Because law school can do a terrible job of preparing students for the actual practice of law, the life of a young lawyer is pockmarked with moments of terror. Think of when a senior lawyer hands off an assignment, with little or no direction as to what the work product is actually supposed to look like. Younger lawyers with promise will generally suppress their fear, and set upon the path of trying to figure out what to do. Sometimes, salvation comes in the form of a generous colleague, who points to a sample document on the firm’s digital repository.
Other times, there is a good amount of trial and error involved in generating the draft, often culminating in the senior lawyer asking for a complete rewrite. Competent associates are usually able to tease out, from the partner’s comments on the draft, what the final product is supposed to be. (There is little reason to talk about young lawyers who can’t figure out a way to get such things right. They usually get flushed out of the system quickly, and hopefully before they do much harm to their law firm or client.)
As lawyers progress in their careers, the terror of encountering a new challenge is ever present, but much more easily subdued. Because over time, experienced lawyers learn to appreciate their own ability to conquer challenges, helped by the knowledge that they have overcome a host of challenges to get to their current career position. As with many other professions, what is terrifying and uncertain when done the first time quickly becomes a routine task, easily dispatched, with practice. The same associate who struggled to draft a coherent set of interrogatories in May could by December consider an assignment drafting rogs a no-stress way of generating billable hours.
As lawyers accumulate technical skills, however, there is also a good chance that the terror they experienced upon first encountering a task will be replaced by boredom. Legal practice is full of tasks that are by their very nature routine, involving boilerplate language and little original thought. While this phenomenon is a natural one, it is important to resist the temptation to coast, and mindlessly turn to template documents as the starting point for required work product. I do not mean to say that templates are bad. Good ones are invaluable, and serve as a form of checklist to make sure that all of the required elements of a particular document are included. But even the best checklist sometimes needs updating, and boredom should always be combated. Bored lawyers are typically sloppy lawyers, and sloppy lawyers do a disservice to their clients and themselves.
There are two primary ways for a lawyer to combat boredom by generating challenges for themselves. The first path involves turning inward, and recognizing those areas where your skills are weakest. For junior lawyers, whose skills are generally weak in all areas, there should be no problem finding motivation to improve. But how does a more experienced lawyer know where they could benefit from improvement? If a colleague or client happens to have criticized your performance on a certain task, then it is an easy call. If that happens, there is absolutely no excuse for boredom if you are again called to handle that task again. What if no one ever criticizes your work? Then start with trying to improve on those things that clients or colleagues have not expressly praised you for.
Other than looking inward, and trying to prove oneself, it is also possible to generate challenges by looking outward as a lawyer. There is always another lawyer who can benefit from guidance on how to improve themselves, or their legal skills. Unfortunately, however, many lawyers find it easy to shirk their responsibilities towards others, particularly with respect to helping younger lawyers improve. I am no exception in that regard, and I know that it is easy to come up with many reasonable justifications for why it is okay to neglect younger lawyers and their development. At the same time, there are few things as rewarding as teaching others, and watching them improve as a result. The challenge of making others better never ends, especially for leaders. Perhaps that is why those at the top of the profession are often the most generous with their time for others striving to reach their heights. Unsurprisingly, they never seem bored either.
Either way — deciding to work on our weak points or helping others address theirs — the experience of challenging oneself helps keep legal practice fresh. I would argue that everyone should do a little of both, at least on occasion, understanding that the responsibility to spend more time helping others increases for those in a leadership position. Or when you develop seniority, or a real expertise in some aspect of legal practice.
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An illustration from football sheds light on the benefit of generating challenges, especially in a profession that demands teamwork. Aaron Rodgers is a two-time NFL MVP and a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. His backfield mate, Eddie Lacy, was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2013. Two accomplished gentlemen in the prime of their notable athletic careers. So what do they practice before the season? Check downs — simple, short passes that anyone who can throw or catch a football can mimic. The reason? Lacy’s weak point is his catching ability, and the best way to improve for him is to make catching short passes as routine as possible. Rodgers, as the team’s leader, is responsible for helping his teammates improve, even if it means practicing something he could probably do blindfolded. By practicing in this way they both confront, and respond to, their respective challenges from different sides of the fence. But they both benefit from a commitment to improvement. Getting better is never boring, and likely the best insurance that you will always have new professional challenges — interesting ones — to confront.
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 [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.