By Jonathan Brophy 

1) Draft every motion or memo as if it is going to be filed in Court or given to the client. Don't give partners half completed or draft work (or work with typos for that matter). You never know when your work will be forwarded to the client or not reviewed because a partner is too busy. Using this as a guideline will ensure that you're doing the best work you can at all times.

2) Know that you don't know everything. As a young lawyer you will always come across new issues or procedures that you didn't learn in law school. When confronted with this scenario, ask a partner or senior associate for help or guidance. However, when you do, don't just go with a question - think it through and propose your own solution or course of action with each question you pose. Even if you end up being wrong, going through this exercise helps you spot and think about upcoming issues in a case. Being proactive will help you in avoiding compartmentalized tasks and assignments and will assist you in being staffed to a case fulltime.