The American Bar Association book “The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law” is a must-have resource for law graduates and associates entering the world of Big Law. Author and attorney Mark Herrmann shares his insight and advice on how to work efficiently to build a career.
“The Curmudgeon” candidly shares what partners are looking for in your writing, your depositions and your overall performance. Chapters include “How to Fail as an Associate,” “The Curmudgeon’s Law Dictionary,” and “The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Building a Practice.”
“The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law” is a compact, comprehensive guide on how to be an effective law firm associate.
The Curmudgeon is, of course, a figment of Herrmann’s imagination. Herrmann himself is not quite as old and nasty as you might think after reading this book. He graduated from Princeton University in 1979 and the University of Michigan Law School in 1983. After graduation, he clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Dorothy W. Nelson, Ninth Circuit. Herrmann practiced at Steinhart & Falconer in San Francisco from 1984-89, then moved to Cleveland and joined the law firm Jones Day, where he was a partner when he wrote the original edition of this book. Herrmann is now the deputy general counsel of Aon PLC.
The book costs $37.95 and can be ordered by calling 800-285-2221 or online at shopaba.org.
- Posted December 12, 2019
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ABA offers 'The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law'

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