Top Tips for New Lawyers

You have graduated from law school and have passed the bar and have now been sworn in by your State's Chief Justice. You paid your dues and you are now a lawyer and ready to practice law. Individuals, including families and friends, see you as an expert in all area's of law and the person to call if they get in trouble with the law or want to buy a new house or divorce their spouse or figure out who to adopt a child from China. The only problem is that you have no idea how to practice law. Law school taught you how to read cases, party on Friday nights, maybe found you a spouse and gave you a new way of thinking what it did not do is to teach you how to be a lawyer. But do not worry that is going to change in the next six to twelve years!!

The first thing you have to do is find a mentor. Someone who has been practicing law in the locality where you are setting up shop and someone who will be willing to answer your dumbest questions and I promise you there will be dumb questions. Every new lawyer as they are learning to practice law has dumb questions. Every lawyer who has been practicing law for awhile remembers that they to had dumb questions. So find a mentor. Most local and state bars have formal mentoring programs. Law firms also have formal mentoring programs. Both of these are very good options. However if you are not working in a firm or other environment where a mentoring system is set in place go out and find your own. Go and get a number of business cards with your name, address and telephone number and then go down to the court house where you want to practice. Start talking with lawyers. Sit in on a few cases. Go and settle into the attorney work room and let people know that you are new and need someone who knows the ropes. Lawyers tend to have a reputation as a bunch of cut throat jerks the reality is this is very very far from the truth. In the thirteen years I have been practicing the majority of lawyers, over 95% of them, have been willing to go out of their way to help a colleague. Once you find someone with whom you are comfortable offer to take them out for coffee or lunch and then share your concerns. Ask them if they are willing to be your mentor. Most people will say yes and they will take you under their wing and show you how to play the game. How to get cases. How to negotiate with the prosecutors office. How to sweet talk the clerks so that you can get the files and paperwork that you need.

Remember law school does not teach you to be a lawyer. Law school teachers you how to think like a lawyer and how to find answers to legal questions. You will need a living breathing person who will be willing to show you the ropes. Where to sit in the courtroom. Whether or not the judge likes opening arguments to be long dissertations or just a few short sentences. Whether you should stand up when speaking with the judge or if sitting at counsel table is appropriate. So you know you will make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. In fact after about three years your mistakes will be some of your funniest stories to tell at cocktail parties.

Additionally as you are getting your feet wet in practice maintain contacts with your fellow students. They will be an important resource throughout your career. They are the ones who will keep you on track and humble. No matter how successful you become an evening with a few pals from law school will help you remember how far you have come and to be humble. These are the people who saw you throw up after the end of your first years of exams and the ones who stayed up with your until three in the morning studying for your Constitutional Law exam.

If you get really stuck with an issue and your mentor and fellow students are not able to help you call your old professors. They love to be remembered and they love to teach and most of them want their old students to be successful. So put in the call and get the answer.

As time passes it is hard to believe but the practice of law will become second nature. Your area of expertise will become second nature and when it does it becomes your responsibility to give back to others. Get in contact with your old school and offer to provide mentoring for students or open your office as a potential internship placement. Pay attention to the new lawyers in the courtroom and courthouse. Remember what it feels like to be the one who knows nothing. The one who is more afraid of the outcome of the case then your actual client. Be the mentor and not the mentee and then take a step back and think of how lucky you are, you have achieved your dream. It is now time to help others.