AttorneyMentoring_Junior

Deciding What Type of Law to
Practice

Many lawyers find themselves graduating law
school without a specific area of focus. Moreover,
many associates at
larger law firms or in law departments are not often
in a position, for market and other internal firm
reasons, to choose
their practice group. All too often a Junior Attorney
finds herself or himself in a quandary, either not
knowing which area
to practice in or alternatively disliking the practice
area they find themselves in. There is hope.

While the forces of today’s complex legal
environment tend to force specialization early on,
you can actively take certain steps to preserve
some flexibility. One way to do this is to try and
work with as many different practice groups or
attorneys as possible early on and throughout your
career. Volunteer your time whenever you can, even
if you have to work extra hours to gain that added
experience. Take advantage of internal and external
continuing legal education courses in areas other
than your own.

Sometimes the classes you enjoyed in law school
bear little or no resemblance to the actual practice of
law in the real word or alternatively the individuals
engaged in that practice area in your firm are not
your ideal group to work with. Keep an open mind
and you might surprise yourself with your choice of
practice area.

If a conflict arises between different practice groups
or areas for your time, let them work the conflicts out
while you continue to offer your services to both
groups as your schedule permits. Remember that
this is the time in your career that you can more
easily migrate from one area to another. As the
years pass, you will experience greater pressure
to specialize and your ability to change practice
areas diminishes.

Similarly, this is also a good time in your career to
consider whether the practice of law as you know it
is right for you. And, you should consider which type
of venue better suits your personality and lifestyle
goals.

Try and always align your personal goals with your
career goals but to do so requires an evaluation of
your personal goals. Take some time and write
down your goals for the near term and the long
term. Keep this close at hand and check it every so
often to make sure you are on track.

Difficulty Staying Focused; Sense of Being
Overwhelmed

Difficulty staying focused and feeling overwhelmed much of the time
is a common complaint of junior attorneys. You may feel isolated
and overwhelmed for those first few years. Sometimes this is a
function of the overall firm or company environment and sometimes
it is a function of the practices of a specific working group. Staying
focused requires you to breathe through the anxiety. Although it
may sound simplistic, the best thing you can do when you feel
unfocused is to breathe deeply for a few minutes. Oxygen travels to
your brain and you literally become smarter. Take a short break. It
helps to clear your head and return to the task at hand with a
renewed sense of purpose.

Feeling overwhelmed generally means you are not focused on
the task at hand but are worrying about the larger project as a
whole. Whatever the project or issue, the only way to handle feeling
overwhelmed is to break down the project, task or issue into
manageable pieces. This can be done with any project and it must
be your first order of business.

For example, if a senior attorney has asked you to review and
comment on a large document, the best thing to do is not
necessarily to start from the beginning of the document and work
through the end. First make sure you thoroughly understand the
transaction. This is the time to ask questions. Make a short list of
issues that come to mind and try and map out the transaction with
arrows showing where the consideration is flowing among the
parties. Then, ask the senior partner to clarify any questions you
may have, including about what type of deliverable he or she
expects from you, and in what time frame. Ask them if they have a
sample of what they would you like you to produce. Only when you
thoroughly understand the transaction, can you even begin to start
working on the project. Begin by breaking down the document into
sections. Generally, there will be an introductory section setting
forth the parties and summarizing the purpose of the agreement, a
definitions section, a rights and covenants sections, a
representations and warranties section, an indemnification section
and a miscellaneous section. Review the introductory section to
make sure it is consistent with your understanding of the
transaction and then review the rights and covenants section.
Prioritize any and all of your work this way. Even if you are handed
several boxes of documents to review for a deposition, spend some
time in the beginning evaluating what is in the boxes first. The most
important document for you to review could very well be in the very
last box when you may be strapped for time to complete the project.

Try and break down the project by the amount of time you have to
complete it. If you have three days to review a 60 page document,
try and allot a proportionate amount of time to each section of the
document leaving yourself enough time to type up and review your
work at the end. If you seem to be getting stuck on one section,
after the allotted time, move on and then return to that section later.

Show the senior attorney a draft or outline of your work product
to make sure that it is in acceptable form. It is a lot easier to do this
in the beginning than receive negative comments at the end when
you are the likely to be bumping up against a client deadline. If you
see that you will not meet a deadline, let the senior attorney or client
know as soon as possible. Ask them for help. Do not wait until the
end. It is a lot better to ask your questions while you are working on
the project than to wait until the end.

If you make a mistake, you need only correct it. Beating yourself up
about it does absolutely nothing to help fix the problem. Besides,
most of your best learning will come from your mistakes. You
are a junior attorney and inevitably you will make some mistakes.
Frankly, you will continue to make mistakes throughout your career.
However, most successful lawyers have developed good crisis
management skills.

Improve Your Correspondence Style

Attorney-client correspondence implicates ethical
and discovery rules, each of which subject is too
broad for the
purposes of this article. We will limit ourselves to a
few key pointers regarding the proper drafting of
internal and
external communications. Your choice of
correspondence style should be made with at least
the same degree of
attention that you select your suit each morning. It
contributes to your electronic image in the same
way that your
attire contributes to your image when you are
meeting a client in person.

Stylistically, it is important to maintain a certain
degree of formality in all correspondence with the
client, regardless
of whether it involves paper or electronic delivery.
Additionally, some firms and law departments
maintain style and form books that should be
followed with certain types of communications or
certain forms of documents. Make sure
you familiarize yourself with these requirements.

The art of business correspondence has suffered
somewhat with the introduction of email while the
liability issues
for lawyers and their clients have increased. While
email conveniently and efficiently replaces a
number of conversations between attorney and
client, it is nonetheless a discoverable and
sometimes perpetual record for all to see.
Therefore, use caution in writing your emails and as
a Junior Associate, make sure you understand your
Firm’s or Company’s email policy as it regards
clients. Also, make sure that the Senior Attorney
has reviewed all material client communications
and has approved them before they are sent to the
client. It is generally a good policy to copy the Senior
Attorney on all client correspondence, whether or not
sent via email.

Tips on Selecting a Mentor and Being a
Mentee/Protege

Identify role models that exhibit personal and professional
characteristics that you admire.
When you do find your target Mentor, you may want to initially
make contact without specifically demanding they become
your Mentor. Let them get to know you and your goals. Most
successful people who describe their Mentors do not
describe formalized corporate mentoring programs but
rather kind individuals they encountered throughout their
career who offered up guidance at critical junctures.
Be open to mentoring advice from all sources, including
your Secretary and Staff.
Be considerate of a potential Mentor’s time and availability.
Be gracious and thankful.
Evaluate the Mentor’s advice as it applies to your goals and
ideals.
Have reasonable expectations of the relationship/advice.
You still have to do the work yourself.
Even the worst Mentor has something to teach you.
Be the Mentor to others that you would like to have for
yourself. Articulating your pearls of wisdom for others
reinforces those messages for yourself.