoring, and blogging to hosting your own television show, starting a charity, and getting published. Each chapter addresses genuine strategies for connecting with people and establishing meaningful professional relationships.
Kaplan's The Opportunity Maker
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
 |
| |||||||||||||||
Save up to 70% when you rent your textbooks on Amazon. Keep your textbook rentals for a semester and rental return shipping is free. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Ari Kaplan's insights into how to attract legal business and promote one's career by living an engaged, interesting, active, generous and thoughtful professional life are essential for any law student or lawyer to read."
-Paul Cappuccio, General Counsel, Time Warner, Inc.
"You don't really care about building new business for your practice. If you did, you'd already be reading this well-researched, useful and powerful book. I come from a family of lawyers, and every one of them would have benefited from the ideas inside."
-Seth Godin, author, Purple Cow
"If you know the secrets of rainmaking, you'll always be happily employed. Ari Kaplan teaches them to you in this great practical book."
Kimm Alayne Walton, author, Guerrilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of Your Dreams (Harcourt Legal & Professional Publications, Inc., 1997)
"Ari Kaplan is indeed the opportunity maker. This could be a blueprint for law schools to incorporate his book's principles into their standard curriculum and for law firms to train their attorneys to use Kaplan's genuine approach ..."
-Anastasia Kelly, partner, DLA Piper & former General Counsel, American International Group
"As I read Kaplan's book, I found myself nodding over and over again. I might have even let an "amen brother" slip out a time or two...Kaplan show[s] the reader how to establish relationships [and] ... he teaches us how to maintain [them] in [an] authentic way."
-Carla DeVelder, Managing Counsel, Fidelity National Title Group
-Paul Cappuccio, General Counsel, Time Warner, Inc.
"You don't really care about building new business for your practice. If you did, you'd already be reading this well-researched, useful and powerful book. I come from a family of lawyers, and every one of them would have benefited from the ideas inside."
-Seth Godin, author, Purple Cow
"If you know the secrets of rainmaking, you'll always be happily employed. Ari Kaplan teaches them to you in this great practical book."
Kimm Alayne Walton, author, Guerrilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of Your Dreams (Harcourt Legal & Professional Publications, Inc., 1997)
"Ari Kaplan is indeed the opportunity maker. This could be a blueprint for law schools to incorporate his book's principles into their standard curriculum and for law firms to train their attorneys to use Kaplan's genuine approach ..."
-Anastasia Kelly, partner, DLA Piper & former General Counsel, American International Group
"As I read Kaplan's book, I found myself nodding over and over again. I might have even let an "amen brother" slip out a time or two...Kaplan show[s] the reader how to establish relationships [and] ... he teaches us how to maintain [them] in [an] authentic way."
-Carla DeVelder, Managing Counsel, Fidelity National Title Group
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Aspiring first-year associates, ignore this book at your professional peril
October 24, 2009
By Ed Hopkins
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Gone are the days when top 25% grades at a tier-one law school, law review, and a prestigious extracurricular leadership position guaranteed you a great summer clerking gig or a desirable first-year associate job offer. These days, looking good on paper is just not enough. The aspiring first-year associate must have an excellent social capital strategy as well. If you don't know what social capital is, stop reading my review after finishing this paragraph. Buy Ari Kaplan's book immediately. Read it as soon as you get it. You are already behind the curve.
If you do know what social capital is, then you know you will probably need more of it to maximize your opportunities during these tough economic times. That doesn't mean, however, that you know how to cultivate more social capital. That's where Ari's book can help you. In 17 concise, readable chapters, Ari's book describes dozens of strategies and tactics that will make you a more effective networker, self-promoter, and job seeker. The book doesn't encourage you to do things that would make you feel uncomfortable. It doesn't recommend that you transform your personality. Instead, it helps you figure out what your strengths and passions are, how to effectively show others what your strengths and passions are, and how to passionately help others using your strengths.
Using most of Ari's techniques, I was able to secure multiple summer associate job offers last winter and multiple first-year associate job offers before the end of August. Ari's book helped me understand and communicate my value proposition. It helped me develop a winning social capital strategy. Some of the law firms I courted didn't buy what I was selling. Some did.... Read more ›
If you do know what social capital is, then you know you will probably need more of it to maximize your opportunities during these tough economic times. That doesn't mean, however, that you know how to cultivate more social capital. That's where Ari's book can help you. In 17 concise, readable chapters, Ari's book describes dozens of strategies and tactics that will make you a more effective networker, self-promoter, and job seeker. The book doesn't encourage you to do things that would make you feel uncomfortable. It doesn't recommend that you transform your personality. Instead, it helps you figure out what your strengths and passions are, how to effectively show others what your strengths and passions are, and how to passionately help others using your strengths.
Using most of Ari's techniques, I was able to secure multiple summer associate job offers last winter and multiple first-year associate job offers before the end of August. Ari's book helped me understand and communicate my value proposition. It helped me develop a winning social capital strategy. Some of the law firms I courted didn't buy what I was selling. Some did.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book is a veritable treasure trove of marketing ideas. I bought it at the beginning of my 3L year, and I am so grateful that I did.
This book is unique in that it encourages its readers to attract legal business in part by living an interesting, active, generous life. When was the last time a partner at your law firm encouraged you to live your best life, in the hopes that it would lead you to your next big client? This book inspired me to commit to volunteering at a local Chicago animal shelter for a year, become more involved on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, and join LinkedIn to begin making the connections that could lead to business for my firm down the road.
The book is also an easy read. Each chapter is divided into multiple sections, each about a page long, with clear titles and focus. If you want, you could read this book cover to cover or flip through to specific sections that interest you.
The best advice in the book, for me, was the suggestion that after every meeting with clients, potential clients, other attorneys, or totally random individuals, you take a step back and honestly evaluate your "performance" during the meeting. What did you do very well? Did you express yourself clearly? How could you improve? Should you brush up on that thesis you wrote in college because your new contact has experience in that field?
This book reminds its readers that finding opportunities is not easy, nor is it immediate, but with preparation and an investment of time, everyone can make it rain.
This book is unique in that it encourages its readers to attract legal business in part by living an interesting, active, generous life. When was the last time a partner at your law firm encouraged you to live your best life, in the hopes that it would lead you to your next big client? This book inspired me to commit to volunteering at a local Chicago animal shelter for a year, become more involved on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, and join LinkedIn to begin making the connections that could lead to business for my firm down the road.
The book is also an easy read. Each chapter is divided into multiple sections, each about a page long, with clear titles and focus. If you want, you could read this book cover to cover or flip through to specific sections that interest you.
The best advice in the book, for me, was the suggestion that after every meeting with clients, potential clients, other attorneys, or totally random individuals, you take a step back and honestly evaluate your "performance" during the meeting. What did you do very well? Did you express yourself clearly? How could you improve? Should you brush up on that thesis you wrote in college because your new contact has experience in that field?
This book reminds its readers that finding opportunities is not easy, nor is it immediate, but with preparation and an investment of time, everyone can make it rain.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Keith Lee
Format:Paperback
I wanted to drop you a line and thank you for writing "The Opportunity Maker." I purchased it during my 3L year. It inspired me to create my blog, Associate's Mind.
I was nervous about the whole process, but I pushed forwards with it. It's now one of the 40 most popular legal blogs as tracked by Avvo, and has been linked to by the WSJ, Forbes, The Browser, among others. Plus, I am now a featured contributor at Lexis Nexis' Hub for new attorneys. It was a lot of work, but it's been more than worth it.
While you might not be aware of it, your book was the push that got the ball rolling.I appreciate it very much.
The book offers some real concrete advice in regards to developing contacts and networking. But more importantly for me was that it helped break down some psychological barriers. Often times I think it's often the mental barriers people develop for themselves ("I can't" mindset)prevents people from beginning on new ventures or reaching out to new people. If you're a law student or new lawyer looking for guidance and advice on how to begin reaching out and networking with other people, there's probably no better place to start.
I was nervous about the whole process, but I pushed forwards with it. It's now one of the 40 most popular legal blogs as tracked by Avvo, and has been linked to by the WSJ, Forbes, The Browser, among others. Plus, I am now a featured contributor at Lexis Nexis' Hub for new attorneys. It was a lot of work, but it's been more than worth it.
While you might not be aware of it, your book was the push that got the ball rolling.I appreciate it very much.
The book offers some real concrete advice in regards to developing contacts and networking. But more importantly for me was that it helped break down some psychological barriers. Often times I think it's often the mental barriers people develop for themselves ("I can't" mindset)prevents people from beginning on new ventures or reaching out to new people. If you're a law student or new lawyer looking for guidance and advice on how to begin reaching out and networking with other people, there's probably no better place to start.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am not a lawyer but I do work in legal services. After I read this book, I decided to actually TRY some of the things that Ari suggested - and they worked! For example, I reached out to a few folks in a mentoring capacity, I've signed up to host an alumni event in my area, I chaired an industry conference, and I now prepare handwritten thank you notes as a matter of course. Thank you Ari for the great, practical and easy to implement advice, I'm going to purchase a few copies to give as gifts this year!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An outstanding resource for early-career lawyers and law students. Kaplan combines his own insight with invaluable marketing tips from rainmakers across the country, and presents it in an easily-digestible, entertaining fashion. The night after I read this book I found myself up in the middle of the night reevaluating my non-billable activities. I made 3 immediate changes, resulting in new, genuine connections within days. In my opinion, this should be required reading for first-year lawyers, and even first-year law students.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tangible, actionable advice and steps for becoming your own PR machine
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a copy of The Opportunity Maker, which was written by noted networking and business development expert Ari Kaplan. Read more
Published on February 18, 2010 by B. Owens
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Guide of its kind.
As an attorney and a business owner, I can state unequivocally that The Opportunity Maker is simply the best career guide and business development aid that I have ever read. Read more
Published on June 4, 2009 by Jerry Esquire
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read...Invaluable!
Mr. Kaplan, I've read your book (twice now) and I love it and I am certainly using your advice. It's invaluable! Read more
Published on April 13, 2009 by Bridgette M. Bennett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learn the Secrets of Rainmaking and Be Inspired
After attending Ari's lecture at Appalachian School of Law, I felt inspired to become an opportunity maker, so I purchased his book outlining the secrets of rainmaking. Read more
Published on December 18, 2008 by Sara Beth Montgomery
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oh yes!
I read The Opportunity Maker this weekend -- and I loved it. I learned several new tricks of the trade. Read more
Published on September 9, 2008 by Gabe Galanda
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read -- even for non-lawyers, too!
This book is well-written, engaging, and it is truly for everyone. I enjoyed it, and so did my girlfriend, who's not even a lawyer or in law school! Read more
Published on September 4, 2008 by J. Zigler
5.0 out of 5 stars
invaluable rainmaking strategies
This book is a must read for every law student as well as young attorneys looking to make a name for themselves and grow their network. Read more
Published on September 2, 2008 by David Muti
5.0 out of 5 stars
hyper useful advice!
Ari Kaplan gives you great, down to earth, step-by-step advice for creating a memorable "brand" as a new lawyer. Read more
Published on August 21, 2008 by Kimm Walton
