So you did well in undergrad.  You survived law school and perhaps even did well therein.  Now what?

Welcome to the practice of law - as an associate!  When you realize that the last three years of your life could have simply been condensed in that 6-week course you called bar review.  Fortunately you do not have time to be angry - you barely have time to eat.  Welcome to life as an associate!

Associate Work-Life Tip: Keys to the Perception of A Busy Day and Long Work Hours

 

Ok, we know there is so much to do to advance in your firm.  From blowing away your target hours to assisting in bringing the rain.  But here is one you may overlook: Do not fall victim to the sin of thinking if you hit your hours you are insulated from a watchful eye.

 

In short, even if you are on pace for the year you can still get dinged at review time if you arrive late or leave early every night.  Also, sometimes it’s merely hanging around the break room or in hallways too often being chatty.  Now, what constitutes late and early differs from market to market.  But here are two tips which will help in your perception in the office if properly employed:

 

Arrive Early / Leave Late:  I know, I know.  This strategy would seem to be as axiomatic as playing the stock market with a strategy to buy low and sell high.  But you would be surprised at how often this simple notion is overlooked.  Associates, complacent with their hourly production for the day, leave the office.  In doing so they commit the sin of leaving before their partner.  Trust me, the associate may not think it is a big deal, but every night as the partner looks out his or her door at their employee walking out the door before them they think to themselves – could be working harder.

 

So what do you do?  Simple.  Figure out when your partner(s) arrive and leave and make sure you arrive a little earlier than they do every morning and leave a few minutes after they do every night.

 

But wait a minute, you say, what about the errands I need to run?  What about socialization.  Here’s the ugly truth.  No one generally keeps track of what you do during the day – just when you come in and leave.  So get in early.  Get some work done.  Then go to the gym.  Have a long lunch with your friends.  Pick up the dry cleaning, etc.  Just make sure this all gets done by mid-afternoon so you can be back in your office for the final hours of the day.

 

When your partner arrives – you are there working hard.  When he or she leaves at night – you are still hard at work.  Simple enough.

 

Flustered = Busy: Here’s another one – try looking flustered to look busy even if you are not.  OK, so you have just finished up updating your Face Book page and work is a little slow today.  Don’t let others know that by twiddling your thumbs or chatting at the proverbial water cooler.  These things get noticed.

 

Rather, the emotion of looking flustered is usually equated with persons who are busy.  So after you update those personal pages and while you are waiting for that big project from a partner do a quick walk around the office and put a mildly flustered look on your face – like you are thinking heavily about some vexing legal issue.  Again, this won’t put billables in your column, but those partners will see you “working” in your head and love it.  For added effect you can even go into the library in your firm and flip through some of the reporters.  The old timers really love this because they often don’t understand that computer gizmo thing we now use to research and still have their secretaries taking short hand.

 

Good luck and happy billing.

 

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Hung by My Partner - Washington, D.C. Associate

Think sailors have a monopoly on foul language.  Well, we know better.  But having been both a sailor and now lawyer I can tell you some of the things I have heard come out of lawyers' mouths would make a sailor blush.

In my first trial with one of our head partners I had the distinguished opportunity to cross examine a seasoned union representative concerning certain aspects of our case.  Well, to say it nicely, the cross-exam was a bludgeoning.  The union representative kicked my butt.  He talked so much and so freely you could literally add the decimal points to the verdict with every word flowing from his mouth.

Well, being inexperienced in such matters, my partner asked me to hang with our client during lunch while he prepared for what now would need to be the cross-examination of his life following my, err, performance.

During lunchtime I could not leave bad-enough alone.  I spoke candidly with the client believing him to be a confidant and not the client.  I know, I know.  Well, I uttered perhaps the worst thing ever uttered to a client: "Man did that cross examination go badly.  The only way it could have gone worse is if I pooped in my pants."  Yes, I said it.  Stupid, admittedly.  I had just never been with a client before and did not realize no matter how bad it gets you always put on your best face.

Well, I did not see the partner again in private until the close of trial for the day.  When the client left for his train, the jury was dismissed, and the judge off the bench, my partner grabbed me by the tie, wrapped it around his fist, yanked me over to him in his chair, and said "If you ever say something that stupid to a client again I will take you by your tie, wrap it around the rafter up there, and hang you till you f*cking die!"  His profanity laced tirade continued until the courtroom clerk finally said we had to go. 

Did I deserve it - yup.  But if you think law is all about bow ties and enlightened discussion ...

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Don't Be Handsy in Jail - Arlington, VA

When I was a new associate in a small general practice in Arlington, Virginia I accompanied my partner to the local lock up to meet with a client that had been accused of some violent felony.

Being a proper young man I shook hands with the client when we met and it did not even cross my mind that my boss did not.

As we were leaving my partner whispered in my ear "You may have noticed they don't have toilet paper or a sink in here.  You may not want to shake hands with them in the near future."  Ooooooooo... yuck!   As I washed the skin from my hand later that day a chalked up another lesson learned in the practice of law.

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