AttorneyMentoring.com Junior Attorneys

Dealing with Less Than Exciting Work Assignments

Whether you are asked to review boxes of documents, attend a calendar call or send out courier packages, you will likely be
spending quite a bit of your time in your first few years doing everything but what you thought lawyering was all about. Your
ideas about being a lawyer may have developed in law school or earlier and were probably very different than the real thing.
Well, here you are so how can you stay motivated?

The first thing you can do is appreciate that you are learning whether or not you realize it. Reviewing documents comes in
very handy later on when you are the one who has to draft them. Sending out courier packages is useful when your
assistant calls in sick and you have a deadline to meet. Attending a calendar call involves quite a bit of courtroom
knowledge, even if it is merely the knowledge of finding the right room or gleaning which excuses work with Judges and
which do not.

It is important to realize that with every profession, there is some degree of grunt work at first. The key is to perform it well
and move on. Your attitude and abilities are being reviewed regardless of whether you are performing junior or senior
level work. More importantly, it is unlikely that you will ever be given more substantive work if you do not demonstrate a
willingness and capacity to complete each task or project presented to you, regardless of how menial. Avoid complaining
about it and complete the work as efficiently as possible.

A primary ingredient to a successful legal career is to maintain a positive attitude at all times: with your boss, your peers,
your support staff, the client and any service providers. If you managed to get through the interview process and get hired,
you have been judged to have the credentials to do the work. Now, to a great degree, it is about whether people want to
work with you. Your job is to make people want to work with you, whether they be partners, peers, clients, or support staff.
Everyone is important to helping you advance in your career. Remember that your brilliantly researched and written memo
is useless if your Secretary types it incorrectly or the Messenger fails to deliver it on time. Respect their work and they will
support you in untold ways.

When you are working on matters that are less than exciting, try and focus on one aspect of the project that helps you learn
something new. This could be knowledge that you receive directly or indirectly. It could relate to process over substance or
be about people skills or style. Sitting in a meeting while senior lawyers engage in a negotiation should be a learning
experience. Focus on their style, their language, their relationship with the client and opposing counsel. Watching how the
Senior Partner manages his or her Staff is an important skill that helped him or her to succeed. When proofreading a letter
to a client, pay attention to the format and writing style. Pay attention to presentation in all its forms and those dull moments
might just come in handy one day.

Keep copies of form documents and procedures as soon as you are handed documents of any kind. Delete the
references to clients and specific identifying information. Start creating binders or computer files of important types of
documents for yourself. In a very short while, you will have a library of material to support your practice. Perhaps your firm
maintains a form file. Spend time reviewing the material in the file.

With a positive attitude, you will quickly become the go-to junior associate and will likely attract more fulfilling work as time
goes by. If you find yourself not advancing beyond the grunt work stage, seek out senior associates and partners who
you would like to work with and find the right opportunity to ask to work with them on any project that might need help
with. Don’t be pushy … merely indicate your willingness to help and learn. But, make sure that you have the time to work
on their project before you offer your services up. Always express clearly what your availability and other projects are.

Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes a junior associate can make is not to be clear about the number of projects they are
working on and what other deadlines they face when a senior attorney gives them an assignment. Always be clear about
your current work load before accepting any new assignments although use your judgment before turning down an
assignment. Let the assigning attorney know about any conflicts. Generally, communicating about the existence of a
conflict before it unfolds allows for some flexibility.