PLI: A big firm offers new associates human resources most of all — other lawyers. How can young lawyers most take advantage of what they have to offer?

DARRICK L. MCDUFFIE: Seek Feedback. To grow as a lawyer, you must take every opportunity to allow a more senior attorney to critique your work and give you feedback on areas for improvement. This seems like a simple tip, but I have found that new associates often do not ask for feed back on their work product.

Feedback comes in a two-way conversation. Simply receiving a copy of your work product from your supervising attorney marked up in red for revisions is not feedback. When you receive revisions, you should review them and ask your supervising attorney for an opportunity to discuss them. Specifically, you should ask for advice on how you could have made your work product better. It is also important not to be defensive when receiving feedback.

The final step in constructive feedback is implementing that feedback into your subsequent work product. When you receive an assignment from an attorney who previously gave you feedback, I suggest that you discuss how the prior feedback may apply to your current assignment. This, obviously, cannot work in all situations, because the prior feedback may not have any relevance to certain projects. When possible, however, you should always look for an opportunity to have a follow-up conversation about any feedback you receive. Your supervising attorneys will know that you are receptive to feedback, and they will continue to give you the feedback necessary for you to develop as an attorney.

Do Not Reinvent the Wheel. One of the earliest lessons I learned was to always ask and search for examples of work product before setting out to prepare anything from scratch. Chances are that someone at your firm has done exactly what you have been asked to do (or something similar), so there is no reason to reinvent the wheel. You should not, however, rely too heavily on prior work product. Instead, you should use any prior work product you find only as a starting place. For example, if you rely on a prior legal memorandum, you must confirm that all of the cases cited in the memorandum are still good law. You must also conduct further research to look for recent developments in the law and confirm that the analysis in the memorandum is reliable. If you rely on prior work product such as a contract or agreement, you must confirm that the language in the contract or agreement applies to your particular circumstances. For example, you must confirm that the relevant law governing the prior contract or agreement applies to your current circumstances.

Be a Team Player. The practice of law is obviously difficult. Inevitably, every lawyer will need help getting out of a bind. You should help other attorneys (and paralegals and staff) when they are in need. Sooner or later, you will need their help.

As a litigator, my general rule is not to leave the office when anyone on any of my matters is working to finish a project under a deadline. This means that if the paralegals are preparing the exhibits to a brief that has to be filed by midnight, I will stay until it is done. Similarly, if a partner is revising a memorandum that has to go out to the client, I will stay until it is done. If, however, there is a reason why I have to leave, I always let everyone know in advance. I also check in to see if there is anything I can do prior to the deadline. I follow these rules for attorneys, paralegals and staff, because everyone is a part of the team and I will need everyone's help sooner or later.

Do not think that certain tasks are beneath you. Every new associate should learn how to operate the fax machine, printer, and copier. When a more senior associate or partner asks you to fax a document or make copies, do not immediately jump to the conclusion that you are being underutilized as an associate. Often things are simply too important or time sensitive to have someone else handle the task. Rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty is a way to show that you are truly a team player and are willing to do what it takes to get the job done.

Keep a Positive Outlook. You do not want to be viewed as a complainer. Complainers are people who are never happy with the type of work they are doing, the long hours they are working, or the people they are working with. Everyone who works at a firm can tell you who the complainers are, and no one believes they have a bright future with the firm. Tellingly, I have never met a partner who is a complainer. Most people want to work with people they enjoy spending time with. You should strive to be the person who performs well under stress without complaining, because people will enjoy working with you. It is that simple. Better yet, you will enjoy your practice more if you try to keep a positive outlook.

That said, there will always be times when work gets the best of you. You are tired. You are frustrated. You cannot seem to get that project just right and the deadline is looming like a vulture circling a yak that was attacked by a tiger and is now only minutes from death. In case you cannot tell, I have been there a few times. It is then that you must be especially careful to keep a positive outlook. You do not want to give anyone the wrong impression of you just because you are having a bad day. Things will get better, but the impression you leave will be enduring.

Stay Busy. As an associate in a large law firm, you should pay close attention to whether you are receiving work that is comparable in quality and amount to other associates at your level. There is no substitute for practice. You absolutely must have sufficient experience in your area of law in order to develop as an attorney. Thus, you should always try to keep a steady flow of work in your chosen area of law.

But how do you stay busy? I do not recommend sitting in your office and waiting for work to come to you. Below are a few examples of how to be proactive:

• Find how work is distributed in your firm. Is there a formal process? Is there also an informal process?
• Find out what new matters are coming into your firm and find out who is making the staffing decisions on those matters.
• Find out what new clients your firm is pursuing, and ask to be placed on a pitch team.
• Talk to the partners with whom you are working and let them know that you are interested in being placed on more matters like those you are already working on with them.

Again, these are only a few examples. The idea, of course, is to be proactive but also to follow the written and unwritten rules of your firm.

Face it, the practice of law is a profession, but it is also a business. Staying busy is profitable for your firm and shows that you understand the economics of big law. Do not be fooled into believing that your hours do not count as a new associate. Even if new associates generally are not profitable to large firms, that does not mean that new associates do not play a vital role in law firm economics. For instance, clients do not want to pay senior associates to do work that new associates should be doing. If you, as a new associate, are not doing the amount of work that you should, a more senior associate will have to pick up the slack. This means that a client will not be happy with the bill, or the firm will have to write off a senior associate's time. Finally, you do not want to give anyone the impression that you are not pulling your weight. Your hours represent one of the quantifiable means to assess your value to the firm. Hours alone does not equate to success, but you cannot succeed if you consistently bill well below your firm's average.

Find a Mentor. No single piece of advice can make or break your legal career. As a new associate, however, nothing you do will be more important than finding a good mentor. I have never met a partner at a large law firm who did not have a good mentor as an associate. This fact speaks volumes.

I believe there are some things that you will never know about your firm unless you have a mentor willing to share information with you. Every junior associate at a large firm, in my opinion, needs to have mid-level associates, senior associates, and partners as mentors. (You should also have mentors outside of your firm.)

First, you should have mid-level associates as mentors because they will remember exactly how it felt to be in your shoes. They are your first line of defense when you have a question you do not feel comfortable asking senior associates or partners. If you find mid-level associates who are good mentors, they may also come to you for work-related advice. This is because, as a new associate, you will have more in common with mid-level associates than senior associates or partners. You should have more than one mid-level associate as a mentor, however, because you never know when your favorite mid-level associate will leave the firm.

Second, senior associates will have valuable information about how to succeed at your firm. It is not by luck that the senior associates at your firm stayed around long enough to become senior associates. They have faced and overcome challenges. They have learned and navigated the formal and informal policies of the firm. They have learned (and no doubt continue to learn) how to produce quality work product and provide top notch client service. You should look to senior associates for advice regarding strategic decisions relating to your progression within the firm.

If you are serious about succeeding in a large firm, you must also have partners as mentors. The best associate at your firm will not have the type of information and experience that partners have. Partners can train you to be a truly good attorney and advocate on your behalf with other partners. Remember, it is partners who provide input into your evaluations. Also, partners can offer insight on all aspects of the firm, from work-related issues to firm culture and social events. Most importantly, partners can offer protection when you are in a bind. For example, only partners can make staffing decisions to lighten your case load or give you more work as needed. It is worth noting that any mentoring relationship will only be as rewarding as the effort you put forth as an associate. If you are not building trust and being a team player, for example, most associates and partners at your firm will not be willing to invest much time serving as your mentor.