litigation (which I still love), and dived head first into ediscovery and
built our firm’s practice there before taking off to start my own firm
and focus my practice in ediscovery.
3. Evaluate Every Opportunity. Notice I didn’t say Seize Every
Opportunity. That’s because lawyering sucks up all of your time, and
you need to make strategic decisions. Ask whether the opportunity
advances your goals – whatever they may be. And you’ll have
different goals for different things you do – it could be being the
expert, building relationships, getting your name out, doing a favor
for a friend planning an event. All of those are laudable goals. But
know the goal and evaluate whether it’s a good use of your time.
Think about how much time it will take to prepare for it to do a
fantastic job. Early in your career, I recommend you take as many
opportunities as you can get. Public speaking is crucial.
4. Allow for Plan Changes. Robert Burns wrote,
“The best laid plans of mice and men often go
awry.” (Steinbeck borrowed it for Of Mice and
Men.) Don’t worry about change, embrace it. It
really is true that when a door closes, a window
opens. You have to see the window and be willing to
climb through it.
5. Do a Fantastic Job. Not a good job, a
FANTASTIC job. Be the smartest person in the
room. Solve the problems. Have practical solutions.
Think about what the client needs and do it before
they ask. Instead of focusing just on the litigation
or the deal, focus on what the client wants out of it.
Be a partner to the client, and help them. Don’t just
churn out hours. They will remember you.
6. Communicate with the Client. If you’re allowed
to, that is. I’m still amazed at how few young
lawyers are actually allowed to talk to the client. I
had the opposite experience in my litigation career
– I was probably talking to clients before I had
any idea what to say – but I LEARNED from it.
When you are calling the client, have a plan for the
conversation. Think of every call as another building
block to your relationship. Don’t be afraid to say you
are sorry, or to tell them something is taking longer
than planned.
Be in regular contact. Even if just to say you wanted
to touch base. Send holiday cards, and be thoughtful
about gifts if you send them. If someone has kids,
send something either just for the client, or that
they can share with their family. Learn whether
the client has a gift policy. If you don’t know, ask.
Tell him or her you wanted to send a gift to say
thank you for the work this year, and you wanted to
be aware of any policy the company has regarding
gifts. Some do, some don’t, but you don’t want your
fabulous gift to be confiscated because it runs afoul of the policy.
Donating to a charity in a client’s name is nice, too.
These are my first six tips. Take them, toss them, do as you please.
Feel free to drop me a line and let me know other tips you have to
share with lawyers, and I’ll consider them for use in the follow-up
post.
This column originally appeared in Above The Law, https://abovethelaw.
com, on June 6, 2017. It has been reprinted with permission.
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