Ed. note: This is the ninth installment in a series of posts from the ATL Career Center’s team of expert contributors. Today, Desiree Moore gives some practical advice to new associates on delivering work product to their supervising attorneys.
As a new lawyer, you will be expected to deliver assignments in a variety of ways. For example, you may be asked to do an oral presentation of the results of your assigned research, provide a “marked up” copy of a case or statute or contract for the assigning attorney, or create written work product. In all instances, be sure you are clear at the outset when you receive the assignment as to how you will be expected to deliver it. Listen carefully, take notes, and be sure to remit your work exactly as expected.
Where an assignment calls for written work product, think carefully about how you will deliver it. The ideal method of delivery is to hand a hard copy of the assignment to the assigning attorney in person, and offer to follow up with an electronic copy of the assignment for his or her files.
However, if you are unable to connect with the assigning attorney in person, as is often the case, follow these five steps to ensure he or she receives the assignment in a manner that is both convenient and helpful.
Greetings from San Francisco, home of the world champion Giants, surprisingly noisy trolley cars, and the faint smell of cannabis pretty much everywhere. We’re in town to attend Ark Group‘s conference on “The Brave New World of Entry-Level Recruiting,” which examines how the world of law student recruiting by firms has changed (and will continue to evolve) since the onset of the Great Recession. Moderated by Bruce MacEwen, who kicked off the proceedings by framing the day as an opportunity for “frank conversation” between schools and firms, the conference featured an absolute Murderers’ Row of industry thought leaders, including Orrick‘s Ralph Baxter, legal academia’s apostate Paul Campos, NALP’s Jim Leipold, Indiana/Maurer‘s Bill Henderson, three Biglaw hiring partners, and deans from Berkeley, Stanford, and Hastings.
Read on for some highlights and takeaways from yesterday’s conference.
Ed. note: This is the seventh installment in a series of posts from the ATL Career Center’s team of expert contributors. Today, we have some great advice for newly minted attorneys from Joshua Stein, the principal of Joshua Stein PLLC, a prominent commercial real estate law practice in Manhattan.
When you start out in any professional career, you will probably soon have someone to help you do your job, such as a paralegal, a secretary, or other assistant. Having that assistant can make your life easier, and help you do a better job — especially if you know how best to work with your new assistant. Here are some suggestions for working with any assistant, but particularly a secretary or a paralegal. Many but not all of these suggestions also apply to working with junior associates or other professionals who report to you.
A. Clear Instructions.
Your assistant doesn’t know what’s in your head. You have to tell them, at least until you’ve worked together long enough that your assistant develops a good sense of what you need done and how you like it done. Until that happens, make your instructions as clear as possible. Think about where things might go wrong, where your instructions might get misinterpreted. What steps did you forget to mention? Prevent problems by foreseeing them. Even if you can legitimately say the problem was “someone else’s fault,” it’s better if you can prevent the problem through foresight and by taking even more care than you might strictly think necessary. And make sure you define the project you want your assistant to complete. Don’t leave them guessing. What exactly do you expect them to accomplish, beyond “please take care of this”? What’s the “deliverable”?
Ed. note: This is the fourth installment in a new series of posts from the ATL Career Center’s team of expert contributors. Today, we have some great advice for newly minted attorneys from Joshua Stein, the principal of Joshua Stein PLLC, a prominent commercial real estate law practice in Manhattan.
It’s your first year as a new lawyer. What do you need to know? How can you not screw it up? Here are some suggestions, based on more than 30 years of experience — as an associate at two firms, then a brief time as an associate at a third firm, followed by 20+ years as a partner at that third firm. These suggestions reflect my own experiences, lessons learned along the way, and what I’ve seen and heard from others. Nothing here applies specifically or uniquely to any firm where I worked.
It’s a Business. As much as we might all want law firms to be kind and gentle, remember that client demands are not kind and gentle. Also remember that a firm’s profitability — the ultimate main event — depends on buying a lot of legal expertise wholesale, converting it into as many hours of billable legal work as possible, then selling those hours at retail. That isn’t going to go away. Get used to it. That’s the business you’re in. If you don’t want to be in it, go find some other business to be in.
Welcome to the next article in our series of monthly Ask the Experts Career Development posts, brought to you by the ATL Career Center. Just a reminder that previous Career Development articles, as well as career coaching information, are available in the Resources section of the Career Center.
This week, we spoke with Jordan Abshire, Managing Director at Lateral Link who works with partner and associate candidates on law firm and in-house searches in Washington D.C and the Southeast. We asked Jordan for advice on networking – what it is, how it works, and why you need to do it even if you are not actively looking for a new job.
If the economic downturn has taught attorneys anything, it is that meeting the annual billable hours requirement no longer guarantees any kind of real job security. Networking is more crucial than ever for attorneys who want to stay in control of their career development.
Q: Why do so many people cringe when they think about networking?
Find out the answer, plus more, after the jump.
[This article was prepared by Justin Flowers, a director in Lateral Link's New York office.]
Part Two
Last week, in the first part of this article, I addressed some of the basic issues surrounding the current legal hiring market for bankruptcy and restructuring/reorganization practices, including: 1) What sort of real opportunities are out there and where are they; 2) How much real practice-specific experience is necessary: and 3) What are the realistic chances for re-tooling from another practice area into such a practice? In this second installment, I am focusing on some further analysis and predictions for what the near future holds for the world of bankruptcy and how it might affect hiring this year, as well as ways to strengthen the case for successfully making the jump if you are not a mid level bankruptcy associate right at this moment.
When will bankruptcy work hit the point that being hired as a re-tool candidate becomes a possibility?
I get a lot of questions like this on firms’ current and future capacity–have things hit the point where busy bankruptcy practices are unable to service the workload and need to bring in re-tools? And if not, when will that happen? The answer is that we don’t know, and no one else does either. No one’s crystal ball is working very well these days. Jack Williams, resident scholar at the American Bankruptcy Institute, recently predicted that Chapter 11 filings will rise at least 40% in 2009 from their 2008 levels, which were already highly elevated in comparison to recent years, according to this article by Mark Douglas of Jones Day. If Mr. Williams’ prediction comes to fruition and the current trend continues or accelerates, it’s conceivable that there could be an eventual tipping point, but only if other practice areas have enough business to prevent further cross-staffing amongst groups. As I mentioned last week, this is the single biggest impediment right now for would be bankruptcy associates looking to lateral in from a corporate or litigation background.
[This article was prepared by Tricia McGrath, a director in Lateral Link's NY office.]
Over the past few months, associates have been dismissed from their law firms at an unrelenting and somewhat alarming pace. Hopefully, these associates will move on to other positions in the near future and resume their careers. Long gone are the days when attorneys spent their entire careers at one (or two!) firms. As such, it is best to be prepared at all times for your inevitable job search – even if you are still gainfully employed. Associates should always be prepared – who knows when an incredible job opportunity will come your way?
I am often surprised when I speak to associates who do not have any of their job-search materials prepared. As Lateral Link does not cold call associates, when I speak to an associate, it is because they are affirmatively investigating their career options. You would think that the “affirmatively investigating” candidate would have prepared a resume. It should be self-evident that you cannot begin a job search without the proper documents. Preparing these documents in advance of needing them is incredibly helpful.
Resume
There is no job search without a current resume! You should always have an updated resume. It is a good idea to keep a master resume in draft format on your home computer. Every few months, add pertinent information to the master document. That way, it will be ready when you need it – without having to recreate the wheel. You can edit the document for your specific job search later. For now, just be concerned about adding current content.
This is an interesting time in the legal industry. In the past few months, we have watched the lay-offs of many strong associates and counsel. If you are one of the gainfully-employed associates, what can you do to secure your position at the firm? How can you prevent becoming a casualty in the future? By embracing the changes in the market and increasing your value to your firm!
Business development is about building relationships. You want to get to know people and have them know you. It is all about building a network of contacts that you can leverage in the future. No one expects a junior or mid-level associate to go out and land a Fortune 100 client – that’s not how it works. At your level, you should be building contacts and legal expertise, both of which you’ll need in the future. You should demonstrate to your firm that you have a potentially bright future in rainmaking.
Here are some additional basics for venturing into business development. The earlier you begin to build skills in this area, the more successful you will be either at your current firm or your next one!
Learn from Others
Each firm has partners who are famous for their rainmaking ability – some are even legendary. Study how these partners get business. Many of them are probably experts in their field and sought out by clients.
Study how senior associates and junior partners manage their business development efforts, as their strategies might be more suited to you.
Pay attention to how partners and senior associates interact with clients. Client service is so important.
If your firm offers seminars on business development, make sure that you sign up.
After observing others, find a style that works for you.
This is an interesting time in the legal industry. In the past few months, we have watched the lay-offs of many strong associates and counsel. If you are one of the gainfully-employed associates, what can you do to secure your position at the firm? How can you prevent becoming a casualty in the future? By embracing the changes in the market and increasing your value to your firm!
When I was a junior associate, no one ever contemplated getting business or preparing to do so. Perhaps naively, we didn’t consider that law firms were businesses. We thought that, if we did great work, there would be a place for us at the firm. We all wouldn’t make partner, but we’d get fabulous experience and then move into an in-house position or a law firm outside of the top 20 who would cherish us for our legal skills and training. Although that was only ten years ago, it might as well be one hundred given the changes in the legal market. Today, associates at all levels need to demonstrate value and the skills that will sustain the firm’s business in the future.
Business development is about building relationships. You want to get to know people and have them know you. It is all about building a network of contacts that you can leverage in the future. No one expects a junior or mid-level associate to go out and land a Fortune 100 client – that’s not how it works. At your level, you should be building contacts and legal expertise, both of which you’ll need in the future. You should demonstrate to your firm that you have a potentially bright future in rainmaking.
[This article was prepared by Tricia McGrath, a director in Lateral Link's NY office focusing on partner level placements. For questions please contact Tricia at tmcgrath@laterallink.com.]
When a firm is considering a lateral partner candidate, the firm will perform due diligence on the candidate. The firm will be interested in reviewing materials such as a partner business plan and a lateral partner questionnaire, and will investigate and evaluate the partner and their practice. It is equally important for a lateral partner candidate to conduct his or her own due diligence on a prospective firm. As an equity partner, you will become part owner in a “business” and should verify that there will be an appropriate return on your investment of time, energy, skill and capital.
Of course, neither the firm nor the partner can ascertain with 100% certainty that a lateral relationship will work. However, appropriate due diligence can minimize the risk of failure, as important facts are revealed and future expectations can be managed. While there are many areas in which you’d like insight, three top concerns are (1) the firm’s financials, (2) the firm’s management and (3) the firm’s culture.
The Firm’s Financials
Law firms are businesses and, in the past year, we have seen increasing reminders of this. Many firms have ceased operations because of critical flaws in their operations. As a lateral partner candidate, there are many financial criteria that you should investigate. Admittedly, firms will treat financial diligence differently – some firms will be transparent and others will be opaque. Ultimately, you’d like to understand the overall fiscal health of the firm. Here are some suggestions on particular issues. This is certainly not an exhaustive list.
1. Debt: What amount of debt does the firm have on its books? How is the debt serviced?
2. Litigation/potential firm liabilities: Is the firm currently involved in litigation? Are there potential firm liabilities known to the partnership?
3. Leases: Is the firm involved in long-term leases? Brobeck’s dissolution in February 2003 and forced bankruptcy seven months later has been largely blamed on expensive office leases that led to overwhelming debt.
In a land that is right here and in a time that is right now, a technology has arisen so powerful that it can replace basic human document review. Is it time to bow down before our new robot overlords?
First, here’s a little story about me: my life in the legal world began as a paralegal. My first case was a GIANT patent infringement case that was already six years old and had involved as many as five companies, multiple US courts, the ITC and an international standards committee. I knew nothing about any of this.
On my first day, my supervisor (a paralegal with at least eight other cases driving her crazy) sat me down in front of a Concordance database with a 100,000+ patents and patent file histories. “Code these,” she said. I learned that “coding”, for the purposes of this exercise, meant manually typing the inventor’s name, the title of the patent, the assignee, the file date, and other objective data for each document. I worked on that project – and only that project – for at least the first six months of my job. After a week or so, time began to blur.
What I know, in retrospect and with absolutely certainty, is that as time began to blur, so did my judgment. So did my attention to detail. If you could tell me that I did not make at least one mistake a day – one inconsistent spelling, one reversed day and month, one incorrectly spaced title – I frankly would need to see your evidence. I would not believe it. The human mind is trainable but it is not a machine.
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We currently have a number of active openings for associate roles at US and UK firms in HK / China, Singapore and two new in-house openings. As always, please feel free to reach out to us at asia@kinneyrecruiting.com in order to get details of current openings in Asia, as well as to discuss the Asia markets in general and what we expect for openings later this year. Our Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney will be in Beijing the week of March 25 and Evan Jowers will be in Hong Kong the week of April 1, if you would like to meet them in person.
The US associate openings we have in law firms are in the usual areas of M&A, cap markets, FCPA / white collar litigation, finance, and project finance. The most urgent of our top tier (top 15 US or magic circle) law firm openings in Asia (among many other firm openings that we have in Asia) are as follows:
• 2nd to 5th year mandarin fluent M&A associates needed in Beijing and Hong Kong at several firms;
• Korean fluent 2nd to 4th year cap markets associate needed in Hong Kong;
• 2nd to 5th year Japanese fluent M&A associates needed in Tokyo;
• 4th to 6th year mandarin fluent cap markets associate needed in Hong Kong;
• 2nd to 4th year M&A / cap markets mix associate needed in Singapore.
The traditional job application and interview process can be impersonal, and applicants often struggle to present themselves as more than just the sum of their GPAs, alma maters, and previous work history. ATL has partnered with ViewYou to help job seekers overcome this challenge. ViewYou NOW Profiles offer a unique way for job seekers to make a personal, memorable connection with prospective employers: introduction videos. These videos allow job candidates to display their personalities, interpersonal skills, and professional interests, creating an eDossier to brand themselves to potential employers all over the world. Check it out today!
Ed. note: This is the ninth installment in a series of posts from the ATL Career Center’s team of expert contributors. Today, Desiree Moore gives some practical advice to new associates on delivering work product to their supervising attorneys.
