7 (More) Lessons About Lawyering – And Life
Here’s the stuff that really matters.
By Kelly Twigger
In “6 Lessons About Lawyering – And Life,”
I shared some insights I’ve acquired over the
course of my legal career, which has included
clerking for a federal judge, working in-
house for a large insurance company, making
partner at an Am Law 200 law firm, and
starting my own firm. I’m fortunate to have a
practice and a life that I love, in a place that I
love, and I wanted to pass along some advice
that I wish someone had given me earlier in
my career.
This column picks up where that post left
off. If you didn’t read my prior post, you’re
welcome to do so. I had a few more things to
add that I wanted you to know. These follow
on the themes from last issue, but you can
have only so many words in one column, so
you have to put them together.
Here’s the upshot. The practice of law is
hard because it’s about people, and people
are hard. But they are also what make the
practice great. So, how do you find success in
a career built on people? Here are my tips.
1. Build Relationships. This is a biggie,
and it’s woven through the other pieces of
advice we discussed last week. Go to the
judges’ night and meet the judges. They
are just people, and they are happy to meet
you. Even if you don’t have anything to
say. Be prepared with a question you want
to ask – maybe they just issued a decision
you had a question about, or they wrote an
article you read. Be interested. Then follow
up afterwards and tell her or him that you
enjoyed meeting them. Be memorable.
Eventually, their kids will play on your kid’s
soccer team, and you want to be friendly.
Go to bar events for young lawyers, old
lawyers, in-between lawyers. Be involved in
the practice groups. Start your own group of
working moms or working dads or lawyers
with cats. But build relationships. You need
to start now. And if you’ve started, but you
haven’t nurtured your relationships, get back
to it. Say hi, ask to have coffee or a drink, or
lunch. Talk about what’s going on in their
life, not just about work. Find something
else to discuss – you’ll build a stronger
relationship.
In five or 10 years, the colleagues you went to
law school with and college with and worked
with will be in-house counsel and judges
and just plain cool people that you’ll want to
know.
2. Be nice to everyone. Don’t lie.
Those speak for themselves. You’ll be sorry
you refused that extension when you need
one yourself. Or that you were a jerk and
now the lawyer you were a jerk to is working
with someone else at your firm and holding
it against them. (Names withheld, but you
know who you are.)
3. Tell People What You Do. This
goes hand-in-hand with the building
relationships. For a long time, I downplayed
what kind of work I did, or simply didn’t
mention it, and that was a mistake. Do not
assume that everyone you meet knows what
you do or who you want to do work with.
You have to TELL them. Just let them know
what you do in case anything comes up that
you can help with. It’s not hard, and it doesn’t
have to be complicated. I tell people I love
helping my clients make the most out of the
opportunities of electronic information, and
to manage the associated risks. Because I do.
4. Remember, it’s not your money.
I was lucky enough to have several mentors
at my first firm, and one in particular who
had the best nuggets of wisdom. I took cases
very personally and felt responsible when
things didn’t go well for a client, whether it
was a decision from the court, a deposition,
a negotiation, etc. So one day he saw me
stressed about a case, and he walked into my
office and sat down and said, “Kelly, you need
to remember one thing. It’s not your money.”
And what he meant was that the client’s
problem was not my own. It was my job to
stay objective about the issues, about what
was at stake, and to advise the client, but not
to take it on as my own. There’s a difference
between caring deeply about helping your
client, and taking it on as if you caused the
dispute that gave rise to the litigation. See
the line and stay on the side of providing
your best advice. Sometimes matters can get
very personal, and you have to separate that.
5. THINK. Another gold nugget from
that same lawyer that has served me well.
Thinking is what you get paid to do, and
you should do it instead of always running
around doing. How much better and more
productive would your day be if you stopped
to first think about what you need to do
before you started doing it? Strategy first.
6. Avoid the word “like.” On another
day, the gold nugget guy came into my office,
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 Twigger 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, Twigger 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