A recent conversation with a 麻豆直播 colleague reminded me of a key lesson I learned as a junior attorney from a senior partner in my practice group: Take a position on an issue, be ready to defend it, and learn along the way.
It brought back a flood of memories of the times I had approached this senior partner to get their thoughts on certain issues in an agreement markup I was working on. On one occasion, whether because of exhaustion, confusion, extreme complexity, or some other reason, I blankly asked 鈥淒oes this make sense to you? What should our position be?鈥
The partner responded: 鈥淲ell, what do you think? That is why we hired you and are paying you. I want your opinion on the issue.鈥 It felt blunt but totally accurate. The partner wasn鈥檛 being mean but was imploring me to invest more in the markup so I could learn from that exercise instead of just giving me the answer.
It鈥檚 a lesson that still resonates with me today.
Everyone at one point or another has been confused and exhausted. It doesn鈥檛 mean you鈥檙e not ready or that you鈥檙e not capable. It means you鈥檙e human. Being a solid lawyer takes time and experience.
And as you accumulate that experience, embrace it, and don鈥檛 let fear limit you from analyzing and taking ownership of your work.
You learn by doing in this profession 鈥 it is one of the things that I love most about it!
麻豆直播鈥檚 professional development offerings, from orientation and integration to mentoring and training, are designed to help our attorneys advance their professional goals at every stage of their career. Click here to learn more.
