Career Success Resources Guide: Young Lawyers

Orienting to your new law firm -- Using technology wisely -- Maintaining collegial interactions -- Dealing with administrative matters -- Understanding and addressing finances -- Maximizing client relationships -- Focusing on marketing and business development -- Addressing tactics and tools.

Making the time -- Centered, aware, resourceful -- Optimal performance state -- Business development for shy attorneys -- Seven rainmaker actions -- Three mistakes to avoid -- Thirty-four steps to expand any practice -- The associate's business development checklist -- Tips from partners, chief marketing officers, and associates -- Life as an associate.

Your career considerations -- Your options in the legal profession -- Finding internship opportunities -- Applying for internships -- The interview -- Learn practical legal skills -- Create working relationships with attorneys -- Develop as a professional -- Prepare for your internship -- Be enthusiastic -- Demonstrate a strong attention to detail -- Manage your stress -- Upwardly manage your assigning attorneys -- Nail the legal research assignment -- Twenty tips for successful performance -- Winding down professionally.

Introduction: the realities of today's legal economy -- Think ahead: what got you here won't necessarily get you there -- Understand the business you want to own someday: a primer on law firm economics -- Ownership of everything -- Stay humble -- Assess yourself -- Continually improve your product -- Remember that relationships are everything -- Distinguish yourself: what makes you so special -- Put yourself out there: networking and visibility -- Get the business -- Nurture and grow client relationships -- Get work done through others -- Go beyond delegation: develop and lead others -- The nitty-gritty of client and practice management -- Be a good partner: ask not what your firm can do for you -- Character: integrity, civility, and class -- The big picture.

Chicago, Illinois : ABA Publishing
Description
Still in law school -- The job search -- Law clerks and summer associates -- The five-tool attorney -- The new job -- Research assignments -- Writing assignments -- Litigation -- Transactions/closings -- Firm culture -- Systems -- Networking and marketing -- Billing -- Client meetings -- Best practices -- The reliable associate -- Professional attire -- Socialization.

What to do when . . . you are starting your firm -- What to do when . . . you are writing your business plan -- What to do when . . . you don't have clients -- What to do when . . . you meet your first client -- What to do when . . . you write your first complaint, motion, or responsive pleading -- What to do when . . . you need to file a federal pleading using the electronic case filing system -- What to do when . . . you get removed to federal court -- What to do when . . . you need to complete discovery -- What to do when . . . you are headed to mediation -- What to do when . . . you need to appeal -- What to do when . . . you hate practicing law -- What to do when . . . you finish reading this book.

Preparation for networking -- Alliance building -- Developing professional expertise -- Systems development : operations management -- Systems development : practice management -- Systems development : client management -- Putting it all together -- Making sense of it all.

Who and what is a law firm -- Virtual law firms -- Office-sharing arrangements -- Referral arrangements outside law firms -- The form of a law firm -- Law firm governance -- The career lattice for larger firm lawyers -- Non-partner lawyers -- Partnership -- Temporary or contract attorneys -- Nonlawyers at law firms -- Administrative organizational structures -- Interactions with nonlawyer staff -- Partnership at XYZ law partnership, LLP: exercise #1 -- The market for legal services -- Types of law practices -- How fees are assessed -- Other sources of firm revenue -- Law firm profitability -- Client and matter profitability -- Problems with over-focus on profitability -- Introduction to law firm practice: exercise #2 -- Law firm compensation -- Compensation and culture: exercise #3 -- Intake of a client matter -- Time-billing entries -- Managing client work -- Pro bono -- Business development -- Developing business from new clients -- Retaining work from existing clients -- Client relationship management -- Lending clients money -- Sample business development checklist for associates -- Marketing : exercise #4 -- Firm culture and demands on time -- Basics of lawyers' professional liability insurance -- Dealing with mistakes -- Diversity in law firms -- Mentoring -- Supervision and risk management.

Packed with authoritative research and featuring comments from more than 150 lawyers who do the jobs, Law Jobs offers in-depth exploration of each career option, including general background, pros and cons, day in the life descriptions, job availability, compensation, prospects for advancement, diversity, and how students can best position themselves for opportunities in the field. Covered jobs include:

Large and Medium-Sized Law Firms
Small Firms and Solo Practitioners
In-House and Other Corporate Counsel
Government Agency Lawyers
Non-Governmental Public Interest Law
Prosecutors and Public Defenders
Private Criminal Defense
JD Advantage Jobs
Contract (Freelance) Lawyering
Judges, Mediators, and Arbitrators
Judicial Law Clerks
Legal Academic Jobs

How to be successful in law school -- How to determine whether to pursue a position at a top law firm -- How to get into a top law firm -- How to succeed as an associate at a top law firm -- How to make partner at a top law firm -- How to succeed as a junior partner at a top law firm.

Law school -- Fundamental skills -- Clients and client service -- Professional development.

Generation Y : should I care? : and who are the millennial lawyers? -- Generation disloyal : the death of the "company man"? -- Generation "slackoisie" -- Why did I go to law school anyway? : the quest for the "meaningful" assignment -- Me, me, and me again -- Generation "mind my own business" : millennials and the entrepreneurial spirit -- Feedback, please : the changing roles and importance of mentoring, evaluations, and employer feedback -- Generation always wired : millennials and technology and their respective roles at the firm -- Generation connected : millennial associates and networking, social networking, and just plain being social -- Work-life balance : having a life -- Generation recession -- Generation change -- Millennial lawyer survey -- Homework for millennial lawyers -- Career resources for millennial lawyers.

The author shares foundational, timeless, and practical advice that will prove invaluable to recent law graduates, guiding readers through strategies critical to achieving satisfying and successful careers. From making positive first impressions, developing productive and professional work habits, building effective business networks and becoming comfortable with promoting work and professional talents, to maintaining admirable reputations, serving others, and advocating for the wider community, it is all here to help young lawyers achieve their goals in a profession that sometimes can seem illusory.

Buying into the roadmap -- Your timeline for the roadmap process and your roadmap template -- Developing your strongest competencies -- Available resources to navigate your roadmap.

On the benefits of coaching -- The new lawyer experience and a note about tribes -- Your mind-set -- Your role in a law firm -- Professionalism -- Litigation versus transactional practice -- Law firm structure -- Mentorship -- Time management and organization -- Working with staff -- Working with attorneys -- Speaking like a lawyer -- Writing like a lawyer -- Feedback -- Mistakes -- Marketing -- Social media and your legal practice -- Health and wellness -- On leadership.

Also available online through LUC Library's subscription to Ebook Central Academic Complete Collection.