Professional Development Tip of the Week: Recap for your Summer

Given that this is finals week for some of you, we’re going to wrap up our Professional Development Tips of the Week early for spring quarter.  We’ve been discussing the intangible traits and qualities that firms and organizations are looking for in new attorneys as well as tips for how to improve those qualities in yourself.  Today, we’re going to summarize all of the qualities and each tip to improve your performance in those areas.

Knowledge of Current Events

-          Read a local and a national newspaper daily

-          Subscribe to a list serve for a practice area that interests you

-          Download an app with today’s headlines

-          Watch the news as you’re getting up or going to bed

-          Subscribe to an RSS feed

-          Make GoogleNews your homepage and spend time reading the articles

-          Read a magazine like the Economist, Times, or an ABA journal (many can be found in our library!)

Appearance

-          Take your clothing and dress cues from the leadership of your firm or organization

-          Ask: Does my appearance today help me serve my clients and represent my firm/organization to the public?

Personal Reputation

-          Find a mentor in your organization who isn’t your supervisor (don’t worry about getting the most prestigious mentor, just find someone you respect and with whom you “click”)

-          Be aware that all of these qualities will help build your personal reputation

Humility

-          You are only as good a lawyer as your secretary, receptionist and paralegal allow you to be

-          Every person in the workplace deserves respect – from the mail room staff to the office managers, receptionists to administrative assistants

Manners

-          Take the high road (no matter how low the opposing counsel is willing to go)

-          Treat everyone (clients, opposing counsel, judges, attorneys in your office, support staff, etc) with respect

Generosity

-          Look for opportunities to acknowledge the work of your peers; sharing credit will bring you more respect than claiming you did it all on your own

-          Thank your support staff privately, publicly and often

Flexibility

-          Say yes, whenever possible, especially to new and/or interesting opportunities

-          You can say no, so long as you’re saying yes more often than no

Enterprise

-          Learning new things is one of the best parts of being a lawyer

-          Never say that you cannot do something because you haven’t done it before – be willing to learn!

-          (See the first tip under Flexibility)

Client Service

-          You are part of every client’s legal team, whether you’re name is on the notice of appearance or not

-          Find a way to remind yourself who your client is, even if you’ve never met them

-          Say yes to opportunities to help another attorney with a case or project

-          No task is beneath anyone

Punctuality

-          Be early: 5 minutes early for internal meetings or events, and 15 minutes early for external meetings or events

-          If you have trouble remembering appointments, try using an alarm

Time Management

-          Make a plan for each assignment and book “flex time” in case something goes wrong

-          Schedule time for revisions and edits

-          Put your plan into your calendar; do not double-book multiple assignments

-          Spend at least 15 minutes every morning planning your work (or reviewing your plan) for the day/week

Diligence

-          Proofread! 

-          Turn in finished work product, not drafts, even if it is a “draft” for your supervising attorney

-          Ask for feedback on your work – writing, oral advocacy and client communication skills can only improve if you ask for and respond to feedback

Sociability

-          Be careful with alcohol.  A senior lawyer’s offer to get a drink is not an invitation to let your hair down and get sloppy.

-          Never eat lunch alone.  Use lunches as an opportunity to meet practicing attorneys and start building your legal community.

-          Say yes to social invitations

Collegiality

-          Be a “team player” – optimistic, positive, and helpful

-          Check in with your supervisor and mentor to make sure you’re following the right leads

-          Be sure to manage your time wisely (see above, Time Management) so that you can say yes when opportunities present themselves

Fun

-          Find your niche – follow your interests and your passion

-          Meet great people and take the time to get to know the interesting people around you, whether clients, attorneys, staff or others

-          Learn how to be an exceptional lawyer and enjoy lawyering

This year, the Professional Development Tips of the Week have covered networking, interviewing and the intangible qualities that firms and organizations look for in new attorneys.  If you have an idea for topics you’d like to see us cover over the summer or next year, please email us!

Professional Development Tip of the Week: Sociability, Collegiality & Fun

This quarter, we’re talking about the intangible qualities and traits that employers are looking for, as well as tips for how you can improve and demonstrate those qualities during your summer positions.  This week, we’re discussing sociability, collegiality and fun.

Sociability

Lawyers are in the people business, and social skills are an important part of an attorney’s toolbox.  Whether you realize it or not, as a summer associate, intern or extern, you will be graded on your sociability.  This means that social invitations from senior lawyers are not really optional, and it is important to treat them as a work event. 

Tips for improving your “sociability” grade:

-          Be careful about alcohol: As Kimberly Egan wrote, “A senior lawyer’s offer to get a drink is not an invitation for interns or associates to let their hair down and get sloppy.  It’s not a career-enhancing move to be thought of as a lush.” 

-          Never eat lunch alone: Before you get sucked into the work-through-lunch-mentality, lunches are a great time to practice your social skills.  Remember the tip about current events?  The one about mentors?  Lunch is a great opportunity to meet practicing attorneys and start building your lawyer community. 

-          Say YES! to invitations: When I worked in London as part of my study abroad experience, our internship coordinator told us that the best sign that you are doing well in your job is when your supervisor asks you to join the group for a pint at the local pub.  I’ve found that generally holds true for lawyers as well – once you’ve shown that you are interesting, competent and friendly in the office, then your superiors will want to get to know what you’re like outside of the office. 

Collegiality

Collegiality is also key in the workplace.  The best attorneys never complain about the difficulty of a project or about being “busy.”  Being busy is how lawyers make a living.  Lawyers who turn down work when they are not on target for their billable hours develop a reputation for laziness, unprofessionalism and even incompetence.  Collegiality is about being optimistic, positive, helpful and a “team player.” 

So what do you do when you really are busy? 

-          Use your time management skills: “I can have that for you today, but it will be much better if I can give it to you tomorrow/on Monday.” 

-          Talk to your mentor and/or supervisor about how you’re managing your time.  Ask if they can give you tips for how to be more effective at your tasks, and how to better communicate what you’re already working on. 

-          Check in with your supervisor to make sure you’re following the right leads.  There’s nothing worse than spending 3 hours researching cases only to discover that you’re following a trail that doesn’t apply to your fact pattern.

Fun

Most of the attorneys I know live by the “work hard/play hard” philosophy.  The best lawyers are never too busy to have fun – especially when they have fun lawyering.  Lawyering is one of the most flexible and intellectually rewarding professions.  How do you keep having fun?

-          Find your niche:  The clients you develop, the practice you build, and the expertise you maintain are largely up to you, as an individual.  Seek out practices that interest you, and allow for these to change over time. 

-          Meet great people:  Law offices are great places to meet interesting people with interesting challenges.  Whether they are colleagues, clients, or friends in the community, take the time to get to know the people around you. 

-          Learn how to be an exceptional lawyer: Doing a difficult job extremely well is a wonderful feeling, and well worth the effort. 

Next week: Making the most of your summer opportunity

Professional Development Tip of the Week: Punctuality & Time Management

Continuing in our series about the intangible qualities that employers are looking for, this week we’re focusing on punctuality and time management.  While punctuality and time management may sound like basic qualities, they are actually skills that can be improved. 

Punctuality

When he walked into the courtroom at 9:30 am, I’m sure that he didn’t think that he was late.  I’m sure he didn’t think that his trial, the one that was set for trial call at 9 am,  would already be over.  He didn’t think that courts could move that quickly, or that a default judgment could enter against him.  He didn’t think that traffic would cause his client to file a bar complaint, or to sue him for malpractice. 

What he thought was that the court would still be assigning trial courtrooms, 30 minutes after trial call started.  And it was a reasonable assumption because trial call can and often does take an hour – but under the law, he was not there when the matter was heard, so the judgment was entered against his client. 

Punctuality is critical.  You may have the best argument ever, but if you’re late, you may not get a chance to present it.  Your summer employer will notice when you are late, whether it’s for a staff lunch, a client meeting, or a court hearing.  So how can you improve your punctuality?

-          Being on time really means being early: be 5 minutes early for all internal meetings or events, and be 15 minutes early for external meetings or events

-          If you have trouble remembering appointments, try using an alarm (chances are good that your cell phone has one)

Time Management

As Kimberly Egan explained in Essential Skills for Lawyers that Aren’t Taught in Law School, “Everything takes longer than expected.  For research and writing projects, a good guide is the ‘double it to the next power’ rule.  For example, if someone says a project will take two hours, it actually will take four days.  Plan accordingly.” 

The best lawyers give themselves extra time in case something goes wrong.  The best lawyers plan for bad Seattle traffic, for computer malfunctions, for copiers to breakdown.  But, the best lawyers also get work done early – they never wait for the last minute.  When you have multiple assignments from clients and when more than one deadline occurs on the same day, saving everything to the last minute only ensures stress and inferior work product. 

Tips to improve your time management skills:

-          Make a plan for each assignment and plan for some flex time in case something goes wrong

-          While you’re planning, schedule time for revisions

-          Put your plan into your calendar; do not double-book multiple assignments

-          Remember to spend at least 15 minutes every morning planning or reviewing your work for the day/week

Next week: Sociability, Collegiality and Fun