Reader Opinions on: Advice for Young Attorneys
“If I knew then what I know now…”
It is a common refrain, regardless of profession. Diversity & the Bar’s readership provided an overwhelming response to our request for advice to impart to young attorneys. Many respondents reflected on mentoring, maintaining work/life balance, and taking time to find the area of law that is personally engaging. Some responses are featured in this edition of Reader Opinions; others will be posted online at www.mcca.com. Requests for anonymity were granted in publishing the responses.
Young attorneys who want to litigate should do whatever they can to work in the public sector either as a prosecutor or public defense attorney. Courtroom experience is invaluable and won’t happen in a law firm. Litigators who know their way around the courtroom have a decided advantage the rest of their careers.
Always let the client pick up the check.
Work hard, tell the truth, and treat everyone you meet with respect, regardless of whether they are secretaries, clerks, senior partners, CEOs, or opposing counsel. Don’t stay in a bad situation unless you are sure you will get something positive out of it.
The best advice I ever got, was to “not forget to have a life”. I got this advice from a seminar lead by some of the most successful attorneys in the area not long after I graduated. So many complained that they missed out on so much of their family’s lives, had a fabulous home but were never there to enjoy it, ruined relationships, never got around to having a family…but they all were at the top of their field but seemed to regret the cost to get there. This stuck with me more than any advice I received in my career and it is better to realize and set your priorities early on in your career. This is the time that you have the best opportunity to make career choices that will make “having a life” easier or harder.
Hone your craft through CLE (even when not required by your state), seminars, organizations in your practice area. In my early years these were invaluable sources of knowledge….especially as I went in-house immediately after law school. The networking with peers at these events are great opportunities to seize also.
Answer the question correctly while avoiding legalese. Every client wants a well thought out and researched response to their question; most lawyer and non-lawyer clients will especially appreciate receiving that response in using simple, every day language.
Seek out as many mentors as you can find. Mentors come in all shapes and sizes. They can be experienced legal secretaries and paralegals. They can be your peers. They can be older or younger than you. Think of a mentor as anyone you can learn from and with whom you have a relationship. You can have different mentors for different purposes: one who counsels you on how to get involved in your community, another who teaches you the unwritten rules of your workplace, another who helps you learn to develop business (if you’re in private practice), another who makes you a part of his or her practice and trains you in the nuts and bolts of a specialty. You can never have too many mentors.
Law school does not teach us how to “be” a lawyer, it simply teaches us how to think like a lawyer. The first few years of practice as a young attorney are, in my opinion, akin to the residency of a doctor. Like the doctor, you have completed the academic portion of our preparation and are beginning the practical learning. The difference being that a medical resident is understood by all to still be in a learning mode in which mistakes are expected. The young lawyer is not necessarily perceived in the same manner. However, the most important learning takes place during the first 3-5 years of practicing law. A successful lawyer will embrace the continuation of learning model I describe and surround himself/herself with lawyers from whom they can gain the most while remembering that each opportunity generates invaluable relationships to preserve.
Networking is about giving without expecting anything in return. DB
MCCA thanks everyone who responded to this offering of Reader Opinions.
From the May/June 2009 issue of Diversity & The Bar®