Litigators, Small Law Firms

Associate With The Right Lawyers, And Associate With Them In The Right Way

What all lawyers must do is take care in who gets in their network and how they interact with lawyers in that network.

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Lawyers must develop the right relationships with other lawyers, including those with whom they regularly associate or communicate, to be the best lawyers they can.

Lawyers, individually, must learn to work well with other lawyers, both in their law office and outside of it.  The kind of law I practice, litigation, is a team sport that enables lawyers do their work well by working with other lawyers.  Indeed, a fantastic New York Times article recently discussed the challenges faced by the government lawyers in different agencies who provided the legal authorization for the military action against Osama bin Laden (note: I have huge issues with a lot of the Times’s reporting, especially on New York and politics, so you won’t frequently see me write “fantastic New York Times article”; check this one out).  Given the enormous secrecy of the operation, the lawyers could not speak to their colleagues about their work.  This was tough for them, which shows me that those lawyers (who were not litigators) understand that the best lawyers need to work with colleagues to do the best work.

The most obvious place to find such colleagues is in your law office.  But maybe you’re a solo, or in a small firm, in which case, you will need to branch out.  Indeed, most lawyers, even those at big firms, by the time they have practiced a decade or more, will have cultivated a network of lawyers outside their law office — those they kept in touch with from law school, or college, or even high school classmates who became lawyers, colleagues from former jobs, lawyers they met at bar associations, or just bars.  Cultivation of such a network is essential to be a great lawyer, and frankly to enjoy yourself in a profession that values attacking and solving complicated problems.  It’s fun to talk about fun work.

What all lawyers must do is take care in who gets in that network and how they interact with lawyers in the network.  You will meet lots of lawyers, especially if you’re a lawyer in a big city.  Many of them will be bad, lazy, or unethical.  You need to find the ones who are good at what they do, work hard and, of course, not only follow the ethical rules, but a moral code.  This may be obvious, but we get to know a lot of lawyers the way we get to know family: we did not really choose it, but they have been around a lot and there they are.  As with family, you might not have chosen this or that person as your friend.  Unlike with family, you may need to pare down your network to take out those who may even be good friends, but are not good lawyers, or otherwise do not help you become and stay a great lawyer.

And you also need to know how to interact with those in the network.  If you rely on others, you should be ready for them to rely on you.  I am thankful I can pick up the phone and call a few dozen lawyers who would promptly take my call and make the time to discuss something with me if I told them it was pressing.  I would do the same for them.  Developing a network means meeting your own obligation to that network.

Be careful regarding any formal relationships you develop with lawyers outside your law office.  If you are at a small law firm you may find the need to have of counsel relationships.  Such relationships can be a great for a lawyer to work on all kinds of cases and have the resources necessary to handle matters bigger than those he or she could responsibly handle alone.  But if you are really going to have an “of counsel” make sure he or she is one, and not just a name on your website.  Review the rules in your state regarding who really is an of counsel and who is not.  And if you share fees with any lawyer in your network, of counsel or not, ensure you follow the rules regarding this (which generally require disclosure to clients and an ongoing involvement by the referring attorney in the matter).  Again, check the rules to make sure you’re doing it right.

I wrote once that no law firm is an island and how lawyers have to work well with non-lawyers to serve clients.  We also need to know how to work well with other lawyers, including those outside our law offices, to be great lawyers, serve our clients, and, if you’re a litigator like me and my colleagues, to win for your clients.

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John Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.

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