Career Center: Manage Your Time -- Life on a Professional's Clock

Welcome to the world of Biglaw — a world of wonder, a world of magic, a world of pure imagination — okay, not really. After you are done watching Willy Wonka, come with me and you’ll see a world of schedules, time constraints, and statutory deadlines with loopholes and an infinite number of exceptions. If you haven’t already, buy yourself a watch — and no, not a Rolex (as Elie well knows, student loans are not easy to live with).

Transforming your wake-up-at-9:55-to-get-to-class-by-10 schedule to a working-at-a-law-firm schedule is not easy. The work habits of many students do not match well with the daily life of a firm. I’m not saying that law students do not know how to work hard, but when you join a law firm, you follow the pulse and practice of the firm, its partners, and its clients.

The following tips on managing your time and transitioning from law school to law firm are brought to you by Lateral Link’s Frank Kimball, an expert recruiter and former Biglaw hiring partner. Now on to the tips…

Tip #1: To begin with the self evident, lawyers in most cities are at their desk at 8:30 a.m. Set the student sleep cycle aside. You must be available throughout the normal hours of a law firm’s work day — and by available, I mean you must also be mentally available. You are not in class where you can slink behind your laptop and pray that the professor won’t call on you that day. You will be given assignments that require your utmost attention and diligence. Later in your life you’ll earn the right to set your own schedule, but not this summer.

Tip #2: Be early. Always. How early? Five minutes sounds about right to me, but it depends on the culture of your firm. It’s a matter of respect and efficiency. Being late for a meeting, of whatever consequence, sends a powerful unmistakable message that you believe your time is more important than the time of those who called the meeting. No one wants to hear about your late bus, the jammed subways, or how tough it is to get a taxi on the Upper East Side on Monday mornings — trust me, those excuses cannot be written as motions under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or billing codes under your firm’s billing system. You’re not clubbing with your crew in your Escalade where it’s de rigueur to be late. You’re working for clients who want their lawyers to be accessible.

Now tiK toK on the clock, before your offer gets dropped, check out more tips on maintaining the schedule of a summer associate by clicking here. For additional career insights, as well as profiles of individual law firms, check out the Career Center.