Young graduate, employee or collaborator, you have at heart to develop your activity as a lawyer.
This pressing idea comes up more and more, but you don’t know where to start.
In this article, discover 5 tips from experienced colleagues for getting started with a lawyer.
Note: these are essentially corporate and business lawyers.
You have chosen a very complex profession and developing your business as a lawyer is no small feat.
The following five tips should clear up your situation. It will be about mindset, strategy and even networking.
Some recommendations may seem obvious, you may have already applied one or two, however, an update does not hurt. Without further ado, discover the five tips for getting started as a lawyer, followed by an exclusive bonus.
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Tip #1: Have the right mindset
Tip #2: Develop your expertise
Tip #3: Plan your career
Tip #4: Develop your professional network
Tip #5: Add strings to your bow
Tip #1: Have the right mindset
Your university career has allowed you to experience motivation, determination and hard work. However, and I think you are aware of this, the time to rest on your laurels has not yet come.
Getting started as a lawyer takes substantial effort. To grow your business and ensure a thriving future, you’ll need to start by conditioning yourself.
As in any progression, you will experience hazards, without an overtrained mind, discouragement, exhaustion or obstacles could slow down your ascent. On the contrary, with the right mindset, you will welcome them like the steps that lead to success.
Forging a foolproof state of mind is therefore the essential prerequisite for any lawyer who wishes to develop his professional activity.
These few articles that address the subject of the mind: “ 7 unexpected signs that entrepreneurship is smiling at you ”, “ How to keep your spirits up as an entrepreneur ”.
Tip #2: Develop your expertise
In another era, young graduates had to complete two years of collaboration in law firm before being able to take the oath to the bar of their choice.
Today, this rule has been abolished, however, the collaboration stage remains an almost obligatory passage. Your training has provided you with the essential bases for practice.
The complexity of your profession requires a high level of technicality, and it is only by working in real conditions that you will be able to acquire it. As a collaborator, you will sharpen your expertise with one or more seniors.
Thus, you will benefit from the experience of your colleagues to assert yourself. You learn to deal with a file from start to finish and you sharpen your practice.
The obligatory collaboration period was set at two years and this is probably no coincidence. Indeed, few young lawyers would be ready before that. The procedures can be long and complex, so it is not uncommon for a file to last beyond this period.
To go further on the subject of how to develop your expertise: “ How being an expert can help you in your business
Tip #3: Plan your career
Whatever your profile, collaboration should be considered a springboard. Indeed, if it offers the advantage of perfecting your expertise, the instability of status can end up being uncomfortable. This step represents the extension and finalization of your course, it lays the first milestones in the development of your career. Quickly, think ahead and plan. A quote from American evangelist, author and lecturer Robert Shuller illustrates this perfectly:
“If you don’t plan your goals, you plan your failure.”
Depending on how much time has passed since your oath to the bar, ask yourself how long do you need to complete a case with ease. You are the only person there who can assess whether it will take another 3 years, 5 years, or 7 years. Once this question is resolved, what direction would you like to take in your career?
Perhaps you have considered becoming a partner. The option is enticing, however, you are likely to have been waiting a long time for an ideal opportunity. By thinking about getting started early, you have your back.
If the dream match never shows up, you’ll be armed to bounce back. The opportunity to think about setting up your own practice with colleagues with complementary specialties to yours. In this case, the rest of the article will necessarily interest you.
Your point of view caught my eye and was very interesting. Thanks. I have a question for you.