Some Advice For all You New Lawyers....

So, several states have released their bar exam results already and several bloggers that I read have passed and are now on their way to a long, personally fulfilling and intellectually rewarding career as a lawyer. Here is one teensy piece of advice I am gonna throw out there for ya, one that seems to have escaped the individuals (read: lawyers) that I interact with on a daily basis at work. Here it is:

Just because law school has NOTHING to do with common sense, the practice of law is MEANINGLESS without it, and unless you employ a substantial modicum of common sense on a daily basis, the paralegals that work for you and with you, will believe in their heart of hearts that they can do a better job than you and that they should be runnin' the show.

I'm just sayin'.

So, in addition to the pearl of wisdom above, here are a couple of other things to take with ya and put in your shiny new briefcase as you head off to LawyerLand (a place which I have yet to travel to...)

1. The efficient and organized way to do something is better than the long and laborious way.

2. Precision and clarity are imperative when imparting direction to underlings. Ambiguous direction will allow your paralegal to do it her way.

3. Don't interrupt. Speak in complete sentences. Say what you mean and mean what you say. My crystal ball is in the shop and paralegals are notoriously bad at mind reading.

4. Do not expect responses to emails and/or meeting requests sent at 10:00 pm. Not gonna happen.

5. Don't schedule meetings at 7:00 am. Similarly, don't schedule them at 7:00 pm. If you insist on having meetings at these times, there better be some kick ass food/drinks/snacks. If the snacks are substandard, you can expect little or no participation.

So, I am sure you can see what issues lie before me at work. These are the impressive, weighty and complex issues that us legal scholars tackle on a daily basis while protecting the Constitution....