Boutique Law Firms, Small Law Firms

Beyond Biglaw: Year In Review, On A Page

Here's a useful exercise for taking stock of the year now drawing to a close.

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Another year is coming to a close. Everyone will mark the occasion differently. For many, this week is a time for reflection and serious thought. About the year that was and the year ahead. For lawyers , it can also be a time of anticipation — whether it be about collections, bonuses, or just trying to get year-end projects finished on time. For those blessed with a good year workwise, there can be anxiety about what is “in inventory” for next year. For those whose year was a difficult one, there can be hope that the road ahead will be smoother. For everyone, the introspection will be more valuable if it is channeled properly.

Put yourself in the following scenario, one similar to a situation we found ourselves in recently. Imagine you have an upcoming meeting. With someone who knows you are a lawyer, but who otherwise wouldn’t be able to articulate exactly what it is “you do” as a lawyer. Or if that is too difficult, imagine your meeting is with a lawyer in another practice area. Someone who wants you to provide a synopsis of your past year’s accomplishments. A year in review, in the space of fifteen minutes. The stakes? The meeting will help determine whether this person will give you business in the the upcoming year. So you need to impress him or her — to show that you are competent, and more importantly a “doer,” capable of delivering results.

If those stakes are not high enough for you, then imagine that you are being given 15 minutes by management of your firm to argue for your job. Because the firm is planning to “explore synergies” with a fellow firm, and only two out of every three people in your practice group will be invited to join the new behemoth. You will obviously not want to a waste any time of your “argument” fumbling to recall the deals you were staffed on back in March. So you will prepare an outline — every lawyer who has taken a deposition or argued in court is used to preparing one before important events.

You may be tempted to write a long outline, pointing out the nuances of your contributions to every matter you were charged with handling in the past year. Resist. When I was in law school, we had an interesting writing assignment on an issue I have since forgotten. What made it interesting, and what I remember, is that the professor insisted that the assignment be no more than a page long. Whatever could be crammed onto the page was fine, but any overruns would be ignored, or result in a lower grade. One page. To make a complicated argument. The lesson was obvious. Complicated arguments tax the listener or adjudicator. The key to persuasion is to simplify and distill the complicated.

So prepare your single page year in review. If you a firm owner or managing partner, do it for the firm. A group leader, for your group. And any individual lawyer can do it for themselves. This is not updating your résumé. That is something that can be handled on your behalf by your assistant. This needs to be done by you personally. With input from others if needed, but what goes onto the page has to be reflective of your decisions. Especially your decision of what to include in the first place. What accomplishments were important to you last year? What projects are you proud to have worked on, to the point that you would be excited to discuss them at the important meeting that we have included in this construct? Are there any favorable or important results you would want to highlight? Do you want to include any milestones or events from your personal life? Or do you prefer to limit the document to career achievements?

Preparing this year in review document will be harder than it seems. But it will be useful, as you will have to really think about what you were able to do in the past year, and try to provide some context for those accomplishments to someone less inclined to appreciate them as you are. And once you prepare the document, review it with a critical eye. Because it will reflect your priorities and values. If the document is heavily weighted towards your financial achievements, whether personal in the form of compensation or on behalf of clients, that says something. Just as it says something if you review your sheet and realize that it is heavy on projects for other people’s clients, or that you don’t really have much in the way of real-world client results to put forward. Which may be fine, since you may be at a stage in your career where those results are a degree or two of separation from the work you are actually doing.

The value of this process comes from the thoughtfulness required to prepare the document. And from reviewing the contents critically once it is prepared. There is also value to using the document as a springboard to thinking about your goals for the year to come. Hopefully you found it easy to fill up your page, and are proud of what is reflected on that paper. But not for too long. Because next year’s page is blank for now. Almost time to start filling it up. Best to all for a healthy, fulfilling, and peaceful 2015.

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Please feel free to send comments or questions to me at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or via Twitter: @gkroub. Any topic suggestions or thoughts are most welcome.

Gaston Kroub lives in Brooklyn and is a founding partner of Kroub, Silbersher & Kolmykov PLLC, an intellectual property litigation boutique. The firm’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and related counseling, with a strong focus on patent matters. You can reach him at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.

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