6 Lessons About Lawyering – And Life
Take them no matter what stage of your career you are in
and put them to good use
By Kelly Twigger
Since I started this column several weeks ago, many lawyers have
reached out to me asking for advice. Some are looking to learn more
about electronic discovery, some to transition from practicing into
project management, and some just to find out what direction they
should be taking from where they are.
I love talking to and teaching lawyers. But let’s be honest, the practice
of law is a business that is constrained by the inability of lawyers to
build a business. The practice of law has changed dramatically in the
20 years since I started my career. It’s gotten much harder.
I can recall asking my mentor – who was widely regarded as the
state’s best commercial litigator – whether he would go to law school
now (this was about 10 years ago). He looked at me point blank and
immediately gave an unequivocal “no.” And this was a guy who had
loved practicing law for more than 30 years, and he was damn good
at it.
I remember that moment very clearly. By that time, out of a bit of
sheer luck, I had started our firm’s ediscovery practice and had a plan
for where I wanted my career to go. But if I could go back, there are
some things I would do better and earlier.
During my career in law school and beyond, I’ve worked in-house
for a large insurance company, clerked for a federal judge, managed a
domestic violence courtroom as a prosecutor, worked my way up to
partner in the commercial litigation group of an Am Law 200 law
firm, and started my own firm. I’ve gone up against and with the best
in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, managed bet the company
litigation for some of the most household names you know, and have
a practice and a life that I love in a place that I love.
So, to all of you lawyers, regardless of age, I share with you my
best pieces of advice for lawyering, building your reputation, and
generally surviving. These are the things I wish I knew when I started
practicing. Take them no matter what stage of your career you are in
and put them to good use. (In this post, I’ll offer six tips; additional
advice will follow in a future post.)
1. You Control Your Destiny. No one else. If you are waiting for
your firm’s marketing department, practice group leader, or anyone
else to help you build a reputation or hoping that it will just “come,”
you are wrong. You have to get out there and get your name out. The
name of the game is SEO and whether people equate you with the
type of work you want to do. It takes YEARS, and you need to start
TODAY. Ask yourself what is it that you want? It sounds trite, but
ask yourself where you want to be in five years and what you want
that to look like.
How do you do that? Write an article, speak on a topic, start a blog
– choose whatever fits the way the people you want to reach like to
take in content. Content marketing is king, and you are its scribe.
Every publication wants good quality articles and tons of folks want
guest bloggers. Here’s the catch – You have to ask.
If you are in your first year of practice or the head of your practice
group, you learned something in the last day, week, month, or year
that people need to know about. And if you didn’t, go out and learn
something, and then tell people about it. Go to the CLEs and learn
tips – talk at your firm’s litigation lunch. Get known in your firm and
outside. Both are important. Don’t assume that what you know is
basic and won’t help others.
When you get that opportunity, have a mechanism for getting it out
to your clients or your relationships. Don’t assume that everyone will
see it. You need to make SURE they see it if you want them to. Ask
for article reprints, post a link on your blog, whatever method works
best. Do it thoughtfully. It’s a balance of being out there and having
people know what you do.
2. Make a Plan. When I was a new litigator, I was told over and over
(and over) for the first six years of my practice to “be a generalist” in
litigation, that specializing was too limiting. Around year five, after
blindly following that philosophy, I realized that the litigation world
was becoming much more specialized (sorry, ABA, but it’s really
ridiculous to not let us say we specialize in an area), and I sought out
the types of cases I wanted. I worked on complex engineering design
Kelly Twigger gave up the golden handcuffs of her Biglaw partnership to start ESI Attorneys, an eDiscovery and
information law firm, in 2009. She is passionate about teaching lawyers and legal professionals how to think about and
use ESI to win, and does so regularly for her clients. The Wisconsin State Bar named Kelly a Legal Innovator in 2014 for
her development of eDiscovery Assistant – an online eDiscovery playbook for lawyers and legal professionals. When
she’s not thinking, writing, or talking about ESI, Kelly is wandering in the mountains of Colorado or watching Kentucky
basketball. You can reach her by email at [email protected] or on Twitter: @kellytwigger.
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THE GAVEL