By Joan Pedzich
The Daily Record Newswire
Attorneys embarking on their first job as newly minted lawyers are entering one of the busiest, most challenging periods of their life.
The pressure, the scrutiny, and the continuous learning mode will challenge their sleep cycle, and their sense of self. Some days it will be difficult to find time to read e-mail, let alone develop professional and personal reading habits.
Still, when getting started and plowing through that first year, new attorneys will benefit from making time for a few essentials that will keep them in touch with the legal profession as well as the wider world.
New job stuff
Read the employee manual, any training material and all policies. No kidding.
Many workplaces hand out a small library’s worth of reading matter on the first day on the job, and not all of it reads like a best seller. The fact that the employer has decided these are the things new hires must know should be reason enough to work through the policy and procedures manual.
For anyone who needs further incentive, consider the holes that might be encountered by those who don’t know the dress code, how the organization feels about personal Internet use on the job, how to be reimbursed for business travel or how to transfer a phone call to a supervising attorney’s office.
Newsy stuff
Your local newspaper and at least one good paper with extended national and international coverage are musts for a new attorney’s reading list. The format doesn’t matter.
Whether it’s downloaded to a Kindle or on actual newsprint, venture beyond the sports and style sections. Find out what is going on in business, politics, the financial world, the arts, state and federal legislatures, education and popular culture.
As a lawyer, sooner or later, something you’ve read about in the paper will end up on your desk.
Lawyer stuff
Bar journals, legal newspapers, local business journals, current awareness publications and legal blogs all have something to offer. (Above the Law doesn’t count!)
You can’t read everything, so pick a couple and make them a habit.
As your practice develops, your taste and need for professional reading will evolve. Take cues from what the attorneys in your practice group or department are reading. For those in institutions that include a law librarian, know that he or she will be happy to share suggestions or include your name on a routing list for materials the attorneys in your group receive.
Fun stuff
Read for pleasure. Now is the time to establish some life balance.
As all-consuming as the first years of a law practice can be, you’ll be a better advocate if you are a well-rounded person.
Reading something for pure enjoyment will smooth the edges, help you to escape and give you something other than that brief you are working on to talk about. If you don’t have the time or attention span for the latest 700-page novel, subscribe to a couple of good magazines and make them a habit.
If you simply can’t find time to plop in a chair with reading material, pop in a book on tape and listen on your way to work. It still counts.
Joan Pedzich is the director of Library Services for Harris Beach PLLC and is active in both the Association of Law Libraries of Upstate New York and the American Association of Law Libraries.
