Page 11 - First Year Associates

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First-Year Associates Handbook | Tuesday, OcTOber 13, 2015 | S11
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cross-selling and effective sharing of best practices and best ideas. silo practice areas can also seriously impact the com- pensation and upward mobility of younger lawyers working in them. For example, a practice area like estate and family law may be strategically important for a firm but is unlikely to match the revenues generated by larger corporate practices. as a result, younger attorneys in the two areas may have different compensation and promo- tion potentials.
• Have rigid layers between the various levels of lawyers from new recruits on up to senior partners. everyone has their “prop- er” place in the pecking order, which only inhibits the free flow of information and important mentoring.
• Poorly utilize their support staff so some are overworked (or believe they are) and others appear to be under utilized. This can create social friction at the support staff level, which can spill over to impact the lawyers, particularly the younger ones still lacking internal clout.
• With multiple office locations can have these challenges compounded with an “us versus them” mentality often developing among the various offices.
young lawyers coming out of law school or making an early change in firms have a responsibility for positively impacting the culture of the firms they join. here are some how-tos:
• Start saying hello every day to everyone with whom you come into contact at the firm. start with the receptionist. he or she is every bit a member of the firm as you are.
• Ask various members of the firm, including senior partners, to have coffee or lunch with you periodically. reasonable professionals will respond well to the sug- gestion.
• Say “thanks” whenever someone in the firm is helpful. it is amazing how seldom people take the time for this simple gesture.
• Do outstanding client work on time. having happy clients is for sure one way to add positively to the culture of a law firm.
• Do an excellent job developing relation- ships with the client. you can take pressure off the senior lawyer responsible for the
client if you excel at developing your own successful client relationship. in today’s service economy, clients have choices of lawyers to work with. One agreement, when all is said and done, can look pretty much like any other agreement. Make certain cli- ents want to work with you because of the relationships you develop.
• Look for other ways to add value to the firm’s culture. Volunteer to help on some of the firm’s special initiatives. don’t wait to be asked.
• Spend quality time with the other young attorneys in the firm. help develop among them a sense of team. it might even be a good idea to periodically bring a bunch of the younger attorneys together for a morning coffee discussion of careers at the firm.
Work at making the other junior attorneys in the firm feel like they are important and truly belong.
• Share with the other members of the firm. share your recommended favorite restaurants, books, wines, and weekend getaways. Become a “go-to” person in the firm. Be recognized as someone who is con- stantly looking to add value while growing sound professional relationships.
• Even though young attorneys work crazy hours, they still need to commit to spending time successfully recruiting new business to the firm. Obviously bringing in important new revenue sources can have an important impact on a firm’s culture.
• The only real way for lawyers to control their futures is by being able to generate clients and build a book of business. i have seen too many lawyers fail to realize this until it is too late and they get caught in a cutback at the firm.
• Cultures take a hit when resentment starts to build over attorneys who may do excellent work and receive attractive compensations but are not going the extra mile to help drive the growth of the firm.
To thrive in the future, young lawyers need to face up to the importance of being motivated and successful at bringing in new clients and new assignments.
They also need to understand the impor- tant role they have at contributing to a healthy firm culture.
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