The Best Advice for New Lawyers

So you’ve gotten your JD, passed the Bar Exam, and are ready to practice law. Unfortunately, times have changed from previous years; we’re two years into a worldwide pandemic that’s vastly changed how we view the world. New lawyers must juggle staying healthy while also juggling a global recession and their six-figure debt. Today we’ll be looking at some of the best advice for new lawyers to keep in mind.

Stay open-minded on what you’d like to practice

Pivoting as a lawyer can be necessary for survival. Think of it in terms of entrepreneurship; sometimes, an entrepreneur can change the products they’re selling or even change their whole strategy of doing business when the cost necessary to stay active isn’t worth it. Pivoting, in turn, keeps their business afloat. Maybe you started your law career passionate about being a lawyer but realize later on that you have a passion for helping children. You can pivot to family law, reinvigorating what you love doing.

Think about how you define success

As a new law graduate, you may be attracted to the idea of having a six-figure salary. That may be the reason you decided to pursue law in the first place. However, the quicker you realize that the money you make doesn’t have a bearing on your idea of success, the happier you’ll be. Find things that make you happy that aren’t conventional ways of measuring success, such as a dream job or a particular salary. Your future self will thank you for it.

Understand what you want from an employer

Toxic work environments are too familiar in every industry, especially law. The one thing that you should prioritize above all else is yourself and your mental health. The last thing that you want to do is stay in a toxic environment because you feel tied to your job.

You should also realize your value as a lawyer. You’re not beholden to one law firm like lawyers in other generations have been. Considering the career opportunities, you’ll have as a lawyer is one of the most beneficial things you can do. For example, you may want to start your own law firm, as you’d rather work for yourself than anyone else. Or, you may want to just practice law– in that case, joining a larger law firm can give you the experience necessary to practice law without the billing and administrative work that comes with owning your own practice.

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How You Can Benefit From a Professional Mentor

Mentorships can be an incredibly beneficial tool for newer businesspeople to have in their arsenal. These relationships can be essential to your success as a business professional, as mentorships can teach you to hone the skills necessary to become a great leader. Below are some of the ways that you can benefit from having a professional mentorship.

Having a mentor gives you a jump start on your professional development.

Mentorship is one of the best ways to help keep your eye on the prize. A mentor is like having a built-in support system, allowing you to focus on what’s important to your career development. This can lead to an overall increase in your confidence and your ability to achieve goals and can give you the tools necessary to make long-lasting networking connections. Not only that, but your mentor’s feedback can help you grow personally as well as professionally.

Having a mentor holds you accountable

One of the main things you do with your mentor is outline the goals you want to achieve. Maybe it’s to become an executive or to start your own business one day. Either way, you will still have a lot of development necessary before you become CEO. A mentor’s job is to help the mentee pinpoint the steps necessary to help them achieve their goals. Without a carefully laid plan, mentees can often become overwhelmed by the prospect of winging it. A mentor keeping the mentee accountable helps provide the necessary motivation for a mentee to succeed.

Having a mentor hones your leadership skills

Leadership skills are a necessary part of being a successful business professional. Unfortunately, these skills aren’t something that you’re born with. They have to be cultivated over time– luckily, honing skills such as listening, communication, and giving and receiving feedback is an integral part of a mentoring relationship. The mentor teaches these skills, as well as other soft skills such as self-awareness, adaptability, teamwork, collaboration, and verbal communication. Simply having one-on-one conversations with your mentor can help you learn the soft skills necessary to grow in your career.

Having a mentor opens the door to guidance and knowledge

Because mentors have more experience in the field they’re working in, they can provide a good amount of insight that mentees wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Their experience can help mentees solve difficult problems or help them learn new things. Mentees can look to mentors as a crucial outlet when they’re having certain challenges in their careers.

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How to Effectively Lead Under Pressure

If you’re a leader, it’s only natural that, at one time or another, you will face adversity. Pressure as a leader is a natural occurrence, though it doesn’t negate how it makes us feel. You may feel pressure because of the overwhelming list of expectations placed on you or even disappointment with your progress on a project. However, there are things that you can do to help you effectively lead under pressure.

Figure out what drives you

One of the things that you can do when you feel the pressure is to tap into your sense of purpose. What gets you up in the morning? What pushes you to do better? The reasoning behind your actions is one way that can push you past the stress and overall adversity.

Manage your expectations

Stress and pressure come from us not reaching our expectations, whether the expectations are out of our reach or not. Learning how to say yes and no in certain situations can help diffuse the stress that’ll come from unrealistic expectations.

Let go of perfectionistic expectations

It’s only natural that you want to be perfect as a leader. It’s a belief that a lot of leaders have. Unfortunately, that’s incredibly unrealistic and will only lead to stress and pressure on you. The moment you stop expecting perfection, there will be less pressure on you. Instead of going for perfection, what you should be doing is focusing on making progress and doing the best that you can. If you expect perfection, the only thing you’ll end up doing is procrastinating.

Set clear and concise boundaries

When you’re the leader, everyone’s going to want to talk to you. Whether that’s for help or for your stamp of approval for a project, someone will want to talk to you at every opportunity. In order to combat the stress that comes with this, make sure that you’re setting up good boundaries and sticking to them. Boundaries are there to help keep you from getting burnt out. They may be difficult to enforce, but they’re there to make sure that you stay a good, healthy leader.

Learn how to adapt

A degree of uncertainty is going to be par for the course when you’re a leader. You’re not always going to know everything about a situation, so ambiguity is, unfortunately, a necessary evil. By learning how to adapt to these situations and approaching these events with an objective frame of mind, you’ll become overwhelmed less and less often. Instead of focusing on everything you don’t know or understand, focus on what you do know and what you can change.

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Personality Traits of Successful Law Professionals

Most legal cases are sensitive and complicated. The fate of the involved individuals and companies often depends on the attorney or lawyer. For example, a great lawyer determines whether an injured employee will receive the right compensation or whether a divorced parent will win in a family case. Considering the following personality traits can help clients identify a successful legal professional.

Passion for the Job

The legal field is not easy and definitely not for everyone. According to the American Bar Foundation (ABF), almost a quarter of lawyers leave this field seven years or less after joining it. Besides having a legal degree, people in this profession should love and be passionate about their jobs to succeed. This personality trait makes lawyers happier and more fulfilled and motivates them to perform better.

Compassion for Clients

Successful legal professionals have compassion for their clients. This means that they recognize their problems and genuinely want to assist in solving them. Compassionate advocates also focus on their clients’ emotions and perceive the issue at hand from these individuals’ perspectives, whether they agree with it or not. This trait enables lawyers to anticipate their adversary’s actions and take action that will benefit the client.

Excellent Communication Skills

Successful attorneys openly communicate with their clients, judges, and any other parties involved in the case. They pass different ideas through private conversations, informal emails, face-to-face discussions, and formal legal writing. Excellent communication skills help lawyers network and demonstrate their professional competencies.

Knowledge of Law

A lawyer or attorney should be well-informed in their area of practice. Adequate knowledge helps these professionals to win cases, attract more prospective clients, and improve their reputation. It might come from education or experience.

Creativity

Creativity helps lawyers and attorneys to find unique solutions to their client’s problems. Their ability to “think outside the box” determines whether they will win or lose the case. Furthermore, creative legal professionals approach all situations with an open mind and understand that they need a unique level of understanding to help the client win.

In conclusion, the primary personality traits that legal professionals require to succeed in their work are creativity, communication skills, legal knowledge, passion, and compassion. Cultivating these skills enables them to understand different legal issues and create effective solutions.

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Choosing the Right Law School for You

So you’re considering going to law school. Congratulations! However, there are several things that you need to consider before submitting your application. The last thing you want to do is apply to a law school, get in, and not be able to go because you didn’t do adequate research. Below are some things that you should consider before applying to law school to pick the right one to suit you and your career aspirations.

Location

Location is probably one of the most critical aspects of your research when looking at different law schools. You’ll want to pick a school that will have a drastic effect on the internships you apply for, the learning environment that you’ll have, the networking opportunities there are, and even your job prospects after graduation. Whether or not you can relocate for your JD will have a tremendous influence on where you go.

For example, Boston is an excellent place if you’d like to be in intellectual property law. New York City’s the place to be if you want to practice finance law, and Washington D.C. is the place to go if you’re going to be in politics.

The Student Profile

Law schools will publish median LSAT scores, GPAs, and other statistics of the admitted students. You’re going to want to take a look to see how well your academics stand up to them. If you fall below the average score, you will want to study and retake the LSATs. On the other hand, it can give you an average score to target if you haven’t taken them yet.

Cost and Financial Aid

Law school is a pricey investment, as you well know. You’re going to want to look more in-depth at the cost, not just at the price they advertise. You should be looking at the financial aid package given to you, the opportunities that may arise from the law school itself, and the area of law you want to practice, just to make sure you get the best Return of Investment possible.

You may be offered a handsome financial aid package for one school, but a more expensive school may give you better opportunities out of law school. However, looking at scholarship opportunities for your entire JD career is also incredibly important, as the awards may be subject to change after your first year. Things like tuition costs for a year, total expenses for one year, and overall program costs are also essential in your decision-making.

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Preparing for a Professional Networking Event

Networking is more than just introducing yourself to other people at conferences or expos. Nurturing these relationships and showing the people you’re talking to that you care is essential for cultivating lasting professional relationships. However, talking to new people and networking can take you way out of your comfort zone, as talking to people you don’t know can induce anxiety. Here are essential steps to keep in mind when preparing for a networking event.

Choose the networking event that best suits you

Your time is valuable, simple as that. Even though there are a lot of hours in the day to do the things that are necessary, you may find yourself with a lack of spare time that’s necessary to network. You’re not going to be able to attend every networking event there is, so the best thing that is going to aid you in building up a proper network is to pick the best networking event that suits your needs.

You should be first looking for the best events suited for your specific job industry. Then, you’ll want to obtain a speaker list to create a list of who you want to network with. Be sure to do your research when looking at who is hosting the event, so you can see how it’s set up. Finally, you’ll want to create a list of the events you wish to attend and see if they fit your schedule.

Be sure to research

As stated previously, you’re not going to be able to meet everyone you’d like. This is where your research comes in. You’ll want to create a strategic plan of who you want to network with and why you’d like to connect with them. This plan should include a list of possible things you want to say.

Look back at the list of people you want to network with and narrow it down to around three speakers and about five guests. Then, it’s your time to do your research. Look up the guests and speakers and see if there’s a spark– if you have anything in common, questions you might want to ask them, etc. Check out their social media accounts to see what they’re posting or read articles that have been published by or about them.

Prepare what you’re going to say

The last thing that you want to do is to get in front of the person that you want to talk to and have nothing to say after the basic introduction. As pleasantries only get you so far, you’re going to need to create a list of things that you want to talk about, or better yet, create a little pitch as to why this speaker should network with you. Think of it as a small sales pitch, but about yourself. This gets you to break the ice with the person you’re talking to and get what you want to say out there in under a couple of minutes.

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Leadership Mistakes to Avoid

One of the most challenging jobs on this planet is being a leader. As a leader, you need to be strong enough to make decisions that impact people’s lives every day, yet you can’t live their lives for them or protect them from every possible negative outcome.

A leader also needs to understand that anything they do or say will impact the lives of others in some way, shape, or form. If you want to be a good leader, you have to work on being your best self, which is easier said than done.

Mistakes happen all the time; we are only human, after all. However, you can avoid making these leadership mistakes and save yourself a lot of unnecessary stress if you learn from your past experiences before they have a chance to take their toll on your future success.

Here is a checklist of questions to ask yourself as a leader to avoid making mistakes that will hurt your team or company.

Are you treating others the way they want to be treated?
Are you trusting people to do their jobs?
Are you a positive force or a negative one in the workplace?
Are you surrounding yourself with people who reflect your standards, morals, and values?
Are you making decisions based on the long-term benefit to all involved?
Are you breaking down barriers that may exist between groups or departments?
Are you building bridges to unite different groups instead of creating tension and separation?

Leading is not easy, but these are some questions to ask yourself as a leader to make sure that you’re doing your best. Remember that leaders who consistently exhibit the behaviors listed above are more likely to build stronger connections with their people and achieve higher levels of success.

If you’re in a leadership position and you find it difficult to be strong yet empathetic, always remember that your words and actions impact others. By simply acknowledging the fact that you want to be honest, trustworthy, and courageous for your team members, you’ve already improved upon the status quo of how many leaders operate.

If you’re a leader who is wondering if you’re doing enough or should be doing more, you will want to review the questions above as often as you can. Remember that leadership is an ongoing process that never ends, but it can end with you being a better person, leader, and human being.

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What to Look For in a Lawyer

Businesses need to hire a lawyer to protect them from lawsuits or legal troubles. These lawyers can provide guidance and help ensure that the business operates legally.

When deciding on the right person, they need to create a plan to find one and then qualify the lawyers they are considering based on their professional qualities.

The first step is to make a list of attorneys that they think are qualified. Then, call the law firm and ask them about their experience of working with similar cases.

Choosing the right lawyer is not an easy task, especially if they don’t know how to go about it. But there are some things that they can do to make sure that their choice is well informed and not just a random one:

* Make a list of attorneys that might be able to help with their case.

* Call up law firms and ask them about their experience in similar cases.

* Do research on their chosen attorney online.

Deciding on the Best Lawyer

A company should first identify the type of attorney they are looking for. They should look at the qualifications and work experience of the potential attorney.

Qualifications matter when it comes to legal advice and representation. An experienced attorney is more likely to give a client solid advice than a novice who has just graduated from law school.

It’s also important for businesses to contact their local Better Business Bureau for any complaints or lawsuits filed against the attorneys that they are considering hiring before making their decision.

When a business decides it needs legal representation, it should create a methodical search for one.

After they have made a shortlist, they can decide on the right lawyer by considering a few key things about their choice.

The first and most important consideration is the attorney’s educational background.

The next consideration is the attorney’s type of business. They may specialize in real estate, criminal defense, or family law. A business will need to find an attorney specializing in the law area that they need help with.

The final consideration is the attorney’s experience level. The more experience they have, the better equipped they will be to provide them with a successful outcome for their case.

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The New Lawyer’s Handbook

This book by Karen Thalacker aims to teach fresh lawyers things they didn’t learn in law school. For example, The New Lawyer’s Handbook goes over how to handle clients and co-exist with others in the office. The book also guides you through a healthy work-life balance. Along with providing expert tips, the book even lays out meditations you can do to free yourself of stress anytime you’re feeling the pressure of the job. This book is highly recommended for those just starting their law career.

My Life in Court

Louis Nizer is the author of My Life in Court. Nizer gives a fascinating look back at some of his most intense cases, both civil and criminal. He also gives a vivid description of how intense the courtrooms were during these cases. From defamation cases to trademark and copyright, Nizer has seen it all. He also goes in-depth into cases where he was involved in lawsuits against others for slander. Nizer paints a clear picture of just how demoralizing it can be for one’s character to be tarnished due to false statements and accusations.

Flourish

This is a fantastic book if you’re looking to keep a level head. Being a lawyer is stressful and can test your patience. You have to understand that no client is going to want to stick you with if you are easily triggered. Flourish by Martin Seligman will help you keep a healthy state of mind no matter what is thrown your way. Staying cool also plays into your favor in court.

How to Maintain Positive Relationships with Your Clients

Maintaining a good client relationship is essential for your company. Most companies only interact with their clients only when they are transacting. Strong customer relationship is essential in developing customer satisfaction and referrals. The following are ways in which you can maintain and build a positive customer relationship for your company.

Stay Positive

Ensure that you maintain a good attitude with your customers at all times. Remain solution-driven and positive even when you are experiencing challenges with your projects. This will instill confidence and trust in your customers and reduce any stress that your customer may have about the project.

Proper Communication

It would help if you established consistent and open communication with your customer. You can achieve this by providing them with several ways of communication such as email addresses and both cell and office numbers. Regular communication helps your client to assess and ask any questions about the project. This also shows the customer that you care about them.

Be Open-minded

Ensure that you incorporate your customer’s suggestions and requests in the project. Be open-minded and accommodate the clients’ needs and wishes.

Know What Your Client Needs

You should learn and understand your client’s operations and needs before you start a project. This will put you in a better position to work on the project and create a good experience for your client.

Have Knowledge

New clients might not understand details about your company. Take your time and explain how your organization communicates with clients and how the service or product functions. You should also provide them with a timeline about the project and updates on how you intend to work on the project. You can achieve this by creating training sessions and tutorials that will keep your customers informed and comfortable.

Provide your Expertise

Provide exemplary service or products to your clients. Since you are the expert, provide a smooth experience for your clients. You should also provide consistent and confident messaging to your customers on the products and processes you will use in the project. Try to exceed the expectations of your client for delivery and service. Your frameworks should be realistic and work on the project.