Biglaw

A Letter To A New Associate: 2022 Edition

Don’t drift along in your career wherever happenstance takes you.

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job offer letterIt’s September, and the signs of autumn are here. Kids are back in school, pumpkin spice is back on the menu at Starbucks, and the latest crop of first-year associates are showing up for work at law firms across the country. And it’s to those new attorneys that this column is most directed.

If you can name an emotion, you’re probably going to be feeling it sometime in the next few months. Joy, confusion, anxiety, fear, stress, triumph. These first steps on the journey of your practice will be rich with experiences, many of which you’ll carry for the rest of your career. With that in mind, here are some thoughts from a former first-year associate on how to make this next year everything you want it to be.

Hold On To What You’ve Accomplished

Last summer was all about landing a job, and guess what? You did it. A law firm composed of experienced, successful attorneys has given you its vote of confidence and is willing to pay for your work. They’re going to train you to become a better lawyer, and, if everything goes well, they may one day offer you a share of the partnership. You’re through the first major challenge of any lawyer’s career — you’re getting paid.

These first few months are going to be filled with challenges, and you’re probably not going to crush it on every one of them. You’re going to be given a lot of opportunity to doubt yourself, and if you’re prone to imposter syndrome, the transition out of school and into the actual practice of law can be deeply difficult. Self-reflection is a useful tool, but self-doubt isn’t. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do this, especially yourself. You’ve got a long way to go, but you’ve come a long way, too. Remember that, and trust yourself that you’re going to grow, get better, and make it through.

Become Someone’s Go-To

Success in the world of private law boils down to one essential question: when people have problems, which of those people calls you first? If enough of the right people think of you as their go-to solution for the challenges they’ll pay someone else to fix, then baby, you’ve got a book of business.

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Chances are you’re not there quite yet, but the goal of becoming someone’s go-to person is still what you should be aiming for. Instead of paying clients, what you’re trying to develop now are relationships with the partners and senior associates within your firm. When they need research, briefing, or other work that’s in the first-year’s wheelhouse, you want them thinking of you as their first option. Even if you’re not charging them by the hour, your colleagues are your first clients. Be responsive, respectful, and attentive to their needs.

Once you’ve got those relationships established, you’ll naturally start moving on to the next phase of developing your go-to reputation: becoming a subject matter guru. As senior attorneys learn to trust you more, you can gain the experience necessary to take on more complex tasks. If you do that, then chances are you’re going to start developing expertise on topics that few in your firm, or potentially your entire bar, have experience with. Find those niches, develop your expertise, and then let the market know that anyone with questions in that area just needs to give you a call. Once the attorneys know you’re the person to handle a certain kind of problem, they’ll send their clients who need help with those problems over. And once the clients start calling you, you’re in control of your own destiny. All of that starts today. Be the one who people keep top of mind and rely on to solve their problems.

Be Deliberate About Your Work-Life Balance

The first years of private practice in law are notoriously demanding of young attorneys’ time, and discussions about the proper balance of work and home life have been part and parcel of Biglaw life for decades. Most of the financial and career incentives of law (and basically all of the business world) push attorneys to work extraordinarily hard, while few things besides ourselves are pushing us to take appropriate care of our outside lives or our mental and physical well-being. Burnout is real, but so are the benefits that come from getting off to a strong start. There are no one-size-fits-all answers when it comes to work-life balance.

The best you can do for yourself at this stage is to be deliberate and have a plan. Some people want to work all hours of the day, generate huge bonuses, and live the life of the hard-charging Biglaw attorney, and that’s OK if that’s their choice to do so. Some people want to work hard for a few years while they’re young, then transition to a more balanced lifestyle as their skill and experience have hopefully increased enough to compensate for those lower billables. Some people choose to prioritize their home lives out of the gate, even if it means their career development may be on a slower track, because that’s what matters the most to them. Any of those choices can be the right one for you, and they’re all approaches that I would hope your firms would be willing to support within reason.

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Don’t drift along in your career wherever happenstance takes you. The key for you is to figure out your priorities, self-assess on whether you’re where you want to be, and communicate with your colleagues about where you want to go. If your home life or mental health are suffering and you need to step back, talk to the people who can make that happen. If you’re feeling fresh and want to dive in harder, let people know. You’ve worked hard to get this job, so keep working at making sure it’s the job you want.

Every Impression Matters

 The opportunity to make a first impression is a gift, and you’re about to be flooded with those opportunities. Now is when you start building your reputation as a professional, as an attorney, as a colleague, as opposing counsel, and it is entirely within your control to ensure the reputation you’re building is a good one. Treat people kindly and courteously. Do your homework. Treat everyone you meet like they might one day become one of the most important people in your lives because life is unpredictable and they very well might be.

We’re only clean slates at so many times in our lives. Now is when you get to build the story of who you are. It’s about to be one of the most exciting times in your career, and I hope you look back on it one day fondly. Until then, take care of yourself. The rest will follow.

GoodnowJames Goodnow is the CEO and managing partner of NLJ 250 firm Fennemore. At age 36, he became the youngest known chief executive of a large law firm in the U.S. He earned his JD at Harvard Law School and attended Cambridge Business School (UK), where he wrote his master’s thesis on how to use entrepreneurial strategies to infuse innovation in law firms and established businesses. James is the co-author of Motivating Millennials, which hit number one on Amazon in the business management new release category. You can connect with James on LinkedIn, Twitter, or by emailing him at jgoodnow@fennemorelaw.com.

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