By Jonathan Brophy 

Some people do their best work under pressure.  As a young associate though, waiting until the last minute to complete a task is usually not advisable.  This is particularly true with discovery.  Whether you've just received a box of documents from opposing counsel in response to your discovery requests, or you've just received the other side's interrogatories and request for documents for your client -review discovery as soon as you get it. 

By Brian Malcom 

6.  Ask questions. 

This tip requires a bit of balancing.  You should ask questions when you are confused or want advice on how to handle a situation.  You should not ask others to do the work for you, and you should not hinder others from doing their own work.  Do the work.  Be considerate.  However, do not be afraid to tap the wisdom of your more-experienced colleagues. 

7.  Smile and be social. 

Social events are part of the extended interview that is a Summer clerkship.  While you should certainly work hard, you should also make every effort to attend social events and to be social.  Absence from social events may be interpreted as a lack of interest in the firm or, worse yet, its people.  Social events are also a great opportunity to interact with attorneys you might not interact with on a daily basis.  Your goal during a clerkship should be to construct a coalition of support in the firm.  Get out there.  Make some friends.  Firms hire candidates they like, both on a personal and professional level.  

8.  Shake some hands. 

During the workday, do not be afraid to venture outside of your designated space.  Walk around the office.  Get to know the staff as well as the attorneys.  Make your face and name familiar, without making them infamous.  Do not be invisible. 

9.  Finish your assignments. 

I am not sure this needs much explanation.  Show the employer you can complete an assigned task.  Do not pass the buck on your way out the door on the last day of your clerkship.  Such an exit could tarnish all the progress you made and goodwill you accumulated throughout the clerkship.  Last impressions, like first impressions, are very important. 

10.  Speak up when appropriate. 

If you have a good idea, share it.  If you notice something, point it out.  This goes back to showing you can contribute.  Though you are young, you are still capable.  When appropriate, let your voice be heard.  One example of when a clerk should speak up is when they are overwhelmed with assignments.  If an attorney comes to you and asks for your help and you know you cannot produce a quality product on time, speak up.  While this will be hard to do, it is better than misleading the attorney or failing to complete the assignment on time.

By Brian Malcom 

1.  Be punctual. 

The importance of punctuality is obvious but often overlooked.  If you want to start out a clerkship on the wrong foot, show up late your first day.  Timeliness every other day is just as critical.  The firm needs to know they can count on you.  Tardiness indicates that you are not reliable, not organized, not capable of time management, uncaring, or all of the above.  If you must be late, call ahead. 

2.  Be concise, but comprehensive. 

If you can master this skill, you can master anything.  Young lawyers often use too many words to tell too little.  Some good advice: master the short sentence.  Some better advice: dig down until you’re digging up.  What do I mean?  Your research should be comprehensive.  Treatises and secondary sources are great tools to ensure you are covering the entire scope of an issue.  Use them.  Keyword searches are great, but they are only one piece of the good research puzzle.  Once you start seeing the same cases and discussion again and again, this is a good sign you have covered the entire scope of an issue.  Then, organize your research and analysis in a thoughtful, clear, and concise written product that is useful to the assigning attorney. 

3.  Be yourself. 

The firm wants to know who they are hiring.  You want the firm to know who they’re hiring.  Letting the firm assess who you really are while you assess the firm is a recipe for a happy future marriage.  You don’t want them hiding the ball from you, so don’t hide the ball from them either.   

4.  Be helpful. 

Sounds easy, right?  It may be, but it’s also essential.  Show the firm you can contribute.  When appropriate, be a team player.  When necessary, get the job done yourself.  Be helpful and contribute to each project, case and meeting and you will be a hard candidate to resist.  Most importantly, do no harm. 

5.  Think about the case, not just the project. 

Being task-oriented is great.  Seeing the forest for the trees is better.  Too often young lawyers focus only on the project in front of them.  Demonstrate that you can think about the big picture of the case or the goals of the client and you will be a step ahead of your peers.

More to come tomorrow . . .

By Robert Chapski

Bill Haltom wrote an interesting article for the Tennessee Bar Journal, advocating for the death of "casual day(s)" at work. 

Particularly for young lawyers or law students/law clerks/summer associates, this article should be given more than a passing glance.  The question of whether lawyers should wear suits to work every day is debatable.  However, whatever women and men wear to work as attorneys or prospective attorneys does matter and does make an impression on prospective employers, co-workers and clients. 

Maybe when you're calling the shots and reeling in the big fish can you forego all social conventions and wear sandals and shorts to work.  Until then though, your wardrobe selection is worth some careful consideration.  In a profession largely about personal relationships, the little things count.

By Eileen Burkhalter Smith

Great article in the New York Times about the effect of technology on juries, and, more specifically, technology's interference with jury trials. Several recent trials have been appealed or declared a mistrial because of jurors getting public information about the case from their phones with internet access, or posting updates on public messaging sites during the trial or deliberations. 

I dealt with a jury consulting company recently that mentioned they had run into this too. They monitored Facebook during voir dire and were able to eliminate several potential jurors who posted to their Facebook pages during the voir dire, about serving on the jury in that trial. I suspect this may become much more of a problem in the future.

By Robert Chapski 

Not to be callous about the subject, but, people, please...leave the chimps, tigers, and other wild animals where they belong.   The family of the woman who was recently attacked by a friend's chimpanzee has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the chimp's owner, not surprisingly claiming that the owner was negligent and reckless.  Esquire magazine also recently published a fascinating account of another chimp attack that occurred a few years back at a private animal sanctuary that left its victim severely scarred and mangled.   Sadly, the chimp owner in that story was attacked by other jealous chimps (who escaped their confines) while the owner was giving his chimp birthday cake.  The victim elected not to sue the sanctuary because it did not have any liability insurance.  Of note, that owner's chimp never attacked anyone, but the article does mention an incident involving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Let's just say, if you do own a chimp, make sure you keep tabs on your peanut butter supply.  

It seems somewhat obvious to me that having a 150 pound animal with five times the upper body strength of a person roaming around the house and neighborhood might be a bad idea but apparently it's not.  For young, entrepreneurial lawyers looking for a new niche, why not consider "wild animal liability"?

By Eileen Burkhalter Smith 

Check out this article from CNN with a different perspective on the recent law firm layoffs. The CNN.com article addresses how some lawyers who have recently been let-go, often young and mid-career level, are working in the public sector--sometimes subsidized by their former employers. I think the question raised somewhat discreetly here is a good one -- will paying corporate attorneys to work in public interest firms displace those who actually wanted to work in the public sector in the first place?  I don't know the answer.   Fee free to comment.

By Robert Chapski 

Larry Bodine posts an interesting article on his LawMarketing Blog about law firms blocking access to social networking sites.  The article suggests that the common rationale for blocking access to these sites at work (e.g., loss of productivity, viruses) may be misplaced and outweighed by the potential benefits.