By: Atty. Emmanuel N. Reeves, Guest Author
Startup entrepreneurs dream of seed capital to grow their startup businesses. Young footballers dream about signing their first professional contracts, and rookie musicians dream of recording their first albums. These excitements apply to young lawyers as well. A law school graduate is always anxious about passing the Bar exams and starting practice; that feeling is indescribable. But after taking the lawyer’s oath and getting officially enlisted in the black gown aristocracy, reality dawns.
In Liberia, and possibly elsewhere, family and friends have high expectations of a young lawyer. You soon start to receive calls and text messages from them seeking your legal opinion on matters or to represent them in court. And mostly, those early engagements are pro-bono or if they are offering fees, they will be far below expectation. But whatever it is, as a young lawyer, rendering legal services is important. Doing pro-bono services can also help enrich your experience.
It must be said that not many persons who leave law school go into active practice. Some are already employed and only need legal education for job security. Others get disinterested along the way, and some are already into different disciplines and would find it difficult to change careers, especially when they are well recognized in their areas of specialty. For those who go into actual practice, some focus squarely on transactional practice by taking up in-house counsel roles with government agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations. Others are recruited by the Ministry of Justice to be prosecutors, purely focusing on Criminal Law practice (Litigation), and public defenders. And there is the batch that get recruited into law firms and their practice could be both transactional and litigative. This group is our focus here.
Starting practice in a law firm as a young lawyer is a dream come thru for many new attorneys. Unfortunately, there are not many top-notch law firms in Liberia. Therefore, it is a chase to get incorporated into big firms. It is not that other smaller firms are not good; however, big law firms “BRAND” you quickly and faster. You learn quickly and conveniently and most of the operational burden are shouldered by the firm as opposed to small firms where basic stationeries are a serious challenge, and keeping electricity, internet, etc. are all issues to handle.
To be blunt, big law firms are well organized, structured, and established. But everyone cannot be fortunate to practice with a big law firm. From a very subjective perspective, a big law firm allows a young lawyer to quickly find their feet financially because an attractive salary is offered. In smaller firms, however, the salary might not be attractive. But it is not all about money and branding, it goes beyond. I acknowledge that being inexperienced in the practice of law does not amount to professional inexperience; most young lawyers are professionals with competences and skills that could be transferred to their law practice. However, young lawyers must know that most firms place premium on experience in the practice of law. This might appear unreasonable, but it is the reality.But whether you find yourself in a ‘big-name’ or well-paying firm or not, there are certain things you should keep in focus.
A young lawyer must work on a few things to grow and excel in the profession. You must be willing to learn, be open-minded and always reach out for guidance or assistance. When you sign up at the firm, everyone knows that you are fresh from Law School, very inexperienced, have low confidence level, etc. As such, much may not be expected of you in terms of handling clients’ files, taking leads on cases, etc. But you will most likely have your initial domain. For example, you would be tasked with the drafting of correspondences for clients. It may sound too small of a task; however, drafting correspondences helps your supervisor to evaluate your writing skills and see in what areas you need improvement. Perhaps you may be struggling with a subject and verb agreement issue, inappropriate punctuation, logical coherence, etc. It is from that point your supervisor will start to pinpoint your lapses and start to build you in those areas.
Mind you, as much as you are a licensed lawyer, you are not there yet. It is a whole new learning process. Not that you can’t write, but legal writing has its own nuances. Be open to learning. Your supervisor will almost always edit your work. You must pay keen attention to errors that were corrected by your supervisor and begin to go over and over and see how you can improve. And for a good number of times, you will continue to do correspondences but with different facts and details. That is where your critical thinking skills come in. You must be creative in writing different communications. You must open-up to ask those you met at the firm, not necessarily your supervisor or other supervisors, but your fellow attorneys who were at the firm and have acquired sufficient experience. This helps you build relationships as a young lawyer and to network and be a team player.
Also, you will have to adapt to the style of writing and format that the firm uses. The rationale is for uniformity, coordination, and organization of work that the firm will be putting out in the public. Therefore, it is not about the writing style you’ve long been accustomed to. Instead, it is what is required to keep the firm’s brand alive. This takes some time to get adjusted. You must take weekends to get yourself more accustomed to the firm’s style of writing and format. And most of the drafting will be assigned to you to make you come out of yourself and to engage more with other Associates. The more tasks, the more you will have to reach out.
To get your feet wet, you would soon be assigned to a senior lawyer who frequently goes to court. This is meant to have you understand the filing process at the court, the filing fees and to know the court administrators starting from the Clerk, the Sheriff, and the Bailiff, and to build a relationship because there will be a time that you will be required to interact with those people and the firm will expect that you produce results. To get involved more with the court, you could be asked to draft requests for notice of assignments and to follow up with the court on cases. You will start to learn the various fees for payment when the firm is filing a new action, which bank to make a deposit, how to file a new action, who is responsible for filing, who is responsible to sign as Justice of the Peace, and a lot more. It is important as a young lawyer to pay keen attention to these processes because soon you will be in the lead position taking on responsibilities, and your supervisors will expect that you perform. Therefore, it is on you to make maximum use of the guidance, education, and help.
You would also be assigned to draft pleadings. It will require a great amount of effort from you. But as a recruit, your supervisor will not expect much from you. What will be most required to learn at this stage will be the structuring and formatting of pleadings and the procedural law aspect. Your supervisor will want you to get more familiar with the different courts you are supposed to venue a matter before, the number of precepts, if it is a civil matter, etc. Because your supervisor is aware that every action will require different courts, you will be tasked with drafting different pleadings in different actions. Within a month or so, you will now master the various form, structures, and formatting of pleadings. You should also be concerned about the details involved in drafting pleadings. Your research skills, how you traverse your adverse lawyer’s pleading, what appropriate words to use etc. Don’t be afraid, your supervisor will help you throughout. You should understand that every work that gets corrected by your supervisor becomes a template that should be kept for future use in the event a similar task is assigned. Surely, you cannot keep reinventing the wheels; your supervisor may get upset with you. Time is of essence.
Bear in mind that your supervisor doesn’t hate you, he/she wants you to grow, be strong and independent. As such, you will be pushed and there are times you may want to give up, but never you think about that because you don’t want to be regarded as weak and you don’t want your supervisor to lose confidence in you. You always want to be trusted with tasks; that is how you learn and grow because sooner you will start handling cases at the firm, meeting with clients one on one, and making representations at court alone. And if you cannot work under pressure and build your confidence, I’m sorry, you will be stuck forever. Laissewith other Associates to learn from them and have a conversation with them on different subjects. Your supervisors are busy, they don’t have that luxury of time to spend on you, but your colleagues may want to dedicate some of their time trying to help you.
Time management is also key. When you arrive at work, the amount of time you spend on a given task, when you leave work, how often you are seen being free at the firm, and your time management, basically are your scorecard. You must ask yourself if your time and the work being done by you are summed up into finances, and how much of your time is bringing money to the firm. Many young lawyers think it will be a free ride throughout, no. As the firm gives you a salary and other benefits, you are similarly required to give back to the firm.
Another point to consider as you start your career as a young lawyer, never compared yourself with other Associates you met at the firm, it will be a terrible mistake. They are far ahead of you; they have passed that entry-level you are struggling to get past. So instead of falsely thinking that you all are on the same level because of the same title “Attorney”, you must encourage yourself to step down from your high horse, humble yourself and learn from them as much as you can because the moment, they discover that you are measuring up, they will not want to assist you. Lastly, you must respect, and consult Associates you met at the firm. They are your success story depending on how you use your time with them.
As you begin to take up more assignments, the more you become confident and as you perform, the more you gain your supervisor’s trust and confidence. Never start thinking about being perfect but be cautious of what you do whenever you are doing what you are required to do. Don’t allow early success to blow your mind, be too late to count your success, and be willing to assist with task even if it wasn’t assigned to you. Before leaving the office on Friday for weekend, ask your supervisor if there are tasks that he/she would want you to perform. Supervisors are not a machine; they too need help. Help is not only received, but it should also be given.
Word of caution! We all need upward mobility. However, be careful how you take up private matters on the side. If not, all your time may be taken up thereby undermining your performance at the firm. Sooner your supervisor may suspect, and you don’t want to start receiving red on your scorecard as a young lawyer. It is good to take it bit by bit until it is time for you to expand your winds. Your supervisor will understand and start to give you some leverage. Your supervisor was once sitting in your seat as a young lawyer; but with time, commitment, dedication, and discipline, your supervisor rose to his/her current position. It is not a magic pill; you too can do it. The firm depends on you as you depend on the firm. Give yourself time to grow and develop into the lawyer that you long envisaged. To be your best as a young lawyer, you will have to decide between your now and your future. You will be required to cut back on some of your habits and activities, especially those that are taking your time, focus, and attention. Make no mistake, it is hard to do. But only you can chart the path to your destiny.
