By Sybil Dunlop
The Daily Record Newswire
Summertime has finally arrived. It's time for Arnold Palmers, walks around the lake, and for law students to try their hand at practicing the law. Tis' the season of the summer law clerk.
I had the good fortune to spend my law school summers with two different law firms (this was pre-Great Recession). And June is the right time of year to chat about those experiences and my lessons learned. So, in no particular order, I humbly offer the following advice:
Put everything on your calendar: Before I summered at a law firm, I didn't use a calendar. I just remembered my rare doctor's appointment or meeting with a professor. This didn't cut it as a summer associate. My calendar became filled with trainings, lunches, and meetings. I missed one. With a senior partner. It was awful. Convinced they would never hire me, I threw myself on their mercy and explained that I would become a convert to the Outlook calendar. I am now a full-fledged devotee. Not only is everything on my Outlook calendar, but it syncs with my phone and multiple alarms go off before every meeting. My way is the hard way, of course. Much better to just show up on time and never need to ask for forgiveness.
Stay in touch with the assigning attorney: As a summer associate, I undertook a range of assignments. Some I felt like I knocked out of the park while others I struggled with. I realized, however, that staying in touch with the assigning attorney throughout the process (offering an early -and short - overview of my findings) provided a chance to get feedback before handing in a final product. If I had wandered off track or misunderstood the project's scope, I learned that it was better to find that out early, when there was still room to correct.
Rely on your fellow summer associates: If you're the lone summer law clerk at your office, this advice won't work. But if you have at least one peer, I recommend joining forces. You can proofread each other's work, drive to events together, debate the appropriateness of wearing jeans on casual Friday, etc. I still feel a special closeness with my fellow summers; it's like we attended boot camp together - we may have been clueless, but we had each other.
Attend stuff: Being a summer associate can be stressful. Sometimes I would find myself thinking, "Gosh, I should skip the social event and keep working on this memo." Don't do it. I (later) realized that socializing with folks at events was just as important as doing good work. Summering at a big law firm in Washington, D.C., I worked with one associate who was killing himself. He was billing 300 hours a month. But when I told people at firm events that I was working with him, nobody knew who he was. This struck me (and still does) as a tragedy. I learned that people will remember good legal work only if they also remember the person.
Accept feedback gracefully: Law firms know that summer associates are newbies; they will need feedback. I am firmly convinced that perfection is not expected, just a demonstrated willingness to learn and improve. Welcoming feedback is a good first step. If there's an opportunity to incorporate the feedback into your next memo, that's even more impressive. And, when you become friends with your fellow summers, you can share the feedback with each other and ensure none of you are making the same mistakes. They'll think you're the greatest class of summers they have ever hired.
Keep a list of your projects and key facts at hand: During my summer in D.C., a senior partner called to ask me a simple question about a memo I had written. In a panic, I blanked on the facts of our case. If I had kept a little cheat sheet next to my computer, I wouldn't have had this problem. Bonus tip: At the end of your summer, a cleaned-up version of the cheat sheet (with the names and places removed) can be a useful crib sheet to review before future job interviews. (I didn't think to do this, but watched a few of my peers keep such a list to good effect. They were able to speak eloquently, and in-depth, about their former projects and work experiences).
I mentioned to a friend that I was planning to write about being a summer associate and offer a bit of advice. The friend smiled and asked, "Keep your mouth shut and never have more than one drink?" My friend is right of course. The first rule of being a summer associate should be to do no harm. They already like you; they hired you. Now you get to improve on that base by demonstrating that you have long-term potential.
Firms, however, appear to enjoy submitting summer clerks to a series of tests to determine worthiness. For some reason, these tests primarily involve massive amounts free alcohol. And blogs like Above the Law delight in cataloging the escapades of those who fail. These stories become the stuff of legend (the two summers who got in a fight and broke through the restaurant's front window, the summer who put his bare feet on the desk during a meeting, the summer who tried to seduce the senior attorney's spouse, etc.).
Maybe these stories capture our imaginations because we are all fish out of water when we transition from learning the law to practicing it. Perhaps we take comfort from thinking, "well, at least I'll never do that." While our transgressions probably (knock on wood) won't be publicized, errors are inevitable. Learning a new office's culture and expectations takes time (not to mention learning how to practice the law itself). We should all be willing to admit that there's a lot to learn.
Published: Thu, Jun 25, 2015
