Page 5 - First Year Associates

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First-Year Associates Handbook | Tuesday, OcTOber 13, 2015 | S5
urge to volunteer to cancel it, shorten it, or work during it unnecessarily. it will defeat the purpose of taking the vacation to begin with.
3. Do not rely on anyone else to mold your career.
entering a law firm setting as a junior associate is invariably intimidating. The pace moves fast, assignments become overwhelm- ing quickly, and everything and everyone is somewhat new. This is not the kind of envi- ronment that naturally fosters bold and self-assured behavior, especially for young associates who went straight to law school from college and lack experience. as much as one would prefer to rely on senior associ- ates and partners for guidance and direction, andaskeyasitistofindagoodmentor,itis incumbent upon associates to take charge of our own careers and mold our own paths.
Whether assignments are arriving too fast, too slow, or are simply uninteresting, associ- ates are responsible for managing their own workflow and case mix. When overwhelmed, inform the colleagues with whom you are working of your time constraints and man- age their expectations accordingly and in advance, if possible. as difficult as it may be to decline assignments, declining an assign- ment due to lack of capacity is preferable to submitting substandard work. it takes a long time to develop a reputation for being a bright and reliable associate; it takes much less to ruin a good reputation, or to develop a reputation for producing second-rate work.
if things are slow, there is no reason not to actively seek out work. use the lull in work- flow as an opportunity to work with a new associate or partner and learn from a new perspective. Or use the opportunity to seek out a different area of law or facet of your department that might be interesting or chal- lenging for you.
as a young associate, it is essential to keep in mind that no one else is responsible for the trajectory of our development and career. at the end of the day, we are ultimately account- able for the work we accept, the work we produce, and the work we do not bother to seek out.
4. Do not underestimate the pitfalls of technology, as inconvenient as it may be.
The emergence of the Millennial into the working world has brought a new attitude toward technology, marketing, and profession- al decorum to the workplace. To be certain, technological advances improve efficiency and accuracy; however, there are undoubt- edly downsides to technology which junior associates may not consider. The dominance of the internet, which Millennials have come to take for granted, can generate problems both for clients and attorneys. as a result, junior associates may need to rewire some of the habits ingrained from years of reliance on the ease and immediacy of the technol- ogy our society has grown accustomed to. a great place to start is to consider picking up the telephone.
everything in writing, including email cor- respondence, has the potential to be discover- able. This is a fact worth considering when deciding whether to conduct a conversation over the phone or by email. Furthermore, emails can be forwarded without the sender’s knowledge and recipients may be blind cop- ied, both of which could result in the waiver of attorney-client privilege. emails should be formal in tone and content, and should never be used to complain about or discuss topics you would not want circulated to a client or a managing partner.
also, consider the preferences of the part- ner and the client when deciding the best form in which to communicate. an email may be easier, but going the extra mile to call a client or a partner who prefers to communicate via telephone shows dedication and perceptive- ness, which can go a long way in forging trust and building a rapport.
5. Do not forget that your primary job as a junior associate is to pay attention to detail. Being a junior associate can be a stressful and demanding balancing act, requiring the juggling of numerous assignments, partner preferences, new areas of research, efficiency, and billable hours. The junior associates who think they have all the answers never do, and the junior associates who know enough to know how much they do not know must battle the overwhelming enormity of what needs to be learned. But the fact of the matter is that partners do not expect junior associ-
ates to know everything about the law; they need junior associates to pay attention to detail, and that is something junior associates should have the capacity to do exceedingly well all of the time.
at the very least, junior associates are a safety net, providing a last line of defense for often harried and hurried partners. as such, we calendar important dates; remind partners about upcoming deadlines and appearances and ensuring preparedness; master the facts for each piece of litigation or transaction; certify that grammar, spelling, and formatting of every document is pristine; and generally care about getting things right. From naming documents the way partners prefer, to figur- ing out if partners use their middle initial in a signature block, to pulling information from all sources possible (the file, document management systems, administrative assis- tants) before resorting to asking the partner for information, these efforts are examples of what junior associates can do, and have no excuse not to do, consistently and accurately.
all attorneys make mistakes; it goes with- out saying new associates will stumble. The benefit to these examples is that they are squarely within each associate’s control. so as you bumble along navigating the trials and tribulations that accompany being an associate at a firm, keep these suggestions in mind. getting these minor tips right is a solid step toward building the foundation for a successful career.
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