graduating law school, tips on working as an attorney?

Question

i am graduating in 2 weeks and have a job lined up. i'm wondering if any lawyers out there have any tips for being a successful first year atty. it's a small firm, about 12 attorneys total doing civil litigation. i'm excited to begin, but would love some advice from people who have been there. thank you all in advance!

ps--any ideas about the pant-suit v skirt-skirt debate are also welcome.

Answer 1

Keep track of your billable hours if you do defense work. If it's not billed, then there's no income.

Expect to work long hours and weekends. It takes about 10-12 hours in the office to generate 8 billable hours, and the older attorneys may want to see how willing you are to work hard. Don't look at this as hazing or just greed. They want to know that they can count on you when the big trial starts and they are working 16 hours a day.

Make sure your research and citations are accurate. Some of the first assignments you get will likely be writing assignments. We all know how tempting it is to over reach on citing legal authorities. Don't do it. If the other side catches you citing a case for a proposition other than which it stands for, then they will point it out and call into question your credibility.

Don't be afraid of taking on challenges. They may give you a small case to handle on your own, like a traffic case or small claims case. You may not have a clue where to start, but that's par for the course in this profession. Just do your research and prep your case, and you will do fine.

Be civil with your opposing counsel. There should be no room for trash talk or other unprofessional behavior. This varies with practitioners, of course, but I stand firm on this issue.

Always be prepared. If you have a trial, then memorize your depositions and exhibits so you can use them on cross exam. If you have a meeting, then anticipate the issues if you can and make sure that you have memorized the key facts. Do an outline for depositions to make sure you cover all issues. Over prepping a case may lead to exhaustion, but under prepping will lead to disaster.

Have fun. It's hard work but very rewarding. Cases will present interesting facts that will broaden your life experience. When you win, it will feel like you're on top of the world. When you lose, you will feel terrible. Overall, it will be exciting.

Answer 2

As for pants v skirts, seriously, it's up to you. There's nothing wrong with wearing pants. You'll occasionally get a judge who will bemoan you for it, but my own point of view is that I am here as an advocate for my client, not as a sex object. Hence, I only wear pants.
The best advice I can offer you is that you should not take on more than you can handle. Don't be afraid to say "No". Also, never be afraid to tell someone that you do not know the answer to their question.

Answer 3

Best tip I can give you is this:

If you think working for someone else as a lawyer is different from working for someone else at McDonald's, you are mistaken.

It's fine to work for another lawyer right out of law school, get some training, build a little capital, but if you just want to work for someone else, you're wasting the talent it took to get into law school in the first place.