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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Transform your legal education into a successful and fulfilling legal career In How to Be a Lawyer: The Path from Law School to Success, a team of veteran lawyers and entrepreneurs delivers an eye-opening discussion of how to translate your years of training and education into a running start in the world of practice. The book bridges the gap between law school and practice, whether you hope to be a big firm transactional attorney, a solo criminal lawyer, work for the government or any other legal profession. You'll discover how you can use what you learned in law school and how you can develop the real skills you'll need as you deal with clients and colleagues. The authors explain what your professors won't tell you in law school and what employers and clients will actually expect from you. You'll also find: * Case studies and guest chapters describing the transition to major areas of law and how it can and should affect your law school decision making * Expert advice on making your first job a successful one * Guidance on how to avoid the most common career pitfalls and client mistakes * Unfiltered opinions from clients about what they really think about lawyers An ideal resource for aspiring and current law students and early career lawyers, How to Be a Lawyer is the practical blueprint you need to build your legal career from scratch.
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Seitenzahl: 542
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
Why We Wrote This Book
CHAPTER 1: The Divide Between Law School and Lawyering
CHAPTER 2: The Core Concepts of Lawyering
Empathy
Listen First, Talk Second
Ask Questions
Always (Usually) Give Advice
CHAPTER 3: Understanding the Importance of Law School Rankings on Your Future
CHAPTER 4: Classic Coursework (What Is It Good For?)
Torts
Contracts
Civil Procedure
Property
Criminal Law
Constitutional Law
Legal Methods/Writing/Research
Evidence
Ethics and Professional Responsibility
CHAPTER 5: Choosing Proper Electives
CHAPTER 6: What Should You Get Out of Law School?
CHAPTER 7: Be a Fiduciary
Principle 1: Know If You're Acting as a Fiduciary and on Whose Behalf
Principle 2: Slow Down
Principle 3: Seek Advice and Help
Principle 4: Always Put Your Clients' Interests Ahead of Your Own
CHAPTER 8: A Short Primer on Negotiations
Negotiation Tactics
What Really Matters?
Preparing for the Negotiation
A Brief Introduction to Game Theory
Negotiating Win-Win Agreements
Negotiating Other Games
Negotiating Styles and Approaches
Collaborative Negotiation Versus Walk-Away Threats
Building Leverage and Getting to Yes
Notes
CHAPTER 9: Preparing for the Job Hunt
You on Paper
Social Media
Telling the Story
Networking into Employers
Mindset
Career Placement Services
CHAPTER 10: The Bar Exam
CHAPTER 11: You Got the Job—There Is No Time for Rest
CHAPTER 12: The Fourteen Commandmentsfor New Lawyers (Okay, How about“Strong Suggestions”?)
1: Have a Learning Mindset
2: Rely On but Mistrust Forms
3: Beware of the Foggy Project Trap
4: Never Consider Anything That Goes to a Senior Colleague or Client to Be a “Draft”
5: Be More Organized Than Others
6: Take Ownership Without Request
7: Invest in Your Management Skills
8: Have a Three- to Five-Year Horizon
9: Plan to Develop Near-Term and Long-Term Advantages
10: Understand How to Best Use and Foster Mentor Relationships
11: Flatten Hierarchies
12: Own Your Mistakes
13: Know What a Junior Lawyer's Value Is
14: Keep Your Own List
Bonus Commandment for Those Working with Contracts!
CHAPTER 13: Common Mistakes New Lawyers Make That Limit Careers and Anger Clients
Forgetting You Are in the Services Industry
Getting Frustrated and Thinking People Are Idiots
Having Loose Lips
Assuming Each State Has the Same Laws
Treating Administrative Staff Poorly
Having a Sexual Relationship at Work
Being Inconsiderate of Others' Calendars
Forgetting You Are the Leverage
Forgetting Who the Client Is
Assuming Other Lawyers Are Good People
Shortchanging Research
Failing to Understand Basic Intellectual Property Law
Talking to Another Attorney's Client Without the Attorney
Screwing Up Billing (If You Bill Clients by the Hour)
CHAPTER 14: Relationships, Difficult Personalities, and Being the Calmest Person in the Room
Challenging Personalities
The Lawyer's Job When It Comes to Challenging Personalities
General Approaches to Managing Challenging Personalities
Sampling of Challenging Personalities and Tips for Dealing with Them
Parting Thoughts
Note
CHAPTER 15: Understanding Current Technology
CHAPTER 16: Words from the Wise
Guest Chapter 1
Guest Chapter 2
Guest Chapter 3
Guest Chapter 4
Guest Chapter 5
Guest Chapter 6
Guest Chapter 7
Guest Chapter 8
Guest Chapter 9
Guest Chapter 10
Guest Chapter 11
Guest Chapter 12
Guest Chapter 13
Guest Chapter 14
Guest Chapter 15
Guest Chapter 16
Guest Chapter 17
Guest Chapter 18
Guest Chapter 19
Guest Chapter 20
Guest Chapter 21
Guest Chapter 22
Guest Chapter 23
Guest Chapter 24
Notes
CHAPTER 17: What Clients Want
What Clients Liked
What Clients Didn't Like
CHAPTER 18: Law School as a “Second Career”
Entrance into Law School
Getting a Job
CHAPTER 19: How to Be a Happy Lawyer
Have an Identity Outside of Being a Lawyer
Take Pride in Your Work and the Impact It Has on Others
Keep a Continually Learning Mindset
Don't Get Too Wrapped Up in Your Work
Manage Your Stress
Watch Your Drug Consumption
Never Compromise Your Value System
Don't Forget to Laugh and Celebrate the Wins
Internalize the Losses, But Don't Dwell on Them
Work with Clients You Really Like
Have a Great Surrounding Team
Set Boundaries for Your Personal Life
What to Do When You Are Not Happy
CHAPTER 20: What If You Don't Want to Be a Lawyer Anymore?
CHAPTER 21: Let's Sum Up
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 14
FIGURE 14.1 Challenging Personality Traits Belonging to Each Challenging Per...
Guide
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Index
Wiley End User License Agreement
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How to Be a Lawyer
THE PATH FROM LAW SCHOOL TO SUCCESS
Jason MendelsonAlex Paul
Copyright © 2022 by Jason Mendelson and Alex Paul. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:
ISBN: 9781119835813 (Hardback)
ISBN: 9781119835837 (ePDF)
ISBN: 9781119835820 (epub)
COVER DESIGN: PAUL McCARTHY
COVER PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE AUTHORS/CONTRIBUTORS
Jason would like to dedicate this book to his wife and best friend, Jenn. Her love, support, and encouragement are the best gifts a guy could get.
Alex would like to dedicate this book to his wife, Carolyn, who supported him in law school and has been by his side through good times and bad, always a loving partner and best friend.
About the Authors
Jason Mendelson ([email protected], @jasonmendelson) is a former venture capitalist, co-founder of a technology company, lawyer, and a software engineer.
Jason is a founding partner of Foundry Group, a Boulder, Colorado–based venture capital firm that focuses on making technology investments and identifying and supporting the next generation of venture fund managers.
In addition, Jason is a co-founder of the startup SRS Acquiom and was a managing director and general counsel for Mobius Venture Capital. Prior to this, Jason was an attorney with Cooley LLP. Early in his career, Jason was a software engineer at Accenture.
Now Jason spends his time as an up-and-coming musician (under his stage name Jace Allen) and author. Jason also is involved in several criminal justice reform initiatives.
Jason is a co-founder of Breakthrough and is on the board of the Leeds Business School at University of Colorado. Jason holds a B.A. in Economics and a J.D., both from the University of Michigan.
Alex Paul ([email protected]) is a lawyer-entrepreneur reimagining wealth management and philanthropy for himself and others.
Alex founded Wealthgate Trust Company (a Nevada-registered trust company) and Wealthgate Family Office (a SEC-registered investment advisor in Boulder, Colorado) to provide bespoke trust administration and independent investment management solutions for ultra-high-net-worth families seeking to protect and sustain generational wealth so they may achieve their financial and philanthropic goals over decades and generations.
Inspired to redefine how philanthropy is implemented in family offices, Alex co-founded Giving Place, a technological solution that navigates the challenges of large-scale family philanthropy. Giving Place harnesses technology to generate transparency, efficiency, and measurable impact for philanthropic families.
Alex is also treasurer/director of LENA, an operating nonprofit that seeks to close the gap between haves and have nots by using technology to improve early childhood language development.
Having managed the Boulder, Colorado, office of Harrison & Held, he is now of counsel. His practice focused on estate planning, charitable giving, technology, and other business matters. He previously served as outside corporate counsel for Renaissance Learning, a public K-12 educational software company. Alex holds a B.A. from Lawrence University and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, and has served on the NU Law Board since 2004. After graduating from NU Law, he served as Judicial Clerk to Justice Jon P. Wilcox of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and entered private practice in Wisconsin before moving to Colorado in 2003.
Acknowledgments
We wouldn't have been able to write this book without the able assistance of many people.
First, to all our guest authors: you made this book. We learned more from your chapters than even we could have imagined, and many of your stories gave us the opportunity to get to know you better. Thank you, friends.
A special shoutout to Dave Beran, who spearheaded the chapter on being the calmest person in the room. Dave, you've always been that person to us and we thank you for your time and wisdom. And thanks for the proofreading and editing. You are good stuff.
Jason would individually like the thank the University of Colorado Law School, and especially Brad Bernthal, for letting Jason teach all these years. Those interactions with students were the inspiration for this book. Also, Jason would be remiss if he didn't thank his former firm, Cooley LLP, and all of the friends and colleagues he has met along the way during his legal career.
Alex would like to specifically thank his parents, Terry and Judi, who inspired him to go to law school and become an entrepreneur, while providing incredible opportunities. He'd like to thank his children, who keep him excited about building for the future. He'd also like to thank Lou Harrison, co-founder of Harrison & Held, who taught him how to practice law with integrity and humor. Finally, he would like to thank Northwestern School of Law and its leadership team for a great legal education combined with amazing opportunities for practical experience.
This book wouldn't be possible without the risk-taking nature of our publisher Bill Falloon over at Wiley. He gave Jason a shot with his first book Venture Deals: How to Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist and for some reason decided to double down there. Thanks Bill.
We've met a lot of lawyers and clients during our professional journeys. Some great, some decent, some terrible, but all important in educating us along our winding paths. You all taught us (whether you knew it or not!) in ways we could have never learned on our own. Thank you. Yes, even to some of you jerks out there.
Why We Wrote This Book
This book was written by 28 people who went to law school. We are of different ages, sexes, races, and went to law schools that rank in the hundreds to the top five. We have had jobs ranging from general counsels of billion-dollar companies to hanging out our own shingles right after law school. Collectively, we practice in almost every area of the law.
Despite our diversity, we share the strong opinion that most law schools fail to prepare students for the real world of actual lawyering. Law schools are great at graduating students and terrible at graduating lawyers. We were all frustrated in our progression from students to practitioners and relived those frustrations when we hired, worked with, mentored, and interacted with others coming out of law school.
Jason Mendelson, one of the lead authors of this book, has been a lawyer, software engineer, startup co-founder, venture capitalist, and worked with and hired hundreds of lawyers in all shapes and sizes. He has had good experiences, bad experiences, and, like many in the legal profession, a long memory. Maybe most importantly, Jason taught as an adjunct professor for a decade at the University of Colorado Law School. In that decade he spent as much time mentoring law students on how to best transition to the real world as he did imparting legal and business knowledge. Ironically (or maybe not so), most of the professional academics in the law school did little to nothing to aid in student transition. Even worse, some openly were not fans of Jason's pragmatic approach.
Alex Paul, the other lead author, has worked in law and business for over 20 years, covering a range of legal specialties from litigation, intellectual property, corporate and securities law, nonprofit law, tax, and estate planning. In business, both as corporate counsel and an entrepreneur, Alex has supervised leading attorneys in all those specialties as well as others such as water law, real estate, and banking law. Alex has seen a trap that too many smart and sophisticated lawyers fall into: myopia. That is, attorneys suffer personally and professionally by being siloed early on because they specialize in one area of the law and one type of client shortly after law school. Because of that, they unfortunately view every problem through the lens of their specialty and become limited in their ability to do broader yet necessary things like serve as a true fiduciary, run their law firm successfully, or simply be happy and thoughtful people. Given that law schools don't teach the subject “after law school,” this book is an attempt to solve this problem. Alex doesn't want to see the next generation of lawyers make the same mistakes as others in the past.
To be clear—this book is not intended to be a book about law school bashing. Law schools aren't bad. Rather, they are archaic institutions still believing that a student goes to law school, takes the classic curriculum, and a job magically appears at the end of the scholastic journey. Or maybe if your circumstances are a bit more challenging, you can use the school's career placement center's assistance. Perhaps this was truer 30 years ago, but these days only a small handful of law students win this lottery.
Given the changing nature of job discovery for law students, it is even more important they “hit the ground running” when they do find that right opportunity. Yes, there will be a plethora of statutes, regulations, tactics, strategies, client management, and other important concepts to learn, but stepping into a new career completely blind is a recipe to, at best, frustrate your employer and clients and to, at worst, be shown the door quickly.
To add to the problem, the stakes for post-graduation success have never been higher. Every year, about 35,000 people graduate from U.S. law schools. On average, these individuals have racked up close to $150,000 in debt for this privilege. Across the country, only about 80% of these people find a job within six months and nearly 10% never find a job as a lawyer. Some estimates say that average yearly turnover is between 15% and 30% and interviews with hiring partners at major law firms say it now takes two to three years on average to properly train people coming out of law school so that they may actually be additive to their firms. More than half of the junior lawyers do not keep their jobs. This attrition and turnover collectively costs firms about $9 billion each year. These statistics are unlike any other professional degree where graduates transition much more easily from school to the real world.
In our research, we found no class, book, webinar, website, or other source of material that specifically or effectively explains how to be successful with a law school degree. And yet, the problem of transition from classroom to practice is huge. This book aims to fix this problem.
We wrote this book with three audiences in mind. Obviously, the largest target audience is people currently in law school. We recommend reading this book as early in your law school career as possible and refreshing your recollection as you narrow down what your intended career path may look like. We also wrote this book, however, with the pre-law student in mind as well. The practice of law has changed greatly over the past few decades. The type of person who succeeds has changed, as well. No longer are grades, knowledge, and tactics enough to get by. We'll say this many times in the book: great lawyers must be people persons. Being a lawyer is service business. To all of you thinking about law school out there: this book will give you great insight into what the practice of law is really about. Lastly, there will be folks who've graduated and stumble upon this book, as well. We've made this book relevant to you, too.
We worked to write this book as simply and efficiently as possible, as well. We are all still scarred from the amount of text we unnecessarily read while in law school. We empathize firsthand and don't want to add to that burden. If we don't have something important to say, we won't make you read it.
The first part of this book lays out our theories of the case. The second part is the pragmatic section where we'll go out on a limb and give you concrete advice in what to do and what not to do. The last part of the book will wrap up and apply what we've discussed to the real world. Along the way we hope to make you more thoughtful and a bit uncomfortable. We believe that what we've put on these pages can start you on the path to becoming a great (and hopefully happy) lawyer.
CHAPTER 1The Divide Between Law School and Lawyering
There is very little in common between law school and lawyering. Law schools are great at teaching case law and theory, but generally poor in how to apply either to real-world situations, as almost all law school situations involve a courtroom. Courtroom situations are by far the least common situation for most lawyers. Also, law schools teach nothing about how to work with clients outside of a narrowly tailored ethics class, which, while vital, is only a small part of the picture. Mock trials are just that: mock. And for those of us who made the switch from mock to real, we realized very quickly that life outside the four walls of law school is a completely different beast.
Why aren't people skills, psychology, and negotiations mandatory subjects? This isn't computer science. Remember this: lawyers are called “counselors” for a reason. Any good attorney is as much an armchair support system as they are a statute-application machine. Lawyering is a people business. It's about listening, empathizing, synthesizing information, and problem solving. None of these things are taught in law schools to the extent needed once you are a bar-carrying legal eagle.
This isn't to say law schools are useless or bad. In fact, a good law school can teach you a skill set that is incredibly valuable for both legal and nonlegal careers. We assume that this skill set is also highly valuable in illegal professions, but none of us have particular experience there. If you are struggling with the definitions of “legal,” “nonlegal,” and “illegal” then you either haven't gotten to law school yet or you did poorly on the logic games part of the LSAT.
We believe that most law schools hold a unique distinction of teaching three years of valuable academic knowledge with almost zero practical knowledge. We can't think of another professional graduate school that leaves one so practically ill prepared. Think about your friends who go to medical school, obtain a master's in social work, or get an M.B.A. Okay, just kidding about the M.B.A. But otherwise, these friends walk right out of their graduate program into the world and work. Sure, it takes some time to get up to speed. But lawyers? Even in the best-case scenario, partners at law firms claim that it takes two to three years before an associate is truly ready to practice (and in many cases even longer before they're allowed to speak directly with clients). Note, however, that these same partners have no issue charging their clients for your multi-year apprenticeship.
Why is this the case? Simply put, professional graduate schools other than law schools employ teachers and professors who have actual and bona fide real-world experience. Whereas other professional graduate schools celebrate individuals who have succeeded in their real-life professions, most law schools have a bit of underlying loathing to those professors who have street cred. In fact, most of the professors who have real lawyering experience are relegated to lecturers, adjunct, or secondary professorship roles.
This problem will never go away. Innovation in law schools is about as likely as innovation in government, prison systems, and healthcare administration. These are caste systems with generations of built-in bureaucracy and rules, and in the case of academia, tenure. When one considers the real overlord of law schools in the United States, then innovation prospects dim considerably. Who is the overlord, you may ask? Simple—it's the U.S. News & World Report rankings. And how much innovation do you think they foster when they are still counting physical library space and volumes in their rankings? Hello, the Internet is calling. It's real, not a fad, and we think it'll catch on. Perhaps that physical library space could be better used.
So, we now come to the “divide,” which is the reason we wrote this book. The gap, if you will, is created between law school and the point at which you actually begin serving a client one day. When we use the word “divide” in this book we are actually talking about two divides. The first is the gap you need to fill when working with clients. The second is the divide existing between you and your superiors at whatever job you take. You can disregard this second divide if you graduate law school and hang up your own shingle, but solo practice is not an option for most right away. (As an aside, one of the guest chapters later is from two people who went straight from law school to starting their own firm.)
Let's start with an example pertaining to something that all lawyers and clients are acutely aware of: money. We'll use an example at one end of the spectrum, but it applies to the majority of lawyers starting their practice.
Imagine that Janice is the CEO of a new startup in Chicago, Illinois. She is 30-something, just raised $750,000 from friends and family, and has a great new idea in the natural foods space. She is experienced and has had two previously successful companies. She's also smart so she hires a well-known and reputable law firm to represent her and the company. You are a first-year associate at the firm and have been there for two months.
Janice and her co-founder Jimi each make $100,000 a year. Your starting salary is $185,000 fresh out of school. You went straight from undergrad to law school, so this is your first real job. Your billing rate is $525 an hour. Note that this salary and billing rate isn't even top of market as of 2022 when this book was published. The partner you work for bills out at $1,500 an hour and the result is that Janice prefers to call you over the partner.
Janice calls you wondering if you could advise her on whether she should issue options or restricted stock units to her first couple of employees. Being so green, you have absolutely no clue what she is talking about. You scribble something down and tell her you'll get back to her shortly. She's mildly frustrated that it will take another call to resolve her question, as she's busy running the company, but asks you to call her as soon as possible.
You do a Google search to figure out what the terms mean, and you set off to the partner's office to ask them their advice on how to answer Janice's question. Ten to 15 minutes later you are back at your office, call Janice and give her the advice.
(Shameless plug: if you are thinking about going into startup counseling, consider buying Jason's book Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist, Fourth Edition, available wherever fine books are sold.)
One month later, Janice gets the bill for her questions. You billed 30 minutes for $225 and the partner tacked on 12 minutes for $300 for a grand total of $525. Janice is not pleased. She calls her friend Carlos, who is also a CEO and uses the same firm. Carlos says that he coincidentally had the exact same question, but when he called his associate at the firm (who is a third-year associate) he got an immediate answer and it didn't even show up on a bill. Now Janice is several less degrees of pleased and starts cursing the legal profession as her nice but “know-nothing” first-year associate makes almost double what she makes and billed her for something her friend didn't get billed for. You don't hear from her for a while, as she begins to use “self-help” from the Internet.
No one can blame you for not knowing the answer right away. You just started your job. But this is one example of the divide and it happens over and over. You are charging rates as a professional, but no one has taught you how to work with a client. You could have handled the situation much better. Over the course of this book, we'll give you tips and strategies that most likely would lead to a better outcome in this scenario.
And the partner? They are asking themselves whether it will take you two or three years to really get up to speed. Divide number two is in the books.
One thing that few readers of this book will realize is how much larger the divide has become as lawyer salaries have outpaced inflation and salaries in other fields. And not by just a little bit. When Jason started as a first-year attorney in September 1998, his salary at a big law firm was $71,000. By February of the next year, it was $125,000 as the first of many “salary wars” occurred in the legal field. And what happened to junior folks' take-home pay bumped up all the way to the senior lawyers as well. In the past, a senior law firm partner might make twice what a CEO client would make. Now that ratio has increased to over ten times. Think about this—first-year associates are making more than most executives of the clients they service. With this regime, the expectations as to your knowledge, service level, and the attention to your billing statements has exponentially increased. As a first-year lawyer, you effectively have a target painted on your back.
And while you might not go to a large law firm and instead perhaps into government, nonprofit, criminal defense, or a variety of other legal professions, many lawyers have seen their salaries increase in a way that other professions have not. Wherever you end up, the expectations will be higher than they were thirty years ago simply because of the amount of money you are being paid. You may go work for the Michigan Department of Labor after law school and your client may be the state, but the divide between your supervisors will be just as real as in our example above.
In short, expectations have increased while the law school experience has remained the same. So, the big question is, how do we collapse the divide, especially when you are still in a steep learning curve mode?
Our belief is that there are four core concepts to focus on immediately when transitioning out of law school. Even better, consider these concepts to be a lens when you take any law school class. In the next chapter, we'll discuss these four core concepts: empathy, listening first, asking questions, and always usually giving advice.
CHAPTER 2The Core Concepts of Lawyering
What does a good lawyer do? Depending on who you ask, people may be quick to point out that lawyers should vigorously defend and represent their clients as fiduciaries to the extent that the law and legal ethics provide. Generally, law schools are in business to teach these broad principles and while they certainly aren't wrong, they miss the point of what day-to-day lawyering looks like. Also, clients don't think about their legal relationship this way. Most clients (at least most we know) want their issues handled quickly, financially efficiently, and without unnecessary drama. Unfortunately, sometimes these expectations are at direct odds with one another.
When we set out to write this book, we asked ourselves, “What really are the core concepts of being a lawyer?” What was interesting to us is that few people we spoke with focused on legal knowledge, intelligence, or even experience. Successful lawyers and clients alike kept focusing on the soft skills. What soft skills does every great lawyer need to succeed? After many discussions with lawyers and clients, and thinking about our own careers, we came up with four key concepts:
Empathy.
Listen first, talk second.
Ask questions, especially when you don't know the answer.
Always (usually) give advice.
Note that these concepts are in a particular order. We would suggest that you approach clients, colleagues, and bosses with these in mind.
Empathy
When we talk about the divide, the single biggest gap is a lack of empathy from the lawyer to their client and junior lawyers to senior lawyers. You'll note that we are not focusing on anyone's empathy toward you. It's not that it isn't important, but rather you already know what type of empathy you need to feel your best and we don't know you. But also, let's face it, in many situations as a junior lawyer, people don't want to think about your needs. If you haven't heard this before, then get used to it.
We are trying to show you the other side so that you aren't surprised. And with all our collective years in the legal business, we feel qualified to talk about clients and senior lawyers.
Okay, so what is empathy? According to the dictionary, the definition of empathy is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” There are also three kinds of empathy, which we'll explore now.
The first type of empathy is called cognitive empathy. This is simply understanding how another person feels and what they might be thinking. This is the ability to take the perspective of another or walking in someone else's shoes, so to speak.
The second type of empathy is called emotional empathy. This is when someone feels physically along with another person as if their emotions are shared. A good example of this is what some people might feel (e.g., cringing or wincing) when they see a wreck in a car race, someone being thrown from a bull, or perhaps even tripping and falling while walking down a sidewalk. There was a joke in here about how Jason dances, but he kept taking it out of the drafts.
The third type of empathy is called compassionate empathy. This is when not only does a person understand and feel for someone's situation, but also is moved to then act and help that person.
At this point, it's appropriate to take a deep breath, relax, and think about how you've previously experienced (or not) these three types of empathy. It's also a probably a good idea to ask yourself how emotionally comfortable you are with each of these concepts (one, two, three…). Okay. Break's over.
We believe that the vast majority of new lawyers lack empathy toward their clients and bosses. Some of this is due to the mental, physical, and emotional strain of being a new lawyer. Some of this is due to working too hard, being too tired, and worrying about paying off student loans. Some of this due to people entering the profession who are not naturally empathic humans. Some of this is because law school beats it out of you over three years.
Whatever the case is, this lack of empathy is perhaps the biggest wedge between lawyer–client relationships. And it doesn't help you get ahead when your boss doesn't feel like she is getting this acknowledgment as well.
When Jason was a venture capitalist, he was amazed by how many times he would hear a junior lawyer complain about how “stupid” the client was. Most of the time this was a junior lawyer disparaging a CEO who had just laid everything on the line in founding a startup, a proposition that more than 50% of the time ends in complete failure. In return, Jason would hear from the startup CEO that their lawyer “frustrated them” or “didn't listen well.” Because of this, the CEO was reticent to call the lawyer and thus didn't seek legal help when they probably should have, leading the junior lawyer to have clean-up work, which reaffirmed their belief that the CEO was stupid.
This is a relatively small example of the issue, but let's take an empathetic lens to the CEO's reality. An empathetic person, who had even a small clue about what startup CEOs deal with on a regular basis, would know:
Being a CEO is a very lonely job. You can't really talk to anyone at the company about your fears, as you don't want to freak anyone out. The result is the CEO has few, if any, open and honest relationships.
Being a CEO means you are, literally, responsible for every employee's (and their families') paycheck and medical benefits, among other things.
No one really ever wants to call their lawyer. It's costly and means there is an issue they can't handle themselves.
Startups are notoriously under resourced. They don't have enough money, time, and people. Every good CEO Jason ever met along the way carries this burden with them.
CEOs are focused manically on the business, as they should, and not the detailed legal stuff the young lawyer is focused on.
The CEO probably spends a ton of time as unofficial counselor to other executives of the company.
Now these factors don't even account for any current situation the CEO is dealing with. Perhaps the product isn't working correctly, their largest customer just left to go with a competitor, they are running low on cash, or they just got a terrible review online. If you think for a moment about the systemic issues, coupled with any acute problem, it's no wonder that startup CEOs suffer so frequently from mental burnout and health issues. We haven't even begun to talk about how these take tolls on their personal and family lives.
And here the young lawyer thinks the CEO is an idiot, because they aren't focusing enough on the things the lawyer thinks they should. Like the legal stuff is what the CEO wants to keep front of mind when every day is a tightrope walk across lava? Hmmmm. Maybe the lawyer should try to become a person who helps the CEO feel less lonely. Maybe the lawyer should start with empathy and not intellectual criticism, and maybe then the lawyer might start to understand what the CEO is going through. And maybe then the divide between the client and lawyer will lessen. Maybe the lawyer will build a real and trusting relationship with the CEO.
What about your boss? They've got it easier than you, right? They make more money, have more experience, and have more job security. They might even be making money off of you, depending on what your job is. But perhaps their elevated status comes with extra pressures you can't imagine. Maybe the law firm partner has been told that without a certain number of new clients this year, they will be shown the door, or worse yet, the firm isn't doing as well as you think it is and without those additional clients, there will be layoffs that will include your position.
Maybe the government lawyer you work with is constantly on the treadmill to be reappointed despite changing administrations, or maybe they even have to be elected to their office every few years. Maybe the immigration partner is terrified their whole practice is going to be upended by new federal policy. The scenarios are endless, but one thing we know: as you mature in your profession, life gets more, not less, complicated. The issues become bigger, the stakes larger, and your personal life more interesting.
If you are thinking, “I didn't go to law school to become a psychologist,” then we have bad news: you have no choice. Seriously, if you think you can “Hollywood lawyer” your way to success by being tough, argumentative, dismissive, and smart, you are wrong. Only a few nonempathetic lawyers we know have become successful, and they are all on Wall Street.
You can think of empathy as “bedside manner.” Doctors learned long ago that the best way to avoid malpractice lawsuits was to improve their (apparent) empathy with their patients. Customers like to feel special. People paying you want to believe you aren't just competent, but that you actually care about them and their issues.
While we've seen very few law students come out of school as empathetic lawyers, we've seen a few who are naturally programmed this way. As you start your career, try to practice empathy by thinking deeply about what motivations people have that you can't see on the surface. Do research on your colleagues and clients and construct a narrative of what might be driving their behavior instead of simply writing them off. As you get good at this, you'll have much better relationships and feel much about your decisions when you actually do decide to deem someone an idiot, because let's face it—they are out there too. And always remember, clients and partners are like icebergs; what you can see is only a fraction of what they have going on below the surface.
One last word on empathy. Remember the three types that we discussed above? Cognitive, emotional and compassionate? Realize which one you are using and feeling. Cognitive should always be turned on, as it's the only way to really be on the same “playing field” as someone else. Emotional is much less voluntary. You can't choose to feel another's emotion. If you live your life being a regular emotional empath, you may find yourself feeling burdened by other people's issues. Imagine if you internally carried every client's issues as your own. That is a surefire way to burnout. Similarly, if you apply compassionate empathy to every issue, there will be a lot of people thinking, “I didn't want you to fix my problem. I just wanted you to listen.” This last point can be very relevant in close personal relationships as well. Note that high amounts of emotional and compassionate empathy seem to go hand-in-hand with successful criminal defense lawyers. The bottom line is that some of this analysis will depend on what area of law you pursue; fortunately, our guest chapters dive into this by chosen professions.
We empathize that this section is a bit deep and for some of you, not the easiest or most enjoyable read. Remember, if you don't identify with being empathetic, or do see yourself this way, but you tend to get busy and forget to be empathetic, it's okay. We believe that you can work and practice to get better. And remember, you just got through one of the densest sections of this book and we are just getting started! We didn't leave the punchline for last, rather as a filter for the rest of the book. Go stretch your legs, pet your animal companion, grab a drink, or watch Tiger King 2 for the second time and we'll move onto the other core concepts of lawyering that we promise won't be nearly as thick.
Listen First, Talk Second
Listening first is a really good habit to acquire as a lawyer. It's tough to screw up if your lips aren't moving. In fact, very good litigators use the fact that most people don't like silence to carve up their adversaries during depositions. It's also a marvelous way to practice empathy and make people happy. Clients and bosses like to feel heard and the best method to facilitate this is for you to not talk. There are two different ways to approach this concept: listening out of necessity and listening as a strategy.
Listening out of necessity is listening when you are trying to get all information and facts on the table so that you may best analyze a situation. Consider this similar to reading the facts of a case before you dig in on what you think the outcome should be. While email dominates much more than it did 20 years ago, most major conversations with clients and colleagues are usually still verbal. One, it's way more efficient, and two, it doesn't leave a paper trail, which can be important for gnarly situations. Note that it's your responsibility to dig out all the facts and issues of a situation. If the client wants to use email, but you think you aren't getting the full picture, pick up the phone. But here's a pro tip: only do this if you have to. Maybe the email suggests that the client is super busy. Again, empathy matters.
Listening as a strategy is also very important. This is the situation where you've “been there, done that” and you know what's coming. Why not butt into the conversation, look smart, and solve the problem? If you work for a law firm, you just saved the client two minutes of billings! And, if you are in New York at a top firm, this savings is roughly equal to three nice Avery IPAs in Boulder, Colorado (if you thought there would be no math in this book, we apologize). The problem is the client feels like you didn't listen, and no one likes this feeling. Think about a conversation where your significant other and you talk over each other. Even if one or both of you were correct, it still doesn't feel good to be unheard.
The smart play is to listen. Listen because you'll get more relevant data. Listen when you think you already know it all because maybe there is a twist in the facts you aren't considering. Even if you are 100% “in the know,” listen because it makes you look good, compassionate, and thoughtful. Listening builds trust. Listening makes you at least appear calm.
Ask Questions
Okay, you've mastered empathy. And you've listened correctly. The client, boss, or whomever is thinking, “Wow, this person is really mature and put together for a junior lawyer!” Now what? It's time to talk. You have a choice: Do you start with recommendations and analysis, or do you ask questions? Our advice is the latter.
It is rare that someone gives you all the data you need to solve a problem. Very rare, in fact. Our experience suggests that if you think you have all the data you need, it's because you aren't thinking broadly enough about the issue at hand or are missing something. If questions initially don't come to mind, we suggest you look inward and ask yourself, “What am I missing here?” Remember, if it is that simple, they wouldn't be asking you.
The question could be as easy as asking the senior law firm partner, “When do you want this done and how many hours do you want me to allocate to this?” It's amazing to us how few junior attorneys ask this question. The question seems basic, but the response is super important. If you are late on the project, the partner and client are angry. If you bill an unexpectedly high number of hours, then it's even worse.
We've said this before and we'll say it again: don't fall into the trap of feeling like you have to prove your intelligence by jumping too quickly to conclusions and advice. No one expects you to be like that from day one out of law school so don't fall for the false assumption. Do a quality job in the time allowed and get it right. Nothing is worse than screwing up a project and having to do it again. Remember, you're unlikely to outsmart the senior lawyer the vast majority of times.
There is one more way to look at our point. Remember the most famous Hollywood lawyers and detectives? The ones who are famous for “always winning?” Think about how much time the dialogue is them asking questions, versus them stating conclusions.
Always (Usually) Give Advice
Let's take a mental check here. Empathy? Got it. Listening? Yep. Ask questions? Got this one, too. The last core concept is the idea that you should always give advice.
Wait…What?
You should be thinking, “Wait. How do I always give advice when I'm fresh out of school and don't really know what I'm doing?” Most junior lawyers focus on this question and decide not to give advice. They tell the client, “I'll get back to you,” or they wait two days to return an email and frustrate the person who sent the communication. This also applies to getting back to bosses and senior lawyers.
Let's put this another way: you start at your law firm billing out at $300 to $600 an hour and you've just spent 20 minutes on the phone with a client. While you've done a good job with the other three core concepts, you get done and say, “Thanks, I'll get back to you.” From the client's perspective, this is what they are thinking:
I just spent $100 to $200 and got nothing. Not even a morsel of an answer?
Did they hear what I was telling them?
Why am I paying for someone who doesn't know anything and then will have to go the partner and double bill me?
Why can't I get a more experienced lawyer who can help me?
These are all bad thoughts to have as a client. We've been clients as well and have had them. Patience only goes so far with today's billing rates and salaries. The problem is that you really don't know what you are doing and may be scared to react. What should you do?
We've found that there is a relatively simple technique that can make the client feel good about the conversation, make you look smart, and preserve your options to change your mind later once you get up to speed on the subject matter. That technique: give advice in the form of a question (at this point, we should all take a moment of silence for Alex Trebek).
Here is how it works: Once the discussion around the scenario has ended and you have asked your relevant questions, ask the client, “In a perfect world, how would you like to see this issue resolved?” This simple question will give you a ton of data, not only about the issue, but about the client themselves. When they answer you'll know how reasonable they are, if they are emotional about the issue, and what their optimal solution is, which is a great starting point for your research.
When we've asked this question as junior lawyers, here are some actual quotes from clients:
Each of these quotes should raise red flags. Whether the client's goals are allowable is an easy legal answer regardless of the actual fact patterns (which we assure you were somewhat complicated). Regardless of your knowledge of litigation, criminal, employment, mergers, business, or family law, the hairs on the back of your neck should be saying, “Uh, you can't do that.”
Despite you potentially not knowing the actual laws in any of these areas, you still can provide advice. You can still help solve the problem, which is what the client wants. Before you think that these are implausible scenarios, they aren't. You learned some things in law school and those who didn't go to law school don't have that background. While these are more extreme cases, the point is that by asking what the goals are and using your intuitive brain, you may be able to give advice while buying yourself some time. In these cases, perhaps your answers could be the following:
Answer: “I understand your goals and I will do everything to minimize the tax impact on you.”
Answer: “I hear your frustration, but employment discrimination is illegal, and I don't want you to get in trouble. Let me work out an employee performance plan that you can use to evaluate everyone on a case-by-case basis.”
Answer: “I understand, and I want to assure you that my fiduciary responsibility is to you, but there are nuances here that I want to make sure we abide by. I'll get back to you shortly.”
Answer: “I understand how important this transaction is to you. I would consider whether suing them would make for a healthy combined company after the sale. We also need to be careful of ethics laws. Let me do a bit of work and get back to you.”
Answer: “I understand the sensitivity of these documents. As you probably know, there are a lot of laws around when we can and cannot withhold documents. I want to give you all the nuances regarding these and will send you an email that you can read and we can discuss.”
Answer: “Involving the police is a serious step. We need to be thoughtful about this and I want to talk to our contacts at the firm before we take any action.”
Each of these scenarios is steeped in dense case law. And by no means is the complete answer our one-sentence response. You likely will have little or no knowledge of the particular law and cases but use your law school intuition. Common sense goes a long way, and if you can show that you are “on the case,” recognize the issue, and can provide a little off-the-cuff guidance, you'll quickly earn the trust and respect of your client. They key is not just giving up and saying, “I'll get back to you.” If you can, give the client a nugget to chew on while you are getting up to speed. The issue is when you get overwhelmed in the fact pattern and give up until you can start your research. In each of these cases, you can ask the client their goals, and in many cases, know if they are on the right track or not.
The title of this section is “Always (Usually) Give Advice.” If you are totally stuck and overwhelmed, err on the side of caution and don't give advice. That is why we put the word “usually” in the title. We've found that many junior lawyers separate themselves from others who are good at this last concept early in their careers.
For those of you who will bill hours, note that being good at these four concepts makes your billing rates more justifiable to your clients. You'll find much less pushback (and maybe even none) if your clients feel good about their interactions with you.
As we've wrapped this section up, we invite you to read the rest of the book with these concepts as filters for the rest of the material. But more importantly, if you are still in school, how do you apply these concepts to your coursework? What can you take away from your particular classes that will allow you to succeed on the soft skills side of being a lawyer? We advise you not just to think about fact patterns and the application of laws but also to take the time to think about how you would empathize, listen, and ask questions of the parties involved. Then you'll be ready to really solve the problem and give advice.
In the next two chapters we are going to dig into what you might get out of particular classes that will help you in the real world.
CHAPTER 3Understanding the Importance of Law School Rankings on Your Future
While we wish we could tell you that law school rankings don't matter, that isn't true. They do. It's commonly acknowledged that rankings matter more for law school than any other professional school outside of business schools.
Let's be blunt. We believe students should go to the highest ranked law school where they're accepted, with due consideration of three variables: cost (weighing scholarship and financial aid packages), location, and size. Given how expensive law school can be, cost may rule the day and we wouldn't argue against that. Furthermore, location is important. Many employers only recruit from the geographical location of where your law school is situated. Finally, you've been to school before. Size may matter to you.
